Category: Change

 I was recently listening to the podcast "Unlocking Us" by Brene Brown, a favorite of mine, on Spotify.  The podcast was diving into a series addressing the Brene’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection, and includes a conversation between Brene and her two sisters, Ashley and Barrett. I first read the book about 7 years ago, and it has had a powerful impact on my journey.  In episode 4 of the series, a phrase jumped out to me: “Do your work” in reference to living wholeheartedly. Brown says wholeheartedness “is like a North Star. You never get there, but you know when you’re heading in the right way.” 

I am not going to get into the wonderful life changes that Brene addresses in her book, but I would definitely recommend it if the idea of “wholehearted” living intrigues you.  What I wonder is what keeps you from “doing your work?” At times, we have an idea that something ...

There have been a few times in my life when I found myself standing at the edge of a cliff.  

One of my favorite times was when I visited the Grand Canyon while I was in college. It was breathtaking, but I'll admit that I was thankful for the railing. 

When I visited the Grand Canyon, I was able to hike down to the bottom. I didn't scale down a cliff, but instead took a meandering, all-day hike to a place called Phantom Ranch. 

Our lives can often mirror this same journey. 

There is rarely a time when we make one big decision to get us where we end up going. Instead, we often take baby steps down a path that can leave us wondering how we ended up there. Just as often, we look for the one “big decision” to change our life for the better. 

Unfortunately, we often don’t pay attention to the little things along the way that lead us down the path.  We can become so preoccu ...

            Whether we realize it or not, we use coping strategies everyday.  Some maybe as subtle as sleeping in to avoid the traffic or procrastinating on a project or term paper due (guilty) hoping it will just do it itself.  It is when our unhealthy habits become a problem with our normal daily routine is when we need a change.  Our skills, routine, or what we think is working needs to be looked at.  Is this beneficial for me, is this getting me where I want to be, am I seeing bad consequences from these decisions?  These are just some of the questions we need to ask ourselves if we aren’t where we want to be.  

            Coping skills, strategies, or techniques have a couple of common threads that can be applied to just about any disorder: anxiety, anger, alcohol abuse, or any other ...