[DISCLAIMER] When listening to an electronic dance music (EDM) DJ Set by Lisa Marty, I heard her spin the song “Take Control” (2026) by Alexey Union and Aves Volare. The lyrics state: It’s you that must change when enough is enough You gotta get on your feet when the goin’ gets tough There’s no time to think, just the time to react Life is gone in a blink; it’s a matter of fact No one will come to save your own soul It’s not done till it’s done, you must take full control

[DISCLAIMER] Earlier this morning, when checking my mailbox while the sky was still dark, I observed the behavior of an armadillo, of the nine-banded variety. Because the placental mammal is nocturnal by nature, it likely didn’t anticipate or expect me to be out and about while it strolled around. The creature probably had poor hearing, as my knees and ankles make the sound of crackling firewood when I walk. Thus, the armadillo didn’t hear me approaching, as I apparently

[DISCLAIMER] As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was formed by the late psychologist Albert Ellis, who reportedly developed the first cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) psychotherapeutic modality in 1955, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding his book, Ask Albert Ellis?: Straight Answers and Sound Advice from America’s Best-Known Psychologist. Now, I invite you to consider that as I’m writing this blogpost, I’m passively hearing an electronic dance

[DISCLAIMER] When recently speaking with a client who frequently attends electronic dance music (EDM) concerts, raves, and music festivals (collectively “shows”), as I once did, I thought of a psychoeducational lesson on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) that I’ll now share. For context, when I attended EDM shows in the ‘90s and ‘00s, the term “cheese” was used for music that people considered cheesy (something regarded as cheap, of low-quality, cliché, overly sent

[DISCLAIMER] As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was formed by the late psychologist Albert Ellis, who reportedly developed the first cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) psychotherapeutic modality in 1955, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding his book, Ask Albert Ellis?: Straight Answers and Sound Advice from America’s Best-Known Psychologist. When providing psychoeducational lessons on the two main techniques of REBT, the ABC model and unconditiona

[DISCLAIMER] As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was formed by the late psychologist Albert Ellis, who reportedly developed the first cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) psychotherapeutic modality in 1955, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding his book, Ask Albert Ellis?: Straight Answers and Sound Advice from America’s Best-Known Psychologist. When providing psychoeducational lessons on mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental

[DISCLAIMER] Photo credit, fair use As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was formed by the late psychologist Albert Ellis, who reportedly developed the first Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) psychotherapeutic modality in 1955, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding his book, Ask Albert Ellis?: Straight Answers and Sound Advice from America’s Best-Known Psychologist. I first learned of REBT during graduate school for counseling (2009-2011). At that t

[DISCLAIMER] A Real-Life Scenario “Whoa, it’s your stop sign,” I said aloud when having taken my turn to proceed through an all-way stop intersection after having completed my weekly grocery store run this morning. A vehicle to which I signaled with my hand slowed down, rather than stopping, at a stop sign. Fortunately, the driver of the vehicle then stopped midway through the intersection, allowing me to proceed with my right-of-way direction of travel. As I stopped at

[DISCLAIMER] Photo credit, fair use The Story of Indra Because I’m religiously agnostic, I don’t subscribe to the tenets of Hinduism. Nevertheless, I enjoy hearing and sharing tales associated with Hindu mythology. As an example, I shared with client X a video link from the documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (1988). It was originally broadcast as six one-hour conversations between the late mythologist Joseph Campbell and the late journalist Bill Moyers. A

[DISCLAIMER] On her album It Gets Greater Later (2016), lyricist Tiff the Gift released the track “Love Rules the Streets”, featuring lyricists Awon and Dephlow, and produced by Phoniks. The first verse of the song contains the line, “The whole world doesn’t give a fuck about your problems.” For context, the phrase “give a fuck” is similar to the saying “give a damn,” as it regards a vulgar slang idiom meaning to care, show interest, or be concerned about someone or somet

[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. Now, consider that on his debut commercial mixtape Misunderstood (2019), the late rapper JayDaYoungan released the song “Survive”, in which he said, “We gon’ come bust your fuckin’ brain, so, puss

[DISCLAIMER] On the third studio album, Getback (2007), by hip hop group Little Brother (lyricists Phonte and Big Pooh, and producer 9th Wonder) is the song “Can’t Win for Losing” which was produced by !llmind. Before exploring a portion of the song’s content, I’ll address the track’s namesake. Per one source, the phrase “can’t win for losing” means that the “odds are stacked against me. (Or no matter how much I try, I never succeed.).” This is a matter of hopelessness (t

[DISCLAIMER] When practicing Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I often use irreverent communication (a style of interaction that deliberately disregards normativity standards or expected politeness, incorporating humor, sarcasm, frankness, and atypical observations). This includes expletives (exclamatory words or phrases, especially those which are obscene or profane), also referred to as cusswords, profanity, swear words, and obscenities. For example, the term “m