The archive
All essays
37 essays on mindfulness, emotions and wholehearted living, 2018–2020. Or browse by topic.
2020
2019
- Getting Off The Cycle of Discomfort: MindfulnessYou made it! You learned about Trait and State Discomfort, journeyed through the Cycle of Discomfort, and learned how Cognitive Distortions and…December 9, 2019
- Oh, Discomfort! How Do We Get Ourselves There Part IIII think if you're still reading, you are at least partially on board with the idea that we cause the majority of our own state and trait discomfort .…December 7, 2019
- Oh, Discomfort: How Do We Get Ourselves There? Part IIToday we're continuing our exploration of Cognitive Behavioral ideas and how they relate to our internal trait and state discomfort . We talked…December 3, 2019
- Oh, Discomfort. How Do We Get Ourselves There? Part IOk, so we talked about the 2 types of discomfort: state and trait. (You can review that HERE if you need to.) I promised that we'd talk about how we…December 2, 2019
- Trait and State DiscomfortOh. Discomfort. It can look like anxiety, depression, sadness, anger, stress, tension, pain, loneliness, or any number of other words. You name it.…November 26, 2019
- About AcceptanceSometimes, when I tell a new client that my approach is based strongly in acceptance, and I explain that I believe we must accept all of our Selves…November 23, 2019
- Practical Spirituality: Compassionate Self Evaluation and Self CareThe final piece in the Practical Spirituality toolkit is Compassionate Self Evaluation and Self Care. It may well be the most important piece of this…November 18, 2019
- Practical Spirituality: Practicing Value-Based BehaviorPracticing from our new positive value system is pretty easy - As long as we feel good. Right? I know for me, acting with compassion comes…November 13, 2019
- Practical Spirituality: Mindfulness PracticeThe second piece of the Practical Spirituality pie is Mindfulness Practice. First, let's review - what is mindfulness? To paraphrase Jon Kabat-Zin,…November 12, 2019
- Practical Spirituality: Values IdentificationPractical Spirituality is all about value-based behavior. Values. They define who we are as Beings, and we all have them. We demonstrate our values…November 11, 2019
- Practical SpiritualityWhat the heck is, Practical Spirituality ? Practical Spirituality is not WHAT or WHO you believe (in) or don’t believe (in). It is not about your…November 8, 2019
- Abandoning the Self - Justification, Rationalization and BlameI’ll just jump right into this one. I’ve been in an emotionally taxing situation in one of my personal relationships. I’ve had all the feelings -…November 5, 2019
- Some Thoughts on HealingI was looking for a picture for this post, so I entered the word, healing , into the search engine over at Pixabay . I wasn’t really surprised by…November 1, 2019
- Growing a Well-Boundaried LifeBoundary work is one of my favorite subjects. My rock-solid belief is that living a life with healthy boundaries leads to greater joy, fewer…September 6, 2019
- Breathwork - Because Sometimes Words are not EnoughSometimes words are not enough. That’s just the truth. I’ve been a mental health counselor for 17 years, and I do believe that talk therapy is…August 22, 2019
- Habit-Patterns - A Lost Soul's MagicI find myself thinking a lot about habit-patterns of energy. I am deeply interested in the habit-patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that…August 13, 2019
- Child's Fear, Adult's SabotageMy Child Self has been scared recently... Lately, my Creative Heart has been longing to write stories. I’ve always written, but over the past 30…August 12, 2019
- Yes...AndLearning to Yes...And your scene partner is one of the first lessons you learn if you take an Improv class. It is the foundation upon which any…April 9, 2019
- Speak Your FeelsThere are so many places that are actually Schools. There are so many messages that are actually lessons -- if we are open and willing to be…April 2, 2019
- Falling Into BusyHere’s some transparency. Sometimes I get busy. It starts innocently enough. I need to take a new client on a day that I usually reserve for me-time,…March 11, 2019
- Writing Toward Wholeness: Combining fiction and self-reflective writing to promote healingI have always been a writer. My journals, if I still had them would date back to October 1st, 1989, the day I arrived in Edzell, Scotland. With the…February 3, 2019
- A Short Something About GriefMy 11-year-old Dog, Ginger died on December 5 th . I intended to write here. Perhaps share something about grief, a subject I’m pretty well-versed in…January 1, 2019
2018
- The Art of Stopping"We have to learn the art of stopping -- stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us...When we are…December 3, 2018
- Envision It!“I have had my vision.” Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse This is Tip #6 in the Wholehearted Living Series ... Have you had your vision yet? What is…December 1, 2018
- On My Bookshelf: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn“Awareness is not the same as thinking. It is a complimentary form of intelligence, a way of knowing that is at least as wonderful and as powerful,…December 1, 2018
- On My Bookshelf: The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh“To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.” Thich Nhat Hanh The Miracle of…December 1, 2018
- Wake up in this Moment: Part 2Ok. So I hope that you’ve given yourself the opportunity to wake up in the present moment and find the serenity that lives there. If you haven’t…November 26, 2018
- Wake Up in This Moment: Part 1I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time in a dream state - and not because I’m curled up in my comfy bed snoozing (I LOVE true sleep SO…November 26, 2018
- The Key is Inside. It’s Called Choice“The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.” —George Elliot Y’all! I can get so stuck. I mean, I can get so wound up in my own head…November 19, 2018
- SAY YES!“I believe that 'yes' is the only living thing.” —E.E. Cummings This is Tip #5 (of 7) in my Wholehearted Living Series . You’ve done a lot of work so…November 19, 2018
- Identify the Feelings You Love the Most“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” —Helen Keller This is Tip #4 (of…November 12, 2018
- Inner Growth is Like a Spiral Staircase: There’s No Elevator to the Penthouse“Growth is a spiral process. Doubling back on itself, reassessing and regrouping.” —Julia Margaret Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way “Life is a…November 12, 2018
- Generate the Feeling of Gratitude RIGHT FREAKING NOW!“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have…October 29, 2018
- Learn to See Your Super Power — CHOICE“There’s always always a choice. My options might really, truly suck, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a choice.” —Jim Butcher, Cold Days This is…October 15, 2018
- Sitting with Emotions: Sweet SadnessI’m sitting with my back to my window, propped on a meditation pillow. One of my wonderful girls, a Border Collie cross named Sofia, is next to me…October 1, 2018
- Celebrate Past Lives (All of Them!)The Path to Wholehearted Living, Part 1 (of 7) Let’s talk about Wholehearted Living . Let’s talk about living a life that fits your values and helps…September 17, 2018