The first of a series on apologies and forgiveness… Even when it is totally obvious that s/he has messed up, my mother/husband/friend/child has huge trouble apologizing. It drives me crazy. Why is it so hard to apologize? Apologizing is hard. Absolutely. Apologizing takes courage, because it puts a person in a vulnerable space to apologize. …
Slow deeply
I love Christmas Day. One of my favourite things of the whole year is to be outside in the quiet on Christmas Day. In the middle of a large city like Winnipeg, on Christmas Day there is a quiet hush. The stores are closed. No one is bustling to get anywhere…there may be some cars …
Tis the Season for Shopping
I took two afternoons off from work last week, playing hooky to go the malls to shop for Christmas presents. I thought I’d do it during the day when malls were a little emptier, and I’d dedicate the time to wandering around, being open to ideas I hadn’t thought of, and making purchases to check …
Prioritizing the Important over the Urgent
Boiling water for tea is a good thing, except when it’s too much. And when it’s too much, it’s not a good thing, because it’s too much. Let me explain. At our office, we don’t use the harsh overhead flourescent lights in the counselling rooms. My thinking is that uncovering and exposing parts of oneself …
Benefits of being meaningfully loved
“We all long for loving connections. A hand to hold that changes our world.” Dr. Susan Johnson EFT guru I’m a science geek…I love to learn things. To know what works, and how it works, and what we can learn from understanding our world better using scientific research. We were created for relationships…we need relationships …
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 …
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 …
Yes I can–with the faith of another
My favourite number is 2. It has been for a while. One Junior Tribe Member (JTM) has worn 2 on his jersey for quite some time…and another wears 11 (which added up, equals that). But now “TWO” is really and truly my favoritest number, forever and ever. Its because of this pint sized little hockey …