Emotions can be experienced like a wave. Some waves are calm and gentle while others are rough and destabilizing. They can be brief or prolonged, they can be sudden or anticipated in advance. Regardless, they all have an onset, eventually dissipate and have a reason for showing up in the first place. Artist credit: Brit Chida (they/them); britchida.com When paired with mindfulness, observing this wave has profound benefits because it allows individuals to both deepen their in

Welcome to the next installation in the exploratory series of Mental Health Themes in Music!Today, we’re looking at a song from the 2014 album, “Heart Murmurs,” by Minneapolis based indie pop artist, Jeremy Messersmith. Let’s take a look at the beautiful and dynamic sentiments from “Hitman.” “I need a hitman for my heart Someone to bump it off a balcony Nonchalantly leave the scene I need a hitman for my heart It doesn't care who might get hurt Never thinks, only loves reckle

There is wellness in the act of re-imaginging yourself in a game as an opportunity to more deeply grow and understand yourself! Whether your interests are in video games, table top role-player games (TTRPGs) or computer games, having space to redefine yourself can be a deeply rewarding and illuminating experience. In my experience of TTRPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Daggerheart and Stormlight Archives I have found great joy and self-expression in making an in-game character th

Welcome to the second part of "Challenges to Long-Term Change Efforts - a three Part Look at Goals for Long Term Change. You can read part 1 here. And part 2 here. I have a distinct image in my head from Scooby-Doo! of Shaggy and Scooby getting scared by a monster. In their moments of panic, the show depicts them trying to run and their legs go round and round in circles as they try to run away quickly without having any prior momentum. Humans are not high performance sports

Welcome to the second part of "Challenges to Long-Term Change Efforts - a three Part Look at Goals for Long Term Change. You can read part 1 here. It’s Probably not Laziness Social narratives about not being able to enact change or complete certain goals often get unfairly reduced to laziness. This is not a helpful framework - some even question the actual prevalence of laziness. More often than not, I think procrastination toward many things, particularly goals, is more abo

Being mixed race can mean carrying multiple histories, cultures, traditions and ways of understanding the world. This complexity can feel expansive and meaningful. It can also leave you wondering where you belong and whether others see you as you understand yourself. You may have heard that you are “too much” of one identity or “not enough” of another. You may have been asked, “What are you?” or felt pressured to explain your background in a way that makes sense to someone el

Chances are, anyone who comes to therapy is hoping for something to be different. The end-goal is different for every person who engages the process but one common experience many (if not most) people have is how difficult it can be to move toward the change that we want. Navigating barriers arising between Point A and Point B can be some of the scariest, most frustrating, most difficult and also most important areas of potential transformation. Below are just a few barriers

Facing the barriers of being consistent in your life head on! In navigating everyday successes both large and small, I believe consistency can be a valuable asset to growing in every domain in your life. In 2020 I wrote about traits that can be a guidepost in being consistent. However, a consideration in navigating fostering a lifestyle that is grounded in consistency is facing the challenges that create daily impediments. Let’s look at a few of them here and how we can face

Have you ever said yes before you even considered whether you wanted to? You apologize when you are not sure you did anything wrong. You notice a shift in someone's mood and immediately wonder what you can do to make it better. We often hear about fight, flight or freeze. Research describes moving toward a threat, away from it, or becoming still as adaptive defensive responses that help us respond to perceived threat. Another response increasingly discussed in trauma-informed

Therapy - so many acronyms, so little time. Sometimes it can be difficult to parse what kind of therapy you’re engaged in, what modalities and frameworks you’d like to work from or what resonates with you as a therapy client. One term you may have seen and wondered about is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, which is one of the most researched and evidence-based psychotherapy practices out there. It is based on the concept of the “CBT Triangle”, the idea that our thoughts,