Ideas on Mental Health & Meaning
Why the MBTI Can Be a Powerful Tool in Counseling
As I have been working on (finally) bringing The Meaning Project Community to life, I've been taking a lot of deep dives into the history of my work - Viktor Frankl, Logotherapy, Ketamine & Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, and, of course, the Myers Briggs Typer...
When Motivation Isn’t the Problem — Meaning Is
It’s Monday morning. You tell yourself you need to “get focused.”“Be disciplined.”“Try harder.” But what if motivation isn’t the real issue? What if the deeper problem is meaning? So often we assume that when our energy dips or our drive fades, something is wrong with...
The End of the World (and Why It Feels So Close)
I fell into a pretty deep dark hole a few weeks ago. I hinted at it here. I wrote about it, then shelved it, publishing something more "positive" for that Monday's Mental Health and Meaning update. But then, this week, I saw a lot of my clients in that hole - and it...
The Beatitudes and the Psychology of Meaning: A Logotherapeutic Reading
I was in a pretty dark place yesterday. The world had finally gotten to me. Too much suffering. Suffering at a distance, but also suffering of those I care about and those I work with - who I also care about. So I started writing. And it came from a pretty dark...
The Young Man in the Basement: A Clinical Perspective on Motivation, Avoidance, and Launching into Life
As I may have mentioned, I've reading and listening to a lot on the current "masculinity crisis" and the near-epidemic level of young people, particularly young men, struggling to "launch" into life. From the Huberman Lab podcast with Terry Real, or Galloway's...
Redefining Healthy Masculinity: Lessons from the Huberman Lab Podcast with Terry Real
"Masculinity"... I don't even know what to write about it, what I am allowed to write, or what I shouldn't write that might be controversial. It's a hard enough concept to define in the past few decades, but now it seems culturally and politically charged to talk...
When Resentment Turns into Contempt: How Marriages Break—and Heal
Contempt. It's a hard word to accept - it has such a strong negative connotation. It's even harder to accept or understand when it is found in your most important and most intimate relationship. Sadly, I see it all too often in my office. I've even seen it in my...
Meaningful Goals for the New Year
I've been writing about new year goals for quite a while now. I used to write about SMART goals pretty regularly at the beginning of the year - but those quickly became to Cognitive Behavioral for me. Too rigid. Lately, in the past few years, I've been writing about...
A Meaningful Way to Celebrate New Year’s Eve
Beyond Resolutions, Noise, and the Countdown New Year’s Eve often arrives wrapped in noise—countdowns, parties, resolutions shouted into the void. And yet, for many people, this night feels quieter than expected. Beneath the celebration is something more vulnerable:...
Why the Holidays Can Be Hard on Mental Health—and What Helps
Why the Holidays Can Be Hard on Mental Health—and What Helps For many people, the holidays are supposed to be joyful: warm gatherings, shared meals, traditions passed down through generations. Yet every year, a quieter truth emerges in therapy offices, inboxes, and...
Working Through Seasonal Affective Disorder: A Meaning-Centered Approach to Winter
At the time I am writing this, we still have not reached the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year. This day marks the slow, the very slow, return of more sunlight in our days. Warmth, light, brightness.... still months away. And, I don't about you, but I...
The Meaning of Holiday Nostalgia
Why We Become So Nostalgic During the Holidays Every year, right on schedule, it happens. It usually starts in my office just a few days before Halloween - if I am conscious enough to start asking the right questions. But, for most of us, it starts less...