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 …
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 …
Hump Day Nudge: True Grit
I went to a book launch this evening for the book, When Quitting is NOT an Option, written by Arvid Loewen, with assistance by his son, Paul Loewen. I’ve written about who I affectionally call, my-crazy-Uncle Arvid before, back when he set a Guiness World Record in ultra marathon cycling. Often, people hang up their …
Life Lessons from Hot Yoga
I’m trying hot yoga these days. It was a Groupon, and when it popped into my inbox on a very cold early winter day, it seemed like it was a good idea. Notice the past tense. Hot yoga is hard. Oh, it’s hot, all right. On days when it seems minus a bazillion degrees with …
Hump Day Nudge: Expressed Gratitude
This video makes my face confused…as I watch the folks express their gratitude to someone who has impacted them significantly: my face smiles at the joy of those sharing their gratitude and my eyes tear up at the sheer poignancy of how moving it is to watch that My face hurt at the crying muscles …
Hump Day Nudge: Kid Wisdom
Around our house, I used to say, “Remember to mind your manners, offer to help out, ask them questions to show interest, and say ‘thank you’”, and so on, whenever one of my junior tribe members would go to a friend’s house for dinner or a sleep over. After a while, as they would be …
Hump Day Nudge: Kindness changes the giver
November 13th is the International Day of Kindness…let’s celebrate!! Quote by Lao Tzu I love stories of pure kindness that comes in unlikely places to a person who could use a dose of grace in their lives. I love those stories even better when a person extending the kindness experiences change inside that transforms who …
______ makes me happy
I took this year off of teaching as a self proclaimed “sabbatical-type” year…this year I have only one job and I’m focusing on it, able to take a course in clinical supervision so that I might be a more effective clinical supervisor, and getting my certification in Brené Brown’s The Daring Way program. It’s given …
Hump Day Nudge: Indebted to kindness of the debt collector
I just love it when nice guys finish first. When kindness wins. When thoughtfulness and empowerment of another builds a person up. When someone could be mean and demanding to get results…and might even feel entitled to be rude and demanding…but chooses love. This story makes me smile…what happens when you put a debt collector …