An Uncomplicated Life; a seemingly unattainable goal.

A life with out anxiety: unimaginable if the two are synonymous with each other.

One practice to minimize anxiety and achieve an uncomplicated life: Mindfulness

Think of all that you have done in your life.

All that you have overcome.

All you have accomplished.

I promise you: YOU HAVE IT IN YOU TO MAKE A MINDFULNESS PRACTICE A PART OF EVERYDAY OF YOUR LIFE.

In 5 minutes a day you will learn to live mindfully by practicing the following.

But first:
There is no wrong way to do this!

1.Sit in a comfortable spot. Begin your mindfulness practice by focusing on your breath, it will help ground you for the session. Focus on drawing your breath in and exhaling it out. Just do it. Everyone has wandering thoughts while doing this. It's OK. It's a part of the journey.

(Are you a mantra aficionado? Some people find it useful to use a mantra to focus on: That is a word or phrase that you say aloud and/or chant. It can be ‘Om’, som...

Parent and caregiver support is critical to the treatment of childhood depression. Sadly,  there is no quick fix for depression. However, parents play an important role in helping children heal by maintaining a supportive environment and teaching healthy habits. This post describes habits and skills that foster children’s mental well-being.

Routine

Kids thrive with routine. Following a daily routine reduces stress by creating predictability, among other benefits. Begin by creating a routine for doing a few important tasks—such as meals and bedtime—at the same time, and in a similar way, every day. Think of routines as an outline for the day, rather than a minute-by-minute schedule. A good routine leaves room for free time, such as talking, playing, and just hanging out.

Behavioral Activation

Depression causes children to lose interest in normal activities. Consequently, they become less active, which causes depression to worsen. Make a point to schedule enjoyable activities every d...

4 Powerful Benefits of Mini-Habits

If you haven’t heard of mini-habits, you’re in for a treat. Imagine making only small adjustments in your life, and still managing to create impactful and meaningful change.

The mini-habit is just what it sounds like – it’s taking the premise that doing a whole lot of small things will eventually add up to something amazing. Think, for example, of what would happen if you only read a couple of news articles every day? Before you know it, you’d have accomplished the goal of becoming more informed, and would be better able to handle discussions about current events.

Mini-habits don’t stop there though. Not only can your mini-habit change how you get things done, but they impact your mind and body as well. Read on to discover the powerful benefits of Mini-habits.

1. You create an atmosphere of success. By setting small goals, you’re much more likely to meet them. So instead of telling yourself that you’re going to return all your phone ca
...

We all develop patterns of holding tension in our bodies as we move through life and experience tension, fear, and stress.  Do you notice yourself clenching your jaw or making a fist when you are experiencing difficult emotions? Perhaps you feel your chest constricting when you run into someone with whom communication is challenging.

In between practicing law and being a psychologist, I did a ton of yoga. I experienced much healing on a yoga mat. Before that time, I would work through, run through, or suppress what was uncomfortable or painful. Turning my attention elsewhere seemed like the healthiest thing I could do. It was counterintuitive to actually pay attention to what was painful or uncomfortable.  Doing so can provide you with much freedom.

The physical tightness and pain we feel in our bodies can teach us more about ourselves.  These sensations often result from certain thoughts and emotions. When we start to notice the correlation, between certain thoughts and emotions wit...

Dissociation to maintain peace around us at the cost of peace within us. 

Dissociation is a physiological response to not feeling safe.

It can look like spacing out or being hyper-productive.

Sometimes it's a way to self-edit ourselves into silence.

We hide our anger or rage or grief to keep the peace.

In doing so, we may dissociate to help us maintain peace around us at the cost of peace within us.

We self-edit ourselves into silence.

This can become something we learned to do a long, long time ago, as a way to adapt to fear.

When we know we are in a safe space, we can start to rewire our brain not to automatically holding everything in.

Neuroplasticity: The brain’s ability to change, remodel and
reorganize for purposes of bettering our ability to adapt to new situations.

Neuroplasticity refers to our brains ability to continuously change over the course of our lifetimes in response to our environment and injury. We can harness this power to begin to shed behavior...

The Family Member Who Absorbs the Whole Family's Anxiety

Family members are intensely emotionally connected. This connectedness can  be a source of intense joy but it can also foster reactivity.
 

As family members, we react not just to each other's behavior but to what we believe are each other's needs and  expectations.  Seeing a family member craving attention, approval, or support from other family members can trigger powerful feelings.

In families, we watch each other carefully for changes in each other’s behavior. Our observations are meant to help us predict what will happen next. Our predictions are based upon the clues we pick up in the moment together with memories of past experiences.

When a family member watches another member’s behavior, the observer reacts in line with what they believe will be reciprocal to the action they are predicting is about to occur by the member they are observing.  Around it goes, a change in one person's behavior or functioning leads to reci...

We all develop patterns of holding tension in our bodies as we move through life and experience tension, fear, and stress.  Do you notice yourself clenching your jaw or making a fist when you are experiencing difficult emotions? Perhaps you feel your chest constricting when you run into someone with whom communication is challenging.

In between practicing law and being a psychologist I did a ton of yoga. I experienced much healing on a yoga mat. Before that time, I would work through, run through, or suppress what was uncomfortable or painful. Turning my attention elsewhere seemed like the healthiest thing I could do. It was counterintuitive to actually pay attention to what was painful or uncomfortable.  Doing so can provide you with much freedom.

The physical tightness and pain we feel in our bodies can teach us more about ourselves.  These sensations often result from certain thoughts and emotions. When we start to notice the correlation, between certain thoughts and emotions wi...

For whomever is out there who needs some real talk in order to give up being OK with unrequited love.

First, let me define precisely what I am referring to. In unrequited love, one person gives love to another who doesn't reciprocate that love. 

As a psychologist, I often hear of the pain of a love relationship ending. Having become out of sync, the loss of the relationship is experienced in different ways and at different times by each member of the couple. Sometimes one partner continues to long  for the  other partner, although there is no prospect of reuniting.

 It won't surprise you that unrequited love is associated with more negative psychological outcomes than mutual love (e.g., depression, anxiety, poorer well-being). You knew this. This is true with highly unbalanced love just as it is with unrequited love.

Yes, sometimes the relationship is ongoing and a break-up hasn't occurred but there is an imbalance in each partner's commitment to the relationship. One is doing ...

The way we look at people, places, and things influences what we see. By looking for and tuning into moments of resilience, which has it's own special beauty, we nudge ourselves toward manifesting the tendency toward being resilient ourselves.

Today, focus on noticing people, places, or things that literally or metaphorically illustrate resilience. What you give your attention to becomes amplified. When you pay attention to seeing resilience in action, you bring light to your mind.

Here Are Seven Great Little Changes to Help You Instantly Feel More Energetic

Feelings of depression, anxiety, fear, and anger can deplete our energy. Depleted energy then contributes to circumstances which increase the energy sapping feelings and the cycle goes on.

We don't need to strive for optimal performance every day. We don't need to strive every day- period. However, if there are little things that can lift our level of energy, why would we not try them?  Of course, certain moods grip us with a feeling like quick sand and we falsely believe we are stuck in them with no way out. 

This is where the seven little changes come in. With a bit of an energy boost, we have the power to suspend disbelief and give doing healthy things a try.

What does optimal performance feel like? It doesn't matter what it feels like to Oprah or Rhianna. What matters is: "How do you feel when you're performing at your best'?"

For many of us, the answer is a combination of energy, focus and good ...