Dr. Shoshanna discusses how to end loneliness

Choices is pleased to host Dr. Brenda  Shoshanna on her WOW! Women on Writing book tour of  The Unshakeable Road to Love (Value Centered Relationships). Dr. Shoshanna has also honored us with a guest post about how to end loneliness. Here's Dr. Shoshanna:                                           THE END OF LONELINESS                                                by Brenda Shoshanna, Ph.d. Living as Strangers to Ourselves and Others   So many of us live as strangers to ourselves and others, then we wonder why we feel so alone. Rather than communicate truly we hide our true thoughts, speak in riddles, give double messages and think we’ve had a conversation. But we haven’t. It is also rare to truly listen. Most of the time we pay most attention to our own thoughts and responses to what is being said. These kinds of conversations block out what is really being said. They create conflict, power struggles, disappointment,  and we end up seeing ourselves as separate and … [Read more...]

Writing a memoir – a mixed bag

There are so many lessons for all of us in Joan Rough's story about her relationship with her mother. My mother was always difficult and got much more so after my father died and as she aged. I never thought of her critical treatment of me as abuse, but surely it was, and I, like Joan, need to find forgiveness and move on. Thank you Joan for being my guest here on Choices today and for relating your thoughts on writing your memoir - indeed, writing a memoir is a mixed bag because it stirs so much up. I can't wait for ME, MYSELF, AND MOM: A Journey through Love, Hate, and Healing to come out so I can read it. Down and Up, Writing Memoir By Joan Z. Rough Writing memoir can a mixed bag. It can fill us with laughter or bring tears of sadness.  It can remind us of joyful times, or the anger and terror we have forgotten about ¦ sometimes on purpose.  For me, it was a revisitation of those moments when I felt helpless, hopeless and alone. When I began writing ME, MYSELF, AND MOM: A … [Read more...]