Lindsey Walsh completes his series of Top 10 Relationship Skills with this blog. The series has been a popular one. See the bottom to review the previous 9, if you’re interested in catching up on past entries in the series! “ [T]aking time to focus attention on the inner experience in the moment actually also makes us …
#4 of Top 10: Imagine the Whole Game
“You’ll be an old grandpa. And I’m going to be a daddy.” – James Walsh, age 3, imagining the whole game. This post is about taking the long view and, thus, is the natural follow up to #5: Catch the Ball. In Catch the Ball we talked about the need to focus first on our …
#9 The Reframe: Top 10 Healthy Relationship Skills
People often ask therapists for “tools”. We want tools to have better relationships with ourselves and with others. Perhaps the most important “tool” is the Re-frame. When we “re-frame” something we choose how we are going to perceive it. Parents and loved ones have some really good re-frames for situations. Like, when a baby is …
Experiencing the Roots of Empathy
Question: What does a relationship therapist do when she is on maternity leave? Answer: She takes her baby to volunteer at an elementary school to help youngsters learn about empathy and emotions! Over the last 10 months I have been taking my daughter to visit a grade 4-5 split classroom in the Seine River School Division as …
Dear Car: Your Groom-Son
Dear Car, This week, your son gets married. While you have become much more a part of my life since I married your Husband, never more have you been in my/our thoughts than in the last several weeks. You are missed always, and these days especially. A week or so ago, your son and his …
A lullaby to the silently born
June has been full…one Junior tribe has gotten married, another JTM getting married in a few weeks, still another JTM returning from abroad after several months away this week. The name change to Conexus Counselling this week, with new website and new emails, new letterhead and business cards…it’s been hectic. But June 18th was on …
The Zen Of Rejection
As parents we get a lot of practice in the art of being rejected: No, our children don’t want to put on their boots. No they don’t want to go on the family picnic to the stone quarry. No, they do not appreciate the $100 of hard earned money you just dropped on year end …
A letter to my Groom-Son
Dear Son, Your mom is a marriage therapist…and so, not surprisingly, I have a few things to say. How could I miss the chance? Let me share some pearls of wisdom that come out of years of watching and working with dewy eyed engaged couples preparing for marriage, and bleary eyed couples exhausted from the endless …
Slipping through my fingers…
Mamma Mia is one of those quirky movies that is one of my favourites. I love the beauty of the ocean, and the joy of the music. I own about 5 DVD’s…and this is one of them. There is one song that I have always loved…with an aching sadness that brings me to tears. Every. …
The summer my children saved me
Mother’s Day is a day for celebrating motherhood…and it’s often a day when mothers are celebrated and honoured. I love the way my Junior Tribe Members have made macaroni necklaces, picture frames from popsicle sticks, and handmade cards over the years. (Teachers–bless you–Truly!!). But I’m even more grateful for how my Junior Tribe Members (JTM’s) …