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articles and observations inspired by the work of Dr. William GlasserCategories
Author Archives: RealityCheck
When the Answer Doesn’t Work for You
Whenever you ask, “What do you want?” there’s the risk that you won’t like what you hear. Young Sam asked his parents if they wanted him to stay home. His parents replied, “Don’t mind us, we’ll manage.” But what Sam … Continue reading
Posted in Family
Tagged conflict, examining wants, making choices, total behaviour
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Asking, Options, and Conflict
Young Sam is conflicted. He could behave responsibly—and be confined to home to help his sick mother. Or he could be independent—and miserable about abandoning his parents. However, after friend Lisa asked him, “Do your parents want you to stay?” … Continue reading
Posted in Family
Tagged conflict, examining wants, perception
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Finding a Third Option for Conflict
Whether it’s a conflict within yourself or with someone else, often only two far-from-ideal options seem to exist. Let’s look again at Sam, who was about to leave home when his mom became ill. Sam is a responsible young man
Posted in Family
Tagged conflict, freedom, improving relationships, need satisfaction
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Conflicts in the Quality World
What does the word “conflict” mean to you? Is it disagreement with other people?
Posted in Family
Tagged conflict, examining wants, need satisfaction
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The Frustration Signal
Each of us has a set of tried and true behaviours. Whether we are faced with a stressful situation or just going about our everyday activities, we tend to use behaviours that we’ve used before. We even use favourite self-talk … Continue reading
Posted in Making a Change
Tagged anxiety, freedom, making choices, need satisfaction
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Packing the Behavioural Suitcase
Let’s imagine that all the behaviours we use are available in our “behavioural suitcases.” How might we pack that suitcase with behaviours that will work most effectively for us?
Posted in Doing, Thinking, Feeling, Physiology
Tagged making choices, need satisfaction, total behaviour
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Our Behavioural Suitcase
When we’re faced with a new situation, how do we choose what to do? A metaphor used in Reality Therapy to help illustrate how we choose is a “suitcase of behaviours”. That is, pretend that all the behaviours that you … Continue reading
Posted in Doing, Thinking, Feeling, Physiology
Tagged examining wants, making choices
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Why? or What Now?
Do you ask people for excuses? That is, do you ever say, “Please make up an excuse for why you acted in that insensitive, thoughtless, or awful manner”? Probably not! After all, an excuse isn’t
Posted in Blame, Criticism & more, Making a Change
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Driving Toward Connection
Friends matter! According to Choice Theory/Reality Therapy, developed by Dr. Wm Glasser, our connections with people are
Posted in Family
Tagged criticism, internal & external control, making choices
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Marriage: What’s Working?
In his book, Choice Theory, A New Psychology of Personal Freedom, Dr. Glasser reflects on his forty years of psychiatric practice by saying, “It has become apparent to me that all unhappy people have the same problem:
Posted in Marriage
Tagged conflict, making choices, unhappiness
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