Philip Chard

1 week ago | shepherdexpress.com | Philip Chard

I had just settled into my hotel room when the phone jingled. It was the evening before I was to speak at a national conference and the organizer was calling. “Would you like to go to dinner with Scott Carpenter?” she asked. “Are you kidding?” I replied. I knew that Scott, one of the original Mercury astronauts, was to keynote at the conference, but I assumed he would merely rush in, give his remarks and depart. I never imagined I would break bread with him.

1 week ago | shepherdexpress.com | Philip Chard

As an old Eagles song reminds us, some people will “try any ill to find the cure.” Cindy was a painful case in point. “I’ve been divorced twice and went through a half dozen other romances that ended in disaster,” she lamented. “Like recurring dreams, repetitive behaviors are usually telling us something,” I suggested. “What’s the message you see here?” “Apparently, I keep choosing the same kind of man, the wrong kind,” she replied.

4 weeks ago | shepherdexpress.com | Philip Chard

Eric was struggling to restrain his seething anger toward his estranged wife. “She cheated on me, plain and simple. Lied to my face. And I can't get it out of my head. It's with me night and day,” he explained. It's a rare human who hasn't felt wronged by someone and then struggled to cope with the resulting hurt, acrimony and even rage. “What are your intentions?” I asked. “All I can think about is pay back. I want to make her suffer for the pain she caused me,” he replied.

1 month ago | shepherdexpress.com | Philip Chard

Jake was an outgoing, affable 50-year-old craftsman, married with grown kids and a solid career. Most in his social orbit liked him, and he seemed to feel the same about them. And then one sparkling afternoon in May while his spouse ran errands, he chugged down some bourbon, turned on his car in the garage, closed his eyes and let the carbon monoxide do the rest. She returned to find his lifeless body with a note pinned to his shirt. The first time I visited with his wife, she handed it to me.

1 month ago | shepherdexpress.com | Philip Chard

Have you ever been the victim of an unfounded rumor or slanderous gossip? Many of us have, and the number who can claim this unhappy distinction is growing rapidly. Social media, in particular, has become an increasingly destructive platform for character assassination, rumor mongering, cyberbullying and personal vendettas. “Disinformation,” as slander is antiseptically labeled, has been the subject of much psychological research.