Life is full of changes. This week I learned that a friend of mine has been promoted and will move across the country soon. A few days after that, my phone rang and I was told a family member’s cancer has returned. And just this morning a friend of mine’s infant daughter was admitted to […]
Tomorrow morning if you wake up And the future is unclear I… I will be here -Steven Curtis Chapman, I Will Be Here The holiday season can be a time of connection where friends and family get together for parties, dinners and other gatherings. Everywhere one goes there are reminders of the season…
One of the most challenging experiences for a parent is learning how to help a child in emotional distress. A parent can feel overwhelmed and inadequate, when faced with the acute emotional distress of their child; especially when they try to respond by attempting to calm the child down or with problem solving…and it doesn’t work. Panic can […]
For the personal piece on caregiving, I wanted to share some advice from a dear friend. My friend of many years—let’s call her Lily—is caregiver to a young son who is currently struggling with two different types of mental illness.
Do you live with someone struggling with a mental illness? Are you a caregiver for an aging parent or seriously ill spouse? Do you have an active relationship with a close friend battling depression? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you are caring for someone with special needs and are a “caregiver,” […]
When I was in high school, one of my friends (let’s call her Laura) dated a guy who often abused her both physically and emotionally. She was tragically affected by domestic violence, but at the time I had no idea. All I knew was that her boyfriend (let’s call him Rob) did not seem very […]
I recently heard someone say that “if you are not getting the harvest you want, there is something wrong with the seed you are planting.” We have to “plant” (or spend time investing in) what we want to get. And planting is not always easy. Sure, it is fairly easy to plant when things are […]
It is cliché but true that “the only constant is change.” As gloomy as it sounds death is about the only thing guaranteed to us in this life. Whether we intentionally change courses or the winds of change redirection us, our lives are always fluctuating. Just like the four seasons, we are constantly moving from […]
A long time ago I attended a training on “knowing when your container is full.” I know the title sounds funny, but what I learned by doing one simple exercise during that training has stuck with me years since.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could reduce stress in your life? Well, you can. The first step to reducing stress is identifying your stressors. This part of stress reduction is fairly easy. Most people can readily rattle off what is causing the most stress in their lives—marital conflict, sickness, financial hardship, strained relationships, work […]
