Mindful Living

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, there is a lot to be said about being thankful and expressing gratitude. When we are conscious of what we are thankful for, we are focusing on what is good in our lives (and there is always good).  The more we focus on the good in our lives, the more positive we feel.  Conversely the more we focus on the negative in our lives (and there is always negative things), the more negative we feel. Is it always easy?  Nope.  But we are retraining our mind when we consciously set out to focus on the positives.  And retraining our minds is not easy, but it can be done.  The more we focus on the positive, the more those brain connections grow and the easier it becomes.  After many years of practice, I can say that it is (almost!) normal for me to see the silver lining in most situations.  But I didn't start out that way. Many years ago, I had a negative view of myself and the world; and now I tend to see the world as good, and myself as having good intent

Clinic News:  Counselors and Social Workers have to attend ethics training every 2 years to keep their licenses active, so last week I attended ethics training focused around the Internet and how it has changed the counseling field- in many ways for the good, but there are some privacy concerns with the Internet.    After the training, I know I will be more careful on what personal information I put out there on the Internet, because it's really hard to retract information.   For those of us with children at home, some tips the trainer gave us was to 1. Monitor Internet use (but also know that the kids are smarter than us electronically and will come up with ways around our monitoring) 2. Educate kids on the dangers of the Internet and putting your information out there.  3.  Also explain cyber bullying and what it is, how to avoid it and how not to participate in it.  And a note for us adults: some employers are looking us up via Facebook and other Social Media sites