Power For Positive Living

Two staff members of a psychiatric hospital in Houston (Scott Kunkle/Danny Carr) discuss the in-patient psychiatric treatment that adolescents can expect to experience when they enter a psychiatric hospital program.   The various aspects of hospital psychiatric treatment are demystified.

Mrs. Sharon Saney, Director of Youth Ministry, Houston Diocese, is interviewed and shares some ways in which parents, teachers, peers, etc., can encourage and support the development of positive self-esteem in young people.   

A continuing challenge for most of us is realizing that what is characteristic and normal of our own area of life is not necessarily the same all over our world. Travel allows us to experience the different viewpoints and behaviors that are norms in many places other than where we live. If we ever desire to better understand our own lives, travel challenges us to leave the familiar and experience...

This week on the podcast, your host welcomes James Rankin as our special guest. James dives deep into the art of personal motivation, sharing practical strategies for staying driven in the face of challenges. He offers expert insights into cultivating a positive mindset, balancing ambition with self-care, and overcoming common hurdles that can derail progress.

One of the foundations for Wellness Psychology is that each of us is responsible for our own individual patterns of personal growth into the person we are and whoever we may wish to become. This conversation with special guest Bill Alley demonstrates the foundational concept that our personal growth patterns are an active never-ending process full of option choices.  

 Greg Moore completed a personal retreat and is interviewed.   He discusses how he used his personal retreat to take responsibility for clarifying where he has been in life, who he is today and possible choices to be faced as he prepares for his future.  His focus for writing his life story has been to reclaim his individuality, understand the power of labels and take the risks to experiment with...

There are many aspects for us to focus on in the field of wellness psychology. Building positive self-esteem within children supports wellness for adult mental health. Esteem for self is personal; each individual will choose what works for them to meet their various needs. Positive esteem in one's attitudes frequently leads to healthy feelings and behavior. Personal retreating is an intense in...

This Power for Positive Living podcast series began in 1990 on Galveston-Houston radio station, KGBC-AM. The goal was to convey educational information about the new and unique introspective personal retreat programs offered at Friend Ship House. Rev. Bill Clark was the first guest interviewed. He describes how he spent two days, totaling 12 hours, with his own personal retreat. He shares his indi...

This is a brief episode of a TV interview with your host about the value of personal retreating.

35+ years of developing this positive living website by sharing myself with others has given me many specific personal guidelines that I have found to be most helpful with  my  life choices.  My personal choice guidelines for relationships with self and others allows me to better understand the individual positive-living journey that I have chosen over the years.    Wellness psychology encourages...

The United State Surgeon General has issued a health warning about an "epidemic" of loneliness among seniors who have lived many years.    We each face the reality that our family and friendship circle membership tends to diminish as you and I age. We all face personal individual decisions on how we wish to manage this isolation situation for today and tomorrow for as long as you and I continue to...

Aging allows us to strengthen the value of our time currency.  We learn that the gift of time is probably the most precious gift we have to give/receive with others each day that you and I live. Reaching the 'front of the line' also gives us the opportunity to realize the reality that we are going to die.  The varied physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the death process while we live one...

Wellness psychology teaches that we humans want to be heard and accurately understood by others.  Whether we wish to be known for the "real" us or some modified version is always an individual's personal choice.  Just because you and I want to know someone does not guarantee that this individual wants to be known by others or by me specifically. They may also want to be known generally but not in...

 I recall a song from my youth that encouraged me to maximize giving to persons who I loved while we were both still alive and able to give/receive personal gifts.   The song's theme was:  "Give me my flowers while I am living so I can enjoy them while I can. Please do not wait until I am in my casket to slip some lilies into my hands."   We have the choice to give loved ones gifts that they value...

Life for many seems to be seeking a healthy balance in handling the various stresses and pains of living life.   What worked yesterday for us may/may not work today or tomorrow. Pain is pain.   How we experience it and the individualistic ways we manage it in our lives are some of our most important life choices. It may be easier for our family/friends to offer support for a disease or visual phys...

One of the strongest traits that we humans have when born is having the  'will to live'  and survive in our world.   This drive to survive gives us motivation to confront and overcome obstacles that arise during our lifetime.  While almost totally dependent on support from others at birth, each of us during adulthood develops our own personal ways of implementing this trait.   While having...

One characteristic that we often share with others on our life path is seeking answers to the question:   Who am I?  During our childhood we become aware that we are individuals who have similarities and differences with the other people in our world.   In seeking to better understand ourselves, we may ask questions like:  Who am I?   Why am I here?   What is the purpose of my life?   Is there any...

We are constantly facing change in our lives while attempting to make positive and healthy decisions.  You and I tend to rely on life experiences in this process with habituation being chosen for managing most of our repetitive decisions.   Reaching various life path junctions we may need to evaluate and decide on a new direction or re-decide to continue along the same path that has worked to some...

Whether it is a spouse, family member, friend, coworker, or neighbor, many of us know someone who is most eager with their behavior to impose his/her version of what is true and correct for living life.. One of their viewpoints often is that one size fits all and the world would be a better place if everyone thought and behaved in the same way.    Compromise and structuring win-win outcomes for ou...

 Life tends to take on reflective aspects as the years pass. During the latter chapters of our Life Journey, pondering what aspects of my life I'm most proud of can be valuable for introspective learning and sharing with others.  Like writing a personal eulogy, this introspective process can provide challenges to consider the specific choices for the life we have chosen to lead. This is especi...

 Two words from the field of psychology frequently make it into our daily dialogues. We use the words  'introvert'  and  'extrovert'  as labels to quickly convey our perceptions of how we see ourselves.   Like many labels we use in our language, these two words tend to be verbal shorthand in communicating quickly and efficiently a part of who we are.    Counselors are often interes...

With so many options available on how we see the world,, many of us tend to gravitate toward  ' shortcuts in how we decide what is real or unreal, true or not true, good or bad, right or wrong, etc. Habituation and binary viewpoints from childhood allow us to more quickly make our personal choices without investing time and energy into individual evaluations. During the movies of my youth, it...

 We begin life as children being dependent on others to survive. With adulthood we achieve and maintain the status of being independent. Our society tends to expect us to continue thinking and behaving as independent and productive adults for as long as possible.  The longer one lives, the more likely we may realize that with aging we may be returning in some ways to the dependency needs of childh...

Life for most of us is a series of choices.  How do we choose to view what is happening now and select our attitudes/behaviors in preparing for the unknown future? Being a victim of some situation is probably a part of each life path.  We choose whether our skills of managing victimhood rise to the level of becoming a professional.  A portion of our future is often unknown.  Our personal power lie...

The frequent appearance of fatigue can be an alert that some system within us needs attention for some degree of healing.   Many of us recognize the appearance of physical fatigue and know of attitude and behavioral options to make changes.    The appearance of other system symptoms like psychological fatigue frequently leaves many without available pre-planned options.   Learning and preventively...