Skip to main content
Power For Positive Living

Power For Positive Living

By Dr. James Hughey

Personal thoughts for positive living shared by a retired counseling psychologist as we all travel on our mutual journey through life.
Available on
Apple Podcasts Logo
Spotify Logo
Currently playing episode

8.20 Love Choices

Power For Positive LivingFeb 16, 2024

00:00
09:20
8.20 Love Choices

8.20 Love Choices

The phrase "I love you" contains some of the most powerful words in our language!   The varied choices we make in using "love" as a noun or verb affects our daily attitudes, beliefs, feelings and behaviors as well as our overall physical and emotional health. 


We have the choice to focus more on the pronoun "I" or on "you" when using this sentence to find a successful balance between the two.


Wellness Psychology also encourages us to learn more of the various choices you and I make to effectively love ourselves as the unique humans that we are as well as our love gifts for others.  

Feb 16, 202409:20
8.19 Victimhood Choices

8.19 Victimhood Choices

Life for most of us is a series of choices.  How do we choose to view what is happening now and select our attitudes/behaviors in preparing for the unknown future?


Being a victim of some situation is probably a part of each life path.  We choose whether our skills of managing victimhood rise to the level of becoming a professional.


 A portion of our future is often unknown.  Our personal power lies in the attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviors we choose to prepare ourselves for whatever lies ahead.  

Feb 09, 202408:30
8.18 Psychological Fatigue

8.18 Psychological Fatigue

The frequent appearance of fatigue can be an alert that some system within us needs attention for some degree of healing.  


Many of us recognize the appearance of physical fatigue and know of attitude and behavioral options to make changes.    The appearance of other system symptoms like psychological fatigue frequently leaves many without available pre-planned options.   Learning and preventively implementing information from a number of sources such as wellness psychology can be most helpful for maintaining one's emotional health.

Feb 02, 202408:09
8.17 Choices Make Our Relationships

8.17 Choices Make Our Relationships

Each generation receives input from previous generations on the important behaviors, values and beliefs that make our relationships and life journey have meaning.


One recommendation from Ann Landers in a previous decade focuses on the important words to be used in relating to others.


Wellness psychology also offers relationship guidelines to be considered and evaluated for use in one's life journey. 

Jan 26, 202406:53
8.16 Passive Suicide Awareness

8.16 Passive Suicide Awareness

 Active and passive acts of suicide continue to be a behavioral option for many who struggle with the hurts and pains of their life issues.
 Active suicide can offer the appeal of being a quick and spontaneous decision to end the inner pain of life circumstances. For others, reaching this same decision can take more passive and indirect forms evolving over many days, weeks or months.
The processes of considering and eventually reaching an active or passive suicide decision by others can often be invisible even to the most observant and caring family/friends.

Jan 19, 202410:40
8.15 Am I Really Listening?

8.15 Am I Really Listening?

One of the key foundations of healthy relationships is when the participants can really listen, hear and understand what is being said by each whether there is agreement or a degree of difference.  


Being quiet while another speaks physically and emotionally can be a start.   Active listening takes effort and offers understanding of self and others with whom we have built relationships.

Jan 12, 202407:38
8.14 Time Currency Relationship Choices

8.14 Time Currency Relationship Choices

Whether we choose an active or passive pattern in spending our time currency, the connection and disconnection choices we make with our human relationships tend to strongly affect our physical and emotional health.  


Wellness psychology encourages us to better understand our daily personal time currency expenditures with an active introspective evaluation of our choices to connect and/or disconnect with the persons in our various relationships. 

Jan 05, 202408:33
8.13 Culture War Invitations

8.13 Culture War Invitations

Our interactions with others in our society take many forms.   When society embraces polarization of absolutes like "either/or" or "winner/loser" as a valued behavior, we are likely to find ourselves with many invitations to participate in various types of life drama frequently known as culture wars.


Since the various culture war dynamics can be important to many family/friends with whom we relate, it can be significant for our emotional health to actively choose how and to what degree we personally wish to respond when you and I are invited to play in this type of life drama.  

Dec 29, 202308:11
8.12 Confronting Our Wealth and Death

8.12 Confronting Our Wealth and Death

Two topics seem to be most difficult for many in our society:  the wealth we have accumulated on our life journey and the various ways of confronting and managing the last days of our life chapter.  


Some individuals seem to determine the value of their life journey by the amount of wealth they have accumulated.   Many other factors such as generosity and kindness in sharing may take a secondary role.  


The arrival of death gives each of us the opportunity to confront our beliefs and values about ending this gift of life we have been given.   Few areas are more personal than the individual choices we make for our last life chapter.

Dec 22, 202309:47
8.11 Choosing An Open Mind

8.11 Choosing An Open Mind

Research indicates that most people tend to accept and agree with new people and information when they are similar to what we have recorded as being positive on mental 'tapes' from our previous experiences.   


People or information that do not 'fit' into our previous experiences tend to be viewed with some degree of apprehension or suspicion.   This behavior makes it most difficult for us to be truly "open-minded" when faced with new/different people or situations.   


Wellness psychology encourages us to learn new ways of learning emotional and behavioral views when approaching different people and situations.

Dec 15, 202309:31
8.10 Choosing Privacy Without Dishonesty

8.10 Choosing Privacy Without Dishonesty

People like to be with people they perceive as being similar to themselves in beliefs, values and behaviors.Are we being dishonest when we choose not to disclose certain information about ourselves to our family and friends so as to maintain personal privacy?Can we understand and accept what others need to know about us within an honest relationship?  Can too much shared information be harmful to our relationships? 


Can we respect the boundaries others choose for themselves?We tend to be emotionally healthy when we accept that our decisions about privacy tend to be honest and respectful of ourselves and others. 

Dec 08, 202305:58
8.9 Sharing Our Personal Secrets

8.9 Sharing Our Personal Secrets

One of the most significant decisions that each of us makes during our life journey is how and to what degree we want to share our inner self with individuals with whom we have created various types of relationships.  


Humans do choose many types of personal secrets which can vary throughout our life journey.  The individual criteria you and I select for being open and/or closed to others with various aspects of our emotional nudity tends to be a significant factor for our facade that we share with others and for our personal mental health.

Dec 01, 202309:32
8.8 Psychological Blame Games

8.8 Psychological Blame Games

One of the major choices we each make in developing positive mental health for ourselves is discovering various ways to understand and assign responsibility for various mental blame games.   When we decide to assign some degree of blame for our thoughts, feelings and behaviors we can choose to place responsibility for them entirely on ourselves or on some continuum to the other extreme of placing blame entirely on other people and situations.  


Reality indicates that most of the responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are healthyfully located at some point between the two extremes.  Mental health encourages us to seek to understand the specific ways we assign the responsibility for our personal life choices.

Nov 24, 202309:48
8.7 My Friend Print

8.7 My Friend Print

Friend Print processes were developed for those persons who seek information to better answer the introspective question of "Who Am I?".  Friend Prints are structured to better understand the value of psychological exercising in developing and maintaining ones personal mental health.  

Using an initial list of five persons that a listener calls friend,  one is encouraged to create their own Friend Print beginning with 25+ categories of description. Having this completed Friend Print allows an individual to see visually in a single place some characteristics of their friendship circle.

Nov 17, 202316:33
8.6 My Friendship Store

8.6 My Friendship Store

Seeking and understanding our individual friendship circles can be a powerful contributor to our personal mental health system.


One analogy which can be useful is comparing our behavior in a book store with what one might do in  their individual Friend Store whether shopping for a book or a friend.   Another possibility to consider is what we each write on our personal billboard as we offer ourselves to others as bringing value into a friendship.  

Nov 10, 202314:44
8.5 Healthy Friendships Change

8.5 Healthy Friendships Change

If we are fortunate with our friendships we encourage ourselves and others to adapt to the life changes that are taking place within ourselves and others.  Much of our emotional life is finding healthy ways to handle the frequent changes that we and others make with our daily choices. 

Making healthy changes in self tends to be one of the most difficult challenges we humans have.   Some may choose to change their friends or seek new friends as our life path varies.    We can build historical friends of many years if we accept that "we do not have to change friends when we accept that our current friends are also changing - just like us." 

Nov 03, 202306:34
8.4 Choosing Our Truth For Relationships

8.4 Choosing Our Truth For Relationships

As humans we tend to believe that how we see the choices of living and relating to other people tend to be correct and good.   Persons who have a different viewpoint from ours may be seen as misinformed, untruthful or ignorant.   We may be called to correct the errors of other viewpoints with our family and friends by imposing our specific beliefs and values.  We can easily believe that we are helping another person when we impose the opportunity to see 'the truth' as we see it.  

Oct 26, 202312:35
8.3 Choosing Personal Life Spices

8.3 Choosing Personal Life Spices

Wellness Psychology's foundation of personal power is that each of us has many individual life choices.  In so many ways the type of life path we choose for ourselves is a result of the internal and external relationship choices we make. 


Structuring the personal 'spices' we bring into our life both internally and externally can allow better understanding of our relations with self and others. Comparing and contrasting our relationship choices with the daily spices we make for food preferences can provide valuable insight into our personal emotions, values, beliefs and behavior.  

Oct 20, 202312:07
8.2 Using Personal Reframing Power

8.2 Using Personal Reframing Power

Many individuals can verbalize that they do have the personal power to frame and reframe their own attitudes, feelings and behaviors.   The human challenge seems to come in making the decision to IMPLEMENT their personal choices.   


Without taking action, words remain words.  Possibilities remain possibilities.  Can we support and encourage ourselves along with family and friends to implement actions to reframe our/their attitudes, feelings and behaviors that tend to bring us and them more happiness?

Oct 13, 202307:44
8.1 Our Choice Junctions

8.1 Our Choice Junctions

The personal path that each of us takes going from childhood to adulthood is unique and challenging.

Our parents usually begin our life path by teaching the values of familiarity and safety.  Accepting habituation as an attitude and behavior option allows us to grow within the shelter and safety of the home environment. 

As an adult we often discover that what has worked for us in the past is not working currently.  Until we experiment with new thoughts and behaviors at these 'choice junctions' we tend to stay stuck and frustrated in an unhealthy pattern.

Oct 06, 202312:57
Mid Season Bonus-Where Are The Answers I Seek?

Mid Season Bonus-Where Are The Answers I Seek?

Where Are The Answers I Seek?
Your host completes a trilogy of visits with "Hello, Henry" on WBT, AM 1110, in Charlotte, NC.   This broadcast also completes the series of interviews to promote personal retreating with Friend Ship at Sea and was done after the KGBC production of Power for Positive Living.
In addition to an active conversation on various aspects of wellness psychology, your host and Henry pose many questions and answers for listeners to consider as they face issues in their lives.   One caller's inquiry allows the discussion of where do each of us seek the answers to the questions of life.   Do we tend to seek "the answers" from outside sources or do we tend to believe that we that we can discover answers only within ourselves?  Or do we tend to see life as "a gift we have only to receive" and not spend time with introspective exploration.   The concept of "degreeism" returns with an approach of finding ways to avoid either/or responses and then seek to learn from a merging of possible answers. 

Jun 23, 202328:13
7.20 Saying Goodbye

7.20 Saying Goodbye

Saying Goodbye

 While some of us may have difficulty saying 'hello' to people, it is often the external and internal goodbyes that provide most of us the biggest challenges by invoking anxiety and stress.   Learning to say goodbye in a healthy manner is a significant part of the grieving process when we lose someone or something important to us.  

Jan 13, 202312:14
7.19 The Last Chapter

7.19 The Last Chapter

Many of us have topics that are difficult to openly discuss with others. Two of these sensitive topics seem to be the 'wealth game' of self-worth and the exploring/sharing with others the diversity we wish to live during the final days of our life. Whether we see ourselves as more winners or losers in life games, being able to relate our experiences, hopes, and fears with others can be a challenge for our emotional and physical health. We can face the last of our life chapters with introspective intellectualism. Having an actual 'last days' experience can allow us to explore many questions about ourselves, others who are important to us and the many decisions we have made on our personal life journey. Doing both allows us to have a more realistic view of how we see the continuum of our life into eventual death.
Jan 06, 202320:01
7.18 All Things End: What Have I Learned?

7.18 All Things End: What Have I Learned?

All Things End: What Have I Learned?

 At some point, in some way, all living things eventually meet death and our one chance to live this unique gift of life will come to an end.  We each have many choices as we live and our personal choices have consequences throughout our life path.     One personal guideline that can be helpful in pondering positive and healthy choices for our latter days is:  I cannot go back and change the beginning.  I can start where I am and change the ending.  Except in our memories, yesterday is gone.     Like doing an eulogy, it is difficult for most of us to summarize both positively and negatively what we have and have not learned on our individual life path.  Each of us will basically answer the questions:   Who Am I?  What have I learned to maximize my remaining days of life to be positive and healthy?
Dec 30, 202212:50
7.17 Is This My Last Chance?

7.17 Is This My Last Chance?

Is This My Last Chance?

 One of the major assets of living life is knowing that at some point our individual life will come to an end. Knowing that our life will eventually end can give tremendous value to each of us on making our personal decisions for whatever time remains.     One choice that has positively affected my emotional health has been a choice to frame each interaction with another as though it could be my last chance to frame our relationship.  If family/friends were to never interact with me due to their illness or death, I wanted them to leave this earth with an accurate understanding of how and why they were important to me.
Dec 23, 202213:05
7.16 What Do I Choose to Leave Behind?

7.16 What Do I Choose to Leave Behind?

<strong>What Do I Choose to Leave Behind?</strong> Our personal life legacy is in a constant state of being created by our daily choices made one hour, one day or one month at a time. While our life choices are open to varied perceptions by others, do I accept responsibility for expressing my own values and beliefs in actively living what is important to me? When death does eventually arrive, shall I be content with the physical, emotional, social and spiritual choices that will accurately define me and my legacy to others? If I were able to look backward after my death, would I be pleased with the personal choices that I leave behind for others to remember me?
Dec 16, 202213:39
7.15 Life and Death

7.15 Life and Death

Learning the skills to appreciate our pets with love and caring is important to many individuals. For some, the lives of our pets may be as important or more important than the skills and beliefs learned to value the lives of fellow humans. The presence of life also teaches us that at some point and in some manner there is the arrival of death for humans as well as for pets. The arrival of death for either brings forth our unique values and beliefs we each have developed during our lives. Having each of us confront his/her views on death for humans and/or pets provides a significant self-learning opportunity.
Dec 09, 202211:49
7.14 Managing Expectations Of Self And Others

7.14 Managing Expectations Of Self And Others

Managing Expectations of Self and Others

Wellness Psychology recognizes that each of us has the power to 'frame' his/her world into the specific perceptions that we choose. We have the personal responsibility for viewing our world along with the power to accept, reject or modify our choices.

We frequently need to ventilate our feelings with others. This process of sharing with another tends to reduce the emotional pressures we feel with the frustrations of life. Seeking information about options different than receiving advice can be helpful.

Expectations change. Do we choose the power to accept, reject or modify them? Do we choose the 'victim' roles and seek to blame others for our own choices? Are we willing to explore the reasons we offer for our choices versus the challenges of finding the 'real' reasons we have for framing our world and the resultant choices?

Dec 02, 202229:38
7.13 Presence: Best Gift for Human Connection

7.13 Presence: Best Gift for Human Connection

Presence: Best Gift for Human Connection

Our in-person presence can often be the most valuable and useful gift that we have to give to others as we build and maintain our human connections.   The emotionally healthy person recognizes the presence or absence of other humans can significantly affect one's mental health.   Each of us comes into life with the need to have some type and degree of relating and connections with other humans.  Regardless of age, gender, geography, social group, etc., this need for some level of social connection is practically universal.    Learning and understanding the various roles of being present for another is a significant gift to connecting and supporting our relationship with them.
Nov 25, 202212:22
7.12 One + One = One or Two?

7.12 One + One = One or Two?

<strong>One + One = One or Two?</strong> Inherent in our relationships is that the participants have a set of assumptions and expectations for themselves as well as for the other person. Whether in marriage or friendship we rely on these assumptions and expectations to healthfully maximize the connection we have with each other. We have choices in our degree of connection such as whether our relationship emphasizes remaining two separate entities or whether we prefer the tighter connection of blending into one entity such as some marriages, families and friendships strive to do. Our challenge can be to the degree that both of the individuals see this type of assumption and expectation as being compatible for daily living.
Nov 18, 202211:21
7.11 Mirror, Mirror On the Wall (Part 2)

7.11 Mirror, Mirror On the Wall (Part 2)

<strong>Mirror, Mirror on the Wall-Part 2</strong> Wellness Psychology encourages each of us to more fully understand and appreciate the choices we make in developing and implementing our own individual self-esteem beginning as a child to becoming a senior citizen. Special interest is paid to the emotional cancer of perfectionist tyranny and the ways we can re-decide to promote healthy self-esteem for ourselves.
Nov 11, 202228:03
7.10 Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (Part 1)

7.10 Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (Part 1)

<strong>Mirror, Mirror on the Wall-Part 1</strong> Wellness Psychology encourages each of us to more fully understand and appreciate the choices we make in developing and implementing our own individual self-esteem beginning as a child to becoming a senior citizen.<br /> <br /> Beginning with words from the Book of Proverbs, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he", various approaches are presented to understanding the choices our heart implements during our daily living. "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is another guideline for study with emphasis on the last two words. <br /> <br /> Honesty is often defined as the ability, to tell the truth to others. Maturity is the ability, to tell the truth to ourselves and, therefore, often tends to be more challenging for many. Maturity becomes a major goal of the personal retreating process. <br /> <br /> Jim Cole's book Facades is used to demonstrate that healthy self-esteem needs a sense of belonging, having worth and value as well as having some competency.<br /> <br /> Development of our self-views is characterized by "children are the world's best recorders of their world and also the world's worst interpreters of it." The outcome is that many individuals make choices that are inaccurate and lead to unhappiness.
Nov 04, 202220:17
7.9 Invisible Pain

7.9 Invisible Pain

Invisible Pain

Finding a healthy balance to the joys and pains of living life is a continual process for most of us.  What is hurtful and painful to one person may or may not be the same for another or it may require a different degree to register.  We can often better understand and choose our responses to physical pain like a broken arm, cancer, strokes, etc.    Depression comes in many forms and degrees; it frequently appears to be invisible in the people around us.  Not understanding the diverse dynamics of depression or lacking the best vocabulary to convey the personal presence of depression, many in our society may choose to conceal their confused feelings and thoughts.  Concealment also prevents one from hearing useless phrases like get happy or advice like 'go and be around lots of people'.   Pain is pain whether it is visible to ourselves and others or whether it remains internal and invisible except to the most astute.  Recognizing the presence of invisible pain like depression allows us to decide on our personal responses to offer healthy and beneficial support. 
Oct 28, 202214:43
7.8 Who Am I? (Part Four)

7.8 Who Am I? (Part Four)

Who Am I? (Part Four)   One of the most frequent and powerful questions that an individual can ask him or herself during their life journey is:  Who Am I?   Who is the current 'me' and how is today different from some earlier age?  What choices shall I make for today which may alter my self-image in the future?   The questions for personal introspection tend to be endless.  Introspection is hard work!  We each eventually find what works for us.  Questions are presented in five different areas for each individual to ask themselves as they seek to honestly confront a unique and important question like:  'Who Am I?'   Sample introspective questions for five different areas of your life offered in this podcast are:  Your Parents, God, Write Your Own Obituary, Emotional and Physical Intimacy, Human Sexuality.  

 

Oct 21, 202218:17
7.7 Who Am I? (Part Three)

7.7 Who Am I? (Part Three)

<strong>Who Am I?</strong> (Part 3) Some of the most frequent and powerful questions that an individual can ask him are: Who Am I? Who is the current 'me' and how is today different from some earlier age? What decisions shall I choose for today which may alter my self-image in the future? The questions for personal introspection tend to be endless. Introspection is hard work. We each find what works for us. Sample questions are presented in five different areas for each individual to ask themselves as they seek to honestly confront a question like 'Who Am I?' Sample questions offered in this podcast are: Need for Privacy, Needing Others, Authority Figures, Our Body, Being Loved.
Oct 13, 202217:26
7.6 Who Am I? (Part Two)

7.6 Who Am I? (Part Two)

<strong>Who Am I? (Part Two)</strong> Wellness Psychology encourages us to explore the personal question of "Who Am I?". There are many ways for a person to experience this process of introspection. Using the multiple-question method that is similar to the personal retreat format, one can seek the answers to questions created to go beyond our surface traits. Questions can be entered in a personal journal, verbally shared with another person, or in some combination. Examples given in this podcast include topics: Possessions, Sources of Greatest Satisfaction, Weakness, Fundamental Attitudes Toward Others.
Oct 06, 202211:53
7.5 Who Am I? (Part One)

7.5 Who Am I? (Part One)

<strong>Who Am I?</strong> Wellness Psychology encourages us to explore the personal question of "Who Am I?". There are many ways for a person to experience this process of introspection. Using the multiple-question method that is similar to the personal retreat format, one can seek the answers to questions created to go beyond our surface traits. Questions can be entered in a personal journal, verbally shared with another person or in some combination. Examples given in this podcast include topics: Self Knowledge, Self-Description with Adjectives, 10-Statement Autobiography, and One Change in Self.
Sep 29, 202210:60
7.4 There Are No Trees At Sea (part 2)

7.4 There Are No Trees At Sea (part 2)

<strong>There Are No Trees At Sea (part 2) </strong> Who am I? How did I develop into the person I am? Who were the people and what were the major events that led me to make healthy and unhealthy choices which bring happiness or sadness into my current life? Am I ready to study and understand the internal compass that guides me when I enter the emotional fogs of daily living? How can I understand myself better and explore/experiment by choosing different emotions and/or behavior? Wellness Psychology encourages the exploration of diverse characteristics in ourselves as we choose who we wish to be. One is encouraged to choose the role of being the author of one's life rather than choosing to be a victim of life. Experiencing a personal retreat is one way for an individual to focus on four major aspects of life: emotional, physical, social and spiritual
Sep 22, 202222:31
7.3 There Are No Trees At Sea (part 1)

7.3 There Are No Trees At Sea (part 1)

<strong>There Are No Trees At Sea (part 1) </strong> Who am I? How did I develop into the person I am? Who were the people and what were the major events that led me to make healthy and unhealthy choices which bring happiness or sadness into my current life? Am I ready to study and understand the internal compass that guides me when I enter the emotional fogs of daily living? How can I understand myself better and explore/experiment by choosing different emotions and/or behavior? Wellness Psychology encourages the exploration of diverse characteristics in ourselves as we choose who we wish to be. One is encouraged to choose the role of being the author of ones life rather than choosing to be a victim of life. Experiencing a personal retreat is one way for an individual to focus on four major aspects of life: emotional, physical, social and spiritual
Sep 15, 202225:32
7.2 Life Risk Choices

7.2 Life Risk Choices

<strong>Life Risk Choices</strong> Wellness Psychology encourages us to accept that our choice to live life is accepting that this decision comes with some type and degree of risk. Living life is risky; each of us retains the option on how we manage these risks. Most of us conclude that the only completely risk-free path is when we die. We choose to accept risk when we take ownership of our life and do not give our power of making personal choices to others.
Sep 09, 202212:10
7.1 Framing My Gift of Life

7.1 Framing My Gift of Life

<strong>Framing My Gift of Life</strong> The personal power that we each have to frame our gift of life is truly awesome! While there are some aspects of this gift for which we have no control, there are so many others where we do get to make individual choices to make the most of this gift that we have been given. A thought that may be of value for each of us to ponder in deciding the daily direction we choose to point our viewpoints for living: I cannot change the beginning of my life. I can begin today to determine how it will be at the end.
Sep 02, 202213:00
Mid-Season Bonus: Can I Help Others With Their Needs, Not Mine?

Mid-Season Bonus: Can I Help Others With Their Needs, Not Mine?

<strong>Can I Help Others With Their Needs, Not Mine?</strong><br /> <br /> Your host pays a repeat visit to "Hello Henry" on WBT, AM 1110, in Charlotte, NC, before his move to the Atlanta area in Georgia. <br /> <br /> This conversation with Henry Bogan is primarily responding to individuals who call into the radio station to share their questions about relationships with others. One question encourages a person to ponder their own reasons and needs when they plan to 'help' others who have declined an offer of assistance. It is often difficult to effectively and positively relate with others until we have learned to relate healthfully with ourselves. <br /> <br /> As is frequently the point within wellness psychology, the challenge remains for each of us to learn from one's own inner voices (values, beliefs, experiences, etc.) rather than rely so heavily on the what others tell us is the 'best' for us on how to think, feel and behave as we choose how to live life.
Jul 24, 202231:38
6.20 Same Messages, Different Words

6.20 Same Messages, Different Words

<strong>Same Messages, Different Words</strong> Most of us wish to communicate effectively with others. To accomplish this goal, we often use the same core of our beliefs, values, attitudes, and experiences. Like an artist who can convey artistic viewpoints using different mediums or a pastor who chooses to focus on varied aspects of his/her faith, a psychologist will use his knowledge and experiences within a certain framework/philosophy to assist others with making healthy life choices. Wellness Psychology is the framework of choice for this Power for Positive Living and Friendship podcast series. This psychologist, like the artist and pastor, conveys the same message on the power of personal choice in different podcasts while choosing to focus on Wellness Psychology using a variety of words. The power of the listener to decide what role these messages/words will play in living his/her gift of life remains an individual choice.
Feb 11, 202214:41
6.19 Conversational Boundaries

6.19 Conversational Boundaries

Conversational Boundaries

While some persons thrive on the conflict of participating in culture wars, we can choose alternate paths for ourselves. Handling the stresses of diversity in our society can be a challenge, but is always a personal choice.

Feb 04, 202207:38
6.18 Conversational Rituals

6.18 Conversational Rituals

<strong>Conversational Ritual and Boundaries</strong> Do we really listen or do we rely on the ritualized behaviors of greetings? Are we content with "just fine" or are we willing to invest more energy and time to hear more from others?
Jan 28, 202212:25
6.17 Do I Want A Real Conversation?

6.17 Do I Want A Real Conversation?

<strong>Do I Want A Real Conversation?</strong> <strong> </strong> Most of us spend much of our awake-time talking with other people. If one is ever exploring the questions associated with feelings of loneliness, one helpful way is to consider what makes a conversation with others 'real'. We can also explore the degree of 'connection' we wish to have with others and for them to have with us. Do we need to explore how much of our talking/conversation is scripted and repeated by rote or do we wish to have deeper 'original' content for our dialogues to be 'real'?
Jan 21, 202214:37
6.16 Do We Understand Each Other?

6.16 Do We Understand Each Other?

<strong>Do We Understand Each Other?</strong> Effective human communication remains one of the major challenges we each face during our Life Journey. The assumptions and expectations that each of us personally takes into a dialogue with another have a powerful effect on whether our communication is successful. Seeking to understand our own ways of "broadcasting" to others is as critical as being able to tune into the other person's choice of channels for listening.
Jan 14, 202216:57
6.15 What Is A Positive Attitude?

6.15 What Is A Positive Attitude?

What Is A Positive Attitude?

Using various emotional tools like a positive-view camera or a positive magnifying glass, we each make choices on how we see various aspects of our world and the people in it.  What we choose to see generally will translate into the attitudes we develop.

Jan 07, 202212:10
6.14 Mourning Our Loss of Yesterday

6.14 Mourning Our Loss of Yesterday

Mourning Our Loss of Yesterday

Life seems to be a constant parade of gain and loss.  Many cannot fully appreciate their present-day choices since they are still focusing on an inability to let go of their past.  Yesterday is gone as are any changes we wish to make about it.    We hopefully can learn from the assets and liabilities of living our personal history, but any change whether positive or negative for the future will be a result of choices we make today.  Wishing for any change in our past is almost certain to be a stressor in some degree for our current and future mental health.
Dec 31, 202113:00
6.13 Opportunity Learning with Deprivation

6.13 Opportunity Learning with Deprivation

Opportunity Learning with Deprivation

Much of our daily life is lived by implementing the choices we have made during previous days.  We tend to accept these situations as normal and they become our personal habits in thoughts, feelings and behaviors.    There are times when we are deprived of what we consider normal and have the opportunity to make new choices from our habitual patterns.  What we choose to learn and implement with changes from periods of deprivation can be informative and provide opportunities.   We are unique individuals and each will decide what these deprivation experiences teach us. 
Dec 24, 202113:15