Bustle Magazine: Mindfulness Feature
Mindfulness is all the rage. Recently, I was featured in Bustle Magazine sharing my ideas for how therapists cultivate a mindfulness practice in everyday life.Check it out here, or go to the original source...
Mindful Relaxation
Making Up For Time Lost: 5 Tips for Getting Back in the Game
I just lost a week of productivity due to "acute pharyngitis", which is the medical term for a sore throat. Normally, one would carry on, ignore it, and complete one's typical activities with minor discomfort. Not me. My sore throat felt like seven samurai swords incessantly scraping my trachea with a splash of hot sauce and 40 grit sand paper for gauze. When experiencing this type of pain, things such as work, exercise, conversations, smiles, and wakefulness all come a bit harder. In fact, the only thing that feels natural is lying down and feeling sorry for yourself. Sleep even hurts. Now it's Monday, a week later. I'm in panic mode and have a lot of sh*t to get done. Since it's time to put...
Turn Chaos Into Calm: Five ways to create a Zen day
Whether there are too many obligations or too much stress, feeling anxious and overwhelmed can bring your productivity to a screeching halt. When the stakes are high, the last thing you need is low focus and low motivation. Our bodies are designed to protect and preserve our well-being. But when stress is prolonged and our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) takes over, it can have negative effects on our health and peace of mind. The fight-or-flight reaction that our SNS creates to keep us safe from danger actually causes panic like symptoms including, short & shallow breaths, tightening of the muscles, increased heart rate, and intensified negative emotions in preparation for survival. When this happens, we're lit up like a billboard in Times Square on New...
Psychology Today Post – Getting Unstuck!
July 27, 2013
My latest blog in collaboration with Dr. Mark Banschick, Getting Unstuck - Eight Ways to Get Your Mojo Back, published in Psychology Today. Life takes twists and turns. Just when it seems you've figured things out, that metaphorical rug can get yanked out from under you. It can leave you spinning and wondering which way is up...
Feng Shui Your Mental Closet
Imagine this: you have an incredibly busy day ahead of you and it seems as though you have a million errands to run, hundreds of phone calls to make, a dozen appointments, laundry, cleaning, and cooking, but because you spread yourself so thin- you're misplacing things like your car keys and you forget the time of your appointment and can't seem to find that important person’s phone number and the dryer seems to be eating all your socks. Everything is in a disorganized hair pulling mess and you don't end up getting nearly as much done as you would have liked. Sounds familiar right? And we know that if we don't organize, compartmentalize and de-clutter, our to-do lists are bound to become overwhelming. So we...
Seeking Refuge
Psychology 101 teaches students everywhere that besides food, water, and air, the most basic of human needs is SAFETY. Just watching the news today can be traumatizing. It seems the news networks are building their audience and profits by sensationalizing real and/or perceived threats to their viewers' personal and public safety. We're easily captivated by the shock and horror of natural disasters and man's capability to commit heinous acts. Whatever the headline, it grasps our attention, shakes us up, and dares us to let go. What does one do with the barrage of real threats and sensationalism around us? Where does one find refuge? How can we create a sense of peace and carry on our lives a productive and optimistic way? Here are a...
Trusting Your Intuition
It goes by various names: gut, instinct, insight, intuition, even a sixth sense, but whichever name you choose, it still holds the same meaning. It’s our ability to act on or sense something without the use of rational process. To break it down, intuition is basically how we tap into our subconscious mind, which is where we store information that we may not remember on a conscious level. Sometimes we can pick up on things without realizing it and it will register as a “feeling” that we can't quite explain. It can come in different forms for everyone- that inner monologue telling you when someone isn’t being truthful or that sudden spike in alertness when you just know something isn’t right. Unfortunately, a lot of...
