Whole Connection

Does this sound familiar? It’s 9 p.m. and the kids are finally in bed, you’ve had a long day and are so stinkin’ tired. The orange, plastic pumpkin full of Halloween candy is sitting on the kitchen counter and it feels as if the candy is literally calling to you, “Eat me! I know you’re going to!” You tell yourself that you don’t ‘need’ any more candy and that you should just go to bed since you’re so tired or eat an apple if you want a snack. But another part of you says, “It’s been a long day. You deserve the candy.” One thing leads to another and before you know it you are elbow deep in the candy bowl. Guilt starts to creep up on you as you look at the empty wrappers left behind and once again you feel like a failure because you ate more calories or sugar than you were ‘supposed to.’ We are entering the season where “trigger” foods, candy, and sweets are everywhere! If you’re like the majority of the U.S. population, you feel a lot of stress about what and how much to eat this time o...

Does this sound familiar? It’s 9 p.m. and the kids are finally in bed, you’ve had a long day and are so stinkin’ tired. The orange, plastic pumpkin full of Halloween candy is sitting on the kitchen counter and it feels as if the candy is literally calling to you, “Eat me! I know you’re going to!” You tell yourself that you don’t ‘need’ any more candy and that you should just go to bed since you’re so tired or eat an apple if you want a snack. But another part of you says, “It’s been a long day. You deserve the candy.” One thing leads to another and before you know it you are elbow deep in the candy bowl. Guilt starts to creep up on you as you look at the empty wrappers left behind and once again you feel like a failure because you ate more calories or sugar than you were ‘supposed to.’ We are entering the season where “trigger” foods, candy, and sweets are everywhere! If you’re like the majority of the U.S. population, you feel a lot of stress about what and how m...

You have probably been told many times how important sleep is or maybe you have found you can operate well without much. There are many new studies out now showing the link between anxiety and sleep. It comes down to a pretty simple formula, lack of sleep. So how does a lack of sleep cause us anxiety? The brain needs a time to transport its toxins out of the neural tissue and through the garbage-removal systems. This function is dependent on sleep to function properly. This can happen from gradually losing sleep over time. Most of the sleep that causes sleep deprivation is specifically REM (rapid eye movement) deprivation, this is when the body becomes more relaxed and the brain more active. Normally we can spend about 20% of our sleep in REM. It has been found that even a small REM deprivation causes increased activity in emotion generating regions of the brain and reduces the activity in the emotion-regulating regions. Out of this comes anxiety, which can be generated more steadily...

The realization that we are alone in life can often be scary, depressing, and frankly, overwhelming if we consider the existential aspect of it all.  In this month of love, in which Valentine’s day can feel as though this realization is essentially thrown in your face, it’s common for feelings of loneliness to spring forward. There are many ways in which we can feel alone.  One way could be the lack of connection to others through relationship, in which we are simply not in real touch with other humans. Then, there is the loneliness in which  there’s an estrangement from oneself. This inability to connect to one’s innermost self in a deep way is often what can lead one to reach out for connection to another human -- whether that be through family, friends, a romantic partner, a therapist, or a cozy animal friend. I wish to speak today to the aspect of aloneness from ourselves.  How is it that we can feel so deeply alone, and not stop to consider if we are seeking...

Many of you have been reading our blogs over this past year and we thank you for joining us in our exploration of many themes and areas of interest.  We have tried to engage with topics reflecting the current atmosphere of our society and broader world.  Our posts were written with the hope of providing helpful information during tough times, supporting the development of new skills while working with our own struggles, and sparking insights on certain situations. In 2019 we’re striving to provide more. First up is a commitment to create video content on our new YouTube channel. We hope to provide mini practices and instructional videos that may help our viewers build new skills. In addition, I will be writing each week on a variety of topics as well as inviting guest writers from both inside and outside the clinic to share their expertise. I believe that we can heal through our community connections, just like we do in groups, so sharing information, teaching new skills, ...

  Does this sound familiar? It’s 9 p.m. and the kids are finally in bed, you’ve had a long day and are so stinkin’ tired. The orange, plastic pumpkin full of Halloween candy is sitting on the kitchen counter and it feels as if the candy is literally calling to you, “Eat me! I know you’re going to!” You tell yourself that you don’t ‘need’ any more candy and that you should just go to bed since you’re so tired or eat an apple if you want a snack. But another part of you says, “It’s been a long day. You deserve the candy.” One thing leads to another and before you know it you are elbow deep in the candy bowl. Guilt starts to creep up on you as you look at the empty wrappers left behind and once again you feel like a failure because you ate more calories or sugar than you were ‘supposed to.’ We are entering the season where “trigger” foods, candy, and sweets are everywhere! If you’re like the majority of the U.S. population, you feel a lot of stress about what and...

You have probably been told many times how important sleep is or maybe you have found you can operate well without much. There are many new studies out now showing the link between anxiety and sleep. It comes down to a pretty simple formula, lack of sleep. So how does a lack of sleep cause us anxiety? The brain needs a time to transport its toxins out of the neural tissue and through the garbage-removal systems. This function is dependent on sleep to function properly. This can happen from gradually losing sleep over time. Most of the sleep that causes sleep deprivation is specifically REM (rapid eye movement) deprivation, this is when the body becomes more relaxed and the brain more active. Normally we can spend about 20% of our sleep in REM. It has been found that even a small REM deprivation causes increased activity in emotion generating regions of the brain and reduces the activity in the emotion-regulating regions. Out of this comes anxiety, which can be generated more steadily...

The question of "Who am I?" is one that is asked so many times in life.  It helps shape our directions and who we surround ourselves with, it also draws certain people to us.  There are so many intersecting pieces that not one answer is ever going to fully define who we are, but so many of them define how people see us and our society treats us.  So, it is good for us to know as much as we can about them, because they are defining us even when we don't want them to be.  I can state that, because I am White, the world treats me with certain privileges and usually most circumstances are presented in a positive way for me.  And this is just one of my identities that grants me this privilege and how the world defines me, consciously or unconsciously. As a psychotherapist it is important for me to understand my identities as they affect the clients I work with everyday.  They can create more power and oppression in the client therapist relationship. ...

The realization that we are alone in life can often be scary, depressing, and frankly, overwhelming if we consider the existential aspect of it all.  In this month of love, in which Valentine’s day can feel as though this realization is essentially thrown in your face, it’s common for feelings of loneliness to spring forward. There are many ways in which we can feel alone.  One way could be the lack of connection to others through relationship, in which we are simply not in real touch with other humans. Then, there is the loneliness in which  there’s an estrangement from oneself. This inability to connect to one’s innermost self in a deep way is often what can lead one to reach out for connection to another human -- whether that be through family, friends, a romantic partner, a therapist, or a cozy animal friend. I wish to speak today to the aspect of aloneness from ourselves.  How is it that we can feel so deeply alone, and not stop to consider if we are seeking...