practices for maintaining your emotional self care
skill weekly
Mindfulness Skills in Times of Uncertainty
As we all cope with the uncertainty of the coming months, mindfulness skills can help us to ride through the difficult emotions, step back from scary thoughts, and increase self-control in our behavior. These are the evidence-based mindfulness skills I teach to help build up distress tolerance and emotional mastery.
Finding Your Tribe for Back to School
It’s back to school season again! Time to put away the flip-flops and head over to Staples! You can just feel the cringe come on as you think about it, huh? Every year at this time, my phone starts ringing and the appointment requests come flooding in. And every year...
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...
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...