Recently, someone close to me lost their job for the 2nd time in just under a year and a half. As you can imagine, this is devastating, and he feels like he is a complete failure; his self-worth stock suddenly took a nose dive and there he was, just another worthless piece of garbage tossed to the side of the curb. All of the hard work he’d put in, 60+ hour weeks, not taking vacation and doing everything that he could to be all that was asked of him, now meant nothing. To mak

It’s been a while since I’ve had the energy to write a blog post and I thought the reasons why (anxiety/stress/fear/grief) would be a good topic, and how we need to look after ourselves during difficult times. Maybe you’re one of those people; you know, that person whom everyone else relies upon. The Dependable One. Is this sounding familiar? You are that individual that people turn to when times are tough. Maybe someone has lost a family member, or your neighbour was in an a

Think of the last time you failed at something. I’m going to bet you can recall it in great detail. In fact, I know you play the entire scenario in your mind, over and over; a mini movie that you pause at certain intervals to capture and digest all of the littlest details. We analyse our failures with incredible precision to see how/why we didn’t make better choices. We do a lot of: If onlys and what ifs. If only I didn’t do that, this other thing wouldn’t have happened. If o

Mirror, mirror on the wall... How each of us see our world is different according to our own perception – our own reality of the physical world. My truth is different from your truth, although we may have many commonalities. But to see the world (my, world) through MY eyes is different than seeing it from yours. The issues with these misalignments of truth, is what sparks the debates of our own unique view of life. You see things this way and I see things that way. Both, ac

Over the past decade or so (probably a bit longer) I’ve been obsessed with personal growth. I decided long ago that I wanted to be the best possible ‘me’ that I could during my stint on Earth. I do believe that you can reinvent yourself every new day and every moment, you can choose whom you want to be. Before you think I’m standing on a soapbox, pointing to my halo – I’m very, very far from Sainthood. That said, if we are conscious of who we are and who we want to become, we

Welcome to 2018. Here we are, again, looking down the road of yet another year and posing the same questions of ourselves, as we do every year: Will I be happy? Will I be safe? Will I be loved? Will I have enough money? Will I accomplish what I want to? All of these questions bubble up within us like anvil clouds before a massive thunderstorm. They build and grow; becoming worries that sometimes expands into anxiety. It seems every year becomes more surreal and more difficult

I have it and always have. I remember getting migraines as a child brought on by anxiety when my parents were screaming at each other nearly every weekend. I’d complain that my head hurt (it really did) and was taken to the eye doctor, the regular doctor and various specialists. I had all sorts of tests done and in the end my parents were told that I ‘just wanted attention’ and was making it all up. This was the 1970’s; no one thought to look into the social dynamics of my dy

2017 has been a very hot and dry summer on the West Coast of Canada. It’s been the worst year for forest fires in our history and I think we’re setting new records for lack of rain. It’s unusual and top that off with the near total eclipse we’ve just had and you may notice a lot of really weird energy, as of late. It’s Sept. 2nd and we’ve got, yet another, heat wave in the Lower Mainland. I can’t remember the last time it actually rained. This is an odd thing to say in Vancou

A while ago, I took a little writing course. One of the exercises I had to do was write a letter to myself (from my future self), one that I'd read, back in time. Of course, I had to choose the most difficult day of my entire life to send this letter to: the day after Brian took his life. I found this exercise most powerful and healing. I will incorporate this into my Coaching sessions as I think it's valuable to people. Feel free to give it a try. May 12, 2017 Hello me, It’s

I’m taking an online introductory course in Counselling and I’m currently reading a book called: The Skilled Helper. It’s interesting. I’ve barely started and already I’ve noticed that there is something very important and fundamentally missing in our Western system: we do not teach our young how to manage their mental health. At least, not on a large scale. We show them how to take care of their bodies through eating well and exercising. We teach them to read, write and prob

Sometimes we plan our changes in life and sometimes we don’t…like unexpectedly losing your job. This happened, recently, to my partner. While he’s dealing with the upheaval of emotions, fairly well, he has his ‘panic’ moments. Thankfully, he has me. *wink* Most of us have been there at some point in our lives. It’s shocking if we’re not expecting it and it plays with our deepest insecurities as humans; the dreaded: “I’m not good enough.” or “I’ve failed”. Typically, neither a

Not everyone is an artist. Although I dabble in photography and graphic art as well as writing, I’m far from being one, myself. But that’s okay and I’m good with what I do. The thing is, being creative comes in many forms and focusing your energy on ‘creation’ is one of the best things we can do for our world and ourselves. The term, creativity, evokes a plethora of wonderful meanings such as…imagination, originality and innovation. Without these things, our planet would be v

1. Being ‘stuck': Whether it’s getting to that next stage in a relationship, career or having a goal that you just can’t seem to achieve, Life Coaches provide a safe environment to help set the stage to 1) make those changes or 2) put a plan in place so that you can see real results. 2. Maneuvering through change: The absolute biggest change in my life resulted from my boyfriend taking his life, two years ago. Suicide grief is something I’m more than just a little familiar wi