Dr. Kenneth Silvestri, Ed.D, CCH
Psychotherapist | Certified Classical Homeopath
Recent Publications*
*Dr. Silvestri has published over 100 articles and chapters.
Train Romance
by Dr. Ken Silvestri, Cat Weaver and Natasha Rabin
Publisher: BookBaby (paperback)
Jan 26, 2022
In this collection of poems and images, Cat Weaver, Ken Silvestri, and Natasha Rabin explore the enchantment trains can bring. Trains share in the big and small events of people's lives, and remembered moments in them are depicted here as haunting, bittersweet, quietly nostalgic, and gently comic.
The Use of Mutual Learning for Relational Self-Fulfillment
Emerging interpersonal possibilities for the new year and beyond.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Dec. 21, 2021
One night years ago in the mid-eighties on a snowy December evening, I was waiting to meet a friend in a tavern near Rockefeller Center. I found myself sitting at the bar next to then-Mayor Ed Koch. I said hello and introduced myself and he looked at me and said, "How am I doing?"
Holograms, Acorns, and Self-Fulfillment
How our brain seeks relationships.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Oct. 13, 2021
Each year, where I live along the Hudson River north of Manhattan, I revel in the sounds of falling acorns, each one a blueprint for a possible oak tree. How can this be?
The Joy of Homeopathy
Mental and Emotional Healing
Selected articles 1997-2020 and media presentations
Sep. 21, 2021
What follows is my contribution, to a theoretical framework that supports
amongst many things, Homeopathy, which I believe needs an epistemological
basis to explain and advocate for its wonderful healing process.
Legacy Poems e-Book
By Kenneth Silvestri
Selected poems
Sep. 21, 2021
Twenty three poems about growing up in Patterson, NJ and other family memories.
The Holistic Benefits of Family Therapy
How individuality is defined by the context of our relationships.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Aug. 21, 2021
Family Therapy, or “Systemic Therapy” as it is better described, is a holistic process that espouses resolving problems through relational healing.
A Post-Pandemic Perspective Using "Warm Data"
A process to address our emotional and relational needs.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Jul. 05, 2021
Our world is an ecological process that is more than the sum of its parts. It may not make sense to go back to business as usual given lessons learned from the recent . . .
Experience Walking Therapy
The value of harmonizing with nature.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
May 07, 2021
Walking outside produces a visual spontaneity that can inspire both a therapist
and client and help them resolve problems. The outdoor environment is where our ...
How to Harvest Possibilities: Learning From the Greatest
A metaphorical lesson from Willie Mays.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Mar. 01, 2021
Willie Mays was my childhood hero. I followed his stats religiously, imitated his style of
running, and chased down fly balls with his famous patented basket catch. I realize . .
How to Widen Your Lens and become a Systemic Thinker and Communicator:
In memory of Paul Byers
ILLUMINATION | MEDIUM
Jan. 27, 2021
It was my mentor, Paul Byers from Columbia University, who introduced me to the
concept of Systemic Thinking and how to widen my lens. While his previous career . . .
Weathering Paradoxes Through Poetic Healing:
A courageous way to understand and soothe yourself during times of crisis.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Jan. 04, 2021
It is no surprise that most problems emanating from within our culture can be traced to an inability to work through paradoxes. Carl Jung recognized that this was an . . .
Why We Should Change the Noun "Gratitude" Into a Verb:
Preparing for a Joyful Holiday in This Crazy Time.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Nov. 17, 2020
I like using more verbs and fewer nouns. It underscores the expression "that the name is not the thing.” Nouns and their adjectives always seem to bring up a . . .
Similia Similibus Curentur:
The Gift of Homeopathy
ILLUMINATION | MEDIUM
Nov. 08, 2020
As part of a decision to live a life with a strong respect for communication, collaboration and seeing things systemically, it makes sense to consider a health . . .
Why and How to Be Part of Public-School Changes:
Time to Go Beyond the Bake Sale.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Oct. 5, 2020
Since we are living in unprecedented times, what is obvious is that we cannot rely on the social, political reality that was occurring prior to this pandemic. The need is to . . .
It Is All About Relationships:
What Family Therapists Should Know and Consider About Their Approach
PERSPECTIVES | FAMILY THERAPY MAGAZINE
Sept./Oct. 2020, pp 44-45
Family therapy, or “systemic therapy,” as it is better described, is a holistic process that espouses to resolve problems through relational healing, but is it practiced that way?
Smooth Sailing:
The Freedom of Forgiveness in this time of Crisis
ILLUMINATION | MEDIUM
August 22, 2020
In the book Forgive For Good: A Proven Prescription For Health and Happiness, Stanford Professor Fred Luskin emphasizes a forgiveness methodology based on . . .
Healing and Strengthening Significant Relationships:
An Ecological Framework for Couples Therapy.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
August 16, 2020
Significant relationships are a process, a union that comes to fruition through mutual learning. It is a systemic journey where each moment is simultaneously part of . . .
How to Be in Harmony and Sustain our Interdependency
Lessons from Aikido
ILLUMINATION | MEDIUM
July 28, 2020
Morihei Ueshiba’s portrait hangs above the kamiza, a place of honor in the front of our Dojo’s practice area, as it does in all Aikido Dojos internationally. He was born in . . .
An Ecology of Relationships
The importance of mutual learning.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
June 24, 2020
When I was a graduate student at Columbia University, I always carried Gregory Bateson’s book, Steps to an Ecology of Mind* with me. In several chapters, Bateson used . . .
A Way to Create Needed Change
How to make and sustain a personal contribution to this time of transformation.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
May 24, 2020
I am a firm believer that the major problems of the world arise, as anthropologist Gregory Bateson profoundly pointed out, from “the difference between the way nature works . . .
April 5, 2020
Given the recent pandemic and the challenges that we will all be facing for a long time to come, there is a new needed paradigm to communicate and take care of each other. I am quite sure you have heard people say to you, “let’s be partners.” How successful have these partnerships been in your life? An alternative to being “partners” is to be “collaborators.”
March 16, 2020
(Ongoing Column #17)
During a recent tai chi class, we had a discussion of how the form we all practice at the same time manifests itself within each participant. In other words, how do our individual experiences come together to create this incredible unity that we all feel in different yet similar ways?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/202003/the-map-is-surely-not-the-territory
February 2020
(Ongoing Column #16)
Being inspired fills you with the urge to be creative. It is a way to view the world as an interdependent aesthetic experience. Inspiration allows you to be mindful and see things in context rather than depending on content.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201912/be-inspired-stretch-your-perceptual-edges
WINTER 2019-2020
Our emotional well-being is extremely dependent on how we deal with “stress” and its ensuing patterns of fear and anxiety. Stress—whether it’s brought on by busy winter holidays, dreary wintry weather, or disturbing world events—can undermine our health and relationships.
January 2020
(Ongoing Column #15)
Being inspired fills you with the urge to be creative. It is a way to view the world as an interdependent aesthetic experience. Inspiration allows you to be mindful and see things in context rather than depending on content.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201912/be-inspired-stretch-your-perceptual-edges
December 2019
(Ongoing Column #14)
I have been a student of Aikido, a martial art based on peace and harmony, for the past thirty years. What I learned on the mat during classes, has helped me, more importantly in my everyday interactions.
October 2019
(Ongoing Column #13)
A common theme in my practice, as with many psychotherapists, is the presenting problem of not being satisfied with life, which in most cases leads to different degrees of “anxiety” and/or “depression.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201910/ditch-linear-thinking
September 2019
(Ongoing Column #12)
Reframing the meaning of yourself without doing it yourself.
August 2019
(Ongoing Column #11)
A lesson from my auto mechanic along the river's edge.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201907/walking-the-path-beginner-s-mind
July 2019
(Ongoing Column #10)
There is a mystical energy in our family systems!
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201906/who-do-you-think-you-are
June 2019
(Ongoing Column #09)
“How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress”
— Niels Bohr
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201906/the-tao-self-fulfillment
May 2019
(Ongoing Column #08)
I recently read The Art of Is: Improvising As A Way Of Life by Stephen Nachmanovitch (New World Library: Novato, Calif., 2019).
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201904/the-ecology-improvisation
April 2019
(Ongoing Column #07)
Revisit how to create new possibilities.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201903/change-is-always-changing
March 03, 2019
(Ongoing Column #06)
The benefits of managing stress through mindful breathing.
January 28, 2019
(Ongoing Column #05)
How can a loaf of bread help with understanding the complexity of relationships?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wider-lens/201901/love-the-word-is-not-the-thing