practices for maintaining your emotional self care
skill weekly
4 Steps to Stepping Back from a Holiday Family Freak-out
The holidays can bring out the best and worst in us. When we try to over control situations and our feelings, things can go terribly wrong.
That Thing You Do: The Chronic Complainer – Episode 3
OMG seriously! This sucks! I can’t believe I have to do this. Complaining, we all do it sometimes. We vent, describe, assert, and tell stories of dissatisfaction. Of course we do! Like all emotional habit patterns, we get a juicy satisfaction from the act of venting...
That Thing You Do: The Workaholic – Episode 2
“Okay! What’s next” was the thought that constantly ran through Martha’s head, like a metronome keeping her in beat to her non-stop lifestyle. Anytime there was a beat, a pause, a silence – “What’s next?! – egged her on. Martha was indeed a work-a-holic! Like all...
That Thing You Do: Perfectionism – Episode 1
We all know people who we wish could just see, and own, their stuff. You know, that thing they do, over and over again, which leads to outcomes they say they don’t want: The wrong guy, the dead-end job, unequal friendships, or just lack of progress. But do you know...
That Thing You Do! New Skill Weekly Series Launch
We all have a thing. You know - a familiar way we react when we get emotionally triggered. Some of us are aware that we have a tendency to react in certain ways to certain situations. Maybe a close friend has brought this to your awareness. Or maybe you’re a seeker...
When to Practice Acceptance: 4 Questions to Ask Yourself
Take 60 seconds to answer to each of these questions – to know if a situation calls for acceptance, or change.
Are You Approach Or Avoidance Motivated? A Mini Quiz
What gets you moving? When you have a goal or need a change, what’s top of mind; the reward – or the avoidance of a loss? Today’s SKILL WEEKLY talks about the pros and cons of each, and has a mini-quiz about drives your motivation, and how to use it to your advantage!...
4 Quick Fixes to Interrupt an Emotional Spiral
When you’ve been triggered and your emotion passengers are trying to hijack your mind-body vehicle, it can feel like your loosing control! You get pulled into a full cascade of psycho-physiological reactivity. Breathing gets shallow, muscles tense, and we can’t think...
Rejection Sensitivity: Do We Really Get What We Put Out?
“You get what you put out there!” We often hear this annoying truism. But is it really true? And if so, what can we do to prevent getting more of what we don't want? The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Is It Real? Do others really reflect back our own social signals? Owning...
Is The Digital Age Fueling Toxic Reassurance Seeking?
We all need a little reassurance sometimes. Someone to tell us we’re on track, doing great, or just confirm that we don’t have food in our teeth! But could this normal behavior be becoming more problematic in the digital age? Has Internet, smartphone, and social media...
Use Your Words: The Power of “Affect Labeling” for Emotional Self-Care.
What if you could feel less angry, sad, or anxious with just one word? How great would that be?! Most of the time, instead of doing what works, we just keep doing what we’ve always done, hoping it will work (like it used to). So where does our capacity to do...
Beyond Labels: Getting Past Stigma With How We Talk About Mental Health.
Diagnostic labels are helpful as a shorthand way of communicating what one is experiencing. But I wonder; might they also contribute to keeping us stuck and maintaining the larger societal stigma? Instead of focusing on labels, perhaps we need to encourage a language...