I was listening to someone talk about how they respond ‘sympathetically” to customers and as I listened to her describing being sympathetic, I realized that she was not listening to the other person but reacting to what she was hearing. I believe that being sympathetic means that we respond personally based on our own reaction…

Recently I was watching a replay on public television of “Fifty Years of Peter, Paul and Mary” and I was very moved by their performances as I had been years ago.  As I listened with tears flowing I felt that I was being reminded of what life is about…the beauty of this earth, the beauty…

An opinion on the op-ed page of the January 22, 2014 New York Times by Stacy Torres talked about an incident in a McDonald’s retaurant in Qweens, NYC where police were called to remove a number of people who had stayed in the restaurant for hours while purchasing only a cup of coffee. There were…

I recently watched Julianne Moore’s moving and beautiful performance in “Still Alice.”  She portrayed the rapid progression of dementia symptoms in a 50 year old woman.  In the movie, she talked about how devastating it was to lose her memory and to lose her memories.  She felt that in many ways, her memories defined who…

I have helped many people who are bothered and consumed by trying to make sense of what other people say or do. It has become clear to me that feeling a need to understand others is risky because we can’t know about other people and sometimes if we can’t make sense of others it is…

Recently I was reading a number of studies about physicians listening to their patients.  On average physicians wait from 12 to 20 seconds before they interrupt their patients.  After this interruption, physicians may ask questions but often will not give their patients an opportunity to share more of their concerns, although will ask their patients…

Recently there have been two more killings that have been justified by claims of self-defense as the shooters felt “threatened.” One threat apparently was popcorn being tossed at the shooter’s face and the other based on loud music coming from a car with a number of young males in it. Previously a man in Florida…

Sabrina Tavernise reported in The New York Times on February 26, 2014 about a recent federal survey showing that obesity in 2-5 year olds was reduced by 43%. This is even more significant as 3-5 year old children who are obese are five times more likely to be overweight or obese as adults. This reduction…

I recently read about a study that improved on previous single country studies that showed that unemployment increases the suicide rate. This new study (Nordt C et al. Modeling suicide and unemployment: A longitudinal analysis covering 63 countries. 2000-11. Lancet Psychiatry 2015 Mar; 2:239) found that suicide rates increase 20-30%, 6 months before unemployment rates…