For four years, Catherine was the Life Advice columnist for Alternatives Magazine, a quarterly journal widely distributed throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Dear Catherine, In the recent economic crash, my family lost a great deal of their wealth. It was not just on paper (or, more accurately, the computer screen) since we sold at great losses to prevent a total wipe-out because my parents are old and we couldn’t wait for the market to turn around in…
Dear Catherine, How important is it to process negative feelings in a relationship or friendship? One of my friends feels the need to almost constantly be delving into issues between the two of us or else issues that she is dealing with in her other relationships. I have grown tired of all this processing but…
Dear Catherine, I was born and raised an Irish Catholic. From the time I was young I had no interest in Catholicism or any other religion, but it seems that the feelings of guilt and a distrust of happiness have solidly made their way into me. I can laugh with the rest of them and…
Dear Catherine, I live in Oregon and was raised in a family with progressive values. We were into recycling and green philosophy long before it became fashionable, and my dad always taught us to live in a way that considered sustainability as the primary goal. My problem is that since I have been earning my…
Dear Catherine, My question is about right livelihood and more specifically about right money. I inherited some investments from my parents, and those investments are in some industries that I really don’t feel good about. However, they provide me with some nice dividends and pay the bills. In this crumbling economy, I am reluctant to…
Dear Catherine, My son is involved in a very passionate relationship of continual high drama and struggle, and he seems deeply unhappy. However, he thinks he is madly in love. I do not like or trust his girlfriend and I dread the day that he announces his intention to marry her or that she becomes…
Dear Catherine, As an eighteen-year-old girl, I am plagued with comparing myself to others and most of the time feel that I am less smart, less beautiful, and less talented. Even though I’m an A student in college and have been told I’m physically beautiful, this knot in my gut tells me I’m not good…
Dear Catherine, I am a woman who feels happy with my life. I’m healthy, in a loving relationship, and enjoy my friends, family, and work. Yet, I often feel bothered by our society’s obsession with youth and celebrity and what seems like the media’s near-constant message that the only interesting, attractive, worthwhile thing to be…
Hello Catherine, I have a question about your views on love and marriage. I have been married for twenty-four years, and the connection with my husband has been mainly at the intellectual level rather than at the heart level. I’ve been pursuing a spiritual path and now realize that I want and need a connection…
Dear Catherine, I’m in my early thirties, and I am intelligent and creative in certain ways. I have always had a hard time finding work that I enjoy or even knowing what I want to do. Earlier this year I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which has really been a blow to my concept about…
Dear Catherine, For the last two years I have thrown myself into my work to distract myself from obsessing about the end of my marriage. However, I now find myself obsessed with my work! I’ve become very successful, but I’m now so completely invested in my work that it’s difficult to experience any rest or…
Dear Catherine, Since my divorce of a few years ago, I have been living in a state of inner peace. Recently, however, I began dating again after meeting a man who is fun and loving but has an eye for ladies and flirts with others at parties. He says that he wants a relationship where…