This blog post is geared more towards people who struggle to tame the “monkey mind” at night. If you find yourself losing sleep due to a stream of thoughts, worries, or an otherwise active mind, you’ve come to the right place.
Sleep is such an important part of both our physical and mental health. Many clients who come to therapy with mental health problems also present with sleep disturbance. It can be a vicious cycle, as sleep deprivation negatively affects our mental health, and mental health issues can make it harder to get quality sleep.
While many people can get caught up in reacting to emotional difficulty, self-care takes a more proactive, preventative approach to well-being. Self-care is any deliberate activity taken to nurture part of yourself, whether that be physical, emotional, social, spiritual, etc.
Boundaries help us to protect our sense of identity and establish safety/security in our relationships. Without boundaries, we may experience burn-out and resentment, or become victim to abusive or otherwise unhealthy relationship dynamics.
We have all been faced with opportunities to support loved ones who are struggling in some way. Sometimes we rise to the occasion, while other times we find ourselves at a loss for what to do or say. This blog post dives into how to offer validation and support in moments of difficulty.
Effective listening sets the stage for offering validation and support. Here are some key components of active listening to incorporate into your conversations.
Have you ever felt stuck in your thoughts?
Have you felt consumed by them, trapped in them, without any easy way out? These sticky thoughts are unfortunately all too common, and sometimes it’s hard to know how to escape them.
Tara Brach is a psychologist and author of Radical Compassion (which I definitely recommend). Her book outlines a very powerful mindfulness tool for processing difficult emotions, which I’ve found to be extremely helpful as I guide my clients through emotional experiences.
Emotions are like waves that will rise and retreat. No feeling is permanent, and every difficult emotion will pass.
Learning how to communicate is a crucial ingredient in developing healthy relationships built on honesty and respect. All too often, our communication style is set on auto-pilot. We mindlessly implement whatever communication methods we have been exposed to from our childhood, or have become accustomed to in later years.