Live Your Best Life!

Do you find that you spend a lot of time thinking about all the worst-case scenarios that could happen? Worst-case scenario thinking, or “catastrophizing”, is a thought distortion that negatively impacts many individuals and can involve only considering the worst possible outcomes, blowing things out of proportion, or dismissing any positive outcomes including the best-case scenario. When you spend a lot of time thinking about worst-case scenarios, you also experience the emotions that accompany your thoughts about only negative outcomes occurring. Common emotions associated with worst-case scenario thinking include anxiety, worry, stress, fear, distress, hopelessness, sadness, and anger. 

There is a difference between planning for challenges that are likely to occur, and thinking about things that are very unlikely to happen. When you are using the logical part of your brain and considering if there are any actions you can take to reduce the chance of something negative happening, ...

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines overwhelm as “to cover over completely, submerge”, “to overcome by superior force or numbers”, or “to overpower in thought or feeling”. When we, as humans, experience overwhelm it is usually the third definition of “to overpower in a thought or feeling”. Overwhelm is a feeling you experience when you believe you have too much on your plate and/or when you think life has thrown something at you that is more than you can handle. 

Overwhelm can hit you all at once if something significant happens in your life, or it can build slowly until one day you feel like you don’t know how you can handle everything that you have to do. Overwhelm can result in ruminating thoughts about the circumstance(s) causing the overwhelm, challenging feelings of stress, anxiety, or fear, and/or physical symptoms in the body such as an upset stomach, tightness of the chest, fatigue, or headaches. When these feelings and/or physical symptoms are present, it is common to ...

Do you have days where you don’t feel like doing something, even though you really "should”? If so, you are a normal human being. This is an experience we all have at some point. Some people experience this more than others, and some of us experience this more during certain periods of our lives than others.

Feeling like you don’t want to do something could be related to challenges with emotional or mental health, or it could be that you are feeling overwhelmed and tired. It could also be because there is something more appealing that you want to do. Regardless of the specific reason, it is because in some way the things you are needing or wanting to do feels challenging. Our human brain is wired to keep us comfortable and to have us use the least amount of energy possible throughout the day. If it is not managed, your brain will want you to play small, stay as comfortable as possible, avoid risks, and do the things that bring the most pleasure, while using the least amount of ener...

You experience approximately 60,000 thoughts per day. That is a lot, right? There is no way you can give attention to everything that comes your way, or that goes through your brain. Because of this, you can either be intentional about what you are thinking, or you can allow your brain to choose your thoughts for you. What can be helpful to know is that given the choice, your brain will likely choose to focus on the negative things, the hard things, the things that did not go well in the past, and the things that it thinks you should worry about in the future.

Your brain does this to protect you. It thinks that if you focus on the hard things or the negative things that it can protect you from them, or you can save yourself from them. When this happens, you often spend a lot of time and mental energy having thoughts that do not serve you. This is what is happening when you receive nine compliments and one piece of constructive feedback, and all you can think about is the one piece o...

Not getting enough sleep consistently will negatively impact many areas of your life. It impairs your mind just as having a couple of drinks does. It can increase food cravings. It can cause you to be irritable, anxious, or sad. It can age you faster, and it can negatively impact overall health. It can slow down your productivity and efficiency and increase your distractibility. If you struggle with sleep, the good news is that it is “fixable”.

I recently worked with someone who has not been able to get a good night’s sleep in over 10 years. She had accepted that it would never get better and told me, “I am just a bad sleeper”. After just 4 sessions, she is now able to go to sleep earlier, she is able to fall asleep quickly, she no longer wakes up in the middle of the night, and she wakes up feeling refreshed instead of groggy and tired. It has been life changing for her in many ways.

I know there are many people who struggle with getting enough sleep and/or getting quality ...

Emotional well-being is just as important as physical well-being, however, it is often neglected until it becomes a significant concern. Your emotional well-being can impact how you feel on a daily basis, your outlook on life, your relationships, your career success, and the overall quality of your life. The goal in life should not be to “just get by”. The goal in life should be to thrive, feel joy, and to feel a sense of overall life satisfaction and fulfillment. 

The reality is that you will be faced with challenges in your life. When you are emotionally well, you are better able to respond to unexpected events in a way that does not make the situation worse.  You are also able to bounce back from adversity easier and faster. One way of taking care of your emotional well-being is to check in with yourself from time to time to assess how you are feeling, what you would like to experience more of, and what you would like to experience less of. 

Below are some questions you can j...

What you believe about yourself, what is possible for you, and about the world around you impacts the life you create for yourself. Have you ever had periods of time where nothing is working in your favor and then other periods of time where it feels like many good things are coming your way all at once? This is a common experience for many people. So, the question is, why does this happen?

In my opinion, your belief system plays a big role in this. If it feels like things are not going your way, your mind will give you more evidence of this. It will also remind you of times in the past when things have not gone your way. If you are spending a lot of time focusing on negative things happening, you are signaling to your brain that negative things happening are important to you and it will then go to work for you and find more negative things. When this happens, you will not feel energized, excited, or hopeful, and therefore the actions you take can reinforce your beliefs that good t...

Your emotional health is about how you think and feel, as well as your ability to cope with challenges in life. It is not about being happy all the time, but rather it is about recognizing and managing how you are thinking and feeling on an ongoing basis. When you are emotionally healthy, you are aware of your thoughts and feelings, you feel in control of them, and you are able to bounce back when life throws challenges your way. Emotionally healthy individuals are typically adaptable, have coping strategies that they are able to implement during challenging times, and they have an overall positive mindset.

On the other hand, individuals who struggle with emotional health may experience more negative emotions (frustration, anger, sadness, hopelessness, or fear). They may also try to avoid or escape from certain life situations, lash out at loved ones, experience mood swings, withdraw, struggle professionally, struggle with relationships, sleep too much or too little, or eat too muc...

If you are like most people, you are interested in a lot of different things, but that does not necessarily mean you are committed to them. Maybe you want to consider a new career, starting a business, starting a new hobby, finding romance, improving your finances, organizing our home, or taking your health and fitness to the next level. When you are interested in something, you spend time thinking about it. This may generate feelings of excitement, curiosity, and maybe even a little fear or overwhelm.

Dreaming is one of my favorite things to do. For me, it creates feelings of excitement and energizes me. I can dream all day long, however, dreaming alone won’t get me anywhere. This is where commitment comes in. While being interested in something or dreaming about something requires thinking, commitment requires action. If you are truly committed to something, you will continue to pursue it, even when it gets hard, boring, frustrating, or inconvenient. If you are committed you are ...

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐦. We all have an inner dialogue which can look like an inner coach, or an inner critic. What you think about yourself impacts how you feel, how you behave, and the results you get in life. The goal is to have self-talk that encourages you to want to improve, while also accepting the person you are without harsh criticism.

The way you talk to yourself can cause painful emotions, which makes it harder to show up and behave in the way you want to. If you sit with these painful or negative emotions for an extended period of time, it can negatively impact the results you get in your life. It can also negatively impact your relationships because you may either withdraw, if you don’t feel worthy of a relationship, or it could cause you to push someone away because they don’t want to hear you talk negatively about yourself ongoing. ...