Let’s start with addressing the elephant in the year; 2020 has been an epic mess for us all. It has been a challenge to each of our resilience and mental, emotional, and physical state. While we’ve all experienced the year differently and have different squares marked off on our 2020 Bingo card, we can all…
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Pages: 277 Ideal Reader: Everyone. Especially those who are interested in Stoic philosophy in general or as a philosophy of life, anyone seeking peace of mind and tranquility throughout their life, and those who wish to better manage their emotions. Ideal Issues: Managing Desires and negative emotions Interacting and relating to others Depression Anxiety Personal…
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Pages: 283 Ideal Reader: Everyone. Especially those bothered by negative emotions, searching for peace of mind, are bullied or insulted frequently, or who are looking for a guided way to live their life. Ideal Issues: Being insulted Depression Grief or Bereavement Anxiety Negative thinking Dealing with change and transitions in life Facing personal hardship Feeling…
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Life is filled with many choices. Some are relatively easy to make like what to where, your favorite color, or what you want to eat for dinner (okay, maybe that last one isn’t so easy). Some choices, those life changing choices, are more difficult. Choices like what you want to be when your grow up,…
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If you find yourself sitting across from me in the therapy room, there’s a very good chance you will hear me say, “You can curse all you want in here. The only ‘swear word’ here is ‘should.’” By now some of my clients might think I have a personal vendetta against the word. In truth,…
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Recently, I was watching My Little Pony Friendship is Magic with my children. One particular episode titled, “Putting Your Hoof Down,” (S2E19) addressed assertiveness. In it, a very shy and soft spoken pony, Fluttershy, was being pushed aside and taken advantage of while shopping in the market. She decided to take a class on how…
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Perfectionism is the pursuit of “perfect” where anything less is failure. It requires constant judgement of oneself or others, and demands nothing less than 100%. It is living by a set of impossible standards. These standards might be self-imposed based on a belief that that’s what others want, imposed by others onto us, or imposed…
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Caring for a loved one with a mental or physical injury or illness is often a thankless job. Its exhausting, stressful, time consuming, frustrating, and draining. Often it’s not a job one chooses to do, but nevertheless, it needs to be done. And it’s often done with pride and love. While caregiving for a loved…
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Sisu can be understood as a characteristic, a spirit, an attitude, an approach, or a philosophy of life. What these descriptions all have in common is that they are enduring, consistent, and most of all, take daily practice to grow, manage, and develop over time. Sisu doesn’t develop out of grand accomplishments. It takes daily…
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Recently I was explaining sisu (pronounced see-sue) to a client and how it may be helpful to them in accomplishing their therapeutic goals and overcoming obstacles. I explained sisu as an “enduring strength of will” which helps one to overcome and succeed in the face of adversity by taking a challenge head on. This is…
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Heather is an Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist who unites systemic therapy with philosophical concepts. She has interests in Couples therapy, Consensual Non-Monogamy, Veteran Couples/Caregivers/Family, Philosophical Counseling, Sex therapy, and how to live a good life. Learn more about her here
