Dr. Larry Berkelhammer

Dr. Larry Berkelhammer

The purpose of this website, my book, and the Community Education course I teach at the College of Marin, is to teach people how to live a vibrant, meaningful life through the cultivation of self-empowerment and self-efficacy. In this weekly Q&A column, I post questions from students and from people who attend my presentations along with my answers.

Here is this week’s question:

QUESTION: It doesn’t sound healthy to me to just relegate thoughts as just passing brain phenomena.

 ANSWER: Obviously, some thoughts are based in reality. For example, if someone close to you has just died, it is very important to your wellbeing to allow yourself to fully experience your grief. When I talk about trying to recognize thoughts as nothing but passing brain phenomena, I am referring to the everyday thoughts related to constant, repetitious planning or ruminating beyond what is at all useful. 

This website is offered as a free public service, supplying information that has been found helpful to certain people living with chronic health challenges or issues related to wellbeing. No treatment is offered on this website. The advice is general, and may or may not apply to your individual situation, and is not a substitute for psychotherapy or medical treatment.

If you would like to ask me something, you can type your question in the comment box below. An answer to your specific question may not necessarily appear in this column. The reason for that is I wait until I get a certain number of related questions, then I pick one that covers them all and I answer that one.

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