And just like that, Pesach is only one short day away. Between the cleaning, list-making, shopping, and cooking, the question of what Nissan is really about may have slipped into the back of your mind. Like every time in the Jewish year, there are different themes that we can tap into to help us connect to that time. When the month of Nissan comes around, it is a z’man cheiruseinu , a time of freedom. I don’t know about you, but this year especially, I have been struggling to understand how...

Have you ever felt like a fraud? Or that the praise other people give you doesn’t seem to match how you view yourself? We’ve all felt like this to some degree, and the higher our expectations of ourselves, the more likely we’ll be to feel this way. This experience is commonly referred to as “impostor syndrome.” While this phrase became popular over the past twenty years, it was coined by psychologists in the 1970s to describe the phenomenon of high achieving individuals who constantly doubt...

As I sat down Saturday night, it suddenly dawned on me that next week is Rosh Chodesh Adar. Since I was little I’ve heard, mi shenichnas Adar marbim b’simcha , that when the month of Adar comes around, we should increase our happiness. I don’t know about you, but this has always felt a little daunting to me. How should I increase my happiness? What if I’m just not feeling it? What does happiness even mean?  I was looking for concrete actions that I could do to raise my happiness during this...

What are cognitive distortions? Cognitive distortions are unhelpful or irrational thought patterns that alter how we see both the world and ourselves. Holding onto these patterns reinforces unhelpful thinking and can contribute to anxiety, depression, and low self esteem. One of these thought patterns is called all or nothing thinking . This is the tendency to see things as one way or the other – “ if I mess up, I am a failure .” “ I lost my temper, therefore I am an angry person.”   “If I...

It’s that time of year – school is heading out and sunscreen is coming on. Whether vacation just passed, is actively happening, or is rapidly approaching, this time of year brings its own kind of challenges. Rained out activities, kids fighting, and lack of structure may end up leaving you frustrated.  The question becomes, how do we cope when expectations and realities don’t line up? 1. Clarify expectations in advance It is hard to not get caught up in the nitty gritty details of it all –...