Relationship Glue: Books

Books

12/24/2011

SUPPORT YOUR CHANGES

I had the chance to sit down with Rebecca Regnier, The host of Full Plate and former anchor of Good Morning along with her cameraman Brian at my office over at Court Diagnostic & Treatment Center. She wanted to talk about how support from others plays a role when you're making changes in your life. She will be airing several segments on making changes at 13abc starting next week and after the new year. She has just finished writing a new book, Your Twitter Diet: How I Used Twitter to Lose 20 Pounds & You Can Too! that looks at social media and the power of the group when making changes. Here are some of the thoughts I shared with her.

WHERE DO YOU BEGIN?

To change you need to recognize the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Be it your health, finances, or relationships. That gap is your motivation to make the decision to change and start planning how you’ll go about it. Planning is how you’ll succeed and an important part of that plan is support. While you’ll need to know exactly what steps to take to achieve your goal and what the barriers and challenges will look like, it’s key to choose the right type of person to support you.

WHO WILL STAND BEHIND YOU?

They’ll need to be those you love–like family members; or who actively care about you–like friends who really know you; and those you respect–like members of a support group or colleagues. Just announcing your plan to supportive individuals builds motivation for you to carry through–now it seems real and they can celebrate with your success and encourage you during difficult challenges or setbacks that are a normal part of the change process.

WILL YOU MAKE IT THROUGH?

But that’s not enough. You’ll need to find a way to make your support part of you change plan. to help you accountable. For example, you could give a friend a meaningful sum of money in the beginning. If you fail to achieve your overall goal, they can send it to an organization you hate; that’s strong motivation! Of course they’re also there to remind you of why you’re making this change and cheering you on to success.

CAN YOU DO IT AGAIN?

Not everything you want to change has the same level of difficulty–and support form others won’t change that. But it’s possible to change your behavior and with motivation and encouragement form others these tasks are more likely to succeed.

How have you succeeded with making changes in your life? What kind of support do you find helpful?

Keep an eye next week on 13abc for more on Rebecca’s new book and her segments about making life changes in the new year.

Posted in Books, Creative Life, Family Life, Fitness, Health, Mental Health, Relationships, Stress Management, Valued Living | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: 13abc, change, encouragement, motivation, Rebecca Regnier, support, twitter

08/07/2011

PERCHANCE TO DREAM

"To sleep, perchance to dream--ay there's the rub" Shakesphere (Hamlet)

WHY WE DREAM

We all dream, it seems. Though there's no agreement on why. Even animals dream. What's agreed upon is that the stage of sleep called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) is where all the action occurs, and when you're continually awakened from that stage, you'll soon begin to suffer, and if this continues, you'll even start to lose touch with reality.

Even though this seems to be the stage of sleep when you mainly dream and you must experience this stage of sleep to function; it doesn't mean you can conflate the two and say you must dream which is why there's no consensus about why we do it and what is its purpose.

So with this mix of certainty and uncertainty theories are free to roam. The one you want to explore is that of Carl Jung. Yes Sigmund Freud has his version, but Carl Jung's is more interesting and potentially useful.

WHAT ARE DREAMS

Dreams can be seen as part of our life unseen, the unconscious. Eminent Jungian author Robert A. Johnson puts it this way, "The conscious mind is but a cork bobbing on the sea of the unconscious mind". His book, "Inner Work" is an excellent overview of how to engage in Jungian dream analysis for yourself.

Dreams are a window through which you view your unconscious self operating independently from your conscious life. Each part of your dream is about you. Not omens of the future or even how you view others who happen to populate your dreams. Each character, every place and situation, the colors and sounds--all of it is telling you something about yourself.

WHAT'S THEIR MEANING

This can come as a great relief. For example, you dream of chasing someone important to you and you have an object in you hand. You may worry that you want to harm that person in real life. A Jungian interpretation would rather ask, what part of yourself is being chased? What part of you is doing the chasing? What part of you is the object you're holding? What part of your life represents the place the chase is taking place? Starting to get the idea?

If you dream being in a house, the house represents you. What part? Which floor or room is what part of you? While this encourages you to categorize objects into standardized symbols, Jungian theory would strongly discourage this. You are unique and falling into a cookbook approach would miss the true nature of your unique unconscious self.

YOUR OWN DREAMS

This methodology of interpretation also minimizes the risk of acting on dreams in ways that work against your own self interest. It keeps your dreams close to home and focused on where their evaluation will do the most good--looking at yourself.

Johnson's book, "Inner Work" and his latest book, "Living Your Unlived Life: Coping With Unrealized Dreams and Fulfilling Your Purpose In the Second Half of Life", take you through the steps in a honest and practical way. Analyzing your dreams and other aspects of your unconscious life yourself if you can't have the guidance and expertise of a Jungian therapist.

What do you think dreams mean? Can they be useful in our conscious life?

Posted in Books, Creative Life, Mental Health | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: Carl Jung, dream interpretation, dreams, Jungian analysis, Robert A. Johnson, unconscious

06/18/2011

57 Books Every Clinical Counseling Intern Needs (or should wish for)

These are my personal favorites, or those I am still meaning to get around to reading. There's no order; just some from the hundreds of books in my various wish lists I've collected. They typically reflect the interests of different periods in my professional life and a few that have persisted. Many or older; I'm getting old so I suppose that makes sense. Some are solid reference books, others are what any new clinician hungers for; what to do! They're a reminder that timeless ideas deserve to be remembered and not to reinvent the wheel in the process of developing as a professional.