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. …
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 …
Self-compassion–A lived experience
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 …
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 !}
#imenough
Sigh…so many of the things I talk about with people in my day boil down to a simple, but terrifying doubt around the issue of “Am I enough?” The question comes out in various ways: “Am I pretty enough?”, “Will people like me?”, “Have I done enough to impress them?”, “What will people think of …
Building Capacity: You Can Do It!
I am not a morning person. This might be an understatement. I’m quite certain that all of my college papers were written between the hours of 11:00pm and 1:00am, and that I never really engaged meaningfully in class until after 9am and a few cups of coffee. Many years later, and in spite of parenting …
Post-summer parenting shame
It’s that time of year again, where parents pull out school supply lists and dust off indoor shoes to see if they still fit for the upcoming year. Lazy summer routines make way for structure, and boxes of KD head back to the pantry in favor of bagged lunches and portable snacks. For some people, …
FAQ’s about Adult Bullying
Bullying sucks, at any age. Bullying hurts…the irony being that the bullies in the schoolyard are often the ones being bullied in another arena. They feel hurt and powerless…and so exert power over another to push away the helplessness. Those that are bullied are often hesitant to disclose to others that they are bullied…no matter …