Submitted by Jonathan Kaplan, Ph.D.
Last week, I went to one of Sharon Salzberg’s talks here in NYC.  I always enjoy learning from her, and I was particularly struck by a phrase that she used when discussing mindfulness:
“It’s not about what happens, but rather our relationship to it.”
So, in other words, it’s not about the fact [...]

By Jennifer Egert, Ph.D.
Recently, I spent the weekend at OMEGA in NYC, hearing Jack Kornfeld, Tara Brach and Mark Epstein discuss Eastern and Western psychology. Several times over the weekend, Jack and Tara brought up the idea that we are all lost in stories about ourselves, our history, and others. These stories serve to separate [...]

Submitted by Irene Javors, LMHC
The Roman statesman and stoic philosopher once wrote, “true happiness is … to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”
Staying in the ‘now’ is easier said than done. We are either looking backward or rushing forward. To stay present is to let go of control, to let life unfold. [...]

Submitted by Irene Javors, LMHC
“The unknown takes us out of our comfort zone.”
From What About The Big Stuff?, Richard Carlson, Ph.D. Hyperion, 2002, p.20.
Whatever change that either happens to us or we willingly undertake always has an element of fear. We love our habits of being. Even taking a shower at a different time of [...]

Submitted by Jennifer Egert, Ph.D.
“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffective concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and inspirations. That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves also. All sorts of things [...]

Submitted by Jennifer Egert, Ph.D.
Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
Quote by unknown author
How often do our thoughts create our reality? You can see it in so many ways, whether it be pre-conceived notions [...]

By Jonathan Kaplan, Ph.D.
My introduction to mindfulness came from reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau when I was in high school. His musings on leading a simple life in the present moment really resonated with me. Recently, I was re-reading Thoreau’s classic book, and I came across a passage that reminded me of [...]

Submitted by Irene Javors, LMHC
“The key to our deepest happiness lies in changing our vision of where to find it.”
Sharon Salzberg and Jon Kabat-Zinn. (2008). Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Shambhala Press.
All of us are prisoners of our fantasies and delusions of where happiness awaits us.  We cling to what doesn’t work and blind [...]

Submitted by Irene Javors, LMHC
“There are many ways to discuss ego, but in essence… … it is the experience of never being present. There is a deep seated tendency, it’s almost a compulsion, to distract ourselves, even when we’re not feeling uncomfortable. Everybody feels a little bit of an itch all the time. There’s a [...]