Blog
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A Valentine’s Day Gift To Yourself
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”-Dr. Seuss What’s sweeter than chocolate and longer lasting than chocolate? The adoration of the person who gazes back at you when you look in a mirror. While we are accustomed to thinking of Valentine’s Day as…
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Organizing Your Life in the New Year
As you look around your environs, do you see piles of papers, a tower of books, dust bunnies peeking out from under the bed, heaps of laundry, dishes in the sink and on counter tops? If you are like most people, there is at least one room in your home that is messy. What would…
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How Weeding Your Inner Garden Can Make Way For a Bountiful Harvest
Imagine the most exquisite garden, overflowing with rainbow hued flowers that attract buzzing bees, succulent fruits, and luscious vegetables that you are eager to sample. It is a feast for all the senses. You stand back and drink in the beauty, sighing with delight. The truth is, that garden of earthly delights exists within you.…
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The Empty Chair at the Table at the Holidays
The heart holds memories, and we can relive them at our whim. There are times when we avoid turning back the pages when what we recall brings up images of people we will never see again in this lifetime. There is no statute of limitations on grief. No cookie cutter way to cope with sorrow.…
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Do You Have Creative Constipation?
Do you believe that creativity is something you are born with or that it needs to be cultivated, or sweated and strained over as if it was an ordeal? What if imagination came as part and parcel of this human existence? According to Sir Ken Robinson, an author and speaker whose TEDtalk “Do Schools Kill…
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Can You Ever Do Enough, Be Enough or Have Enough?
Look in the mirror and what do you see? A person who is striving for perfection or one who can accept themselves as is? Someone who isn’t tall enough, thin enough, attractive enough, smart enough, wealthy enough, or one who is, as Baby Bear might have put it, ‘just right’? A therapist tells the story…
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Opening the Time Capsule
Imagine opening a time capsule in the year 3020 and reading about a world changing event that occurred 1000 years earlier. It contains a roll of toilet paper, a mask, a container of hand sanitizer, gloves, photos of people who lost their lives unnecessarily, and a scroll that explains the devastation that occurred that the…
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Being Single During the Covid Crisis
Being single and living alone has its challenges even under normal circumstances. But it is particularly difficult during the Covid pandemic with the necessity to socially distance and shelter in place. For single people, these continuing restrictions disrupt regular human interactions that we all take for granted: being with family and friends, dating and intimacy.…
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Depression and the Pandemic
In this seventh month of the pandemic many people are feeling mentally challenged due to the ongoing social isolation and financial uncertainty. Researchers have found increasing levels of anxiety, trauma, substance abuse and suicidal ideation, especially among young adults and ethnic/racial minorities. Is depression on the rise, too? Apparently so. According to a study by…
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Benefits of Connecting with Nature
The ongoing pandemic requires all of us to continue to isolate at home and to social distance when outside. But these restrictions don’t mean we have to avoid being in nature. And that’s a good thing since there are many reasons to stay connected with the natural world — especially during this difficult time. We…
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Can Resilience Be Learned?
The Covid-19 pandemic is a challenge to many peoples’ emotional well-being. Recent studies indicate a rise in fear, anxiety and depression during the lockdown. It stands to reason that the threat of serious illness along with the loss of economic security have been big factors in this decline in mental health. But just as in…
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Tools for Creativity During the Pandemic
For those still sheltering at home — or have more free time — there is one silver lining in the pandemic: it can give us more opportunity for creative pursuits. Creative activities can actually give a boost to our mental health. Research studies have documented its psychological and physical benefits. For example, it can help…