Every morning before heading off to work, my father went to 6am mass in Orange, NJ. He was the sole provider for our family of 5 and I know he worried a lot. When I reflect upon the steadfastness of his routine, what I cherish most is the way in which this simple act set the tone for his day. He felt more relaxed and at peace. Although he had a lot on his mind, his morning ceremony helped him to put his trust in something larger than himself. While I’m sure his prayers helped us a lot, I know it probably helped him more.

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Ever have a conflict with someone and not know where to begin with addressing the situation? No one likes confrontation, but when it is necessary, there are a few basic tools out there that can make all the difference between a successful outcome and a frustrating one.

One model of effective communication that I like is what’s known as A-E-I-O-U (Wisinski, 1993). This model works with any level of conflict within the organization: employee-to-boss, peer-to-peer or boss-to-employee.  Here’s how it works:

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I recently attended a talk hosted by IGC featuring Gretchen Rubin. If you haven’t heard of her yet, Gretchen is the author of The Happiness Project, a memoir of the year she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages about how to be happy--from Aristotle to Martin Seligman to Oprah.

Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions. On Gretchen’s blog, she shares her insights to help her readers create their own happiness project.

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been following Esther Perel, author of Mating In Captivity around NYC. Born and raised in Belgium, Esther is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a private psychotherapy practice in New York. People come to see her when they have an issue in their relationship. Often, they miss the feeling of connection, playfulness, and renewal that sex allows them. 

In her talks, Esther invites her audience to join her in very frank conversations. She is interested in sexuality as a lens into a person’s needs and wants. Her bold, provocative new take on intimacy grapples with some of the obstacles that can arise when our need for secure love conflicts with our pursuit of passion. This tension of “opposites” forms the basis of her book and her therapeutic practice.

For most of us, love is about security, consistency and stability. Passion, on the other hand, is often about risk, danger and transgression. Love is often about caretaking. But erotic desire is selfish – it doesn’t want anything to do with caretaking. Love is about certainty and trust. But passion is connected to the amount of uncertainty you can tolerate. Loving another without losing the very essence of ourselves – this is the central dilemma of intimacy. Is it even possible to have both love and passion?

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Ever notice just how much better you are able to think after a break of some sort, especially where you haven't dwelled on work for a while? As Steve Jobs has said, "Sometimes when you're almost asleep, you realize something you wouldn't otherwise have noted."

It turns out there is now some very good science that explains the value, importance and function of a mental rest. In particular, the research relates to our ability to have insights, the 'aha' moment when something that didn't make sense suddenly becomes clear. Research shows that we tend to solve about 60% of our problems in this fashion. This involves finding a sudden solution, that you can't really explain. It's non-linear problem solving, and it's the way we unravel a lot of complex problems. So if you want to unravel a really tough problem, it's useful to tackle things when our mind is still.

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