Self Help Psychology

Enlightenment is many things. It is even more specifically many different things to each and every individual. Personal enlightenment is the individual experience of a growing awareness that breaths within and from the rich paradox that life offers us.

“Five year old was voted out of his kindergarten class by his fellow classmates. His teacher, Wendy Portillo, led the voting having each child state why they don’t like Alex.
At the time, Alex was in the process of being evaluated for Aspergers Syndrome. The diagnosis became official along with ADHD on Tuesday morning. Only two students voted in opposition to vote him out.

No one survives on their own, and no one thrives alone, either. Yes, you might feel an excruciating loneliness after one of life’s hurtful blows. But we are simply not built to survive solo. Isolation will kill us, not protect us. We humans are social animals made for community. Even when family and friends annoy [...]

Because women possess an innate ability to perceive an expanded range of feelings, thoughts, and experiences, we are adept at consciously handling several things at once. That doesn’t mean you don’t get frazzled and frustrated. It does mean you can feel even better and more productive by attentively, purposely, and nonjudgmentally staying in the present moment.

Over the course of a riveting 75-minute discussion of the birth of Gandhian non-violent activism, I found myself becoming increasingly distressed as I watched students cruising Facebook, checking out the NY Times, editing photo collections, texting, reading People Magazine, shopping for jeans, dresses, sweaters, and shoes on Ebay, Urban Outfitters and J. Crew, reorganizing their social calendars, emailing on Gmail and AOL, playing solitaire, doing homework for other classes, chatting on AIM, and buying tickets on Expedia (I made a list because of my disbelief). From my perspective in the back of the room, while Dalton vividly described desperate Indian mothers throwing their children into a deep well to escape the barrage of bullets, I noticed that a girl in front of me was putting her credit card information into Urban Outfitters.com. She had finally found her shoes!

It is once again Mother’s Day. A day that for many is one for celebration and for others a day of grief. There is such a duality to Mother’s Day for many. It is a day of love and companionship for many mothers and their children and/or adult-children. It is a day mixed with both [...]