Archive for October 2022

If someone says to me, “The Yankees are the greatest team in baseball,” and I’m a Pirates fan, I want to defend my team. However, if I go about that and I say, “You’re wrong. I can’t believe how wrong you are. You’re so incredibly foolish, how could you even think a thing? The Yankees…

Most people want to be agreeable and well liked. The challenge becomes when our desire to be liked and agreeable interferes with or supersedes our ability to set healthy boundaries.   One thing I find myself saying over and over again to my more passive clients in my therapy and coaching sessions is: “Stop giving…

Usually when we think of communication, we think of a spectrum from passive to aggressive. The question then becomes, what does it mean to be passive aggressive? In short, being passive aggressive is a form of communication where the sender of the message does so in a way that is backhanded, rude, covert, or condescending.…

As a professional therapist, I realize that a lot of people’s stress in life stems from an inability to assertively express themselves. Therefore, I end up teaching a good amount of effective communication skills. Still, the truth is that I can teach all the technical skills in the world and all that doesn’t mean squat…

As a society, we try to redefine assertive communication so that communication is more equitable and diverse populations are less marginalized and more respected.    In 2018, Serena Williams vehemently challenged a call of the umpire at the U.S. Open. The supposed infraction was getting “coached” from the sidelines (which historically gets called more often…

In Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” (my favorite book of all time) he talks about how “everyone is right from their own perspective,” so why argue against it? He also mentions, “you can win more friends in two months taking a genuine interest in others than you can in two…