“Come to the edge,” he said. “No, we will fall,” they replied. They came to the edge. He pushed them… and they flew.” — Guillaume Apollinaire Without courage it is virtually impossible to progress along the spiritual path. Courage enables us to face the fears that arise when we go for what we want. Courage […]
Weaving Mindfulness Throughout Your Day From the moment you wake up to the moment you lay your head on the pillow at the end of your day, you have the opportunity to engage mindfulness as a way of life. However, if you’re like most people, as soon as you awaken, the mind is already busy […]
Mindfulness and the Mind-body Connection The substantial and significant link between mindfulness and stress reduction is centered within the mind- body connection. Although Western medicine has tended to view the mind-body connection as pseudoscience or a fringe concept, this attitude is changing as neuroscientists discover and chart the neural pathways that connect thoughts and emotions […]
Everyday Mindfulness Mindfulness is a way of learning how to relate directly to your life. Because it’s about your life, no one else can do it for you or tell you exactly how to do it. Fortunately, it isn’t something you have to get or acquire. You already have it within you; it’s simply a […]
Mindfulness and Well-being By helping you begin to recognize your habitual thinking patterns and other ingrained behaviors, mindfulness can play a significant role in enhancing your psychological and physical well-being. However, it can be difficult to sit back and watch your neuroses and problematic behaviors, as what we discover typically doesn’t fit the pretty […]
What is Mindfulness? “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom” (Pattakos 2008, viii). -Viktor Frankl Mindfulness is about being fully aware of whatever is happening in the present moment, without filters or the lens of […]
What is a Trauma Trigger? A trauma trigger is a psychological stimulus that prompts recall of a previous traumatic experience. The stimulus itself need not be frightening or traumatic and may be only indirectly or superficially reminiscent of an earlier traumatic incident, such as a scent or a piece of clothing. Triggers can be subtle […]
“You’re crazy – that never happened.” “Are you sure? You tend to have a bad memory.” “It’s all in your head.” Does your partner repeatedly say things like this to you? Do you often start questioning your own perception of reality, even your own sanity, within your relationship? If so, your partner may be using […]
Anxiety is commonly described as having both mental and physical symptoms. The distinction between mental and physical anxiety is important because different tools are required for addressing physical symptoms (what we label autostress) and mental symptoms (what we label anxiety). Anxiety is best described as the unhelpful thinking patterns we experience when our mind fixates […]
Step One: Grounding Many people live with daily pain and constant stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue. They feel out-of-sorts–not centered, strong, or solid. Doctors often can’t find the cause and resort to prescribing medications that produce side effects like fatigue, poor mood, gastro-intestinal upset, and headaches. In addition, conditions like chronic fatigue, pain, and anxiety […]