A client recently told me the story of how cows and buffaloes react differently when in a storm. The author of the original story – Ray Vaden – talked about how storms in Colorado come in from the west and head east. In a storm, cows will try to run from the storm so will […]
Just Stop It!
A constant mantra of mine with my clients is to stop taking responsibility for someone else’s character flaws. I often hear from clients who are expressing dismay about a coworker, family member, neighbor, friend etc.
Learn to Prevent Anxiety Attacks With These Key Steps
Learn to Prevent Anxiety Attacks With These Key Steps By Julia Mitchell – http://outspiration.net/ Preventing anxiety attacks can be challenging because there are so many causes, and sometimes those feelings of panic and fear come out of nowhere, making it nearly impossible to prepare for them. Luckily there are some tried-and-true strategies you can use […]
Answer the Phone
My work phone rang today and I don’t usually answer my work phone on a Saturday, especially when it’s a number I don’t know. But something inside me said to answer the call. The caller was a young man who said he had gaslighting parents and he didn’t know what to do and he was […]
Listening to Understand or Listening to Refute? Seven Steps to Understanding Each Other
The problem with the clarity and even compromise is that most of us don’t know how to listen and to really hear what the other person is saying, so clarity and compromise are often unattainable. We are so focused on getting our point across and, in the process belittling the other person’s points, that we no longer hear what is being said. We argue from emotions and when our voice isn’t heard, we argue louder and in ALL CAPS. We belittle, we laugh at the other person by using emojis, we make assumptions about a person’s character, but we never truly listen.
37 Years of Marriage Tips
As I write this, I’m in the surgical waiting room at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver, where my husband has been in surgery for five hours. I still have more time to wait. This isn’t our first long surgery rodeo. In 2015 he had a liver transplant. Today’s surgery is an ileostomy to remove his colon that’s been irreparably damaged by ulcerative colitis. Both surgeries are life changing for him, and for me…I am sometimes asked the secret to my marriage. First, I say I married well. I don’t know if I knew this when we married all those years ago. We were young and in love, but naive in so many ways. We grew up together. The man I married 37 years ago was a good man. The man I am married to today is a great man.
Coronavirus Fatigue – Part 2
A couple months ago I wrote about what I coined “Coronavirus Fatigue”. I described Coronavirus Fatigue as “…a general feeling of numbness, or being overwhelmed and/or anxious, sleeping more than usual or not sleeping well at all, anger, fear, sadness and depression. I also see a general malaise – an uneasiness – of body and […]
My Outdoor Counseling Space
I wanted to share my outdoor counseling “office”. I’ve been wanting to do this since I moved my office to my house last year and all the issues surrounding the coronavirus just spurred this into high gear. I plan on only seeing 5-6 clients a week in this office (primarily those I’m doing EMDR with) […]
We Will Get Through the Coronavirus
I’ve not written about the Coronavirus yet. I, like so many of you, have been trying “to figure it everything out” and to keep up with the daily changes in information that we’re receiving. I’m coining a new term for what I and many of my clients and friends are experiencing: Coronavirus Fatigue. Symptoms include […]
Rewiring the Brain – I’m Going Through It Now
I expected once I started PT that my foot would hurt. What I didn’t expect was the extent my brain would react to walking again without the protection of my boot. I have conversations (not out loud 😉 ) between my foot, my frontal lobe of my brain that controls logic and my amygdala which controls emotions. My muscles also jump into the conversations and respond in their own way. My frontal lobe is ready to walk and even ready to handle the pain. My amygdala and my foot are joining forces in rebelling against my frontal lobe, expressing both comfort in staying in my big black boot and fear of what could happen if I step wrong. My muscles are just screaming and tightening up in protection mode which is why I’ve awakened the last couple of mornings in a lot of back pain and unable to stand up straight without a lot of convincing of those muscles to relax.
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