I needed some break-up take-aways to understand what happened and how I should feel about it.  When a relationship is over, you don’t have to think of it as failed, but simply completed. Your break-up provides an […]

Eighteen months. That’s how much time researchers say it takes to heal. Eighteen months for each stress inducing life event. Be it marriage or divorce, birth or death, diagnosis or remission; the fact is that t […]

Where is safety in this confusing world with challenging issues all around us? What single thing do we all need to keep our balance and move forward with confidence? A quiet place to reflect and figure things out. […]

Summertime depression is real. The heat, the longer days, the vacations, the beach, the relaxation. The expectation that you’re supposed to be having a great time – but you’re not – can create stress and overwhe […]

Spring cleaning is an old concept that has grown beyond dusting behind the sofa. Spring cleaning can mean a deeper kind of de-cluttering that extends from our personal belongings to our destructive personal […]

People have many excuses for enabling, so it’s a really good question to ask yourself, have you ever said something like this: “Oh, he’s just had a hard day at work and needs to unwind with a few drinks.” Or maybe […]

detachment has many meanings, and many applications. One definition of detachment is “a state of being lost in thought.” detachment is synonymous with being pensive, reflective and self-aware. Here’s how being sel […]

stress eating may be your biggest weight gain problem. What should you do? When times are tough, it’s easy find comfort in a donut, a bag of chips, or even chocolate. Many have come to believe stress eating is a […]

Because parental alienation has been recognized as damaging to children, learning to co-parent with love is becoming an important part of divorce. In some states, like Colorado, couples with children are required […]

Grief healing for people is much like the way trees respond after deadly storms. This year in the weeks that followed the heavy, wet snows of late winter there would be sunny days. The sun melted away the snow and […]

panic. You know that feeling of mounting overwhelm? When too much is on your plate, is your tendency to panic? Is your go-to response to believe that you are all alone? Do you forget about those eager to lend a […]

What happened to the freedom to say no? No one these days answers the question, “How do you live your life?” with the answer “I’m afraid to say no.” But so many of us live in this space of answering yes to every d […]

As technology improves, we place more demands on ourselves. We have to do more each day, even each minute. We’re in more places, buying more things, and checking more emails in more places. Even entering recovery […]

I like to say that I go to bed at 10:00 pm. The reality, however, is that when my 9:30 pm reminder to power down goes off, it is often ignored. Then I quickly give myself “just 5 more minutes” four, five or eve […]

“Will I be like my dad?” “My whole family are addicts; does this mean I’ll be one too?” Many children of an alcoholic parent are driven to “not end up like” that parent. Unfortunately, what we resist only persists […]

Bullying has hit a new high recently in almost every area of life. People are mean, which reminds me of the seasonal Rudolf bullying story.  Some say that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer conveys a lesson on how to […]

Holiday boundaries can conflict with traditions now that holiday gatherings are upon us again. Hallmark cards depict mom and dad and a couple of cherub-cheeked children warming themselves by a fire. Or sledding, […]

We’re often beating ourselves up over something that has happened in the past, believing that there is something wrong with our ‘gut’ or our intuition. If only we could use a magic wand to break free from our e […]

Watch out for the teacher’s pet of co-dependency this season. Why now? Sending kids off to face another year of bullying classmates and challenging teachers triggers our need to protect them. Or more accurately, […]

There is a tendency to live in patterns, or to re-live patterns…depending on what works for any given person. Being a fixer is one such pattern. Often, the patterns are hidden from our view, found outside our p […]