I was woken up early this morning. 5:38am to be exact, which is an hour where I am often far from pleasant—but when it’s your 5 year old at the side of your bed asking if you could come to her room for a minute, you muster up some gusto and go. I know what …
The magnitude of this work is not lost on me. Four and a half years after beginning as a therapist I still find myself utterly awed at the courage and tenacity of the folks who plunk down on the couch and whisper words that have never made it outside their heads or hearts. 55 months …
I remember my brother-in-law talking about driving his wife and brand new baby home from the hospital. He said he was nervous. And tentative. And he thought about every turn of the wheel leading to a potential car crash, and he babied the gas pedal like a nervous grandma. Suddenly every car on the road …
I put a chandelier in the laundry room this week. Well, actually, Husband put it up. Whimsy. That’s what it is. Whimsy. Basement laundry rooms are places of damp and dark and rough unfinishedness. Furnaces, tanks, and ducts. The underbelly of the house. Practical without any flash. A room of work…there’s not a lot of …
You know those times which none of us want to admit having, but we all do. The ones where we are glad the windows are shut and the curtains drawn because there exists a side of us we’d just rather not admit to anyone? Yeah, Sabrina Friesen had one of those mornings. Today. Sabrina is …
Dear Ms. Ambrose, Wow…did you see this coming? Your role as leader of the Official Opposition? I know your party was anticipating a re-election, with Mr. Harper continuing to be Prime Minister. And now–you’re the interim leader of the Conservative party. That’s an enormous job to land in. I applaud your courage to take on …
I’ve had self-compassion on my mind lately. I gave a workshop to a group of foster parents on the topic last week, and have had a couple of profound conversations with colleagues about being compassionate towards ourselves. Self compassion: gives staying power to those in helping professions. It takes a lot of energy to …
This is not your typical “introducing our newest therapist/intern” blog. I’m introducing me…my new name. Same therapist…different name. Used to be Carolyn Bergen. Now…Carolyn Klassen. I got married in April. And when I got home from my honeymoon, I was still a Bergen… You see, I got a whole new pack of Junior Tribe Members …
I read Donald Miller’s Scary Close book late last fall…and it was one of the best books I’d read in a long time. It was funny and clever and engaging, and all about relationships, my favourite topic. Y’know it’s a good book, when months after it’s been read, it comes back to bite you in …
I heard a few stories from a few friends in the last few days (not from clients, btw–I don’t ever tell client stories on the blog): A woman in her early 30’s tells the story of her parents divorcing when she is her teens. Several months after the separation, her dad called the children together …