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Author: Heather Edwards

Heather Edwards Mental Health Counseling / Articles posted by Heather Edwards (Page 3)
sleep mental health insomnia

Insomnia Tips: Sleep like a baby

Insomnia wrecks your mood, energy, and focus. Kayla Johnson from Tuck realizes this and requested that I share sleep resources with my readers. A good night's rest regretfully eludes many of us. Consequently, the outcomes can be dire. Insomnia has many links to mental illness as a cause and an effect. I'll share a few of Tuck's insights and research findings here. Chronically sleep-deprived people, some 20 percent of Americans, are more prone to costly diseases, accidents, and workplace absenteeism, at a steep cost to our national and global economy. The cost of drowsy driving motor vehicle accidents alone is estimated at $56 billion per year. Shift workers, healthcare workers, long-haul truck drivers, military operators, and others in jobs with demanding hours are at higher risk for sleep deprivation and...

hatred vs empowerment

Hatred vs. Empowerment: Flip the Script

Sexual harassment. Terrorism. Racism. Genocide. Human trafficking. Dis - empowerment. The list goes on. We are divisive and rageful, hateful and blaming, exploiting and violent. You feel exhausted, disempowered, and depressed. Your power is not in what separates you, it’s in what connects you to others. It’s in being receptive rather than reactive. Your conscious mind’s ability to reflect, evaluate, and problem solve sets you apart from other animals. You choose how to think and behave. You crave empowerment, self worth, and purpose. You need to feel connection, love, and belonging - without it you suffer. These are basic human needs. As long as food, shelter, and safety are provided, you aspire for meaning and a higher purpose. It’s visceral and biological. Looking outward isn’t as...

valentine

Valentine My Love: Let’s start over

Oh Valentine, imagine a “diamond in the rough” - maybe as a rundown house, a rusty sports car, or your relationship. It’s dusty, decrepit, & deteriorating. Yet, you know that if you gave it a little TLC it could shine again. Houses and cars can be restored. And so can your relationship. All you and your valentine need is a little hope to get the ball rolling. See the potential. Use a little elbow grease. Take a chance. Do something different. Restoring a house or car requires plans, resources, and often a team. The same applies your relationship. First, get clear on what you want to change. Second - and this is the hard part, consider your role in the problem. And lastly, develop a strategy. If communication...

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Heather Edwards psychotherapy coach

SAD AF: Slay the happiness vampire

This is for the dreamers, overachievers, procrastinators, and perfectionists. It’s a the middle of winter. A time that can be bleak and isolative. The days are fleeting. The nights are long. Gray skies blanket the possibilities and stifle your mood like a punch in the gut. SAD knocks at your door like the vampire of happiness. Your bed looks more and more inviting. Your motivation escapes you. You’re tired, a little somber, and you worry about your future. This is S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder). S.A.D. resembles a mild depression and typically occurs in winter. It challenges many of us - the creatives, the empaths, and everyone in between. In case you’re wondering if you have S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) here are a few symptoms: decreased energy increased appetite (for...

soul

Goals from your Soul: 2019

Goals from your soul will make 2019 a breakthrough year! Standing on the cusp of a new year can feel exciting and overwhelming. There’s a lot of pressure in setting goals that you’ll keep - this time. After all, how many have you abandoned in the past? But that doesn’t mean that you should stop setting goals! It means that you need to plan according to your unique talents and values. When you do, they’ll align deep in your core. Personal meaning will keep you committed and focused. When you look back at the year 2018, what happened? Notice the events, interactions, and accomplishments that filled you with energy and a sense of something really meaningful to you. Notice the things that you didn’t love, too....

Holiday

Holiday Madness – Your Survival Kit

Holiday jingles, blockbuster sales, a wintry crispness, and Santa Claus tales fill the air. 'Tis the season of Diwali, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and more!   You’re inspired by the holiday hustle. So, you shop, decorate, and party hop through the bustle. You’re exhausted, stressed, and excited. Because there’s so much to see and do, the pressure is on and you’re feeling blue. Since the checklist is growing your emotions are throwing a fit. You must find the perfect gift and prepare a delightful meal. Your jaw-dropping style needs to be kept and somehow, you gotta deal. So, your heart swells and your wallet shrinks. Peace and calm escape with the chimney sweep. Therefore, family time, expectations, and self imposed stressors can suck the joy out of...

cosmopolitan flirting

Flirting Moves – Cosmopolitan Style

Flirting is one of those things that's always easier in theory. Sure, you understand intellectually that you are a charming person and that people want to talk to you, get to know you, and date you, but when you're swimming in your own thoughts on a first date, all that goes out the window. Not to worry — we've compiled a list of the best flirting tactics ever, so you'll never have to stress about what to say ever again.  CARINA HSIEH featured a couple of my ideas in Cosmopolitan for connecting with a crush. 1. Fake it till you make it. No set of flirting moves will work unless you also genuinely believe that you're the most magnetic person in the room. As Laurel House, dating and flirting...

trauma

Trauma & A Path to Wholeness

Trauma floods the news. Politics, religion, and a quest for power fuel horrific acts that forever impact victims and witnesses. They send a wave of trauma across the nation. Because of the Kavanaugh hearings, a shooting at a synagogue, or pipe bomb mailings to Political leaders, along with the little “t”’s (trauma’s) of daily life - such as, being bullied at work, losing a loved one, or having a financial crisis - your sense of peace and safety gets blocked. Trauma rocks your central nervous system causing physiological changes in your body that feel like stress, anxiety, panic or worse - a very real sense of being in mortal danger. Prolonged, it can lead to unhealthy patterns in your behavior affecting relationships, work, or wellbeing. Eventually, it can...

HGTV Marriage Therapy

Watching HGTV is the New Marriage Therapy, Just Ask a Therapist

A psychotherapist explains why 'House Hunters' and 'Property Brothers' can help adults build better relationships. Marriage Therapy HGTV. In this Fatherly article by Ryan Britt we get creative about using popular tv to bond. Ryan Britt from Fatherly.com interviewed me about my Psychology Today article on HGTV. Scripps Networks There’s a corny line at the end of the classic 1986 comedy The Money Pit that might just sum up why watching HGTV shows together is therapeutic for 21st-century couples. After nearly having their relationship torn apart by a crumbling, slapstick inducing fixer-upper house, Tom Hanks and Shelley Long look to an experienced foreman for wisdom. He provides it. “The foundation was good,” he says. “And if that’s okay, everything else can be fixed!” It’s a heavy metaphor and it lands with a wooden thud....