July 28, 2026- It is clear that being a responsible person does pay off in life. Being a responsible person means you take responsibility for decisions you make that may or not work out as planned or happen to us because of our decisions to do or not do something. It means being honest and doing what you say you will do. You take care of things you do as basic as cleaning up a mess in the kitchen to being a truthful person to all, a reliable parent, partner and friend. This is said recognizing all of us have flaws and do not always live up to being as responsible as we could be. With that said, the goal is that we try to be as responsible as possible. One current problem area would be owing large amounts of money after getting a college degree that does not offer you a good job you would desire because the degree you chose to earn did not teach the training and skills needed in the workplace. It is very difficult because you have all this education and often owe a lot of money. Rather than being angry at the school or persons who may have advised you to get your degree, you need to recognize you did make the decision and now you need to make decisions that will lead to a good vocation and the type of income you need or desire. Another example is the frustrated person who never got around to picking up any particular skills and is unhappy at the job they have with small income. My advice is not to be upset about not having a career and a good income, but rather seek out a career now you desire and get the necessary training. We can find problems from bad decisions ranging from not being responsible as a parent or spouse to not cutting the grass as you promised. Positive outcomes of being responsible for one’s own decisions include good self-esteem and self-respect, respect from others, good relationships with partners, children, family, friends, and acquaintances, not being a burden to others, doing things that need to be done and not bothering others, placing the needs of others above your own as appropriate and at times needed, consistent behaviors and attitudes, being reliable, telling the truth in all relationships, solution oriented decision-making, not blaming others, listening and trying to understand the views of others, and generally being an honest person who can be trusted in all circumstances. I again indicate human beings are not perfect. There are times that we will fail, but the goal is to be as responsible as we can be in all dealings with others and ourselves. Happiness and satisfaction are the result of good decision-making in our lives. We in effect are the reflection of the decisions we make and the resulting life we lead. #PersonalResponsibility #Accountability #PersonalGrowth

August 11, 2026- Because of my regularly doing psychological evaluations pertaining to spinal cord stimulators to help reduce pain, I am often talking to people who are in chronic pain and seeking relief. Also because I have treated persons to offer mental health suggestions on how to overcome chronic pain, I am aware that large numbers of persons have had to find ways to cope with pain as best they can resulting from arthritis, osteoporosis, sciatica, slipped discs, fibromyalgia, neuropathy, migraine headaches, or any other situation that causes chronic pain. Chronic pain is that type of pain that never fully leaves you. It may vary from day-to-day, but is always there. How persons individually cope with pain on a regular basis depends on the person and the pain they are dealing with as well as their ability and desire to find mental health techniques to help to go along with any pain medications they are prescribed. Finding and maintaining effective mental health strategies to overcome pain have become more important as we as a society realize that many pain medications are leading to addictions by persons in pain. The important thing to remember is that giving in to the pain is never acceptable because the end result will be anxiety, depression and worse pain. Mental health strategies to try to ameliorate pain and maintain gains that one has obtained through pain management would include positive affirmations that reinforce/support your strategies for pain management, realistic goals you remember as you deal with your pain, keeping track of your progress for reinforcement/encouragement, see going backwards as something that can occur but to always try to move forward, change goals based on the reality of your circumstances, accept challenges and difficulties will occur and try to resolve them as they come up as best you can, accept there are times you will need help and ask for it, a strong sense of spirituality can also be helpful, do progressive relaxation, deep breathing, and self hypnosis to help reduce pain, anxiety and depression when the pain is strong and is hard to cope with, reward yourself as you continue on your road to maintaining your ability to fight your pain as best you can, and possibly seeking out a therapist experienced in pain management to help you as you mentally try strategies to help ameliorate your chronic pain and maintain it. My final point is that chronic pain is something horrible to deal with day in and day out and any mental health strategy that can be used to help eliminate it and maintain pain relief needs to be considered and tried.

July 21, 2026- Transitions are an important part of our lives. They are those times in our lives that can be
exhilarating but can cause great emotional pain resulting in anxiety and depression. How we
deal with them has a lot to do with the level of satisfaction and happiness we will have in our
lives. Transitions would include death of someone we really care for, job changes by choice or
necessity, changing job requirements, divorce, marriage, parenting, buying and moving into a
home, falling in love, financial stress, incarceration, and moving to a new location. Some of
these transitions are by choice such as buying a house or taking a new job, but they can be
stressful transitions we need to learn to adapt. Situations like death of a loved one, being fired,
needing to move to a new location or a divorce are transitions that can be exceptionally difficult
and devastating to a person as they experience them. Regardless of whether the transition is
sought or thrown upon us, the following ways to deal with natural transitions that we all
encounter as we live our lives would include accepting the reality that transitions always occur in
our lives, recognize and accept they are occurring and adapt to them as fast as possible, have
realistic expectations of what to expect, develop a support system as needed, keep yourself in
good physical and mental health, recognize good decisions made now will lead to a better
outcome in the future of whatever transition you are experiencing, and never stop trying to move
forward in life as best as possible. An important thing to remember is transitions will always
occur in our life regardless of what plans we make to not have them occur. The death of a loved
one, being divorced or being fired from a job are things one cannot plan for appropriately and
can lead to great distress. Before these things occur, it is important persons think about how
they will react to such possible transitions, and even if they become overwhelmed, realize they
will survive. How well they survive will depend on their attitude and behaviors. Pretending they
will not occur and not planning for them will lead to greater devastation for the transitions we
have not sought and which can be so damaging psychologically. It also is true transitions we
desire can have some potential negative outcomes. Persons may be excited about taking a new
job, but when in it may question their capabilities and somehow may be focusing on what they
liked about their past job. A person who has always wanted to move to another city may enjoy
living there, but then can feel lonely or lost in the adapting to an unknown city loaded with
unknown people and activities going on that are the normal parts of a city. Something to
remember is that transitions are difficult under the best of circumstances and it is important to
accept this. Try to have a plan to deal with them as they occur. I have given you some
suggestions but trying to see most transitions as opportunities for resolution rather than
overwhelming problems is a good place to try to change your outlook on life transitions.