desires

How to Say What You Want in Your Relationship

In my 30 years working with couples, I’ve noticed that most people have an easy time describing what they don’t want in their relationship. If prompted, they’re able to rapidly fire off the many issues that they feel are creating distance between them and their partner. Yet, if I ask the same people what they… Read more »

Learn More

Why Competitive Feelings Are Good For You

Being competitive can have an ugly connotation in our society. It has become, in some ways, synonymous with greed, envy and narcissism. But feeling competitive isn’t always about climbing the ladder, winning the race or getting ahead. Competitive feelings are completely natural. Moreover, they’re unavoidable. Like it or not, we all feel competitive a lot… Read more »

Learn More

Desperately Seeking Happiness

What does it mean to be happy? It is the most elusive of questions, and permeates much of our daily lives. While we toil away, we secretly pray for happiness. “I just want to be happy,” so many people say. But do we even know what happiness is? Recently, a science of happiness has cropped… Read more »

Learn More

VIDEO: Becoming a "Self-Scientist"

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about the impermanence and the freedom that arises when one becomes a “self-scientist.” Everything’s impermanent.  That’s what the Buddha discovered when he was sitting under the Bodhi tree for that whole night and said I won’t get up until I realize enlightenment. … Read more »

Learn More

5 Achievable Resolutions for a Longer, Happier Life

Resolutions are notorious for falling by the wayside a few months or even days into the New Year. A University of Scranton study revealed that only 8 percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions are successful in achieving them. This low success rate may relate to the fact that many of us are more inclined to… Read more »

Learn More

You Don’t Want What You Say You Want

To the extent that people don’t want what they say they want they are duplicitous in their verbal communications. This applies to a wide area of life pursuits but is particularly relevant to love relationships. What we wish for in fantasy is not necessarily tolerable in reality.  Early in life, when we experience rejection and… Read more »

Learn More