Relationships aren’t always easy. Sometimes they go smoothly, and we feel like things are effortless between us and the other person, but sometimes we encounter someone who can really make a lot of trouble for us.

Quite often, there are signs of trouble early on. We can protect ourselves from the difficult people if we pay close attention to these “red flags.”

If we don’t pay attention to the red flags that warn us of a difficult person in our presence or if we’re in denial…

Difficult people can make life really miserable for us. They can cause us a lot of stress and prevent us from achieving our goals. They’re often tricky and manipulative and adept at getting the upper hand. This is why it’s so important to be able to recognize these problematic individuals and to learn how to deal with them as quickly and strategically as possible.

After Labor Day, when we’re back at school and at work, we’re still bringing some of that summertime relaxation into the…

The last weeks of summer are winding down. September will be here before we know it and it’ll be back to the old grind and the crazy-busy mindset of the new fall season.

 Summer is great because we have the opportunity for quiet time to check in to ourselves and cultivate self-awareness. When we’re chilling out at the cottage, on the beach, in the backyard or at the local park we get a chance to contemplate the things we haven’t had time to think about during the busy…

These days, I've been thinking a lot about why people are so polarized and so angry and hateful toward one-another. The right wing of politics has tremendous animosity toward the left and vice-versa; race relations are at an all-time low; Poland is lately declaring certain communities “LGBT-free;” and it seems like every other day we read about people harassing or bullying random strangers on the street for reasons of pure intolerance.

Not that long ago, we'd come far in terms of…