I smirk even as I type this, because the “calm” lyric from this Christmas song rarely plays out in my life during this busy season. Calm is, after all, something we must carve out time to experience. And yet, I often forget this concept and run myself ragged this time of year.

Perfectionist thinking can be checking and rechecking apologizing too much for minor mistakes or spending too much time doing less important things like cleaning your house. Acknowledging your perfectionist thinking is the first step to be able to change it. Feeling pressure to be perfect is an unfair expectation to put on ourselves since perfectionism […]

A real positive change in the last 10 years is that people understand more than ever that poor communication is the root of a large amount of the conflicts in the world. I hear so many clients who come into counseling already well aware that improving their communication skills will be a major benefit for […]

If you were alive in 1987, you might remember the anti-drug campaign ad that talked about “your brain on drugs” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOnENVylxPI). The ad set out to compare our brains to an egg and how doing drugs was like breaking and frying the egg.

Prior to the 1950s, scientists believed that our brains went dormant when we slept (www.hopkinsmedicine.org). We now know this is absolutely not true. Your brain cycles through REM and non-REM throughout the night, sometimes up to 4 or 5 times. When you experience quality sleep, you are better able to both understand and remember information. […]

We all get angry whether its road rage or when our sibling does something annoying. Anger is sometimes difficult to cope with and when our emotions get the best of us sometimes we might lash out and hurt those around us. Anger is not an emotion we should fault ourselves for having, we are allowed […]

Physical pain is a major impact on our mental health. From chronic to acute, severe to minor, pain will have an impact on our mood that can be quite staggering. Luckily most of us learn to manage everyday aches and pains without it causing much of a mental health issue at all, but even the […]

I don’t know if the general public pictures therapists as practicing Yoga or Tai Chi, meditating, or just doing life in flowing clothes while emanating peace and kindness. If you are a therapist and this describes you…WONDERFUL! I have met such sweet souls and love being in their calming presence.  However, I am here to […]

“Stressed” is a word you may have used from time-to-time to describe your mental health. The urban dictionary on Google defines “stressed out” as when you feel like you cannot cope with life or are overwhelmed with responsibility.” With everything that is happening in the world many of us feel stressed. However, nuances exist in […]

What are Cognitive Distortions? The thoughts that pop into our brain are not always reliable.  Our brain can be biased in ways that are unhelpful and cloud our judgment and logical thinking. Ways our brain can be unreliable is referred to as Cognitive Distortions or Mind Traps. Cognitive Distortions are defined as: faulty or inaccurate […]