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There’s enough unhappiness in this world without us adding to someone’s misery and stress. You have no control over how someone feels, you think. Not necessarily true. You can help change someone’s day from gloomy to grateful with a small--or big--dose of kindness. And it doesn’t have to cost you any money, just a little time and thoughtfulness. Yet sometimes some money can make it even sweeter. And if you’re the type to obsess about what to do, veering toward kindness, removes that debate. Just do it, we are both learning! To remind us to be kind-hearted, there is now...

When it comes to money, what you don’t keep track of can hurt you. You dig into your pocket or purse and ask yourself, what happened to that $20 I had this morning? You look at your checkbook register or online bank account and can’t imagine where and on what you spent $100. Poof. Gone.       It’s so easy to fritter away money, especially cash in an expensive place like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and even small villages with pricey shops or merchandise you just have to have! Money can disappear from us faster than a magician...

  Negotiating is a little like a portmanteau, a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others. It’s a fusion of two sides into one solution. It’s the way our world works, and it happens every minute of every day, though not all negotiation is successful for everyone involved.  Whether you’re a high-level diplomat engaged in shuttle diplomacy trying to curtail fighting and killing, securing a price for work to be done on your house, purchasing an apartment and trying to agree on a price or deciding on the tip you and several lunch or dinner mates...

Downsizing: Who Wants Your Stuff? Maybe, Nobody As many of us downside and move, we master a tough lesson. As much as we loved our possessions, not everybody else will. And even if they do, many aren’t willing to pay a significant amount for them or anything, even though we lovingly collected china, chairs, bed frames, chandeliers, lamps, books, artworks and much more. After years of hunting for just the right items to fill our homes, it’s now time to declutter—aka get rid of stuff--and it’s tough to decide what to keep or remove. This has become an issue as...

  J.B. walks into a party, sits down at a table of six others and starts to hold court, blathering on about himself, barely stopping to take a breath. He appropriates the conversation, brags and boasts, doesn’t ask questions of anyone else, waxes poetically about his political and other views because, as he lets everyone know, without saying so, he’s the most brilliant person in the room. Is J.B. a conversational narcissist?   Yes, according to Sandy Hotchkiss, PsyD, LCSW, a Clinical Social Worker and Psychoanalyst, and author of Why is it Always about You: The Seven Deadly Sins of...