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...
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...
Turning off endless thoughts and rumination can be a difficult task for many people (in fact, 6.8 million people across the US). So, it should not be shocking that we all may experience similar instances, or even times of day when we find it difficult...
A sense of direction, purpose, and identity. Most would agree that these are factors contributing to a fulfilling life. At some point most of us have also experienced the anxiety or depression that accompanies a loss of these. As we attend to the daily concerns...
There are very few roles in the world with the expectation to be and do it all, quite like the role of a mother. There are also many contradicting messages about what exactly all of the IT we are meant to be doing is. So...
When I was in college, I had a thoughtful professor who hated the 'b' word; as in 'busy.' He would say that too often people use the word 'busy' to describe how they have been and he didn’t understand why people felt the need to...
Noticing Your Warning Signs Do you ever find yourself pushing through the week, waiting until the weekend, hoping to relax and recover only to find yourself back in bed Sunday evening dreading the week ahead? What about when every decision seems difficult to make and...
Whether we realize it or not we use coping strategies everyday. Some maybe as subtle as sleeping in to avoid the traffic, or procrastinating on a project or term paper due (guilty) hoping it will just do it itself. It is when our unhealthy habits...
Over 10 years ago, I taped a prayer onto my kitchen cupboard where I would see it often. It was an extremely challenging time in my personal and family life. I felt anxious, stressed, burdened and grieved. I needed the daily (sometimes hourly) reminder that...