In this age of instant and available communication with most anybody we know available with a few taps, the world isn’t an oyster, it’s a cell phone. Think for a moment. What do you do when: you are caught behind someone in a grocery line who needs a price check that is taking, like, …
Hump Day Nudge: Tears for Beauty
I remember years ago, going to the baseball movie, The Rookie, with a rough and tumble 8 year old. The boy loved baseball. Late in the movie, we watched the underdog-struggling-pitcher finally making it to the big leagues. The pitcher goes down the long hallway from the dugout after the game towards the showers. He …
Grateful for Gratitude
Refreshed and presented again from our archives…some ideas are just worth repeating! If you knew of a strategy that could make your teen 15% more satisfied with their lives, 15% greater sense of meaning in their lives, 17% more happy and hopeful, and have 13% drop in negative emotions as well as 15% drop in …
Hump Day Nudge: The little friendly gestures matter
Last week, after I spoke on the radio, I went to Starbucks to chill a bit…a little self care after a task I still find stressful (does that ever go away?). Ahead of me were a pastor couple from the church I attend…with another couple for a visit. The pastor pulled out his card to …
100 days of no dessert Part 1
There are all sorts of reasons I find enormous value and joy in being a therapist. One of those reasons is the personal enrichment I gain from watching courageous people take risks in talking about areas of their life most people don’t even let themselves think about. I get a front row seat to courageous …
Hey…just a quick note to let you know that we’re over on Facebook, as Conexus Counselling (formerly Bergen And Associates Counselling). In addition to being able to see if there is a new blog post, we capture “connecting”/relationships videos, posters, and stories designed to help you grown the connections in your life. Go over to our …
You are not your job
I am a therapist. Yep. I am also a mother, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a friend, a cook, a writer, an eater, a teacher, a mentor, an auntie, a cook, a reader, a napper, a runner, a speaker, a walker, a parishioner, a sleeper, a Downton Abbey and Grey’s Anatomy watcher, a lover …
Beautiful and Beastly: Thoughts on Social Media – Part 2
Part 1 of this two-part series on the pros and pitfalls of social media highlighted some of the benefits of using various mediums to stay connected to – or in extraordinary cases – begin connecting with people who we hold dear in our lives. And yet social media has some darker sides, too. There was …
Worrying
The February 17th edition of Maclean’s magazine’s cover story was all about “The new worry epidemic”. In the article, worry is used interchangeably with anxiety, both of which are different than fear. Fear is the “flight/fright/freeze” response that occurs when one is exposed to a threat of some kind…a danger. Fear is in the now. …
The Movement: True beauty is real
I love this video that has popped up in a few places: It’s like these women are almost surprised at how disappointed they are at how they don’t/want/can’t own the beauty of the faces in these photos..the retouched, bleached, refined, blemish-removed, pore-airbrushed faces…just not seeing that perfected “beauty” in the image, and owning it as …