Instead of judging yourself so harshly, can you find a way to…

-offer yourself compassion?

-dial down your inner critic?

-allow yourself some rest?

-be on your own team?

-let yourself embrace being human?

5 Reasons People Go To Therapy

Here are 5 reasons people go to therapy (and no, none of them are because there is something “wrong” with that person!)

1. To gain clarity on a complex situation in their life.

2. To identify and better articulate their feelings.

3. To learn communication skills.

4. To explore how their past is impacting their present.

5. To learn new techniques to cope with difficult emotions.

Share this blog post with someone in your life who may need to hear this!

Are you an over thinker? Try these 3 things

Distract

Find something to distract your mind from your thoughts. This can be by reading your favorite book, watching a show, calling a friend, household chores, or exercise!

Journal

Write down the thoughts, emotions, and feelings you are experiencing. Getting them out of your head and onto paper can make them feel less intense.

Reframe

Reframe any thoughts that are negative or unhelpful. Ex: "This feels too overwhelming" can be reframed to "What's the first thing I can start with?"

What is EMDR?

EMDR therapy is the leading approach for PTSD and those recovering from traumatic events. It has also been shown to be an effective treatment for mood and anxiety disorders, phobias, grief and loss among others. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference.

EMDR enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences without verbally processing them. Why re-traumatize yourself by continually talking about the distressing events if you don't have to? Your therapist guide you through an 8 phase protocol that includes identifying your target memory, negative cognition, and level of disturbance.

EMDR also includes bi-lateral stimulation through eye movements, tapping, or sounds. Bi-lateral stimulation occurs during REM sleep which is a period of our sleep when our brain does a lot of it's self-healing and processing of experiences. So EMDR Is really just tapping into this self-healing mechanism!

3 Quick and Easy Tips to Manage Anxiety

Have you ever found yourself feeling anxious in a situation and not knowing how to manage it? You are not alone.  Anxiety can be extremely debilitating and difficult to work through when you don’t have the tools to manage it.  This can result in you not being able to work, missing out on your friend’s birthday party, or having difficulty enjoying a movie without being distracted by scrolling on your phone.  Here are 3 quick and easy tips to manage your anxiety- that can pretty much be done anywhere at any time.

1.     The 5-4-3-2-1 (my personal favorite)

In this coping skill, we are activating all 5 of our senses to get our mind and body to work together to regulate our nervous system.  First, you identify 5 things you can see in your surroundings.  You can identify these things out loud to a friend or take note of them in your head (if you are in a work meeting or at a social gathering).  Next, you identify and touch 4 things you can feel/touch.  Then, you identify 3 things you can hear.  After that, you identify 2 things you can smell.  Finally, you identify one thing you can taste. (If you can’t taste anything, you can choose something you tasted earlier, or something you would like to taste).  Once you have completed these steps, you will likely feel calmer, relaxed, and less anxious.  The reason this works is because it is impossible for our brain to think about what we are feeling anxious about AND focus on these 5 steps at the same exact time.  This tool gets you out of your head and into your body, which we so often need in times of distress and discomfort. 

2.     Adjusting your Temperature

As we know when we are anxious, our nervous system is dysregulated.  A great way to regulate our nervous system is by adjusting our temperature.  There are many ways this skill can be done so I encourage you to find the way that works best for you, or the way that is most accessible to you.  Here are some examples of ways to adjust our temperature.  Fill a bowl with ice and water, and dunk your face into it for 10 seconds, and repeat.  Take a cold shower.  Jump in a cold pool.  Grab an ice pack and put it on the back of your neck.  Run your hands under cold water in the sink if you’re in an environment where you don’t have access to the things previously listed.  Some cold is better than no cold! Feel free to get creative with this one.  Adjusting our body’s temperature works to alleviate anxiety because we are shocking our nervous system with the drastic shift in temperature. This forces you to get out of your mind and into your body and shifts our focus away from what is causing the anxiety.

3.     Box Breathing

When you are feeling anxious, how many times has someone told you to “just breathe”? We all know it isn’t that easy, so I’m going to give you a twist on “just breathing” because it really CAN help!  It activates your parasympathetic nervous system, whose job is to stimulate relaxation, therefore assisting in reducing symptoms of anxiety.  Here’s how this one goes: Take a deep breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and hold for 4 seconds and repeat as many times as you need.  While breathing, you can also draw an imaginary box in the air to help you visualize the breaths you are taking.

Did these tools help? Share them with someone you know!