Posts tagged with 'friendship'
Personal social networks (3rd post): assessing how we're doing
8th March 2017
If you'd like to clarify and potentially look after your personal social network better, a good place to start is to chart it. You can download a simple blank chart here either in Word doc or PDF format. Filling in the whole "Personal community map" can take a good hour …
Personal social networks (2nd post): the sympathy group & the full active network
7th March 2017
I recently wrote a blog post on "Personal social networks (1st post): Dunbar's 5-15-50-150 model". I emphasised the huge importance of our social networks for improving life expectancy, protecting against psychological disorders, and boosting our happiness & wellbeing. What's not to like?! I went on to introduce Robin Dunbar's work …
Personal social networks (1st post): Dunbar's 5-15-50-150 model
6th March 2017
Relationships are immensely important for both our health and our wellbeing ... for how long we live, our resilience to psychological stress, and for our levels of happiness & life satisfaction. This is crucially relevant for pretty much all of us. The post "Strong relationships improve survival as much as …
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - aspects of self-compassion
29th January 2017
I've woken early. Lying here I feel an unfamiliar hollow pressure in my gut. What is this? Fear? Anxiety? Tension? "Tense apprehension" seems to fit. I'm lying here in the early hours of the morning, a hollow tense apprehension in my belly. And it isn't surprising. Pretty normal in fact …
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - goals and journey
28th January 2017
I'm due to donate a kidney soon, and I have been writing about what's involved - see "Kidney donation: why it's well worth considering", "Kidney donation: what are the risks?" and "Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - values are central". Primarily these posts are for other donors, …
European Positive Psychology conference: 3rd day - prioritizing positivity, befriending, compassion genetics, & transcendence
1st July 2016
I wrote yesterday about the "European Positive Psychology conference: better 2nd day - culture, use of strengths, loving-kindness, education & passion". This third day was also full to bursting with intriguing presentations. Barbara Fredrickson gave the 9.00am keynote on "Why prioritize positivity?". Barbara is a bit of a star of …
Learning about aging from a trip South visiting friends
12th October 2015
Catero, my wife, and I are just back from four days in the South visiting friends. We're blessed with some lovely friendships but, partly because most of us live pretty busy lives, it's easy not to see people who live quite far away for months or even years. A while …
Therapeutic alliance ruptures/tensions: description, frequency, causes & effects
11th July 2013
I wrote a blog post yesterday entitled "Therapeutic alliance ruptures: common, very challenging & a key area for increasing therapist (and personal) helpfulness". I think this area is so important that I'd like to spend additional time exploring it more thoroughly. I want to clarify what we mean by an …
"Therapeutic alliance ruptures": common, very challenging & a key area for increasing therapist (and personal) helpfulness
10th July 2013
We had another of our small peer Emotion-Focused Therapy supervision/practice groups yesterday evening. Half a dozen of us were able to make it. We'd agreed we would look particularly at "therapeutic alliance ruptures" at this meeting. As a doctor, I can't help finding the term "alliance rupture" rather giggle-inducing. I …
The "Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs" scale: a helpful contribution to self-determination and wellbeing assessment
16th February 2013
I'm a big fan of Self-Determination Theory (S-DT). For me it's one of the best ways into understanding flourishing and wellbeing. I use the ideas all the time in my work and in my life. The fine S-DT website at Rochester University in the States gives vast amounts more information. …