Articles
Here are my thoughts on a variety of topics. Send email if you want to chat.
Big Changes
- Aging
- Birth or Adoption
- Change of Financial Circumstances
- Death of a Loved One
- Divorce
- On Elevators & Deathbeds
- Job Loss
- Marriage
- Moving (Changing where you call home)
- New Job
- Old Age
- Patient Attention
- Retirement
Emotions
- Alienation
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Burnout
- Confidence
- Depression
- Emotional Resilience
- Fear
- Loneliness
- Loss & Grief
- Psychotherapy
- Feeling a Failure
Illness & Injury
- Addiction
- Caring for Ill or Disabled Family Members
- Chronic Health Problems
- Illness & Injury
Jobs & Schooling
- Academic Pressure
- Co-Workers
- Crappy Bosses
- Job Loss
- Job Pressure
- New Job
- Retirement
- Sense of Failure
Relationships
- Abusive Relationships
- Adult Children
- Boundaries
- Communication
- Conflict
- Co-Workers
- Death of a Loved One
- Difficult Conversations
- Divorce
- Family
- Friendships
- Gaslighting
- Gender & Sexuality
- Neglect
- Older Parents
- Parents
- Psychotherapy
- Raising Children
- Romantic Relationships
- Social Isolation
Self
- Aging
- Body Image
- Building Your Internal Monastery
- Your Own Death
- Eating
- From Regret To Humility
- Gender & Sexuality
- Meditation
- Not Having A Choice
- Overcommitment
- Peace of Mind
- Pleasure
- Procrastination
- Psychotherapy
- Purpose
- Regret
- Resistance to Growth
- Social Media Overload
- Stress
- Trauma (natural disaster, severe injury or illness, personal assault, emotional abuse, …)
- Uncertainty About the Future
Society
- Alphas and Rugged Individualism
- Dueling, the Mafia, and Trump
- Fascism
- From Victorianism to Trumpism
- How Agriculture Ruined Everything
- Learning From Animals
- The Rise and Possible Fall of Marriage Equality
- Political, Corporate, and Religious Power
- The Price of Eggs
- On Hammers and Capitalism
- "It's Just Business"
- Political Action
- Politics & Society
- Prejudice, Discrimination, & Oppression
- Social Media Overload
Values
- Compassion
- Greed
- Hatred
- Loving-kindness
- The Sin of Empathy
- Successful Quitting
Zen-ish
- Accepting & Rejecting
- The Designer of the Universe
- Everything
-
The
HorseCoyote Parable - Testosterone and the Illusion of Certainty
- Karma & Reincarnation
- Sacred Languages, Clothing, & Diets
- Secular Buddhism
- Suffering
- What Is So
- Your Own Death
- Zen
- Zen-ish
From Midwest Book Review:
With a voice that is both warm and intellectually rigorous, Bennett Barouch guides readers through life's hardest questions without dogma or pretense. Drawing from Zen, Stoicism, and modern science, Bennett offers practical wisdom for real-world challenges – always with compassion, clarity, and a deep respect for the reader's own journey.
Want to know if we will work well together in coaching? Prefer to learn from reading instead of coaching? Click to see reviews of the book, or to preview or buy it.
The least exercise that actually makes a whole body difference to strength, balance, and independence, especially as we get older – exercise for people who hate exercise.
While this site is mostly about emotionally loaded challenges, taking care of ourselves physically is important too. Living well, especially as we age, requires strength, balance, and a healthy metabolism. Most people hate to exercise. It's not a natural behavior. But we live such an unnatural lifestyle that we need exercise to compensate for the many natural behaviors such as walking ten miles a day, hunting, gathering, tool-making, and so on, that we no longer do.
Click to see more about the book, or to preview or buy it.