by Andrea Polard | Jul 20, 2020 | HAPPINESS & MINDFULNESS, MISCELLANEOUS
Why loving a pet is good for your health and happiness.
Originally posted in Psychology Today
While precise health benefits of having pets are still being researched1, there is no question that millions of us take great pleasure in cohabitating with them. There is so much to love! Therapy dogs are taken for comfort to clinics; horses are ridden for sensitivity training; cats—when in the mood—are cuddled with; birds are taught words and crazy dance moves. We’ve seen it all. (more…)
by Andrea Polard | Oct 17, 2017 | MISCELLANEOUS
There are many reasons for feeling disconnected from one another, reasons that many seek to understand in psychotherapy. There may have been trauma in the past, be it in childhood or adulthood, leaving you too scared to stick out your head and risk to be injured again. Even when you have merely learned that revealing your true thoughts and feelings is somehow “wrong” and uncomfortable, you may shy away from connecting with others. (more…)
by Andrea Polard | Oct 28, 2016 | MISCELLANEOUS
When enough is enough.
Originally posted in Psychology Today
Bragging has only gotten worse with social media. People feel less inhibited when the contact is mediated by technology. But why do it in the first place? Nobody really likes a bragger, but that doesn’t seem to stop the behavior. It doesn’t stop when we avoid eye contact, chuckle at this apparently unconscious character flaw, or show our boredom with a yawn, either. That’s because a bragger doesn’t notice—he or she is either insensitive to begin with or becomes insensitive while bragging, like a person who becomes numb while drinking alcohol. Bragging is similar to getting a fix or fill of something, perhaps to forget the emptiness someone feels inside (think narcissism). (more…)
by Andrea Polard | Feb 15, 2015 | MISCELLANEOUS
I want the best for myself and my family–naturally. Why settle for less? We live in a society of plenty; all we have to do is go for it and ask for exactly what we want, in department stores, restaurants, on the love market, and of course from doctors. An almost inaudible, but powerful voice inside of us may tell us to reach for the best and only for the best.
Is this a good choice though? (more…)
by Andrea Polard | Mar 1, 2014 | MISCELLANEOUS
All experiences are mysterious; love is no exception. We cannot accurately reconstruct any experience because too many vivacious variables are involved, however attentive or scientific we go about the reconstruction. Bits and pieces and the whole of life are twirling around, inside out and outside in, firing and dying (more…)
by Andrea Polard | Jan 21, 2014 | MISCELLANEOUS
When I was young, I wanted to change in major ways. I wanted to be as thin as my sister, as beautiful as Marilyn Monroe, as creative as Einstein and Picasso combined, as trail-blazing as Madame Curie, as loving as Jesus, as natural as Lao Tzu, and as still as a Buddha statue. (more…)
