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There is a kind of listening that has nothing to do with sound. The Advaita Vedanta teacher Jean Klein spent much of his life pointing toward this — what he called “unconditioned listening,” or simply “welcoming.” In works like The Book of Listening and I Am, Klein described listening not as something a person “does”,…
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There’s a well-known short poem by the 13th-century Persian poet and mystic Rumi, often circulated in therapy circles under the title “The Guest House.” Most people who’ve spent time in a therapist’s office, a mindfulness class, or a self-help book have encountered it in some form. The image at its center is simple: this life,…
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Most of us want to be helpful when someone we love is struggling. A partner is overwhelmed at work, a friend is spiraling about a diagnosis, a family member is stuck in a loop of worry — and our instinct is to say something that makes it better. But two new studies published in the…
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There’s a moment that happens in almost every therapy room, sooner or later. A client says something like, “I keep having this thought that I’m not good enough,” and then, a beat later, asks: “Why can’t I just stop thinking it?” The question itself contains a quiet trap. It assumes that “you” and “the thought”…
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If you’ve found this post, there’s a good chance anxiety has been following you around for a while. Maybe it shows up as a racing mind that won’t quiet down at night. Maybe it’s a persistent sense that something is about to go wrong, even when everything looks fine on the surface. Maybe it looks…
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If you’ve found this post, there’s a good chance something about people-pleasing feels uncomfortably familiar. Maybe you say yes when you mean no. Maybe you find yourself managing everyone else’s feelings while quietly ignoring your own. Maybe you’re the reliable one, the agreeable one, the one who smooths things over — and you’re exhausted by…
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If you’ve found this post, chances are something has felt off for a while. Maybe you’re tired in a way that sleep doesn’t fix. Maybe your mind won’t quiet down even when your body is exhausted. Maybe you’ve started wondering whether what you’re experiencing has a name — and whether there’s a way through it.…
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Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly woven into daily life. We ask AI to summarize emails, answer emotional questions, help us make decisions, and offer comfort when we feel lonely or overwhelmed. But perhaps the most psychologically important development is not that AI is becoming smarter. It is that AI is becoming more human-like. A recent…
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Sometimes people come to therapy saying they feel anxious. But just as often, they say something else: “I can’t stop thinking.” They replay conversations on the drive home. Analyze text messages. Imagine worst-case scenarios at 2 a.m. Second-guess decisions they already made. Rehearse future interactions before they happen. Even moments of rest become crowded with…
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Many people today don’t look burned out. They are still showing up to work. Responding to emails. Taking care of their families. From the outside, everything appears intact. But internally, something has shifted. There is less energy. Less motivation. Less emotional presence. What once felt engaging now feels mechanical. People often describe it not as…