General

While my soccer team is on Winter hiatus, I have been musing about how much playing a team sport reminds me of relationship building.  What makes relationships strong and what creates challenges are similar for a team, a couple, or a family.  Soccer promotes good sportsmanship as much as good foot skills.  Since taking up…

We don’t intend to sabotage ourselves.  But if we take the time to observe how we are living our life on a daily basis, we might catch glimpses of how we seem to thwart our own best interests by the habits we keep, the attitudes we hold or the behavior we extend towards others.  Based…

EMDR has been used and researched for 25 years, and is considered a highly effective therapy for resolving trauma. Nevertheless, it remains somewhat mysterious and misunderstood. Written explanations can become jargon filled very quickly. Visual demonstrations of the process can raise concerns as it looks strange. In an effort to shed some light on the…

Mindfulness has been around for thousands of years and practiced by people across the planet. It wasn’t until recently, well within the past 20 years or so, that we have been able to develop research techniques to study mindfulness. Through neuroscience research we are now able to say that through the intentional focus of attention,…

The day had only just begun and already Tom and Jan were blaming each other. “Did you remember to call Mom yesterday about sitting for us on Saturday?” asked Tom with a slight edge to his voice. “No, I was too busy dealing with the kids to get to it” replied Jan abruptly. “But you…

In the Summer of 2010 a published PsycHealth article on “Destructive Narcissistic Parents” triggered a number of calls from the adult offspring of these parents. They felt relieved in recognizing that they were not alone, nor were their parents who struggled with these traits. In therapy they were able to address the emotions they encountered…

This is not how I had planned my life to be…. I’ve lost interest in this job that I used to love…. I’ve never enjoyed working and I don’t know that I ever will…… Is this all there is?……. Vision. Passion. Dreams. Hope….how do you bring these into a life course that seems to have…

Maria is 14 years old. Two years ago she began to injure herself, dropped out of school, began using drugs and alcohol and eventually isolated all of her friends. Self injury involves the deliberate damaging of ones body. Cutting the skin with razor blades or broken glass is the most commonly seen method, while burning,…

Mary has suffered for years in her personal relationships and in her private world. Her behaviour, thoughts, and emotions were often described as though she was in the middle of a whirlwind. When meeting men she would put them on a pedestal, idealizing them to the point where they appeared to reach near sainthood in…

As an old proverbs states « Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand. » In a few words, this wise saying reminds us that discussion, reflection or analysis are not sufficient to effect lasting change. If we want to make a real difference in our lives, we…

There has been much written lately about the Buddhist practice of “mindfulness”. Mindfulness essentially means that while going about your day, you are also calmly observing your reactions to what is going on. You observe yourself objectively as if you were another person. For example, while being mindful you may observe, “Now I’m getting stressed”,…

Weeks, months or even years following a traumatic experience, many victims make statements like: “I just can’t get over it!” “I can’t stop thinking about it.” “I feel numb, like I’m behind a glass wall, cut off from everyone”. “Will I ever feel safe again?” These thoughts also reflect typical aspects or symptoms of Post…