A Resiliency Pause is when you … pause, in order to build your capacity for resiliency. 💓 Bringing certain thoughts to mind correspond with certain sensations of well-being in your body, which amazingly enough can directly help support our bodies, minds, and spirits. So I’d like to teach it to you right now: You ask…
Tag: encouragement
Strengthening Couples: Learning about the “Us” identity
We got to lead our, first-ever, couples workshop the other weekend! (If I haven’t yet shared with you, my husband and I are both marriage and family therapists. 🙂 ). And, we kicked off a marriage series called, Strengthening Us. One of the concepts we talked about was this idea that a new identity is…
May our Hearts be Encouraged
Whatever you are noticing inside you and outside you right now, may our hearts… be encouraged! If you’re up for a little experiment, try placing one hand on your heart and the other on your belly. Let them rest there for a couple seconds, then switch. Which one feels better? Do you notice any sensations…
Resiliency Zone During the Holidays (and After)
Our Resiliency Zone is our “ok” zone– our place where we’re in control of our emotions and our emotions aren’t in control of us. In other words, we are calm, alert, and engaged (ie. regulated) and we can function optimally. Other terms to describe this place include the Window of Tolerance and the Optimum Zone…
Your unique resources support you.
Resources help emotionally buoy us when stressful things happen. A resource is “any person, place, thing (or memory) that helps to uplift you” The Trauma Resource Institute There are all sorts of circumstances that could bump us out of our Resiliency Zone– whether those are stressful annoyances that momentarily dip us off balance all the…
Benefits of Paying Attention to Your Breathing
Did you know that literally paying attention to your breathing can really help calm you down? Moreover, intentionally trying to make your exhale longer than your inhale tends to be even more calming. Why, you might ask? Well, paying attention to your breathing (and especially making the exhale longer than the inhale) activates the vagus…
Why it’s Hard to Believe the Truth about Yourself
“Why can’t I just tell myself a truth/affirmation and then really believe it?” someone might say. Well, there’s actually a neurobiological reason why this is the case for many people. I went to a Havening training last year with Dr. Kate Truitt, a Havening Techniques Certified Trainer and expert on the connection between fear, information…
You are cherished for being YOU
Regardless of what has happened to you, how much you have, what you do, or what other people think or say about you*… you are loved, celebrated, and cherished. On the 11th anniversary of my traumatic brain injury today, I want to warmly and assuredly whisper to you that you are celebrated for the person…
You CAN. You are capable
It was the Little Blue Engine’s attitude that got her up over the mountain to deliver all the dolls and toys to the good boys and girls on the other side of the mountain ( haha, can you tell we read Watty Piper’s The Little Engine that Could with our daughter a lot?!) In psychological…
How to calm yourself through breathing (guided exercise)
Did you know that literally paying attention to your breath… is calming to your central nervous system? Well, it is! Another fun fact— making your exhale longer than your inhale is even more calming. Perhaps you’re already in the practice of noticing your breath. Perhaps you never have. Or, perhaps you’re somewhere in between. Whatever…