Many folks come to therapy to learn coping strategies, tips, and tricks, concrete techniques that will help them feel grounded and at peace. Anxiety traps you inside the house. Depression tells you it will never get better. You feel it down to your marrow: you’ve gotten what you deserve, and you don’t deserve to liveContinue reading “Beyond therapy tips and tricks”
Category Archives: Deeply Rooted
Talking about suicide: Advice for communities, friends, and families
A high school student in our community died last month, likely by suicide, though no one has officially identified the cause of death or released the student’s name to the larger school community. The principal and district superintendent sent emails shortly after the incident. They offered additional mental health support and lamented the loss, imploringContinue reading “Talking about suicide: Advice for communities, friends, and families”
Book announcement!
On May 31st, my new book, 52-Week Grief Journal: Prompts and Reflections for Navigating Loss will be published by Rockridge Press. The book is a week-by-week, year-long journal for processing grief. It includes affirmations, prompts, and exercises organized around the feelings and experiences that come up after a loss. I wrote this book from twoContinue reading “Book announcement!”
Making sense of perfectionism
It was a typical session in my therapist’s office circa 2014. The topic? My deep sense of shame and the feeling that nothing I did was good enough. “It’s not that I’m a perfectionist. It’s just that everything I do and everything I say has to be perfect.” My therapist gave me a wry look.Continue reading “Making sense of perfectionism”
Every parent was a child once
As parents, we are affected by how we were parented and by the events of our childhood. Did we get what we needed? How were we disciplined? What were the behavioral expectations? Were they realistic?
Cloudy skies inside: Checking in with your emotional weather
This morning I lay in bed, too early to be awake. I felt my internal weather pattern shift and move—a roiling of clouds and keening winds. I didn’t try to make sense of these sensations, though they were informative. Something is stirring me up.
Listening: the superpower within
You have the capacity to neutralize many disagreements and get the focused attention of others. This skill allows you to connect more deeply with your partner, your kids, and your coworkers. This underutilized, often unrecognized and underdeveloped superpower is called listening. It is available to us all. And if we join up with like-minded individualsContinue reading “Listening: the superpower within”