As the leaves change and the air gets crisper, it's the perfect time to honor the beautiful shift in seasons. Just like nature, we too can embrace this transition for our well-being.

You may have heard the phrase, "Don't believe everything you think." Internal shame can convince you that you will be never accepted for who you are. RAIN is a mindfulness tool often used to help people cultivate more emotional resilience with more self-compassion. When you pay attention to your feelings, you'll notice that your thoughts, physical sensations, and emotions are subject to change at any moment. RAIN can help you observe your feelings as useful information instead of an absolute truth. It's also a foundational tool for change in your mental health journey. Let’s figure out how this RAIN tool will help Un-Break our souls when we begin to feel isolated, exhausted, otherized or any other fickle feelings.

It’s time for a refresh. This is the time to move forward with a better understanding of who you are and what you value. When you show up for yourself in this way it radiates onto others and helps to build better relationships.

If your twelve-year-old self was able to ask you questions about how life will be, would your instinct be to give them the cold truth? Would you calculate all of the mistakes you’ve made to so desperately try to warn your former self of the dangers to come?

If you’re answering yes to these questions - you may be stuck without self-compassion and but know it’s not your fault.

Self-love is a complicated thing to define but it falls somewhere in-between self-care and the radical acceptance of our being equating to mind, body, and spirit… okay, let’s rework this… let’s say you could show up for yourself in ways that you need, whenever you need, you would be enacting self-love. It’s a full-time job and it can be a lot for some to wrap their heads around.

We are nearing that part of the first month where promises are tested and tested again. We ask ourselves if it’s really worth trying that new hobby or if eating spinach every day is actually a healthier option - yes and no - or if reaching out to old high school friends to drum up old memories is unintentionally making you feel like you’re glad you left your hometown.

The messages we get this time of year are often plagued with language like, “wrap up”, “accomplishments”, and “new goals”. They all hint at a larger issue of our society being too far driven by productivity. Our value is too often linked to what we can produce. Enough!

It’s almost a universal experience when you have extended family over and they begin to poke and prod you, interested in learning every detail about you and your life since the prior holiday season.

It’s October and with falling leaves, pumpkin-everything, and good spook from time to time, also comes what we’ll call the “beginning of the winter retreat”. The temperature begins to drop, we go into a natural rhythm of hiding away, bulking up, and using our bed as a safe haven from the weather and hazardous roads.

Making the decision to see a therapist takes a lot of guts. First, you have to be aware that there is something in your life that you would like to change (don’t people say admitting you have a problem is the first step?). But then after that, you have to wade through all of your preconceived judgments about therapy.

One of the reasons I made the decision to become a therapist was because I recognized the impact of my own healing on the people I surround myself with.