James Taylor and Carole King at the Troubadour: PBS Special

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Have you seen the current PBS special where James Taylor and Carole King play together live at the Troubadour?  They are joined by 3 band members from the 70’s: Russel Kunkel, Lee Sklar and Danny Korchmar.

Peter Asher introduced James Taylor to Paul McCartney and George Harrison. The song, “Something in the Way She Moves” was played to these Beatles, and James Taylor was immediately signed to Apple Records.  James spoke fondly about this as a breakthrough moment in his career.

This PBS program means to much to me…I grew up listening to the James Taylor albums, learning to play his songs on my guitar, trying to copy his  style of finger-picking.  Fire and Rain, Blossom, Country Road, and so many of the songs he played in this PBS special inspired me to grab my guitar again and play these songs.

What a treat to watch these music legends singing together, harmonizing, and enjoying playing music like it was 40 years ago.  Their voices still beautiful….their spirit of joy and pleasure still there.

You may want to also donate to PBS, to keep amazing shows like this still broadcasting. Can you imagine a world without James Taylor, Carole King, and PBS?  I certainly feel blessed that my life was enhanced by experiencing these gifts during my lifetime.

As a licensed psychotherapist, I have encouraged my patients  to listen to music as an adjunct to therapy.  When  you feel down, give your favorite tunes a chance to be heard, and see how it can lift your spirits!

 

Feeling Helpless? 3 Tips for Empowerment and Self Confidence

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At times, do you feel powerless or helpless? Do feelings of despair creep in during the day? Are you in a situation that feels to have no solution?

The purpose of this article is to present a simple approach to handling feelings of helplessness, so that you can easily devise a step-by-step approach to empowerment and decisive action.

Tip #1:  Check into your family history and  beliefs. Did you grow up in a family where your parents felt dominated or pessimistic?  Did your parents discourage you from asserting your opinion or your power? Did the family system ascribe to the belief that it is better to eat cold soup at a restaurant, rather than to send it back to be re-heated?  If yes to any of the above, perhaps you may need some help from a trusted friend or a licensed psychotherapist in order to better evaluate your perception of helplessness. It may be your own resistance to addressing an issue that gets in the way.  Ask for some help to be more comfortable being assertive.

Tip #2: If your situation is very challenging, evaluate if your feelings of despair are being “clamped down” by unexpressed anger. There are situations in which a little healthy anger, expressed in a safe and healthy manner, can energize a person to take action.  When anger is not expressed, depression and despair can take over.

Tip #3: Do your research. If you are feeling helpless, powerless, or discouraged, seek information. There are very few situations that have absolutely no solution. By brainstorming creative approaches, you may be happily surprised to find a simple solution was always there, waiting to be discovered and implemented.

Hopefully, your next bout of helpless or despair can be rapidly transformed into a powerful strategy  for decisive action!

 

Ellen Degeneres and Oscar: The New Casual Academy Awards

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I watched the 2014 Academy Awards recently with a bit of detached objectivity. There was a time when Jack Lemon, Judy Garland, Gregory Peck, Fred Astair, Ginger Rogers, Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen (yes, there was a great actor with that name) and many more of that era would gracefully appear at the Academy Awards with an air of grandeur.

Last year, Jennifer Lawrence tripped on her way to accept her award. There were jokes about her chance to trip again. Ellen Degeneres, the host of the show, offered to bring the award to her if she wins to avert another tripping episode.

During the 2014  Academy Awards, the host brought in a pizza delivery guy, who had no idea he would be on camera,  to serve pizza to the stars.  It seems that Ellen Degeneres’ strategy for humor was to juxtapose the grandeur of the Oscar ceremony with the down to earth, casual moment of pizza delivery.

Yes, it did work to create a laugh, as we watched Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep grab for a slice of pizza while dressed in fancy gowns. Perhaps the moment of tension emerged around the thought, “will they drip tomato sauce on their fancy dresses?”

I do remember Grace Kelly at the Academy Awards. Never could I imagine her grabbing a slice of pizza  out of a square delivery box during such an elegant program. I watched Sidney Poitier at the show, and felt sad as he looked a bit frail with age.  However, he still had an aura of  grace and charm.  I imagine that he never would never grab for a slice of pizza during an Oscar broadcast.

What does this sociological change mean for our world?  I am not sure.  I listened to an interview where a man said that making movies is a very unglamorous job, with a dirty stage and long hours. One day a year, they get dressed up to enjoy the glamour of the profession. While I appreciate the joy and down to earth style of this years’ host, I wonder what this trend says about our world, and the loss of the  formal glamour of the night that was once  the Academy Awards evening.  I must admit, I miss the grandeur.

Intimacy, Love, Anger: 3 Tips for Healthy Relationships

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What are 3 Tips for Healthy Communication in Intimate Relationships When You Feel Anger?

Close relationships usually bring up strong feelings, such as joy, peace, anger, hurt, fear, and sadness.  How do we manage feelings that come up in intimate relationships?

It may be helpful to think of feelings in the context of “categories” and “intensities”. For example, broad categories of feelings might be anger, sadness and fear. If you feel anger, notice the intensity of your anger.  For example, do you feel a little annoyed, or are you furious? If you feel sadness, are you a little down, or are you feeling devastated? If you feel fear, are you a little nervous, or are you terrified?  With all the prior examples, you could also be feeling in the mid-range of intensity of the feelings.

Have you  noticed that if you feel anger and then express it, you may then get in touch with some other feelings? If yes, what might those feeling be that lurk beneath anger?

Let’s use a simple example: If you are planning to meet your “significant other” at a restaurant for dinner, and he or she forgets to show up, how would you feel?

If this is an unusual event, you would be likely feel worried or concerned about their health or safety. However, if your partner has a pattern of not showing up for another reason, you may likely feel anger.  If you only communicate the anger, and fail to communicate the other feelings, you may be missing a chance to develop a closer relationship. On the other hand, the uncovering of the motivation for the lack of showing up could be a reason to re-evaluate the relationship. Here are some communication tips.

Tip #1 : Given the example above, as you are sitting in the restaurant alone waiting for your partner to show up, ask yourself, “What am I feeling?”

Tip #2: If you feel anger, ask yourself, “What else could I be feeling under the anger?” (Could it be sadness, anxiety, or something else?)

Tip #3:  Learn a “Language of Solutions”: Learn to name your emotions that may be hidden under the anger. For example, you may feel hurt, discounted, invalidated and dismissed in the example above. You may feel anxious or fearful in your current relationship. Learning to articulate your emotions, and request a change in behavior may be the first step toward clarity in your relationship.

 

“The Sedona Method” from 1985: Deal With Feelings in a Healthy Way

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I became a licensed psychotherapist in 1983, and when I moved back to  New York in 1984, a friend invited me to take “The Sedona Method”. I already had 2 Masters Degrees….one in Genetic Counseling, and the other in Clinical Social Work. I was always open for more learning.

Initially, when asked to take the course, I was not that eager, because a few months prior, someone had invited me to take the “Forum”, a new incarnation of “EST”. The Forum was a very long all weekend program, taught with 200 people in a room, with instructors who appeared to be angry and aggressive. The teaching style actually seemed hostile. I discovered later that one goal of the Forum in 1985 was to teach people to be “responsible”.  Since I was always a very responsible and mature person, the course was useless for me, and a waste of my time and money.

With some reticence after that experience, but with an enthusiastic recommendation from a friend, I signed up for “The Sedona Method”, which was very different from the Forum, in the realm of the concept of “control issues”.

I used the word, “control”, because one of the teachings of the Sedona Method dealt with the feelings that come up around control issues.  “Releasing the need for the feeling of control” is one of the hallmark processes.  As an example, if you are stuck in traffic, and are feeling angry because you cannot change the traffic issue, the Sedona Institute teaching from 1985 provided a method to “release” the anger on the surface, in order to connect with the feelings of fear or sadness below. As a Licensed Psychotherapist, I knew that the Sedona Method, with its gentle technique of teaching 8 people around a conference table, was using instruction that was gentle and respected the feelings of the students.

While I felt that the Forum of 1985 taught how to repress feelings and rationalize feeldings, the Sedona Method of 1985 taught how to identify the feeling and release it.

Lester Levinson created the original Sedona Method, and I am so grateful that I took the original course. I have listened to some of the conference calls for people who are claiming to teach Lester Levinson’s course, but it is not something that provides value to me, or that I can recommend.  It is very different from the original method. In my opinion, it is sad that the original “Sedona Institute” is no longer around. If someone knows how to find the original program, please let me know.

There is an expression, “What we resist, persists”.  Denying  a problem or feeling can result in depression, or destructive behavior. In my professional opinion, we cannot heal a feeling unless we are aware of it. The original “Sedona Method” taught the graduates to gently allow feelings into awareness, in order to deal with them appropriately.

Action Tips:

1) Ask yourself, “What am I feeling now?”

2) If you are feeling angry, allow yourself to feel the feeling completely. Then ask yourself if you might be sad or fearful under the anger.

3) If you are feeling afraid or sad, notice if you are trying to deny or rationalize it away. Then try to actually feel the feelings, or do some journal writing about your feelings.

I thank the Sedona Institute of 1985 for teaching people to manage their feelings in a healthy manner, and hope that someday, this original method of teaching will be available again.

 

NBC, CNBC, NBR..A Humorous View of “NEXT…BUT FIRST…”

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What role do mainstream media have in modeling proper communication and language skills?

My name is Ellen Anmuth MS, MSW, LCSW – Licensed Psychotherapist, Genetic Counselor and Founder/Creator of “The Language Of Solutions”, a wellness and communication/conflict resolution training program.

This new blog, www.TheLanguageOfSolutions.net, was created in order to focus attention on communication skills enhancement. Will the continual  improper use of grammar and language by major television networks causes a further deterioration of linguistic skills in America?

I have a personal fondness for NBC. My uncle,who passed away recently, had a long career with the news department at NBC in New York.  He got me tickets to see Saturday Night Live in 1975, the Christmas Show with Candace Bergen as the guest host. I felt so fortunate to see the original cast live…such treasured actors as Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris and Chevy Chase.

I have the utmost respect  for NBC News. Therefore, I will attempt this article with some humor and kindness, and with the serious message of request that NBC News make some changes in the mis-use of the English Language. Could NBC’s repeated incorrect use of English  be teaching its viewers to speak incorrectly?

There is a Saturday Night Live bit called “Really”, where Seth Meyers goes on a rant about an issue. (Amy Poehler had done the segment with him when she was still on the show.) Here is my attempt at the SNL bit:

I watched NBR (Nightly Business Report produced by CNBC) last night, and heard Tyler Mathisen say the phrase, “Next……, but FIRST……”  REALLY, TYLER?  I enjoy NBR, and watch often.  I am a frequent viewer of  CNBC and value the excellent stock market reporting.  But REALLY, Tyler…..“Next” means directly after. Why would you keep saying “NEXT….BUT FIRST….”?.  This makes you look  a bit ignorant, as if  you forgot the definition of “Next”, which means “immediately following in time, order, importance, etc….. the next day; the next person in line, nearest or adjacent in place or position: the next room.”

Tyler, the word “next” really means, NEXT. Let’s say you are NEXT in line at the DMV waiting to get a new photo for your drivers license, and the person at the desk says, YOU ARE NEXT, BUT FIRST, LET’S HAVE THE PERSON BEHIND YOU COME TO THE DESK NOW. How would you feel, Tyler? REALLY!

Ok, I am not a SNL writer, but NBC, you get the point. Are the NBC writers of NBR placing this odd language in Tyler Mathisen’s mouth, because there are no commercials, and this is a flawed attempt at making demarcations to keep viewers glued to the set? The viewers are not that stupid, in my opinion. This technique is just plain annoying to intelligent adults as a failed ploy to keep us viewing, and for kids, it is likely to confuse  them on how to speak properly.

This  leads me to a previous concern which has perplexed me for years. NBC’s TODAY SHOW writers have the hosts say before commercial break,  “WE’RE BACK IN A MINUTE”.  The contraction “we’re” translates into “WE ARE”, which is a present moment expression. The future tense is “WE WILL BE BACK” in a minute. Are there any grammar experts out there who can set the record straight on this issue?

NBC…I am not picking on you. I just watch you more than other TV networks. Perhaps the readers of this blog could remark on the comment section below, and let us know of other TV shows or networks also botching the English language. Hopefully, we may bring attention and change to this problem of the mainstream media modeling and teaching poor language skills….REALLY!