This is where I share my writing for a general audience: essays, op-eds, articles, and book excerpts. Some have appeared in outlets like The New York Times and Psychology Today, and others appear here for the first time. Across all of them, I write about how our nervous systems shape our decisions, our relationships, and the world we share, and how we can meet it with more steadiness and agency. For my scholarly research, see Research Articles.
The Trauma of COVID-19 Resurgence in the United States
Whenever there’s a misalignment between our expectations and reality, it’s a set-up for suffering.
How to Help Both Brains Feel Safe During Coronavirus (Part 2)
Many common choices intended to calm ourselves actually exacerbate our stress and anxiety.
How to Help Both Brains Feel Safe During Coronavirus (Part 1)
Our thinking and survival brains are often at odds during stress, as they were during the coronavirus pandemic.
What Is Mind Fitness Training?
An excerpt from Widen the Window on what mind fitness training is and how it builds attentional control and tolerance for challenging experience, the two skills that support wisdom and courage.
What It Would Mean to End the Korean War
North and South Korea were pawns in their own war. Let them be the main actors in finally making peace.
Cultivating the Mind of a Warrior
Mindfulness and body-based self-regulation can make warriors more resilient and effective, and less likely to harm others or themselves. This is my case that offering this training is an ethical obligation, not a threat to military ethics.