by DR. JOHNBEN LOY
Self-awareness. Most of us believe we have a good measure of it. But how did we learn it? Is it just natural? If we had to teach someone to become more self-aware, how would we teach them? We know that self-awareness is good for personal growth and increasing well-being, but how many of us actually have a way to work on improving self-awareness? Continue reading “The BET-RR Way: Self-Awareness for Better Living”
One of the challenges clients face when entering therapy is knowing whether they are improving. Unlike coaching, where clients enter the process with clearly stipulated goals (not dissimilar to hiring a golf coach to improve your swing), therapy is much deeper, and clients often come in with great distress. They only knew one thing in starting therapy: they want the pain to end, all of it!
But pain will always be with us. In fact, to hurt is human.
Due to their great distress, clients can hold on to the notion that therapy should get rid of all their pain. It doesn’t and it is not meant to. What therapy does is to help individuals, couples, and families learn how to manage pain and conflict more effectively.
Perfection is not the goal of therapy. Therapy is to help you improve in your process to the point where you can continue to improve on your own, ready to terminate your work with your therapist. The pain is still there, but you can move on.
A client once asked me, “if the pain is still there, how can you know if you are improving?” Here are three helpful indicators. Continue reading “Three Indicators You Are Getting Better Through Therapy”
When disagreements arise, it can be difficult to stay connected with the disagreeing person and yet remain true to yourself at the same time. If feels more natural to either blame the other person or to walk away. But if we are to grow into emotional and relational maturity and wellness, we must learn to be able to ask and manage this question in times of conflict:
How can I be fully me and fully us at the same time?
Put it slightly differently: “I want to be true to myself (to be fully me) while I stay connected to you (to remain us), even when we disagree. How can I do that with you?”
I learned this idea from one of my family therapy supervisors many years ago: move from “either/or” thinking to “both/and” thinking.
We often think in “either/or” terms especially when we are caught up in a fight-or-flight mode during a conflict. Being able to engage in “both/and” thinking instead gives us new power for creative collaboration.
How does it work?
Continue reading “Handling Disagreements — Remaining True While Staying Connected”
Starting in 2018, my blog will have a distinct focus. I will be writing practical, readable articles to help busy executives and discerning homemakers with helpful advice for “living and leading well.”
What do I mean by “living and leading well?” Basically, how to be happy in life and family, and how to achieve success as managers and leaders in the workplace.
The fundamentals for positive living in both family and work are actually the same. First, manage yourself. Second, manage your relationships.
For my 50th birthday, I embarked on an experiment — I made one gratitude post each day for 50 days on Facebook.