Mindful Living

Circumstances change, people change, life changes. We have failures. Our children grow up and move away. Relationships end. We have health crisis, spiritual crisis. Jobs end. Friendships grow apart. Loved ones die. And we have successes, new relationships, new better jobs, deeper spirituality, better health, babies- New Beginnings. And the circle goes round and round. We need to honor our endings and our new beginnings. It's not only healing for us but also can help with grieving and anxiety. If we don't properly acknowledge a loss that energy or emotion can get "stuck" and can prevent us from moving on or fully engaging in our new life. Processing a new beginning and what it all means and how life will change is very helpful (for all of us that have had babies- you know what I mean!) Showers, weddings, funerals and all the planning that goes with them can be great ways of recognizing and honoring the changes in our lives, especially if we do them in a very thoughtful...

As a therapist I bear witness to many strong emotions. Stories of grief, abandondment, unrealized dreams, deep sadness, worry, arguing, feelings of inadequacy are all visitors in the therapy office. I feel fortunate to be trusted to share the journey with my clients and I am in awe of the strengths and resilency that come forth to assist in healing. Emotions can be out guide if we allow them to be. Feelings of grief tell us about some type of loss that needs to be honored and recognized. Worry informs us about what we are afraid of. Feelings of inadequacy show us areas of ourselves that we may be too critical of. Sadness can guide us to find meaning in our lives (difficult task!). Looking at our emotions as visitors (feelings come and go) that can offer us insight and guidance can be invaluable to an examined life. Most emotions have triggers, but you must search and look deeply for what these triggers are. For example, when I start to feel anxious, I first notice the feeling i...

I am one of these people whose emotions manifest somewhere in their bodies, almost instantaneously! Particularly anxiety or worry will be felt in my stomach usually as a swirling emotion and sadness/grief in my chest or head area. The other part of my body that carries my emotions is my lower back- not all of my back pain is emotionally connected, but when I am feeling down or having relationship issues, my lower back will often hurt. I have learned to use this as a guidance system to what is going on inside of me and to bring things into awareness that I was out of touch about and then take care of the emotions in some way. For me taking care of worry or anxiety is doing soothing self talk and exercise. I am amazed that even a 5 minute walk with almost always reduce any anxiety I feel. When I am sad or feeling down, what helps me is to journal and to connect with others, and then I usually feel the physical sensations subside. With the individuals I have seen in therapy, I have had a ...