Summer of Change

 Summer is a great time to reflect on your personal goals and explore if there are any areas of your life that could use a little freshening up or even a major change. For some, this may be committing to a consistent bedtime or eating more fruit daily. For others, it may quitting smoking or changing jobs. Parents often consider options for helping their children grow or work on new challenges over the summer months.  Whether it is a seemingly small improvement or life changing venture, there are practical strategies that can help. 

If you are looking into changing a habit or behavior or helping someone else you care about make a change, consider taking my course, Behavior Change Ahead. This is an audio course that you can access on any internet-enabled device and includes 4 hours of content packed with science-backed principles. You will learn about the impact of behaviors in your life, choosing behaviors to change, setting achievable goals, functions of behavior, principles of reinforcement, punishment, data collection and review, observing behavior, celebrating success, and more. Behavior Change Ahead can be accessed any time you are able to listen and includes a printable workbook to help guide you through the principles and behavior change journey. If you think there is a behavior you would like to change, or if you want to learn more about the science of behavior change, this course is for you. 

It is important to note that this course is educational in nature and is not intended to treat mental health disorders or to replace treatment by a mental health professional. If you are interested in individual therapy with me, please reach out via my website or give me a call. 

 

Happy learning and changing! 

Benefits of Nature

 It is springtime! I have been enjoying my mindful walks and smelling flowers, listening to the birds, and observing a variety of colors. I encourage you to get outside every day for some mindful experiences. 

There are many benefits of spending time in nature. For more information, review these resources:

Nurtured by Nature

Can Even a Small Amount of Greenery Be Helpful in Reducing Stress? A Systematic Review

Happy Spring! 

Win or Lose- Perspective Matters

 Perspective taking is an important skill for navigating the social world. Understanding one’s own perspective, as well as the different viewpoints of another, can be challenging yet rewarding. Being mindful of our own judgments and assumptions can help us determine if our interpretation of a situation is accurate or not.  

The Disney’s Pixar series, Win or Lose, highlights the many challenges that can arise with understanding others. We often don’t realize how our own experiences affect the way we see others. We miss what’s going on behind the scenes in someone’s life. In Win or Lose, there are multiple storylines involving a cast of characters related to a teen softball team, each connected in some way with their own unique history, problems, skills, concerns, and strengths. Common emotional experiences such as fear, anger, loneliness, sadness, and jealousy are illustrated in creative visual ways. Relevant topics such as stress, peer pressure, moral attitudes, finances, parenting, dating, relationships, sexuality, religion, and race are woven throughout each episode.  

Win or Lose is a series that will spark good conversation with your family, challenge you to look deeper into situations to explore multiple perspectives, and hopefully help you grow as a person. 

Movies and Humanity

 Watching and discussing movies is a hobby of mine. I love stories, especially when themes representing mental health are depicted. Here are some movie titles and descriptions that highlight specific aspects of living well: 14 Movies That Highlight the Best in Humanity. 

Happy watching and discussing with your friends and family! 

Show Love

 Happy February!  

Valentine’s Day may have passed and is only a single 24-hour period, but each day provides a new opportunity to show care and love to others. Love comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It may be romantic love between partners, familial love between siblings, parents, grandparents, children, or friendship love between good friends. Love can also be shown to neighbors in the community in simple ways such as holding a door open for someone, saying thank you to the mail carrier, smiling at people you pass at the store, or offering to help a co-worker with a project. 

I challenge you to choose 1 (or more) ways to show love to others and see the impact in your life. 

What Can I Learn?

 When adversity comes, your response matters. There is a normal process of coping which often includes allowing yourself to fully experience the emotions that arise in you and accept the true magnitude of the situation. In addition, allowing yourself to grieve is very healthy. While the word grief is traditionally associated with the death of loved one, it is helpful to recognize we grieve varied areas in our life. These may include, but are not limited to:  loss of a relationship/friendship, change in employment status, reduction or loss of independence, change in expectations, learning of disappointing news, physical or mental health changes, unmet goals, or canceled plans.  

Given the wide application of situations in which we are faced with and grieve through, it is helpful to consider, “what can I learn with/from/through/during this situation?” The answer may be buried deep inside or conspicuous at the surface, but it will be there. Discovering, exploring, and putting into practice what you see is hard work and may open the pathway for growing, healing, and strengthening.   

With your next challenge, adversity, or difficulty, I challenge you to search for what you can learn and see how you will grow.