Dear Carolyn-bride, You didn’t know me all those years ago at 22—but you would have known I would be coming one day. I’ve been thinking a lot about you. This is a momentous anniversary of something now gone, and so I’ve been thinking about you more than usual in the last couple of days. Today …
27 questions to fall in love with your parents
I work with the coolest people! This week, as we were visiting at the office, one of our therapists, Ellie Jack, told me about an experience she had with her parents this weekend. The story was moving, and she clearly was still excited by the powerful experience she had…I asked her to write her story. …
Top 10 viewed Conexus articles of 2018
I looked at the analytics for the blog this year and noticed the top 10 most viewed articles on the Conexus website, and I thought I would share them with you. Some were written in years past, but continue to be widely read. Some were written this year. I write articles that help the things …
Self Kindness at Christmas
The holiday season can be a difficult time…in our rush to make it “perfect” for our loved ones, we run ourselves ragged trying to get everything ready, and start trashing ourselves for not doing it right, or not doing enough…and ironically, as we get stressed out, it affects the experience of those around us…sabotaging the …
Permission: A Mental Health Strategy
Today, October 10, is World Mental Health Day…an opportunity for us all to focus on how to improve our mental health. Just as physical exercise, eating right, and proper sleep is good for our physical health, we need strategies and disciplines to improve our mental health. Helpful mental health disciplines help mentally healthy people stay …
Nevertheless…you got this
I posted a picture last week, the day before school started on Facebook: I wanted to encourage the students, the teachers, and everyone else that was and is starting something new and exciting and terrifying and wonderful and nervewracking. Hal Anderson read it and got choked up. It touched on the part of him that …
Snickers and Love Maps
This idea is part of a book I’ve written about couples…men and women each doing the best they can–and having a resource to do even better. If you like this blog, you may want to buy the whole book! Husband and I have been married for over 3 years. I thought I knew Husband. I found …
To the people of Humboldt
Dear folks of Humboldt, As a therapist, I’m a person who has the tender, holy privilege and responsibility of sitting with people in the darkest circumstances of their lives. I want to acknowledge the gift you have been to all of us Canadians–even the world. Your community has let us in on your grief and pain after …
A Brief Guide for Men in the Era of #MeToo and #TimesUp
Dear Male who is frightened by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement, So, if you are man who is a little freaked out, worrying that a woman is going to accuse you of treating her badly at work or elsewhere, I’d like to be direct about what is required to increase your own sense of safety. It’s …
A Mistake?
As I was going to bed on a Friday night a few weeks ago, it was quiet, and my mind lazily drifted back over the day. My mind went back to an email I had received earlier in the day, outlining next week’s schedule for Courage Camp, a conference for Certified Daring Way Facilitators. I love delivering …