Walter J. Matweychuk, Ph.D. Finding the Opportunity Within the Adversity – Dr. Matweychuk Once an adverse event beyond your control occurs, once you have been obstructed either by the hand of fate or the actions of another person it is prudent to be capable of immediately identifying the good within the bad, the opportunity within the obstruction. This skill … Read more
You Cannot Change the Weather & You cannot Change Other People 2/26/2018 In REBT we encourage people to eliminate self-created emotional upset by cultivating self-acceptance and other-acceptance. We encourage unconditional person acceptance along with critically evaluating the deeds we and others carry out. The goal is to judge what people do but never to judge […]
People often think that REBT advocates positive thinking. This is not wholly true nor entirely false. REBT philosophy advances realistic thinking. Realistic thinking conforms with reality and observable data and incorporates a balanced perspective that will often include elements of the good within the bad. However, REBT is not merely advocating positive thinking. What is … Read more
Demandingness, Ego Disturbance & Discomfort Disturance The genius of Albert Ellis was that he took ancient and modern philosophical wisdom and boiled it down to a few easily communicated ideas. Here is a list of a few of those ideas: 1. We always have a choice in the attitudes we hold, and these determine our … Read more
Meditate on and keep in mind the following attitude: I want people to be as I want them to be BUT they do not have to be as I want them to be. I want people, especially loved ones, friends, and significant others to treat me as I want them to treat me BUT despite … Read more
Today ends what is known as the holiday season, and tomorrow most of us will return to work. In the back of our minds as the New Year’s Eve hangover lifts is the notion that the distraction of the holidays is over and we need to face and address our ongoing challenges. The good news … Read more
In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy we encourage you to develop unconditional life acceptance. There is a great deal in life that we do not like but nevertheless we have a choice as to whether or not we disturb ourselves about that which we do not like. Also in REBT we encourage you to see there … Read more
When we use the word “am” which we are naturally inclined to do, we set ourselves up to feel unhealthy negative emotions, also known as emotional disturbance. When we humans use the verb to be and say, “I am good” or “I am bad” we tend to misrepresent reality by overgeneralizing and thereby set the stage for emotional disturbance (e.g. shame, … Read more
Albert Ellis, the originator of REBT, often said: “People live their lives to prove themselves instead of enjoying themselves.” In REBT we argue that there are no absolutes other than that you MUST someday die. Well, for now, this appears to be the case but someday even dying could be optional. Assuming that we must die, we … Read more
“Why, then, ’tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison. Well, then it isn’t one to you, since nothing is really good or bad in itself—it’s all what a person thinks about it. And to me, Denmark is a prison.“ Hamlet (Act 2, Scene … Read more
