I am going to get a little personal in this post today…I hope that’s ok. The past 3 weeks have been challenging for me in some significant ways. Actually, we only had 2 bouts of particularly challenging things happen (COVID, with the associated quarantining, and… Read More »Be Where You Need To Be
Former monk and instructor of Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Cory Muscara shared this Chinese parable. I have heard it quoted in multiple places a variety of times, and for good reason. It’s worth repeating and considering. “There once was an old farmer… Read More »Good Luck? Bad Luck? Who Knows?
I was coaching a client the other day about some things happening in his family life. As with most clients, he wanted me to help him get clarity on what he should do. And as I do when clients want to rush there, I told… Read More »What We Do Doesn’t Matter…
One of the most helpful concepts I have come across, for myself and my clients, is the idea of clean pain and dirty pain. Clean pain is an important part of emotional healing. It allows us to process and move through challenging experiences. It can feel… Read More »Clean Pain vs Dirty Pain
This line from a favorite song captures the essence of some thoughts I’ve had today. In speaking with people with concussions this afternoon, I was reminded yet again of how this is such an invisible injury. There isn’t outward physical evidence to cue people into… Read More »In the Quiet Heart is Hidden Sorrow that the Eye Can’t See
I told my some of my kids tonight that where we focus our thoughts makes a huge difference for what happens in our lives — that our thoughts tend to be self-fulfilling prophecies, so it’s really important to focus on the things we want in… Read More »We Find What We’re Looking For
We have all heard that mindfulness is important and helpful. (And if you haven’t heard it from me enough, don’t worry — I won’t drop the subject 😉 I frequently tell people to take cues from the toddlers or dogs in their lives if they want to… Read More »Cues for Mindfulness
“Maybe we should take a break from having hope.” This was what one man said to his wife after they had another failed attempt at getting her effective help for her concussion symptoms. It broke my heart to hear that they had come to that… Read More »A Case for Hope
Have you ever felt like your thoughts keep spinning in circles? Like you can’t stop your brain from continually looping back on the same issue/concern/worry? You’re not alone in this. Our brains are programmed to keep us safe, so when something seems stressful or threatening,… Read More »How to Stop Thought Loops
The other day, I was putting a mattress cover back on the bed of a kiddo who had peed in it the night before. This is a somewhat regular occurrence, and as I was performing the physical gymnastics required to put a fitted sheet on… Read More »The Power of Gratitude