Category: Change

May Flowers

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This past weekend my husband and I planted some flowers in our yard.  I am not terribly experienced with planting things (though I do have an indoor geranium that I cherish) and felt slightly apprehensive about this task.  My husband, however, assured me that we would be just fine and reminded me how lovely it would be to come home to such beauty and color.  And so, we set off to make our selections before putting them in the ground.

After browsing the outdoor section at Lowe’s, we came home with petunias, marigolds, begonias, and a bunch of other pretty things I do not know the names for.  I had to admit, seeing the colorful flowers all together on my porch made my heart smile.  As we began to plant, we had to make some decisions about where each flower should go.  The “full sun” petunias and marigolds near the front, the “partial shade” begonias in the back, and so on.  We looked at what the flowers needed and t ...

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Posted in:

  • Change
  • Control
  • Mindfullness
  • Self-Care

Tags:

  • beauty
  • change
  • mindfullness
  • reflection
  • relaxation

Teens and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

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Working with teens is very eye opening and for me it is incredibly rewarding. Teens bring so much intelligence and youthful spirit into my every day counseling experience. When teens come into the practice, they are usually coming in to please their parents because their parents want their teen to either behave differently or work on an issue that is causing conflict. On top of this, the teen often does not even know why they are acting in the way that they are. That is why the form of therapy I use with teens is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This form of therapy focuses on why a specific behavior is happening and what is happening in the brain that creates this reaction/response/behavior.

            When a reaction/response/behavior is happening there is a process that has occurred that has created this response. This starts with an event. An event happens that triggers cer ...

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Posted in:

  • Change
  • Mindfullness
  • Story

Tags:

  • Emotions
  • change
  • reflection

The Importance of Counseling and the Therapeutic Bond

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People have various expectations for counseling. Sometimes they expect that after a couple of sessions their problems will be solved. Other times, they refuse to start counseling because they have been told to “suck it up” and “deal with it” when thinking about their struggles in life.

 

Even though counseling has been more widely accepted, we often still imagine it as it is on TV. You come in, lay down on a couch, and start talking about your problems. Meanwhile, the therapist sits there with clipboard in hand, nodding their head, and asking "how do you feel about that”? I often think of that scene from Freaky Friday where Anna has switched places with her mother, who is a shrink, and when she goes to mom’s work in her place, Anna is only supposed to ask, “And how does that make you feel?”. Now, don’t get me wrong, therapists DO ask that question…but that is not all we ask.

 

There are ...

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Posted in:

  • Anxiety
  • Change
  • Mindfullness
  • Practice
  • Relationships
  • Self-Care
  • Story

Tags:

  • Emotions
  • anxiety
  • mindfullness
  • reflection
  • relaxation
  • story
  • welcome

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