I’m still chuckling at myself for what happened before I learned self compassion. Sometimes, the most powerful lessons aren’t learned at the course, but in the course of life. I registered for the workshop hosted by the Compassion Project, Klinik, and the Manitoba Trauma Information and Education Resource Center that featured Dr. Kristin Neff that …
The Power of Emotional Intelligence
For many years, I taught students at the School of Occupational Therapy at the University of Manitoba. I loved the teaching and discussions…the marking and administration–not so much! 🙂 One of my favourite courses to teach was “Advanced Communication Skills”…given the finite amount of hours I had to teach content, we decided I would focus …
When Helping Doesn’t Help
I remember at a baby shower a while back, there was a game that was essentially the “maternity olympics”…there were prizes for the biggest baby, the most over due, and so on. When the “longest labor” event arose, I won. Hands down. When I was six and a half months pregnant with my youngest Junior …
Letting our kids fall, fail and fear out of love
I wrote recently about the disintegration of my marriage 10 years ago…watching the one I love become increasingly distant as he disappeared into a new life away from me. One of the things I dreaded about his departure was the effect of this on my Junior Tribe Members. Y’see, I’ve worked with people for years, …
The Difficult Route to Powerful Children
Brene brown {! admin/html?id=d7c3284e31e50300a74cebee8f04cfd3 !}
Proximity
I am grateful. I have colleagues that I work with daily in our offices that I respect and admire. They wow me with their insights and wisdom. If you could hear our walls talk, you would hear stories of wonder–the work with the therapists do with our clients is incredible. Sabrina Friesen is one of …
Nudging and being nudged
One of my favourite things that happens in therapy is this: A couple comes in for an initial session. There is tension between them. They are fighting. They have forgotten how to be friends…they have forgotten they are friends. They begin with the complaints…He works too hard. She complains too much. yada yada As the …
Redemptive Suffering
Sometimes a conference is just a conference. Sometimes, a conference pokes pretty deep. Today–well, I got poked. Deep. I attended the Storyline Conference this week, hosted by Donald Miller. He has written one of my favourite books, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years…something I wrote about several times almost 3 years ago when I …
Don’t rain on my parade
I love when art imitates life. I love watching a 16 year old girl say its her dream to sing, and as she starts singing, “Don’t rain on my parade”…guess what…Simon Cowell rains on her parade. He pours monsoons over it, drenching her parade soaking wet. And I love how she lives her song. She’s …
Mindfulness
Join me in a little experiment? Get comfortable. Shake out your arms and legs. Take a couple of deep breaths. Check to see if your shoulders are relaxed. Breath in and out again slowly. And spend a long minute simply noticing this picture, and also notice what you notice about this picture: What did you …