What if you are making key life decisions based on lies and bad information? I was. I used to think that being exceptional at everything I do, hiding my short-comings, and doing “it all” would get me what I wanted most: confidence, ease, fulfillment and the courage to take on anything. When I was graduating college, I asked my professor, a woman I looked up to, “How does one become confident?” By this time, I’d done the things that I thought would lead to confidence. I was a top student at a top college and a clear goal for my future, wasn’t that the path to confidence? I had gained a lot of competence, but I had not found confidence. Her answer? Fake it until you make it. I wasn’t so sure. It didn’t feel right to me. And if she didn’t have     . . . read more

I am excited to share today’s guest post from Kim Lloyd of Kim Lloyd Fitness. If you are like me, March is feeling less than inspiring. Whether you need to take on your emotional health or fitness goals (and those are related!), check out Kim’s awesome advice: Motivation is tough. Especially on a Wednesday in March with another massive snowstorm bearing down on us. Work out? Yeah, more like wrap up in a blanket next to the wood stove and snuggle in with a good book. Even if you are not predisposed to depression, there will come a point in your fitness journey when you begin to doubt the process. You will put on a pair of shorts from last summer and they will still feel snug. Maybe you lost 10 pounds in the first two months but the scale has     . . . read more

We are very pleased to announce that we now have a fabulous intern, Mallory Zwerdling! A message from Mallory: “As your counselor my greatest desire is to understand your unique circumstances and help you reach a place of personal fulfillment. My style is client-centered, interpersonal and solution focused. I believe that by joining you in whatever space you are in, sometimes as a companion and sometimes as a guide, together we can discover meaning behind experiences, thoughts behind behavior, and cultivate the growth needed to get you your desired outcomes. With years of experience surrounding domestic violence, homelessness and disability, I am no stranger to assisting people as they learn to navigate life’s most trying tribulations. Holding a bachelors degree in psychology and sociology, and having completed all master’s degree coursework for clinical mental health counseling, I am now accepting     . . . read more

Parenting is a beautiful, rewarding, and challenging undertaking. It’s easy to second guess yourself as a parent, and you sometimes wonder if you are doing all you can to give your child the love and guidance she needs. The good news is that we all have the tools we need to be positive parents. The key to unlocking them is found through awareness of the impact the parent-child relationship holds for your child. Here are three key areas to consider when cultivating a positive parenting approach. The relationship with your child. Children develop through relationship. Everything that a child learns and internalizes is based on this. A newborn infant does not understand that he is a separate entity from his mother. The developmental task of a child’s first three years of life is to gain a sense of psychological “separateness”     . . . read more

They’re everywhere: the people who suck up energy with their negativity. I bet you hear as many stories as I do about the mean and insensitive things these difficult and exhausting people say and do. Now I understand very well that miserable people are that way for a reason. People make sense in the context of their lives. I absolutely have compassion for them, but not their poor behavior. We need to stop their misery from becoming ours. Love the person (but maybe from a distance) and limit exposure to the behavior. One easy way for their misery to become ours is by being sucked in. The worst of it is when you get caught in their web of manipulation and negativity for months or even years on end. Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of you being     . . . read more