It’s a funny thing about the word “No.” Some people have no ear for it. They’re blind and deaf and never seem to get it or hear it. Or if they hear it, they don’t listen. They keep charging onward like bulls in a china shop, destroying more relationships and opportunities in the process. So let’s recap something. When someone tells you they no longer want to be your friend, or your partner, or your buddy, or your business partner and you can’t resolve things at that stage, then it’s …

Anger is scary. Especially if it is extreme anger–better known as rage.
Anger is saying to the jerk who cuts you off in traffic, “You freaking moron!” Rage is chasing him down and running him off the road with your car, or trying to. Or it’s following him into a parking lot then beating him up as he gets out of his car. It happens every day. Rage.
On the anger spectrum, annoyance is the least extreme, anger the mid-range and rage the ultimate extreme. Rage can’t be controlled by our thoughts. …

I was raised in a family of addicts - alcoholics and a parent addicted to prescription meds. I dated, lived with and was involved with addicts most of my life. I am co-dependent and in recovery for my co-dependency (my tendency to rescue people who refuse to take responsibility for their lives because it enables them to avoid looking at the mess their own life is in. Alcoholics numb their pain with substances, co-dependents numb their pain with caretaking or taking care of, alcoholics. BOTH avoid feeling their feelings. It …

I received several emails this weekend from people in my life addicted to drama, and several emails from people asking me what to do about the people in THEIR lives who are addicted to drama.
It must be the full moon.
Some people in our lives are healthier than others and just have a few weak spots that need shoring up and come to us looking for encouragement, not to be rescued. Others are people we should routinely ignore.
There’s a way to tell a difference. The ones I ignore tip their hand …

August is an anniversary month for me. Over the past ten years several people I know have committed suicide. August is a tough time emotionally for me. Every year my thoughts turn to friends and family who have checked out this way and it’s sad.
Depression is a strange thing. It can be temporary, linked to an event (such as a parent or child’s or friend’s death), or it can be clinical - meaning related to chemical changes in the body. We can be depressed and not feel suicidal, or …