Do What You Can Control

Grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Sometimes the only way to accept that which we cannot control, is to take action with the things we can. Today, on what is my son’s 11th day home …

Breathing Into Sleep

It’s one of the top pieces of advice for living a wholesome and healthy life—get more sleep. And like with most advice, it’s easier said than done.  There are many reasons people have problems with sleeping. Insomnia. Anxiety. A mind that won’t stop racing. Stress. Poor diet—e.g. too much caffeine or too much sugar. Drug …

Softening

Resistance and tension reside in both our bodies and our minds. These are reactions to stress and uncomfortable situations, but neither are helpful. Think about jumping into water from a height. If you tense up your body, you are bound to break a bone on impact. Loosen the body, and it may hurt to hit …

Add In VS. Cut Out

If quitting bad habits were easy, there wouldn’t be AA, NA, Nicorette Gum, Nicoderm patches, or the countless self-help books and podcasts giving advice on how to become a healthier, happier you. Not every bad habit is a substance or addiction. Perhaps you’re trying to quit having belligerent outrages whenever you’re angry. Or maybe you …

Negative Emotions

Negative emotions aren’t pleasant, but they're not bad. Anger, sadness, fear—these are all healthy normal emotions to experience. It’s when we believe them to be bad, something to be avoided at all costs, that these negative emotions become harmful. When anger is suppressed and turns to rage, it can tear a person’s life apart. When …

Observe

Acceptance is not apathy. It does not mean you’re giving in, giving up, or bowing down. It’s choosing peace for yourself over control.  When we’ve conditioned ourselves to reacting, though, acceptance can feel a lot like bending our will. We react when something isn’t going our way, and we’re trying to control the outcome. But, …

Choose Your Focus

When we believe our suffering is something happening to us, we’re living a victim mentality. Things, of course, happen to us that are beyond our control, but what we have power over is our response. It’s the difference between the man wrongfully jailed who becomes bitter, living a life of crime and feeling justified due …

Create a Personal Mantra

You want a change. Life, however, will not stop being difficult just because you are ready to move on and be whole. Your triggers will not disappear with the snap of your fingers. The people who’ve hurt you, the circumstances that cause you anxiety or depression, they will not change just because you want them …

Listen To Your Body

There isn’t an American alive today whose life hasn’t been touched by machines. And while technology advances our society, pushing human ingenuity to heights never before dreamed of, our immersion into life with machines cripples us as much as it aids us.  Think about how much we are surrounded every day by machines that turn …

You Are Not Alone

The road to recovery can feel lonely. Here you are in therapy, avoiding triggers, your mind is probably consumed all day, every day with just trying to get through the day. Meanwhile your friends and family are going about their lives like nothing’s changed. Because for them, nothing has. All the change is occurring with …