I have decided to dedicate a post on Thursday to therapy, and offer you the many tips I have learned on the couch. They will be a good reminder for me, as well, of something small I can concentrate on. Many of them are published in my book, “The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit.“

Have you ever wondered how long one of your friends would stick with you if you talked to her the way you shout at yourself?

My therapist calls me on this dichotomy practically every session.

“What would you say to a friend in your shoes?” she’ll ask me.

“I’d tell her to be gentle with herself, to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and spend three hours watching Oprah if it made her feel better.”

Of course I need not go that far—especially if I don’t want to weigh 300 pounds–to exercise a little kindness to myself. Most of the time, all I have to do is to put away the whip, and make myself a friendship bracelet instead.