The Benefit of Keeping Your Feelings to Yourself
Whenever Abraham Lincoln felt the need to give someone a piece of his mind, he would fire off a harsh letter. Putting pen to paper was his way of unloading his fury. A classic example is...
The Problem With Labeling People as ‘Toxic’
Toxic is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. As a psychiatrist, I hear it frequently during therapy sessions—to describe parents, siblings, neighbors, exes and co-workers.
Once primarily used to describe plants,...
Forget Work-Life Balance
Have you ever met someone who has actually achieved work-life balance? I haven’t. As Oliver Burkeman wrote in the best-selling book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals:
“Nobody in the history of humanity has ever...
When It Comes to Venting, Sharing Is Not Caring
It is no wonder that my patient felt drained after spending a weekend with an old friend who was known to be a relentless complainer. Grumbling about what’s bothering you may feel like a good...
Conflict Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
The Good Fight
Call me cynical but I worry whenever I hear a couple say, “we never argue.” Tiptoeing around disagreements might feel good in the short term, but in the long run undermines the quality...
An Antidote for Wound Collecting
“Being impacted by being what happened to you isn’t victimhood, it’s human.
Making an identity out of it is victimhood.”
— Seerut Chawla
The stories we tell about ourselves shape the people we become. If we fixate on...