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Heather Edwards Mental Health Counseling / Search results for "overwhelm" (Page 3)

Turn Toward the Enemy – Mastering negative emotions

You feel stuck. Trapped. Immobilized. When in the therapy and coaching room, conversations about fear, regret, disappointment, and frustration arise and take center stage.  It’s easy to fall prey, be guided and controlled by negative emotions, even feel consumed by them. It's an uncomfortable place. It's dark, heavy, constricting. It can hold you hostage. And it can intensify before it dissipates. Recognize negative emotions not as your enemy but as your informant. Acknowledge them. Accept them. Be open to them. Question them. Break them down. Look those unsavories in the eye. Release their grip. Identify the building blocks of negativity. Uncover the hidden messages. Initiate a plan designed for empowerment. When you turn toward your anger, fear, and sadness you validate the experience of the pain. You soothe and comfort, rather than avoid...

7 Paths to Peace Amidst Terror

Anger. Fear. Helplessness. Rage. Suspicion. Guilt. Despair. These are just a few of the negative emotions felt all over the world since the Paris and Beirut terror attacks last week. Like a suction cup, you're glued to the TV, Internet, and radio. You are scared. And you’re angry that you’re scared. Layering feelings upon feelings. It means they won. You want this to go away. Yet you obsess about what’s next and what it means for your future. It marks the beginning of World War 3. It’s something you didn't foresee in your lifetime. Questions abound. Is it best to stay home? Should I avoid the city? Are the subways safe? Can I freely discuss my concerns? How do I know if the person next to me is...

3 Ways YOU are Like Your SMARTPHONE

Unfinished business. Open loops. Running Apps. Depleted energy. Less productivity. Divided attention. Ugh. It’s downright overwhelming when you take a moment to realize how many tasks are competing for your time and focus every minute of every day. Ironically, ignoring them only creates more stress, and tackling them all at once creates overwhelm. So how are you like your smartphone? You’re Multi-Talented  - After all, we are the creators of phones and apps. You can manage your homefront, a job and freelance work, your own business, self care, social commitments, romantic curiosities, attend that class at the gym, and learn an instrument in one fell swoop. You’re Uber Productive - You can do laundry while listening to a podcast and writing a blog, calling your mother, emailing your...

Fear Sucks. Doubt Debilitates. Stress Kills.

Fear sucks, doubt debilitates and stress kills. Loneliness isolates and worry permeates. Anger enrages and sorrow depletes. Yearning drives and hope transcends. Joy eases - all or most of the pain, at least for a moment. Darkness and light. Greatness and shame. Brilliance and defeat. Ecstasy and despair. Two sides of the same coin, right? They're separated only by a the velocity of a spin or gravitational pull from our Mother Earth. Unavoidable. Unmanageable. Unimaginable. Or not? These are the feelings you will inevitably experience as a living, loving, breathing, growing, evolving human being. They're scary. They're jarring. They're life changing. They're normal. At times, they force you to look them in the eye and realize the limits of your comfort zone. They reveal the distinction between being passenger...

5 Tips for a Juicy, Gorgeous Life

Let’s face it! You’re bored with the status quo. You’re an adventure-seeker-happiness-freak-self-improvement-junkie.  (No offense intended. I’m one, too!) So, put the needle on the record. Let's pump up the volume! Here are five tips you can start today to create the life you want… Shift your routine. The same ole only maintains what you already have.  Mix it up! Stir the pot. If you're reading this blog, you're ready for something new. Identify one action that could change the outcome of your day. Decide to get up 30 minutes earlier. Start your day with a journal entry, meditation, or work out. Unplug at a reasonable time. Whatever you choose to enact will change your trajectory. Embrace one goal that stretches you. See it through.  What area of your...

The Narcissistic Injury: Ouch! Your Ego Got Bruised

Yep!  It hurts! You know it. It’s that moment of psychological knock-down. Someone took a sucker punch at your psyche. It feels like an existential crisis, an emotional assault, or plain and simple embarrassment. You just experienced a narcissistic injury.  You know the scenario, you approached a situation or person with an “I got this” attitude, then Whamo!, your ego took a hard right south. You feel stupid, ill prepared, and less than worthy.  Sometimes egos take a beating when they're too expansive. It’s empowering to feel strong and confident. It’s what you want, but how do you temper it so it’s balanced, wise, and grounded? After all, you don’t want to be perceived as cocky, self absorbed, or the “n” word - narcissistic! Ugh! This is a conversation...

Psychology Today: 4 Ways to Clear Your Mind

[caption id="attachment_2349" align="alignleft" width="320"] Source: Photo: iStock[/caption] Clean Your Mind of Harmful Toxins - And Feel Good Again Post published by Mark Banschick M.D. on Aug 04, 2015 in Psychology Today. By Heather Edwards - Guest Blogger As I sit down to write this blog, I'm struck by three common themes in conversations with clients, family, and friends. Most of us have clarity about how we want to feel - happy, free, grounded. But instead, we end up frustrated, overwhelmed, and burdened. We get stuck and confused about how to internalize fleeting positivity in an enduring way. In the quest for the seemingly elusive states of calm and life satisfaction, several common toxins manifest. But you can change them! Or better, clear them out. Take stock of your life and notice which...

5 Tips to Reclaim Your Life.

Is ego, fear, or someone else’s vision keeping you stuck? You are the expert, master, and keeper of your life. What are your guiding philosophies?  Are you functioning from a place of blame, entitlement, lack, fear, and greed? Or from a position of responsibility, abundance, wealth, courage, and charity? And I’m not talking about money - but rather about strength, purpose and meaning. Maybe your mind is scattered and unfocused, or it seems too late to change course now. Maybe you forgot to ask questions and push back a little along the way. Perhaps what you want seems unobtainable. Maybe you’ve never been a lucky person, or there’s too much burdening you to see the possibilities. Our perspective is much like a camera lens. Sometimes we need to stop to adjust...

4 Steps to Bump Up Your Life

Why is it so difficult, and so important, to know the difference between thoughts and feelings? Sometimes thoughts happen so fast that they go unnoticed.   Instead, what we experience is a pit in the stomach, a racing heart and mind, or a sense of hopelessness that things will get better. It’s true that negative emotions seem instantaneous. They're automatic and natural consequences of events, right? Wrong!  That’s just not the case!   Although they can wash over us like a tidal wave, leaving us helplessly drowning in sorrow, fear, or numbness - there is a choice you can make between stressful events and negative feelings. Except for those real life fight or flight situations, where your safety or life is in actual danger, or in some post traumatic stress...

Three Toxins That Kill Happiness – and what to do about them.

As I sit down to write this blog I'm struck by three repeated conversations with clients, family, and friends.  Most of us have clarity about how we want to feel - happy, free, grounded. But instead we end up frustrated, overwhelmed, and burdened.  We get stuck and confused about how to internalize positivity in an enduring way. In the quest for the seemingly elusive states of calm and happiness, several common toxins manifest. But you can change them!  Take stock of your life and notice which ones are preventing you from living fully.  Here are the top three culprits...

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