change Archives - Heather Edwards Mental Health Counseling

Butterflies: Proof of change for good

July 7, 2020

Change doesn’t happen comfortably. Just when the caterpillar's world was ending, it became a butterfly. The extenuating circumstances you are in right now are also a new beginning. Uncertainty. Isolation. Fear. Instability. Change. Transformation. Transcendence. Each has an affect on mental health, for better or worse. Each is an opportunity for greater compassion. Your everyday life looks distinctly different than it did a few months ago. Whether you’ve been on lockdown, protesting with Black Lives Matter, or struggling to keep a roof over your head or business - this is a time of unprecedented and profound change. You’re experiencing change in how you socialize, work, educate, love, heal, and relate to the world. It’s unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and uncertain. Traumas are triggered. Self preservation is awakened. The status quo is upended. Emotions are...

Psychology Today: 5 Ways to Happiness

May 3, 2016

Articles, Psychology Today Articles - In the Press!

Time to get inspired. 5 Ways to Happiness. This Psychology Today piece is by guest blogger: Heather Edwards. It is meant as wind behind your sails. It's poetry, an action plan and modeling. And, yes, it's time to get going. -------- Throughout the years, people have asked me how I do the intensive work that I do. This question perplexes me. I wonder the opposite. How could I not do what I do? Power Of Inspiration: I am inspired by the healing, wanting, dreaming, changing, and transforming that happens in the therapy and coaching room everyday. The person who leaves my office is not the same person who entered it 45 minutes earlier. They have a new insight, idea, peace, or focus to carry with them into the world. Yes, it is sometimes difficult...

change happiness inspiration intention mindfulness psychology psychology today

Audio Blog: Reclaim Your Life

February 16, 2016

Articles, Audio

[audio m4a="https://heatheredwardsnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Reclaim-your-life-1.m4a"][/audio] Is ego, fear, or someone else’s vision keeping you stuck? You are the expert, master, and keeper of your life. What are your guiding philosophies? Are you functioning from a place of blame, entitlement, lack, fear, and greed? Or from a position of responsibility, abundance, wealth, courage, and charity? And I’m not talking about money – but rather about strength, purpose and meaning. Maybe your mind is scattered and unfocused, or it seems too late to change course now. Maybe you forgot to ask questions and push back a little along the way. Perhaps what you want seems unobtainable. Maybe you’ve never been a lucky person, or there’s too much burdening you to see the possibilities. Our perspective is much like a camera lens. Sometimes we need to stop to...

adjust change coaching Dream evidence goals Inspire life Motivation Vision

Turn Toward the Enemy – Mastering negative emotions

December 21, 2015

Articles

You feel stuck. Trapped. Immobilized. When in the therapy and coaching room, conversations about fear, regret, disappointment, and frustration arise and take center stage. It’s easy to fall prey, be guided and controlled by negative emotions, even feel consumed by them. It's an uncomfortable place. It's dark, heavy, constricting. It can hold you hostage. And it can intensify before it dissipates. Recognize negative emotions not as your enemy but as your informant. Acknowledge them. Accept them. Be open to them. Question them. Break them down. Look those unsavories in the eye. Release their grip. Identify the building blocks of negativity. Uncover the hidden messages. Initiate a plan designed for empowerment. When you turn toward your anger, fear, and sadness you validate the experience of the pain. You soothe and comfort, rather than avoid...

accepting anger change coping fear grief mindful negative regret resentment sadness

Fear Sucks. Doubt Debilitates. Stress Kills.

October 7, 2015

Articles

Fear sucks, doubt debilitates and stress kills. Loneliness isolates and worry permeates. Anger enrages and sorrow depletes. Yearning drives and hope transcends. Joy eases - all or most of the pain, at least for a moment. Darkness and light. Greatness and shame. Brilliance and defeat. Ecstasy and despair. Two sides of the same coin, right? They're separated only by a the velocity of a spin or gravitational pull from our Mother Earth. Unavoidable. Unmanageable. Unimaginable. Or not? These are the feelings you will inevitably experience as a living, loving, breathing, growing, evolving human being. They're scary. They're jarring. They're life changing. They're normal. At times, they force you to look them in the eye and realize the limits of your comfort zone. They reveal the distinction between being passenger...

change coaching emotions fear Feelings Health heather edwards mindfulness mood psychology stress management

10 Tips for Gaining Clarity on ANYTHING

August 6, 2015

Articles

If you’re anything like me you struggle with staying on task. In this immediate-gratification-digital-world it’s a challenge to sustain focus on anything for any uninterrupted amount of time. The average attention span is estimated to be about five minutes long for a two year old child, and up to 20 minutes in older children and adults. Just guessing - but it will probably take you longer than 20 minutes of focused attention to achieve your dreams. Try out these 10 tips for clearing and clarifying your mind.. Establish a Morning Ritual: What you do in the morning sets the tone for the day. Begin each day with 10 minutes of nurturing self care. Stretch, breathe, meditate, or read a few pages of a self improvement book. See how...

change coaching goals Health heather edwards inspired life coaching mindfulness problem solving psychology self esteem self improvement stress management time management Vision

The Ripple Effect: Your Power Source

July 30, 2015

Articles

Among the hundreds of people I’ve coached and counseled, there’s a striking and honorable theme. It’s one that prompts people to seek support in becoming their best self. It's one that guides behavior, values, and wants. It motivates their reflection, desire for improvement, and a genuine regard for having a positive impact on the greater good. So let’s give credit where credit is due. After all, that’s what keeps us going. The theme I’m referring to is the ripple effect. Regardless of the particulars that bring people to coaching or counseling, clients share a common concern about the imprint they leave on society - their family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, clients. This collective consciousness about their personal effect on what extends beyond their immediate reach impresses me. So much...

#relationships behavior change coaching heather edwards inspired life coaching mindfulness problem solving psychology self improvement stress management Vision

4 Steps to Bump Up Your Life

July 14, 2015

Articles

Why is it so difficult, and so important, to know the difference between thoughts and feelings? Sometimes thoughts happen so fast that they go unnoticed. Instead, what we experience is a pit in the stomach, a racing heart and mind, or a sense of hopelessness that things will get better. It’s true that negative emotions seem instantaneous. They're automatic and natural consequences of events, right? Wrong! That’s just not the case! Although they can wash over us like a tidal wave, leaving us helplessly drowning in sorrow, fear, or numbness - there is a choice you can make between stressful events and negative feelings. Except for those real life fight or flight situations, where your safety or life is in actual danger, or in some post traumatic stress...

Heather Edwards Psychotherapist and Coach

3 Ways to Make the Law of Attraction Work for You

June 23, 2015

Articles

You got the inside scoop on The Secret. You know that horrible dream where you’re in class and its exam day but you forgot to attend school all semester? You’re in a panic because you’re not prepared! Well, you might feel panic now as you realize The Secret, on its own, doesn’t work. The universe isn’t manifesting your dreams without a little kick. The Law of Attraction isn’t enough. Hello, universe! You practice the Law of Attraction everyday - wishing, meditating, praying. But you're intentions haven’t manifested! Well, it's not surprising. What the experts didn't tell you is that the Law of Attraction is only part of the better-life-equation. There is power in positive thinking. That’s been proven. It helps to restructure our brain and trigger the flow of feel-good...

Feelings are Your Deeper Truth

June 17, 2015

Articles

Don’t you hate it when you’re having a good day then you’re T-boned by loneliness, fear, or guilt? Pump the brakes! What just happened? In the intersection of a pretty decent life, you’re suddenly reeling with negativity. If you are a living, breathing, wanting, moving, evolving human being - negative emotions will be part of the fully-wakeful-ever-expanding-consciousness-raising-life-experience-package. They can stop you in your tracks, or at least slow you down a bit. But you can choose to take a closer look and use them as fuel to motivate and inspire you. Emotions are cues from your soul to make necessary changes in your life. When you pause to acknowledge them, back up and say hello to them, you can see them as such. They are internal informants that something...

change healing heather edwards inspired life coaching letting go Life Coaching mindfulness mood self improvement stress management

change Tag

Butterflies: Proof of change for good

Psychology Today: 5 Ways to Happiness

Audio Blog: Reclaim Your Life

Turn Toward the Enemy – Mastering negative emotions

Fear Sucks. Doubt Debilitates. Stress Kills.

10 Tips for Gaining Clarity on ANYTHING

The Ripple Effect: Your Power Source

4 Steps to Bump Up Your Life

3 Ways to Make the Law of Attraction Work for You

Feelings are Your Deeper Truth

Heather Edwards LMHC

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