She’s in a better place now

Sorrow makes us all children again – destroys all differences of intellect.  The wisest know nothing.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s hard to know what to say to someone who has experienced the death of a loved one.  We so often want to say just the right thing to try to make that person feel better or [...]

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Where’s the damn light?

Sometimes our grief (or our life in general) feels stuck.  Or it just feels plain overwhelming.  In times like this it is hard remember that nothing in life is ever truly stuck and difficult to trust that we will come out the other side.  This is when the light at the end of the tunnel [...]

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A Few Ways to Deal with Anger

In my last post I talked about how anger isn’t a bad thing — it just has a bad reputation.  I promised to talk about some ways to deal with anger when it comes up so here goes:
Get out of your mind and into your body
Personally, when I get angry there is usually a thousand [...]

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Huh? It’s okay to be angry?

I see a lot of kids in therapy who have been through anger management classes.  When we start talking about their experiences with anger, I often get eye rolls, shoulder shrugs, and hear things like, “I know, I know.  I need to stop getting angry.  I should just not be angry.”
I reply with, “No.  There’s [...]

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10 Holistic Ways to Help Heal Grief

The part can never be well unless the whole is well.  ~Plato
1. Experience Your Pain
This is one idea I will repeat over and over.  Our culture very much promotes experiential avoidance which keeps us ’stuck’ in grief (and many other emotions).  We often think grief and pain will go away if we can just avoid [...]

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