What are your New Year’s resolutions? What is your word for the year? What are your goals? What will you accomplish? As we start the new year, we are surrounded by ways to improve and reinvent ourselves. Yet, growth, change, and the transitions of life...
Trust is the foundation of healthy relationships both with others and with yourself. Brené Brown, an expert researcher on vulnerability and trust, created the acronym BRAVING to identify the essential components of trust. Here are some ways you can apply this tool in your daily...
Taming the Thought Spiral: A Pathway for Quieting Your Mind As a counselor, one of the most common complaints I hear is the challenge of thought spiraling. We experience something hard, we feel big feelings, and our mind tries to fix them or escape from...
We all grow up in a family system. What we might not always realize is that each of us assume a role in that system to make it “work.” This can be based on birth order, needs to manage specific relationships in the family or...
What do you value? What is most important to you? So often we can feel a dissonance within ourselves. We can struggle to identify what we want or need which can lead to difficulty making decisions. By learning to answer the questions above, we can...
Is there a circumstance that is keeping you stuck or is fear blocking your dream? You may be dreaming of a job change, an adventure, a goal or taking steps to make a relationship better. In 2022, I faced one of my fears. I have...
We often focus on the negative. What don’t we have? What is still lacking? What if it never gets better? There are times we should focus on what’s wrong. Ignoring it isn’t going to help anything. A life without reflection is likely one without learning...
I have a nine year old son who loves to read. Before bed, we’ll often grab a classic tale to read together. As I’m writing this, we’re deep into Treasure Island, enjoying the harrowing tale of a young boy named Jim Hawkins who winds up...
Our ability to manage logistics can often be overlooked when we think of our mental health. But logistics (planning, doing regular, boring life tasks like cleaning, paying the bills, etc) are an important factor for our stress and anxiety levels. For many people, trying to...
You are sitting on a bench at your local playground. It’s sunny (despite Michigan’s temperamental weather). Your gaze begins to wander and settles on children climbing. They are climbing everywhere. It’s amazing, actually, how many things children can climb on. You further notice how they...