Photo by Mira Kemppainen on Unsplash.com “There is a crack in everything.That’s how the light gets in.”~ Leonard Cohen December 2020. What a year it has been.  From unprecedented wildfires to a global pandemic and the resulting economic and social uncertainties: we’ve been on a quite a ride. For some this ride was smoother than for others. And for many — too many — 2020 has been a fatal year. There has been a deep sense of loss for so many human beings this year. As a result, this...

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weaknesses.” ~Brené Brown The arrival of spring, although brief, seemed to change the world in a matter of hours. Each year I am amazed to witness the return of the green blades of grass and the delicate sprouting flowers as they bravely and resolutely poke their heads out of the earth, allowing us to be witnesses of their willingness to be vulnerable to the cold, and even...

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash During the last couple of weeks many people have struggled with feelings of anxiety and imbalance as we are constantly adjusting to new requirements and realities of everyday life. During times as these, we all need some stability and ways to create a new sense of balance in order to stay mentally and emotionally well. Here are some ideas and tools that I hope will help you achieve some of that stability and balance.  Consider your diet...

As I am writing these lines, the world seems to be shutting down: schools are being closed, concerts and sports events cancelled, people arriving home from travels abroad are being tested and asked to isolate. Fear seems to be spreading faster than the virus itself, leading to some almost bizarre reactions such as hoarding toilet paper and excluding people from events on the basis of their appearance. Psychologically speaking, the fear is understandable: this is a new threat, something unknown...

It is the year 2020. Somehow this seems to be a big date. When I was a child, this was the kind of date that would have created visions of flying cars and energy beams transporting people from a spaceship to a planet in no time. Now it is 2020, and we have self-driving cars of which many of us are afraid; and I at least wish there were transportation beams so that I could zip over to Germany without controls that make me feel like a criminal and endless hours spent in a flying metal tube that...

September 29, 2019. It’s a beautiful Sunday in (very early) fall. The sun is out, the cats are lazing on the sun-warmed deck, some bees are buzzing around the fall flowers. It’s a peaceful picture that is showing itself outside my deck window. And yet, inside me I feel an urging, a sense of movement forward: “something is changing.”  In some Christian traditions September 29th has been celebrated as Michaelmas or the Feast of  Saint Michael (or the Feast of the Archangels). Placed...

At the start of the year I felt the need to go into a more formal process of emotional exploration again. Every once in a while it is prudent for psychotherapists to go beyond the self-processing that comes so easily to many of us. However, as a therapist I find that processing in words is something that I do rather well on my own — and that there are limits that I can’t seem to overcome easily in talk therapy. And so I looked for an art therapist and found a wonderful one in Midland. The...

This morning, while washing my favourite cup, I looked up at the other cups and mugs in the shelf and wondered “What am I doing? Why ain’t I just taking one of those?” A stray thought popped in: if I had to leave for a cabin in the woods today and I could just take one of anything, I’d know exactly what cup and bowl and glass I would take — but I wouldn’t care about what plate or teapot would be packed; and the only reasons for choosing a particular pot or knife would be purely practical. Why...