Domestic Violence. When you read these words, what comes to your mind? Television portrayals? Hollywood reenactments? …media has downplayed, glamorized and even glorified domestic violence ultimately creating a dangerous misunderstanding of the deadly reality of domestic abuse. Most people are not aware of the array of severity that classifies as [...]
When I have asked clients to describe anger I hear words and phrases like hot, uncontrollable, rage, out of body experience, blackout, temporary release of tension, numb, exhaustion, explosive. When I have asked clients to give anger a color there has only ever been two colors given: black or red. When [...]
THE ATHLETE. THE DRIVEN. THE COMPETITIVE. THE MOTIVATED. THE DETERMINED. THE FEARLESS. THE BRAVE. Athletes are a special breed of people making for an interesting topic in psychology. How can an athlete pick themselves up in the middle of death-gripping fear and make the decision to “feel the fear and [...]
Let’s talk about the ever present SHADOW OF DOUBT that seems to loom over us in the form of SELF-DOUBT. If we’re literal about this idea that doubt is an actual shadow, what does this mean? Shadows distort the actual object. Look at the shadows of trees, yourself, cars, or [...]
Depression is very common. People experience depression for various reasons and at varying degrees. When people find out that I am a counselor they often share an anonymous story of a friend or family member and pose this question, “what should I do?” I wanted to provide a quick reference [...]
Close your eyes for a minute and picture yourself. What do you look like? How do you describe yourself? Are you critical of yourself? Do you love yourself? Are you accurate in your description or is your view of yourself distorted? Too often we are hypercritical of ourselves and describe [...]
It’s that time of year again….social media is blowing up with Elf on the Shelf posts! Most people by now know the story behind these vintage elf dolls… they are the eyes and ears for Santa Clause. Each night as the house quiets down and everyone sleeps, the elf flies [...]
Happy (stressful) Holidays The Holiday Season is marketed with lights, laughter, giving, cheer, favorite foods, snuggly clothes, romance, blissful family gatherings… but when will we turn on the television a see a commercial that advertises the truth of the holidays? I want to see an ad that shows families arguing, [...]
Can I just be real for a minute? I am not even sure if this qualifies as a blog, a journal, or hate mail, but if you’ll hang with me for a second I am about to get very real about something that is on my heart. Last night I [...]
Everyone has their own approach to family mealtime. I remember as a kid finding mealtime at my friend’s houses to be an experience in itself! Some of my friends had family prayer before eating, others did not. Some always ate salad before the main meal could be served. Some had [...]