Feelings Vs. Judgments

I love the scientific approach of the Gottman Method for relationship therapy. They provide basic skills and tools for folks to ensure you are engaging and loving your significant other in healthy ways. On their website, you will find these tools. One of my favorites is the blog in which they discuss in more detail […]

Ease Anxiety – Consciously Relax

One of the most effective ways to handle stress is to consciously relax, pay attention to your body (it tells you what it needs…sometimes it even revolts!), and breathe.  By doing so it positively affects your brain. Breathing sends positive chemicals to the brain that it needs to regulate emotion and the survival instinct that […]

Regulate Stress and Depression

There are many thing you can do to strengthen you Anterior Cingulate, which helps you regulate emotion. Today’s blog will address one. STAY INTELLECTUALLY ACTIVE Like your muscles, your brain maintains better function when you use it.  There are more neural connections in the frontal lobe than any other part of your brain.  Regular intellectual […]

HEALTHY DIALOGUE DEVELOPS A STRONGER BRAIN

Dialogue exercises our language skills which helps to keep parts of the brain connected to other neural structures.  It requires social interaction which nurtures our brain’s social functions.  It also helps to slow the decline of cognitive abilities. SO IF YOU WANT TO HELP WITH DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, DEVELOP HEALTHY DIALOGUE WITH OTHERS. Here are […]

Smile – A LOT!

There are a lot of songs about smiling. One inspiring version belongs to Louis Armstrong, with his simplistic concepts and scats. Many of his songs have a charming quality to them. Here are the words to the chorus: When you’re smiling, When you’re smiling The whole world smiles with you When you’re laughing, When you’re […]

Setting Healthy Boundaries Part Two

HOW DO I SET BOUNDARIES WITH OTHERS? Last week, we worked through the importance of setting boundaries with others and self. By doing so, you will better protect yourself from people who might take advantage of you or even harm you physically or emotionally. You will also create structure in your own life to manage […]

Setting Healthy Boundaries

Most parents, teachers, and other authority figures teach children to be kind and loving. In fact, the elementary school my children attend selected the phrase, “Choose Kind” as the yearly theme not long ago. Likewise, most religions teach followers to be kind, love, sacrifice, and serve others. In some instances, placing one’s self last and […]

Emotional Intelligence Will Get You through COVID Stress and Beyond

Dealing effectively with your emotions develops balanced and more fully integrated emotional health, which is the key to a better life. We identify healthy emotional regulation as Emotional Intelligence. Identifying and naming our emotions provides the first step. Mental Health Professionals call this process labeling. The ability to label our emotions is more challenging than […]

How To Know If You Need Counseling

As a therapist, I’m often asked, “How do I know I  need counseling therapy?” Here are the signs I usually give folk to consider.  Understand, this is not a comprehensive list, THERE ARE MANY MORE REASONS, but these are for people wondering if they should consider therapy and the answer isn’t obvious to them. HERE’S […]