During talk therapy, you will talk with your therapist about a variety of topics including those which trouble you the most. Your therapist will not give you advice, nor will they give you the answers to your problems. After all, they are not living in your mind nor are they living your life. Only you understand what you want out of life, and only you can find your answers.
How are you coping with so much time at home? Whether you call it lockdown, sheltering in place, or quarantine, just about everyone’s work-life balance has been disrupted. We need to nurture ourselves even more than usual these days. We are all in need of more self-care, gentleness and especially healthy boundaries in relationships! Your schedule and your life are probably quite different now than they were before COVID. Many are feeling disruptions like work reconfiguration and job loss,...
Suffering is an expected part of this journey because resilience is a muscle that we strengthen over time and experiences. However, developing this muscle is most effective when encouraged by warm, loving, and responsive caregiving.
One of the challenges of 2021 will be to continue making self-care a priority once the pandemic has passed. If you’re someone who has always said you don’t have time for self-care, or that self-care seems selfish and self-indulgent, you’re not alone. “One of the things that you come across all the time is the idea that ‘I can’t invest in things that are good for me, because it’s taking away from my ability to be a good parent or do what I need to do at work,’” said Kelly McGonigal, a health...
Happy 2021! 2020 was a year unlike any other. But it also brought home for many of us what matters most, including the importance of nurturing and harnessing the power of our nervous system and brain toward equanimity so that we can flourish even in the face of adversity. Your Healing Narrative: Write-to-Heal With Neural Re-Narrating i s my 2021 offering for individuals, parents, teachers, social workers, therapists, and health care professionals, to help ease a little bit of the anxiety,...
If you're ever going to heal from childhood trauma, to become happy, connected, and doing work you love, you'll need to get out of brain fog. Brain fog is common for people who grew up with abuse and neglect. It's a feeling of fuzzy-headedness where you can't hold a thought or focus. It's almost as if your memory isn't working properly, or you’re sleepy and out of it. It can feel like there's a membrane between you and the world. It may not seem like it, but brain fog is one of the worst...
If you are tired of hearing how bad 2020 was, I completely understand. I think it's ok if we start thinking about how good 2021 can be. I began the new year by doing something I haven't done in a long time - visiting a drive-thru safari! Ok, so maybe the "safari" in small town Mississippi isn't the same as a safari in Africa or even a big city would be, but it was still lots of fun and we saw lots of cool animals. Many of them came up to the car and ate from our hands. I can assure you that...
The taboo of speaking out against The Mother is messing us up. The Uncles and Fathers get the worst rap – for good reason, sadly, according to the numbers — but there are Mothers out there doing harm, too. We just don’t allow ourselves to talk about it. The infallible icon of The Mother is a big one to address much less topple. We are socialized with language surrounding Mother Countries and tell tales of superpowers of the all-seeing maternal eye, one that can see you sneaking into a...
When many of us began working remotely at the start of the pandemic , there seemed to be some advantages to working from home : no lengthy and costly commutes, more family time, greater flexibility, and more time to exercise. Since then, though, we’ve discovered there are downsides. The truth is, working from home can lead to overwhelm , exhaustion, and even burnout . That’s partly the result of blurred lines between our work and personal lives. “‘Working From Home Fatigue’ isn’t all in your...
Michelle Maldonado guides us through a four-step practice to recognize, acknowledge, investigate, and sit with our natural awareness. Compassion is so powerful; sometimes it’s soft and cuddly, and other times, it is fierce. Paul Gilbert, the Compassionate Mind Foundation founder, says that compassion is one of the most important declarations of strength and courage known to humanity. We’re all at this moment where we get to choose how we show up next. With that, let’s turn our attention to...
Season's Greetings Folks, Whatever your faith, belief system, ethnicity, identity may be, I am wishing everyone peace and joy. I am grateful that our paths have crossed. I will share a song of "Joy". I don't have much to offer, but as a musician I do have the gifts of music to share. An older song of mine & video, but the sentiment remains the same. Stay safe & Take care, Michael. "Joy" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4tWjowZVo
Hey folks, A powerful music documentary. Well worth watching to learn the back story on some great musicians and music. I saw this a few years ago, glad I watched it again. Talk about overcoming trauma, racism and stigma....these folks exemplify the courage and the perseverance of the human spirit. Take care, Michael. - RUMBLE | The Indians Who Rocked the World | Independent Lens | PBS - https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/rumble/
Trauma. “A widespread, harmful and costly public health problem. It occurs as a result of violence, abuse, neglect, loss, disaster, war and other emotionally harmful experiences. Trauma has no boundaries with regard to age, gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, geography or sexual orientation.” To say that COVID-19 has in some way been a traumatic experience for everyone would be an understatement. It has had far reaching effects on individual health and well-being and economic...
"Nothing about these experiences of adversity and trauma is inevitable in terms of the development of the child."-Dr. Gerry Giesbrecht The adverse childhood experiences study has taught us that 2/3 individuals has experienced some form of childhood adversity between the age of 0-17 years, and that this adversity can have long term negative effects on the individual. But how might this adversity impact a mom and her baby? According to my latest conversation with Dr. Giesbrecht, approximately...
It’s little contested 2020 has been a sh*# show for most every American. It has personally knocked me down countless times. There are so many aspects of this pandemic and 2020 that have challenged my resilience as an individual, a mother, a small-business owner, and a female leader in my field. Despite what people assume, resilience-lacking 2020 hasn’t been a personal failing. Resilience is not a choice. Resilience is not an attitude or a mindset. Resilience is a physiological phenomenon. I...