I have been struggling for the past few months to retain my optimism. It seems that everything in my life was beginning to be burdensome and impossible with few very limited opportunities for hope. Knowing that a large part of my pessimism is a family legacy, I’ve been working for most of my adult life [...]

We are now on day 51 of the BP Oil Spill. Each day I have watched the news accounts and felt increasing hopelessness and despair. The recently released pictures of the sea birds drowned in oil, helpless and sinking were images I have not been able to shed. My dreams have been filled with images [...]

My mother is having surgery this week. Mom worked hard after falling and breaking her leg last fall and as a result, was able to return to living semi-independently. However, something was not quite right. She complained of feeling woozy all the time and started to show noticeable signs of cognitive decline. The family, along [...]

I love the optimism of the humanistic theories. I like to believe that given the option we will choose the high road and therefore do the right thing when the opportunity is at hand. I have always found it hard to continue to believe this in the face of cold hard reality. All I need [...]

At the ACA conference last weekend I spent Saturday and Sunday completing career consults with fellow counselors and Masters students who are currently looking for work. Most were very optimistic about their future and all the possibilities. It was truly enjoyable to have the opportunity to meet people from across the country with different ideas, [...]

A simple headline in the Sunday newspaper caught my eye this morning. The headline states: “Girls may learn math anxiety from teachers”. Having struggled with math anxiety for most of my life and having seen many other women with similar struggles, I decided to dig a bit deeper into this study. Out of my frustration [...]

I was watching Rachel Maddow’s show the other night as she interviewed Tracy Kidder. Kidder has written several books including a moving one about Haiti called “Mountains beyond Mountains” that details the work of Paul Farmer and the organization Partners in Health (www.pih.org). Kidder also wrote a New York Times Op-Ed piece this week called [...]

I’ve had a wonderful break with my family. We’ve eaten too much, watched lots of movies, and kept up our tradition of holiday jigsaw puzzles. On television and in the local newspaper a different kind of puzzle has been emerging: the year end reviews. These include lists of the most popular men and women, the [...]