[DISCLAIMER] When providing psychoeducational lessons on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I teach people about the ABC model of self-disturbance (how people upset themselves through use of irrational beliefs). Now, I’ll address a finer point of this psychotherapeutic model of wellness. For context, REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate how when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, n

[DISCLAIMER] In high school, after years of tolerating distorted vision, a family that invited me to live with them from the children’s home in which I was a resident took me to an optometrist. It turned out that I needed prescription eyewear. If memory serves, once I received my new glasses, I was excited about being able to see details of the leaves on a tree from a window of the optometry clinic. “See that?” the optometrist said, “That’s what you’ve been missing!” On

[DISCLAIMER] When listening to an electronic dance music (EDM) DJ set by Celiá, I heard her spin the track “Before My Eyes” (2025) by Goom Gum and Dancing on Lego. In part, the lyrics state “sick of all, you had enough” and “pick up all you have in love.” When used flexibly, the phrases “sick of all” and “had enough” infer that an individual is tremendously frustrated, annoyed, disappointed, etc. with a situation. However, when used rigidly, the same inference applies tho

[ DISCLAIMER ] I listened to a recent electronic dance music (EDM) DJ set by Aneya Rose during which she spun the track “ Right Now ” (2022) by James Hurr . In part, the lyrics state, “Tell me, baby, ‘cause I want to break it down. There’s no way that I can take this no more.” With a double negative , the singer uses an unaccommodating belief that indicates intolerance—the quality or state of being intolerant—unable or unwilling to endure. Now, I’ll provide a psychoed

[ DISCLAIMER ] When providing psychoeducational lessons on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I teach people about the ABC model of self-disturbance (how people upset themselves through use of irrational beliefs ). Now, I’ll address a finer point of this psychotherapeutic model of wellness . For context, REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate how when an undesirable A ction occurs and you B elieve an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable a

[ DISCLAIMER ] As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is informed by Stoic philosophy , this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding a book entitled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman . The authors quote Epictetus who stated, “If you are defeated once and tell yourself you will overcome, but carry on as before, know in the end you’ll be so ill and weakened that eventuall

[ DISCLAIMER ] On the album Ascended Masters (2020), by rappers Checkmait and Mark Deez , is the track “ Sublime ”. In part, lyrics state, “You’re always on my mind . I think about you all the time. Your beauty’s so sublime. I’m yours. You’re mine,” as the song describes someone who’s in love . In my youth and early adulthood, someone with that mindset was known as a “sucka” (or “succa” for people using terminology of the Crips ). One source thusly describes this term,

[ DISCLAIMER ] There’s a line on lyricist Murs ’s song “ Woke Up Dead ”, produced by Jesse Shatkin and from the album Have a Nice Life (2015), that states “gettin’ older as my life gets shorter.” It’s the sort of message that at first may seem like a throwaway line. Of course, we get older as our lives get shorter. Still, I wonder about how often (or not) people contemplate their own mortality. With each passing day, they grow older while their lives get shorter. All th

[ DISCLAIMER ] Photo credit , fair use Halfway through my fifth grade year, my mom sent me from Amarillo, Texas, where I lived with her, to live with my dad in Aurora, Colorado. I was an overweight, white-appearing, biracial (white and black) child with a thick Texas accent, and who didn’t know any other kids at school. When enrolled in Crawford Elementary School (pictured above), I was introduced to Crips who lived in the local neighborhood. This introduction was by way

[DISCLAIMER] Have you ever been exposed to a CS gas chamber? I have. In a blogpost entitled Resilience, I described my experience from...

[ DISCLAIMER ] On his 2000 album The Understanding , rapper Memphis Bleek released the track “In My Life” which featured a sample of...

[ DISCLAIMER ] When providing psychoeducational lessons about the ABC model of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I often...