elotz@westsidedbt.com

By Bob Stahl By exerting more conscious control over our behaviors and attitudes, we learn to work with our intention, wise effort, and capacity to be kind to ourselves. Mindfulness is, in short, the practice of being aware of what’s happening or what you’re experiencing in the present moment. It’s being here and now without judgment. […]

By Athena Staik, Ph.D. Thoughts are powerful shapers of our lives, period. They shape our relationships too, even our character. If our thoughts are limiting, however, they are also energy zapping. Do you have the reins of your thoughts? It’s no longer theory, it’s science. Our habitual “self talk” seems to form a meaning-laden story that continually “tells us”

 By Traci Stein, PhD, MPH, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Topic Expert Contributor Gratitude is associated with a number of mental health benefits. There appears to be variability with regard to how often one feels grateful, but experiencing gratitude can be profoundly, deeply healing. When we are grateful, we leave little room for resentment, anger, self-righteousness, or envy; these emotions are

By Blake Powell “Learn to calm down the winds of your mind, and you will enjoy great inner peace.” ~Remez Sasson While juggling a full-time job and my writing, I found it easy to lose track of the days. Weekends ceased to exist and my life ebbed and flowed between working and writing, the two

“At the end of life, the wish to be forgiven is ultimately the chief desire of almost every human being. In refusing to wait; in extending forgiveness to others now; we begin the long journey of becoming the person who will be large enough, able enough and generous enough to receive, at the very end,

By Bob Sthal How paying attention to your internal dialog can free you from you self doubt, and help familiarize you with your own personal brand of autopilot. The Laboratory of Neuroimaging at the University of Southern California says that a person has about seventy thousand thoughts per day. Whether that is true or not, one thing you

By Raj Raghunathan We all have a deep-seated drive to feel in control. But taking it too far can make you miserable. Human beings have a deep-seated desire for certainty and control. Several studies show this need serves at least two important purposes. First, it helps us believe that we can shape outcomes and events to

By MAIA SZALAVITZ Drug education is the only part of the middle school curriculum I remember — perhaps because it backfired so spectacularly. Before reaching today’s legal drinking age, I was shooting cocaine and heroin. I’ve since recovered from my addiction, and researchers now are trying to develop innovative prevention programs to help children at risk

By Ashley Curiel Psy.D Don’t let my youthful face fool you—I’m a few years older than Taylor Swift. (No, I’m not telling you how many years older. How rude of you to ask! We just met.) Nonetheless, the iconic pop star has several lessons those from every generation—millennials to boomers—could stand to learn, even if