Michele Lifland, LCSW
Human Potential Analyst & CMM Founder

Welcome to Creative Mind Management. My name is Michele Lifland and I have spent most of my life observing and examining Egos. Some people think of Ego as being selfish and self-centered. For me Ego is, well, the star of our show, the protagonist of our life drama. Ego begins at our beginning and evolves as we evolve.

I see Ego as the grand master storyteller. Ego often creates, and then helps us through our darkest hours, later rewarding us with moments of joy and happiness. Ego is both our friend and foe. But mostly, Ego keeps us stuck in the muck of the life stories we have written, and we have either been too blind, or too fearful to change.

It is the dual nature of Ego, our quintessential friend and foe, that keeps us stuck and asking that age-old question, "what is the purpose of my life?" Once our youth has become a thing of the past, we begin to notice that not much has actually changed. We try new things but we often end up in the same old place. And as we get older, we get tired. But we keep wondering "why are we here?"

All of us, at different ages and stages of life wonder about our life purpose. We all experience times when we feel like no matter what we try, do or accomplish something seems to be missing. What's missing is found in the Ego stories we communicate about who we think we are! It is when we own our piece in our Ego stories that we finally feel a sense of completeness, a sense of personal peace.

As a practicing psychotherapist for almost 30 years I have heard many Ego stories, and as a member of the human race I have told many of my own. I know there are no definitive answers. Just questions, choices and possibilities. Thus it is not our missteps, mistakes and misfortunes that bring about our struggle. It is our inability to see our starring role in our Ego story. It is our inability to see what I playfully call our Big Fat Ego.

Just because you may want to know, my formal degrees, certifications and training are from Columbia University, New York University, Boston University and Rutgers University in clinical social work and supervision, counseling, communication, mediation and conflict resolution. But…

I believe it is in my own practice of kindness that I will reach my highest learning.