How is it that the holidays suddenly jump up on us with alarming speed? Or is that just me? With the holidays of course come family/friend gatherings and trips where groups of people are stuck in the same place for days (um, I mean celebrating together). If you’re a sensitive person who’s easily overwhelmed by …
Wild Realities and Unstoppable Courage
Even if your early environment was one of empathic failure, developmental trauma, and insecure attachment, it is never too late [to heal]. The wild realities of neuroplasticity and the courage of the human heart is unstoppable and an erupting force of creativity. – Matt Licata I’ve been feeling so inspired and elated lately by the …
My Vampire Worm Dream
In my dream, I’m lying on a soft Persian rug in the middle of a cozy living room, sleeping, when I am woken up by something rippling under me. After a few seconds, I realize with horror that bloodsucking worms are writhing underneath me, about to attack. I panic, grabbing a spray bottle filled with …
The Still Face Experiment
A mother sits facing her baby, making eye contact, smiling and interacting with her. Baby’s happy and animated, mum is responding to her; everything’s well. Then mum turns her face away for a moment, and when she turns back, her face is totally flat and devoid of expression. She doesn’t respond in any way to …
Why you eat GF/DF/sugar-free/joy-free and still have gut issues
A couple of weeks ago I was at a family wedding, chatting with a woman I’d just met (a distant cousin in my partner’s enormous family whose names I try to but can’t keep straight). When I mentioned that I help women with chronic emotional and health-related problems, she started to tell me how frustrated …
How handholding is the superpower you didn’t know you had
What touch does to help us feel connected and safe Can you think back to a time when you had to go through something challenging, so you asked a friend or supportive family member to be there with you? Maybe it was something stressful like a medical appointment or a test result. Maybe it was …
An Invitation
From the moment you wake up, you get sucked right into the daily grind: getting ready for work, corralling the kids for school, taking care of a baby or an elder, coordinating schedules. You’re carried along on a stream of external demands, swept up in very real needs — making an income, meeting deadlines, getting …
What to do when the world scares you
Most mornings I like to turn on CBC Radio 1 to listen as I get ready for the day. It feels companionable and I get to keep up to date with some of what’s happening in my city and in Canada. Normally it feels good to listen. But the last several months have been challenging: …
Forget self-care — it’s not working!
Alex (not her real name) came to see me feeling utterly defeated by unexplained chronic pain that she’d been having for several years. During our check-in, on the verge of tears, she gave a big sigh and said, “I’m doing all the ‘right’ things — I do yoga, I meditate, I eat healthy food. So …