Posts Categorized: The Counselor Is In

When faced with death, loss, trauma or any unwanted ending, our core beliefs about life come under scrutiny. Questions about life and death and our role in it are generated. Each of us, no matter what our faith or lack of it, will be challenged by the death of something valuable and meaningful to us….

We choose to pick the memories we want to focus on. There are those moments of sweetness and revealing truth and generosity of spirit as well as those that involve thoughtless decisions, hurtful comments and painful neglect. We don’t forget one over the other – we don’t increase one’s importance over the other. As we…

As I work on my manuscript, From Winter to Spring, I am reminded of how often throughout our lifetime we are required to make an ending. It isn’t just when death enters our sphere of existence, but when we leave one timeline behind and enter a new time zone. Endings close a door to the…

There I go again! How easy it is to complain about this and that – what is working – what is not – what others are doing or not doing or should be doing, how tough life has become, etc. Complaining is such a normal way to take the pressure off life, especially when it seems…

When we stop and think calmly and carefully about how we live our lives and what influences our decision making and behaviors, it can have a sobering effect. In that process we are confronted with ourselves. There is an instinctive tendency to blame others, circumstances or events for all the things that have gone wrong…

In my workshop on Celebrate Your Life Story, participants take time to reflect and identify the milestones in their lives that have helped make them who they are today. Milestones are those events, experiences and critical people that along with our personality traits help shape and mold our perceptions and responses to the world, our self-image and…

As I prepare for a speech I am giving at a women’s luncheon this Wednesday on Celebrate Your Life Story, I am reminded again of how easy it is to get discouraged when adversities pile high and we are exhausted and ready to give up. Yet it is precisely at those times when God will…

I love to display pictures around my house that are snapshots of family, grandchildren and places where I have traveled. Some are hung on walls – others stand on tables and cabinets. It took many trips to the store to find the right frames and mats that would both enhance and showcase these pictures. I also…

Core beliefs are put in place while we are still children. We create a frame of reference through which we make sense of our world, what is expected, what we can and cannot do. Within our frame of reference are all the life experiences, personality traits, feelings, labels, relationships and reactions we have made. When…

Adversity takes us out of what was predictable and sets us down in unfamiliar territory. We don’t know what to expect and are temporarily thrown off balance. It changes our perception of what we think life ought to be. Our future looks dark and dismal. And the world of sunshine has become colorless and grey….