Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts I’ve written before about learning– about how doing anything new, for the first time, feels awkward and uncomfortable. However, with time and with practice, things that previously seemed difficult become easy, or second nature. The first time we drive a car it feels impossibly complicated, but with practice, it feels natural. This observation– that things that were difficult become...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts When I talk to patients about making changes, people will often tell me things are still the same because "I'm lazy." While there are certainly lazy people in the world, the excuse of laziness is often wrong. I do not believe people are lying to me, but when I am told that something hasn't happened because of laziness, it's rarely accurate. Lazy means unwilling to work or use energy....
18 days ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts Yoda famously said, “The greatest teacher, failure is.” When we deprive ourselves of failure, we deprive ourselves of the most powerful lessons life offers us. And yet, we often shy away from action because of our fear of failure. We see the possibility of failure as the greatest risk we face. Our concern for this risk– the risk of failure– often drives our decision-making. But our...
25 days ago • 4 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts A common truism is that life isn’t about having all the answers but rather about asking the right questions. Maybe we should take this as a starting point for thinking about change in the new year. What if we took the idea of setting a new direction or making a new plan for the year and turned it on its head? What if, instead, we became highly focused and intentional about our...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts I’ll admit I have a lot of mixed thoughts about using the New Year as an occasion to make change. On the one hand, I’m deeply interested in, and a big believer in the importance of self-reflection and thoughtful decision making regarding our life choices. To the extent that we engage in this type of work on the occasion of the New Year, I’m a fan. But I also am a keen observer of our...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts For many people, the holidays are great. Getting together with family and friends, taking time off work, exchanging gifts– the whole thing fills some people with joy– but not all of us. Unfortunately, the expectation is that everyone will be filled with joy. This expectation can be difficult to navigate. The expectations that we carry are often unrealistic, and so when they are not...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts A couple weeks ago, I wrote about key virtues– what are the most important virtues we carry. I’d like to focus on one virtue today: courage. I understand courage best as acting in spite of our fear. I think this is important, because having courage is not about being fearless. Instead, it is about choosing the right path even though we are afraid. In order to be courageous, we have to...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts I had a conversation at a family function over Thanksgiving. “I have total freedom,” the person said to me. “I get to wake up in the morning, every day, and do whatever I want. There’s nothing planned.” I contrasted that to my own life. I am not free – I hold myself to meditation and yoga before the day gets started, and then am obligated by patient appointments, meetings, and family....
2 months ago • 3 min read
Doc’s Thoughts Broaden your perspective. Live a happy, healthy, meaningful life. Subscribe to Doc's Thoughts Virtue is a quality or trait that is morally good, desirable, or admirable. It reflects a standard of behavior that aligns with ethical principles, contributing to personal character and the well-being of society. Virtues represent ideals that guide us in our interactions with others and in how we live our lives. It is the ideal to which we morally strive. Religions, philosophies, and...
2 months ago • 2 min read