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  1. Who Are You? And How Can CBT Help You?

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    Our identities are made up of a number of varying factors including (but not limited to) our beliefs, our values, our personality, and our physical characteristics.  Another way we might think of identity is our self-image.  Our self-image is our mental picture of our self.  Our self-image is affected by how we view ourselves and by how we believe others view us. Additionally, our perceptions o…Read More

  2. Grounding Techniques When Life Feels Chaotic

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    As I am in this new season of life living in a new state away from all of my loved ones, I find myself in one of the most difficult times of my life. This has forced me to use the very tools I teach to my clients. These tools include healthy coping strategies or as people most commonly know them healthy coping mechanisms. Most people understand what unhealthy coping strategies are more so than the…Read More

  3. A Daughter-in-Law’s Dilemma

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    Holidays or anniversaries of loss often surprise me with surges of emotional memories about becoming a daughter-in-law. When I began relating to the woman who became my mother-in-law, I was a teenager eager to please, longing to gain her favor.  I felt honored -- but also afraid.  What if I failed to gain her approval? Because I struggled with feeling “in the way” and “not good enough,” …Read More

  4. The Grinch

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    Last Sunday our church did a wonderful teaching on the movie adaptation of the classic Dr. Suess story "The Grinch." The heart of the teaching and the story is that only kindness, forgiveness, and love can heal a broken heart.   This leads me to think more about how our world, culture, society, and communities are becoming more and more polarized and divided. We are bombarded with picking a side,…Read More

  5. Why Is Investment With Your Friends Important?

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    “Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” -Misty Copeland I just got back from a weekend with two other mamas, my ten-year-old daughter and their ten-year-old daughters.  (That’s 3 mamas + 3 daughters.) I had not had the opportunity to spend such extended hours with these two women, and I came away feeling enriched with additional insights, addition…Read More

  6. Thankful for the little things- like a stove…

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    “If you want to find happiness, find gratitude.”— Steve Maraboli November is upon us and it is only fitting that we talk about thankfulness. I have had an interesting reminder lately of something I have taken for granted for years. You see, a little while ago, my oven made an interesting “pop” it was a signal that said it was no longer going to be with us and that my days of baking in th…Read More

  7. When I’m 64

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    "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now Will you still be sending me a Valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I’d been out till quarter to 3, would you lock the door? Will you still need me?  Will you still feed me when I’m 64?" Beatles' Song when I'm 64 Like many in my generation, The Beatles’ songs shaped many of my early perspectives on life.  As I entered…Read More

  8. The Best Place To Be

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    How often do you find yourself lost in a tornado of thoughts? Thinking about the upcoming week, next month’s travel plans, what bill is due when … an endless world of worry and what if’s. If you’re like most of us, this describes your everyday mental journey. Let’s stop the madness! The best place to be, the only place to be if we want to truly live our lives with purpose and meaning is …Read More

  9. Conflict + Resolution

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    The definition of the word conflict, when it is used as a verb, means: "to be different, opposed, or contradictory: to fail to be in agreement or accord" and as a noun, it means: "fight, battle, war." Conflict in relationships is inevitable. Interpersonal Conflict is a disagreement where two people see or understand something different than one another, opposed. We can't have a relationship withou…Read More

  10. Thoughts on “The Red Shoes”: A Woman’s Need to Keep Her Footing 

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    (excerpts from Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Este´s, PhD) “Once there was a poor motherless child who had no shoes. But the child saved cloth scraps wherever she found them and over time sewed herself a pair of red shoes. They were crude but she loved them. They made her feel rich even though her days were spent gathering food in the thorny woods until far past dark. But…Read More