Cultivating Calm
The school-year roller-coaster is in full swing – with all sorts of extra loop-de-loop twists and turns this year. Ongoing coronavirus concerns and confusion. Schools opening and closing – swinging from in-person to remote. Maybe more like a see-saw than a roller coaster. Add in a buzzing background of social unrest, polarization, vitriol, and violence. […]
Read MoreWhat You Focus On Grows
You may know this tale. It’s well worth repeating. An old Cherokee warrior is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, […]
Read MoreWhy Is Trauma-Informed Care So Important?
Have you noticed your children or students having more trouble concentrating lately? Do they have difficulty following through with directions? Are they more scattered and disorganized? Are the children you live or work with often irritable? Do they have a shorter fuse or lower frustration tolerance? Are they inclined to argue or snap at others? […]
Read More“Campers Adapt!” – The Importance of Cognitive Flexibility
“We make plans and God laughs.” This is a saying I’m very familiar with. Perhaps you are too. Last week we talked about the importance of setting SMART goals and planning with clear intentions. When faced with adversity – such as managing home, work, and school during the COVID pandemic – a mindful planning approach […]
Read MoreA Backpacker’s Guide to Surviving a Pandemic
“I really don’t know if I can do this.” “I’m too tired.” “I don’t know how I’m going to make it.” “This is too big, too much for me.” These are just a few of the self-doubts and troubling worries that accompanied me on a recent walk in the woods. It wasn’t just any walk. […]
Read MoreOvercoming Emotional Exhaustion
How can we keep going on with all the chronic, toxic stress in our lives these days? The “carefree summertime” is anything but for many of us here in 2020. We continue to struggle with relentless worries about the coronavirus pandemic. We worry about its effects on our physical and mental health, our economy and […]
Read MoreWhen Silence is Violence
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King, Jr. So much pain and anger and fear. So much confusion and polarization. Protests and riots; impassioned pleas for peace and justice. Taking a knee (during the national anthem); taking a life (by taking […]
Read MoreTo Everything There Is A Season
To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the sun: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to reap that which is planted; A time to break down, a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time […]
Read MoreReflecting on Feelings – and What to Do with Them
Whenever I’m asked to help with a child’s disruptive behaviors – acting out, arguing, yelling, crying, hitting, throwing, lashing out, withdrawing, hiding, running away, refusing to participate, you name it – I always begin with this question: What is the child feeling right now? What is the underlying feeling or need that is driving that […]
Read MoreManaging Meltdowns at Home
Are you finding it harder and harder to get your child to do his schoolwork at home? Are they more belligerent and defiant? Are they more anxious and avoidant? Are you more exhausted and fed up? Parents with school-age kids are feeling significant amounts of stress and strain these days due to the prolonged school closings and […]
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