I’ve been taking a tap dancing class at the local studio in my town for several weeks now. I joined a class with experienced tappers, and I have never done this before in my life. Boy, do I struggle! I seem to understand the steps when they are shown to me slowly, and I follow […]

I like to read the “Dear Abby” section of the newspaper. Yes, I know that Abby is gone and it’s her daughter who writes it, but it will always be “Dear Abby” to me! Anyway, today’s section had a story from a mother who has a daughter that gets upset with her every time the […]

I generally regard the world – and my life in particular – as a place to watch, wonder and learn. I guess that’s why the Universe continues to send me so many lessons aboutdealing with difficult people! The latest one is my own daughter – my oldest, who is 13 years old. She is a […]

One of the biggest challenges in most of our day-to-day interactions is that we need to be able to get along with other people. An even bigger challenge is that we need to be able to get along with people who are very different from us – and as such we often view them as […]

In my “Dealing with Difficult People” class, at the opening of the class, I say there is just one important thing I want my students to take away from the class – that they can’t change other people. Realizing that we can’t change others and mold them to fit our own values is both freeing […]

When dealing with difficult people, an important question we need to ask ourselves is,are they really that difficult? Often, labeling other people as “difficult” is another way of saying “they are different than I am.” Essentially, in order to communicate more effectively with others, we need to learn to accept other people and to stop […]

As the holidays approach, many people begin to make plans for where they’ll go and what they’ll do. For many it is a time of excitement and pleasure – seeing relatives or friends that they may not see at other times during the year. But many people dread the holidays’ approach, just waiting for them […]

Clear communication does not come easily to most of us. In order to communicate clearly and effectively with other people, we need to take several steps that essentially put our own needs aside for a while, so that we can truly listen to other people, understand them, and show them we respect and value their […]

I was hardly surprised to read today that a new study shows that 80% of Twitter users are “All About Me.” The study found that the vast majority of Twitter users are Meformers – “people who use the platform to post updates on their everyday activities, social lives, feelings, thoughts, and emotions.” The rest (20%) […]

Dealing with difficult people often means dealing with people whose core values are different than our own values. Much like behavioral styles, if we can figure out the other person’s core values and show that we respect them, our communication with that person will be much more effective, and we will have a much better […]