The image of serial killers with schizophrenia was so strong in my mind and my subconsciousness that I was truly surprised to meet patients in a mental hospital, who would not hurt a fly. And this type of patients were the majority. It seemed like it was submissiveness that had brought them into the hospital, of course combined with some type of a mental illness. I later met a psychiatrist, who was giving assertiveness courses in the mental hospital, where he worked. Thus my observation could not have been totally wrong. I also learned later that the percentage of criminal offenders among mental...

Until it is suffocating, I guess, but how do you know you are not just imagining it? When is close too close? Let us look at some examples. If by chance the couple read the same book and then talk about it, it is alright, I reckon. But I once heard about a lady who was putting pressure on her partner: ‘We have to read the same books.’ She was enforcing superfluous closeness, in my opinion. Of course it is very romantic to watch movies together, cuddled up on the couch. But there is also absolutely nothing wrong with a couple, who like different genres and have two TV sets. They can still be kind...

As I see the world today, we are given more and more freedom. What we do not realize many times is that with freedom there also comes responsibility. What do I mean by that? Firstly, there is the freedom of other people that sets limits to us. The judgement, where we should draw the line is difficult and it is extremely easy to make a mistake. But the freedom is ours, this is one of the traits of the New Age, and slowly we will learn to make better choices. Of course mistakes are the only way to learn. My country, Slovenia, joined the freedom of democracy in 1991, but we will learn too. It takes...

Do you often find yourself between two fires? How does the role of the peacemaker fit you? Are your successful at it? Our friend Mary, the main female character from a fantasy novel with romance ‘Out of the Forest and into the City’ was not able to alleviate the following bickering between her boyfriend’s mother Gertrude and her daughter-in-law Alice: ‘Gertrude really started shouting this time. She hoped she could chase the little devil from the staircase with her deep voice, but Alice wouldn’t give in: “Old women like you belong in a home. Instead we are putting up with you...

Does it ever happen to you that you get yelled at and you know you are not the right reason for yelling? Does it feel like stepping on land mine? It could be called transferred anger. The person is actually not angry at you. The anger to the right person could not be expressed for various reasons. Perhaps the person is already dead, or it is the boss, who is too tricky to be yelled at. Or it even might be a very sensitive person, who starts crying easily, that is why it is better not to yell at him/her. The bottled-up anger gets carried around and when there is a suitable victim to release the anger...