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May 2024 May is National Mental Health Month, a time to raise awareness about mental health and well-being. This year, I’d like to shine a spotlight on a group of unsung heroes: family caregivers of individuals living with dementia. As we navigate the complexities of dementia care, it’s crucial to recognize and support the mental […]

March 2024 Mom and I sat in the Executive Director’s office. Mom was crying, railing against some new issue she was having at the assisted living facility she’d had to move into due to safety concerns connected to her dementia diagnosis. I was infuriated- it was early days in this process, and I had yet […]

February 2024 “Dare to connect with your heart. You will be lifting not only yourself and those you love and care about, but also the world in which you live.”– Doc Childre, HeartMath Founder For the majority of my life, I have been afraid to connect with my heart. There’s FEELINGS that live there, and if […]

January 2024 We all have an inner guide and an inner strength. We intuitively know what is best for us and we have the power to pursue it. We are born with this. We often call it intuition or inner voice. In Buddhist traditions there is lungta (windhorse). The best definition of windhorse I’ve found comes from […]

December 2023 In elementary school my class put together a time capsule. I don’t remember what we put in it, where exactly it was buried, or what year it was to be dug up. I do remember feeling excited- what will life be like 20 years from this day? Where will we be? What will […]

November 2023 Each year the holidays come at me like a freight train. Around Thanksgiving I start hearing the train’s approach, off in the distance. I tell myself there’s time to get out of the way. And then the commercials start. The decorating begins. The travel planning commences. And pretty soon I realize that Christmas […]

May 2023 “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21) Recently I attended a group and we were talking about resilience. The group facilitator […]

November 2022 The holidays are a time of happiness and cheer. We are encouraged to visit family and friends, engage in special celebrations, eat, drink, and be merry. The concept behind these traditions is based in joy, but not everyone is joyful around the holidays. In fact, many people are lonely, depressed, and anxious at […]

September 2022 What do you love to do? What brings you joy? When we are busy caregiving or dealing with stress, it is easy to lose touch of the things we love to do. We are so focused on taking care of others that our own needs and desires fall by the wayside. I would […]

August 2022 This morning, while out walking, I passed several people. One glanced my way and nodded, one looked at the ground as he passed by, and one looked directly at me and gave me a big smile. I don’t really seek out interaction with others. I have that East Coast “why would I stop […]

August 2022 You’ve probably heard the saying: “The only way out is through.” This has always been a tough one for me to accept because I am not one to sit with feelings. In fact, I have spent most of life trying to avoid feelings. As a result, I became an expert at starving, shopping, […]

July 2022 Health coaching is an investment in yourself. It is a decision to put yourself first and learn to love the person you are. There are many ways to accomplish this, and developing self-compassion is one of them. Here are ten steps that can lead to self-compassion: •Practice compassion! That’s right, resolve right now […]

June 2022 Grief is such a complicated emotion and it is really hard to define, but I found a solid definition on the Grief Recovery Method blog (www.griefrecoverymethod.com): Grief is the conflicting feelings caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior. We already know that grief is the word we […]

May 2022 How does your body feel when you are stressed? Does your heart pound? Blood pressure spike? Palms sweat? What about your mind and emotions? Do you get “brain fog?” Short-tempered? Difficulty concentrating? Difficulty managing your emotions? For me, yes to all the above. ESPECIALLY when I was taking care of my Mom. Every […]

April 2022 We’ve all been on a plane listening with one ear to the safety instructions while scrambling to store our belongings before takeoff. The announcement that always gets me is: “Make sure to put your oxygen mask on first before helping others.” It tends to hit home because I’ve often neglected my own needs […]

March 2022 What do I mean by “primary food?” Spoiler alert: I don’t mean the food you eat every day! Primary food is all the areas of your life that ALSO give you nourishment. Look at the Circle of Life in the photo and think for a minute about how you feel in each section […]

March 2022 A question I ask clients all the time is “What purpose is this serving for you?”- “This” being whatever addiction, eating disorder, negative coping habit, or rut they are stuck in. It is a question that stumps at first, then induces anger, and eventually leads to a real deep look at what this […]

February 2022 In building a healthy life, there’s a lot of emphasis placed on learning to love ourselves…but it’s hard to know what that really means, especially if we are struggling with self-confidence. We tend to forget the single most important relationship we have- that is, the relationship we have with ourselves. However, with some […]

January 2022 Change requires an incredibly courageous step into the unknown. It requires relinquishing control and moving through the stages of change to reach acceptance and health. This is easier said than done and takes time. One of the first steps is identifying what purpose the habit/addiction/issue/thing (maladaptive coping mechanism) we are holding onto serves […]