Ideas on Mental Health & Meaning

Golf, Mental Health, Education, & Work

What do golf, mental health, education, and work all have in common?  (Other than being things I am very interested, and sometimes very active, in?) They are all institutions that once, or maybe still, believe that there is ONE WAY to do something right. But that is...

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Be Greater Than Average

We are all unique and special individuals, with a specific task, or tasks, we are born to accomplish, ideally for the benefit of others and the transcendence of ourselves.  We can begin that task by asking what life is asking of us, rather than what we should get from...

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New Year +4 Days

We are four days in to the new year.  Is it as different from the old year as you had hoped? If not.  What are you doing about it? We can discover new meaning in our lives in a variety of ways - through engaging in creative acts of work or beauty; through experiencing...

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What Will You Do With The New Year?

Usually, around this time of year, I write about resolutions, SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Based), or Meaningful ideas for the New Year.  Sometimes I discuss taking the "suffering" of the previous year and using it to discover...

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

I hope you and your family have an "unprecedented" Christmas, and a "new normal" New Year! I can't believe, just a few years ago, I thought those were some really smart words or phrases.  Using "unprecedented" in a sentence was a sophisticated way of saying "weird",...

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What is Love?

Now, if you grew up in the 1990's, that question may have brought a vision of two sharply dressed gentlemen bobbing their heads, and you answered the question with, "Baby, don't hurt me..." And if you didn't grow up in the '90's, I'm sorry if you completely missed...

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“Happy” Holidays!

I'm sure I've shared this many times, but it strikes me as an obvious idea when it comes to having a "Happy" holiday season: "Happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue.  One must have a reason to 'be happy'.  Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy...

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Dr. Dan’s Cyber Monday

In this "unprecedented" time, maybe we look to celebrate an "unprecedented" holiday season.  As I wrote last week - we get to choose.  As much as I try not avoid the materialistic culture that surrounds the Christmas and the holiday season, I'm not a complete...

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Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays - short work week, a day of eating great food with family and friends, football, and then a long weekend before entering into the Christmas Season. But this year is different. There are a lot of things that are...

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Leader or Manager?

Leaders are those people around you who choose to take charge, but do so in a tactful, respectful manner,  They are self-aware and recognize their own biases and how they affect others.  They choose responsibly and act with integrity.  They aim to make those around...

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Transform Your Pain

Pain, Guilt, & Death - Frankl's Tragic Triad - three factors in life we can't escape, but we can choose how we deal with them. Fr. Richard Rohr, in Adam's Return, writes, It is the great teacher, although none of us want to admit it.  If we do not transform our...

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Reconnecting to Heal from Depression, Anxiety, and Addiction

As you may know, I've been digging deeper into Johann Hari's Lost Connections in the past few weeks.  I love his work - but this one is just depressing...  At least the beginning of it is.  I found myself feeling quite hopeless as I read through the research and...

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