The Monkey Trap: Reflecting on the New Year

The tale of how to catch a monkey can be found in many works including mindfulness guru John Kabat-Zinn’s book Full Catastrophe Life and American philosopher Robert M. Pirsig’s work Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. And although the details sometimes vary, the moral remains the same. You catch a monkey by carving a … More The Monkey Trap: Reflecting on the New Year

LJ <3’s Peter: 3 Takeaways from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

My last blog post was about a rom-com and this one is going to be too. Am I revealing too much about myself as a therapist and lifting the Freudian psychoanalytical veil by obviously exposing my love of rom-coms? Oh well. Netflix hit gold this summer by investing in the mid-budget rom-com that has fallen … More LJ <3’s Peter: 3 Takeaways from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Crazy Rich Asians: Calm, collected decision making

Crazy Rich Asians topped the box office for the second weekend in a row and has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film adaptation of the book by the same name is creating quite the buzz for several reasons including featuring a mostly Asian cast and putting Rom-Coms back on top.  Although the book … More Crazy Rich Asians: Calm, collected decision making

Tell Siri Goodnight

In the recently released Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams, a machine can provide each character the key to their individual happiness, often in the form of a simple, seemingly inconsequential suggestion, like “eat more honey,” or “move your desk next to a window.” This central premise allows the novel to discuss our relationships … More Tell Siri Goodnight

Hulk Smash: Why we keep seeing the Avengers movies

Superhero movies have taken over. Avengers Infinity War was recently released making it the 19th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That is, this is the 19th movie in the last 10 years focusing on the same characters. There have been three Spider man reboots in the last 14 years as well.  So what is … More Hulk Smash: Why we keep seeing the Avengers movies

I’ve got 99 problems and they are all made up in my head.

Jay-z rapped the OG 99 problems lyric, but in 2013 Bill Murray perhaps made it more relatable to all of us. I say the above statement at least once a day to myself. This is because everyday, like everyone else, I am thrust out into the world and have to deal with the tedious efforts … More I’ve got 99 problems and they are all made up in my head.

3 reasons we can’t seem to agree and what to do about it

The 3 reasons: We get our information from completely different sources. No matter where you get your news from, if the person to your immediate right gets theirs from a different source, chances are you are not going to agree on the hot topic issues currently being discussed in the news. Vanessa Otero created the … More 3 reasons we can’t seem to agree and what to do about it

Broken Perceptions: A picture is worth a thousand words

Recently I was very excited to find a Christmas picture from my childhood. I was so excited about this picture that I shared it with my father. He was, however, less pleased with the photo. While for me, this picture brought back fabulous memories of a happy childhood and celebrating my favorite holiday, for my … More Broken Perceptions: A picture is worth a thousand words