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psychology Tag

Heather Edwards Mental Health Counseling / Posts tagged "psychology" (Page 2)
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...

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....

Mindfulness: attention with purpose

Sleepily, I tiptoed to the kitchen to make my morning tea. As I gripped the bright yellow lemon my attention noticed it’s firm, dimpled outer rind. I wondered for a moment about the hands that picked it and the tree from which it came. I acknowledged the sunshine, clouds, rain, and earth that provided the conditions to make it grow. I rinsed it and watched the drops of water cascade around its surface. I cut into its middle and witnessed the nectar escaping to the countertop and bursting toward the sky. It’s citrus aroma exploded, filling the room and my nostrils with its unmistakable tart bounty. With each breath the anticipation of its delightful flavor built as my mouth began to water. Is your mouth watering?...

Mindfulness Psychotherapy New York

Are You a Quitter? 5 steps to get back on track

Did you know that January 12th is, "Quitters Day"? According to research it's proven to be the day that most people begin giving up on their New Year’s resolutions. Other research shows that by the second week in February, 80% of people have resigned their goals to failure. Does this sound like you? Here's how to stop getting in your own way. Use these tips to get back on the horse and gallop through the finish line...

Happy Holidays: Quick Survival Tactics

    The Holidays are upon us! They can bring a host of joys and sorrows with them. Use these quick tips to skate through the Grinch’s and Gremlin’s efforts to sabotage your holiday spirit. When the dinner rolls are burning and the kids are screaming, reach out for help. Delegate. Your partner and sister could enjoy having a task assigned to them. They’ll have a sense of ownership and purpose, and you’ll have a sense of relief. When Aunt Sally teams up with Negative Nancy to criticize the gifts, dinner, or activities take a deep breath. Hit your pause button and reflect on what could be motivating her behavior - her aches and pains, poor sleep, “h-anger” (hungry-anger)...

heather edwards psychotherapy gratitude

Gratitude in Tragedy: Practicing hope

Have you noticed that it's difficult to focus on abundance? Gratitude seems like a chore, and being thankful with so much hardship in the world seems frivolous? Gently ask yourself this question - How does my suffering relieve the suffering of others? Pause, breathe, and take a break just for a moment from the pain of the world to notice what is abundant in your life. You deserve and need hope. You deserve and need moments of relief. You deserve and need to feel grateful so that you can continue to shine your light to make this world a better place for everyone - one person, one interaction, one gesture at a time. When you function from a place of love, honesty, and nonjudgement you open yourself to limitless possibilities. Fear, anger, and judgement shut down creative processes and keep you small. Let...

The Deep Blue Sea: Calm the emotional tides

The ocean has a powerful and instantaneous way of clearing emotional clutter. It brings us back to our baseline and fills us with a calm energy. Here are 12 of my favorite quotes about the cleansing and uplifting qualities of this immense beauty. 1. When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused. -Rainer Maria Rilke 2. The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. -Jacques Cousteau 3. “Doesn’t it seem to you,” asked Madame Bovary, “that the mind moves more freely in the presence of that boundless expanse,...