Happy New Year! I like to send my New Year’s greeting to my subscribers during the SECOND week of the year. Why? Because everyone does it around January 1st, and it’s easy for all the “New Year Resolution/Make This Year Best Year Yet” messages to get mixed up. As inspiring and valuable as material from … Read more
Happy December! How are those New Year’s Resolutions working out for you? You know, the ones that you had in January, almost a year ago? Do you remember what they were? Did you make any? Did you have goals for this year? Did you reach those goals? The other day, I reviewed my Goals List … Read more
Happy Halloween! Here is an essay that I wrote a while back on my favorite horror film, “The Exorcist” (1973), now celebrating its 40th anniversary: ******************************************** “The Exorcist” (1973) [SPOILER ALERT BELOW} My favorite horror film of all time is William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist”, directed by William Friedkin (1973). It is now celebrating its … Read more
On Gay Men and Father’s Day: Frankly, this day (Father’s Day) is a tough day for me. I grew up pretty severely emotionally abused by an angry father who raged at the world in fury, bitterness, resentment, and despair, pretty much every day, at having a gay son — and holding me responsible for … Read more
Happy Pride! Frankly, this year, it couldn’t come soon enough. In my private practice specializing in gay men’s therapy and life/career coaching for 20 years, I’ve noticed that what happens in the political and social world very often affects the individual mental health and emotional state of my clients. When the Republican primary candidates relentlessly … Read more
Valentine’s Day, for all its lovely sentiment, is perhaps one of the most divisive holidays of the year. Everyone can enjoy New Year’s; every American can enjoy President’s Day (thankfully coming up very soon) and Independence Day; we each have a birthday. But Valentine’s Day is a “holiday for lovers”, and many single people can end … Read more
Happy New Year! In the January issue of my e-newsletter, “Self-Empowerment: Have the Life You Want!”, I’ll be discussing how to set your goals for 2011 to feel empowered to make the positive changes in your life that you want to see over the next 12 months. Sign up now on my home page to … Read more
I was driving with the radio on the other day, and a holiday ad came on that started with, “Have you been naughty or nice this year?” My first reaction was, “Hmmmmm. Define ‘naughty’.” And then I got to thinking: Just how DO we assess our own personal ethics for the year? Have I been … Read more
I love Halloween. Maybe it’s because of the theatricality of it, with costumes and props, or maybe it’s because of my addiction to chocolate. Author Peg Aloi, an expert on Pagan holidays, explains that Halloween, or “Samhain” as it is sometimes called (which means “summer’s end”), is observed as a celebration of the last harvest … Read more
While the holiday season can be a time of great fun and festive celebrations all over town for you and your friends or family, for many gay men it can be a time of increased stress. These holiday stressors can include: Not having a partner at a particularly “romantic” time of year Having family visiting … Read more
