7 strategies for a healthier relationship with your family:

As you get ready for a family visit you can feel the tension building- tightening in your throat and your belly. Your thoughts are already running in circles and you prep for the worst. Who will be the first to make the snide remark or throw that critical look your way? When will the old jealousies or hurt feelings flare? …

Burned out with caring? Make the connection between love, compassion, and self-worth

  When you look at those you love- what is your first thought, your strongest emotion? Love, caring, concern? Do you think about what you might hope for, wish for that person? Are you concerned for their well-being and safety- desiring more than anything to keep them healthy and free from pain or suffering? Our closest relationships draw from a …

Increasing your emotional intelligence through updating your emotional vocabulary

Increasing you emotional intelligence is important step in reclaiming control of your life. As a counseling therapist and a marriage counselor I often encourage clients to increase their ‘feelings vocabulary’. We all are familiar with the standard emotions of “mad, sad, happy, and scared”.  What if we were to consider adding the new words that could describe those times when …

Thinking versus feeling: Who I am versus what I am experiencing

A key component in finding happiness and health is identifying the difference between our feelings (emotions) and out thoughts (belief, expectations, viewpoints, memories, etc). Very often our thoughts and feelings have become intertwined in way that it is difficult to know where one begins and the other ends. Being able to tell the difference is critical however. As a therapist …

Using meditation and mindfulness skills as a way to manage pain

Meditation as an alternative to medication in treatment of chronic pain.  The mind-body connection is well established in the health field but it is great to see more research highlighting the power of imagery, meditation, and other mindfulness skills for improving our physical health.  Better living WITHOUT chemistry–what a concept 😉 Check out this article! http://onit.msn.com/story?ocid=hpslideonit.msn.com

Helping grow the brain toward relationships

There has been research that has suggested that while autism is a neurological disorder the effects can be limited and even overcome through the use of intensive treatment. Intensive, structured stimulation and interaction seems to be a key factor in promoting the development of neurological systems associated with autism. Obviously the challenge is finding the funding and supports to provide …

What’s Your Type…Baby?

When I was in entering my junior year in college and the placement office had me complete a set of evaluations to help determine my best career options. The guidance counselor advised me, with evident concern, that I had tested as being fairly “introverted”. He indicated that this might mean that I would need to consider jobs that did not …

Rescuing yourself from anxiety and panic

When you have become isolated and lonely in a relationship you often find that you are thinking and feeling more about those around you rather than less. You may spend may spend many hours alternating between  listing your grievances and hurts and then fantasizing about what you wish it could be, what it should be- if only others would wake up and appreciate …

Loneliness: Being authentic and collecting your rewards

In breaking free from shyness and loneliness it is important to consider the divide between “different”  and “unique”.  Different often implies odd or doesn’t fit it in. Unique can be understood as rare and ,often, valuable- to the right person. People are collectors- we collect objects, experiences, and, yes, people that match our interests, that fill an area of our life that is …