I wish I could tell you that I am perfect at setting personal boundaries with others, but alas–as with diet and exercise–I am a work in progress. Boundaries are tricky and sometimes they are hardest to set and maintain with our closest loved ones, family members and friends. Nevertheless, I try to be mindful of […]

One of my daily, never-ending lifelong goals is to eat well and drink plenty of water. Some days I excel at eating healthy food, drinking plenty of water and even managing to squeeze in time to exercise too.  Other days, I do not. Eating well and taking care of my physical body is a goal […]

Anger is tricky. It’s another one of those emotions that are “uncomfortable” and we’re often taught not to feel it: “Don’t be mad-it was an accident” “I already said I was sorry-why are you still angry about that?” “That incident was years ago-you can’t still be mad at me for that!”

“You can’t pour from an empty cup.” -Anonymous As I was speaking with my mother over the weekend, she was telling me how difficult it was to take care of my grandmother. I love my grandmother, but I can completely understand where she was coming from. My grandmother, at 76 years old, only recently stopped […]

As a therapist certified in EMDR (eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy, I have found this approach to be very effective in helping many clients for a variety of issues. The current treatment guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association designate EMDR therapy as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress. EMDR therapy is also used to treat […]

Years ago, I spent countless hours delving into the topic of trauma. I worked intensively with some trauma survivors, talked to specialists in the field and read many, many books. Back then two things really stood out to me about trauma.

Fear is a basic, yet powerful emotion. It shows itself to us in many forms; a racing heart, surge of energy, “butterflies” in the stomach. These physical cues usually result from our most primal form of fear that sets off the fight, flight or freeze response. A near miss on the highway, physical confrontation or […]

This past weekend I was watching Disney’s Chicken Little with my son and I thought it was a great movie. I couldn’t believe I had never watched it before. It’s geared towards a younger audience, but it has many important life lessons to teach us. One of these, is the power to accept what has […]

In the last blog on this topic I talked about how families differ in their handling of emotions. Parents are the primary role-models for how emotions are to be dealt with in family units. Children learn how to process their emotions by watching what their parents do (or do not do) with their own feelings. […]

This week I was listening to a lecture on anxiety and the speaker talked about “optimal anxiety.” Now, when I first hear the word “anxiety” I do not feel warm and fuzzy. However, the speaker stated there is a healthy form of anxiety that motivates people to successfully accomplish difficult tasks and this is “optimal […]