Reflection & everyday life
The Quiet Things That Shape Our Lives
A thoughtful invitation to notice the small things we repeat—and how they shape our memories, relationships, and sense of belonging.
A LITTLE MORE UNDERSTANDING. A LITTLE MORE POSSIBILITY.
For the wonderfully complicated business of being human.
Books about the lives we live, the relationships we build, and the people we are still becoming.
A lifetime of listening.
A continuing conversation.
For the questions we carry.For the changes we didn’t expect.For the life that is still unfolding.
A PERSONAL WELCOME
A lifetime of listening.
A continuing conversation.
For many years, I had the privilege of sitting with people as they tried to make sense of their lives. They brought questions about love, family, identity, grief, addiction, and the sometimes difficult work of becoming themselves.
This site offers a glimpse into the books I've written, shaped by my many years as a psychotherapist.
My books are not meant to tell you how to be human. Instead, I hope they offer something more useful: a place to feel understood, ask better questions, and perhaps see your own life a little differently.
— Richard
THE RITUALS TRILOGY · BOOK ONE
A PLACE TO PAUSE & NOTICE
The quiet things
that shape a life.
Rituals
The morning coffee. The familiar goodbye. The empty chair. The small things we repeat can hold our memories, our belonging, and our hopes.
In Rituals: The Quiet Things That Shape Our Lives, Richard invites you to notice what you have inherited, what you have chosen, and what may be ready to change.
“Most of life is Tuesday.”— From Rituals
THE BOOKSHELF
Find a book that
meets you where you are.
44 books to explore.
In English and Spanish.
Showing 44 of 44 books
Understanding yourself
Thriving with ADHD, Autism, and More in a Neurotypical World
Plain-language support for understanding your mind, making room for your needs, and building a life that fits the person you are.
Understanding yourself
Please Make Me Feel Worthy
When reassurance never seems to last, learn to ask for support while finding a steadier sense of your own worth.
Love & relationships
Understanding Intimacy When Feelings Shift over Time
A compassionate conversation about intimacy, changing desire, and the emotional questions that can arise as a relationship evolves.
Love & relationships
Understanding Emotional Shifts, Connections, and What Comes Next
Explore the emotional shifts that happen between people—and the questions that help us understand what comes next.
Understanding yourself
Recognizing the voices we carry and making room for a voice of our own.
Healing & emotional health
When Emotional Overload Becomes a Way of Life
Exploring the emotional weight of feeling stretched beyond your limits.
Understanding yourself
How Words, the Brain, and the Nervous System Really Change Us
Looking beyond positive thinking to the ways language and lived experience shape change.
En español
Por favor, hazme sentir digno
Una guía para comprender la búsqueda constante de aprobación y cultivar una relación más compasiva contigo mismo.
En español
Por qué los adolescentes están luchando y qué podemos hacer al respecto
Una mirada comprensiva a las dificultades que enfrentan los jóvenes y a las formas de fortalecer la conexión.
En español
Cómo soltar el rencor y crear una vida más saludable
Una invitación a explorar el rencor, soltar esa carga y recuperar la paz interior.
Addiction & recovery
Flight Plan for Recovery
Understanding addiction and finding a path toward recovery in aviation.
Parents, teens & families
Parenting Teens Through Addiction, Recovery and Lasting Change
Support for parents facing a teen’s addiction, recovery, and the changes that follow.
Addiction & recovery
Healing with Insight, Compassion, and Community
A compassionate look at addiction, identity, community, and recovery.
Addiction & recovery
Addiction and Recovery in the Medical Profession
Exploring addiction and recovery among the people who care for others.
Parents, teens & families
A Modern Parenting Guide to Raising Focused, Confident Kids
A parenting guide to understanding ADHD and supporting a child’s confidence and focus.
Parents, teens & families
Why Teens Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
Understanding the struggles facing young people and finding ways to reconnect.
Parents, teens & families
A Parent’s Guide to Teen Weight, Wellness, and Body Image
A thoughtful approach to teens, body image, weight, and well-being.
Parents, teens & families
Understanding Your Teen’s Emotions, Challenging Behavior, and Unspoken Needs
A practical guide for parents who want to understand their teenager’s anger, set clear limits, and rebuild trust.
Parents, teens & families
A Modern Parent’s Roadmap
Supporting a young person’s developing confidence and sense of worth.
Parents, teens & families
A Practical Guide to Depression and Anxiety
A starting point for understanding depression and anxiety in teenagers.
Parents, teens & families
Healing the Emotional Wounds
Helping young people navigate the emotional wounds of trauma and loss.
LGBTQ+ life
A Journey Toward LGBTQ+ Identity and Self-Love
Exploring LGBTQ+ identity, belonging, and the journey toward self-acceptance.
LGBTQ+ life
A Gay Men’s Book Club Journey
A book-club journey through faith, identity, and connection.
LGBTQ+ life
An introduction to love, intimacy, and relationships for gay men.
LGBTQ+ life
How the Pandemic Reshaped Love, Dating, and Friendship
Reflecting on how the pandemic changed love, dating, and friendship.
Parents, teens & families
Raising Resilient Kids in a Changing World
A guide to parenting, resilience, and family life in a changing world.
Aging & living well
A Practical Guide to Thriving in Your 50s, 60s, and Beyond
Considering what it means to grow older while continuing to grow as a person.
Aging & living well
Empowering Seniors in a Rapidly Changing World
Helping older adults feel more confident in a rapidly changing digital world.
Aging & living well
A Guide for Aging Safely and Gracefully
A guide to approaching later life with safety, dignity, and grace.
Understanding yourself
Break Free, Focus More, Live Better
Making room for attention, connection, and a life beyond the screen.
Love & relationships
How to Strengthen, Repair, and Reconnect with the People Who Matter Most
Giving friendships the care, repair, and attention they deserve.
Love & relationships
A Guide to Digital Etiquette and Empathy in the Age of Screens
Bringing empathy and everyday courtesy into our online lives.
Healing & emotional health
Healing Through Guided Imagery
Exploring guided imagery as a way to reflect and turn inward.
Reflection & everyday life
Thinking more carefully about information, trust, and the search for truth.
Love & relationships
The Right Words for Life’s Most Difficult—and Joyful—Moments
Finding words for the conversations that matter, in difficult times and joyful ones.
Love & relationships
Rebuilding Human Connection in an Angry, Divided World
Exploring empathy and the human connections that help us understand each other.
Understanding yourself
Protect Your Time, Energy and Peace
Making space for boundaries, personal energy, and the things that matter to you.
Understanding yourself
Healing What We Hide
Reflecting on the parts of ourselves we hide and what it means to meet them with care.
Healing & emotional health
Letting Go of Grudges and Creating a Healthier Life
Exploring resentment, the urge for revenge, and the possibility of letting go.
Healing & emotional health
Healing the Emotional Wounds
A compassionate look at grief, trauma, and the process of emotional healing.
Love & relationships
Understanding the Sexual Desires of Men and Women
An exploration of sexual desire, understanding, and intimate relationships.
Understanding yourself
How Language Shapes the Nervous System—and How to Change It Gently
Reflecting on the language we carry and the possibility of changing it gently.
A little fun
From Basics to Mastery
A change of pace: exploring bingo, from the basics to a deeper understanding of the game.
No books found for that search.
Try a different word, or return to the whole bookshelf.
There’s more to explore.
Visit Richard’s complete Amazon collectionOTRA FORMA DE CONECTAR
Libros en español.
Ideas cercanas. Palabras claras.
Un espacio para comprenderte mejor.
En español
Por favor, hazme sentir digno
Una guía para comprender la búsqueda constante de aprobación y cultivar una relación más compasiva contigo mismo.
En español
Por qué los adolescentes están luchando y qué podemos hacer al respecto
Una mirada comprensiva a las dificultades que enfrentan los jóvenes y a las formas de fortalecer la conexión.
En español
Cómo soltar el rencor y crear una vida más saludable
Una invitación a explorar el rencor, soltar esa carga y recuperar la paz interior.
You have not met all
of yourself yet.From Rituals: The Quiet Things That Shape Our Lives
Some books offer an answer.
Others help us ask a better question.
There is room here for both.
MEET THE AUTHOR
The room changed.
The conversation
continues.
Richard L. Travis
PSYCHOTHERAPIST AND AUTHORRichard has spent a lifetime listening to the wonderfully complicated ways human beings become who they are.
As a psychotherapist, he listened to people talk about love, fear, relationships, addiction, family, identity, loss, and change. Those conversations taught him that people rarely live their lives in theories. They live them in stories and relationships.
Richard is now retired from clinical practice. His writing carries forward the curiosity, compassion, and experience he brought to that work.
Writing has become another way of sitting with people. For many years, people came into his office and sat on his couch. Today, he imagines that conversation continuing at kitchen tables, on airplanes, and wherever a book happens to find a reader.
His books bring psychological ideas into everyday life with plain language, reflection, and practical steps. They make room for questions, for humor, and for the possibility that none of us is quite finished becoming.
Follow Richard’s writing on AmazonTHE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Reflections
from Richard.
Thoughts on ordinary moments,
change, and being human.
The Things We Carry Forward
One of the surprises of growing older is discovering that a life does not become simpler just because we have lived more of it. We still wonder whether we said the right thing, loved well enough, or missed something important along the way.
But I have also learned that ordinary moments deserve more credit than we give them. A conversation at the kitchen table. A familiar laugh. The decision to call someone back. These small acts often tell the truest story of who we are.
Perhaps that is what I hope to keep writing about: not perfect lives, but attentive ones.
— Richard
YOUR NEXT CHAPTER
Start with what speaks to you.
You don’t have to figure everything out today.
Sometimes, one useful thought is a beginning.