It felt like they were trying to earn my approval, my love, my acceptance. That if they just did things right, then I would give them some sort of a royal nod of approval. Earned love, I believe, is not really love. Earned acceptance and approval always has this fear […]
Mental Health
234 posts
I think it was one of the hardest times of my life. It was a loss. Like something had been sucked out of my heart. Something that could not be replaced by anything known to man. It was the loss of a still to be born child. I still remember […]
Is depression caused by a lack of faith? Find hope through grace and self-compassion, leaving toxic church shame behind. Where are you, God? I thought that if I prayed more, read my Bible more, attended church more, gave more money, then I would feel better. I look at everyone else, […]
If there is but one thing that I need the most when I am anxious, it is this. Presence. In depression, we need this. Having someone safe alongside me in my fear. It is the parent holding a child’s hand as they go off to surgery. The advocate who […]
Stop the wild swing between past regrets and future fears. Learn how to ground your thoughts in the “Now” by binding truth to your heart. Sometimes my thoughts seem to go to another time. They don’t stay grounded in the here and now. They either swing out into the […]
Who is on the throne of your life? What is keeping you anxious? Perhaps something needs to change. Back in the eighties, Bob Dylan came out with the song ‘Gotta Serve Somebody.’ In the song, Bob goes through many life scenarios of who or what you might serve. You may […]
Stuck in the quicksand of estrangement? Discover how one mother moved from the agony of ambiguous grief to a miraculous relationship renewal. This is a guest post by Peggy Phillips who wrote Coping with Ambiguous Loss by Estrangement After my son went no contact, the quicksand of estrangement engulfed every part […]
It was an echo. A wave of emotion hit them, just like as if it was yesterday. Boom. They were right back there, experiencing the same thoughts and feelings. Sitting on that beach. Warm summer sun. Joyful sounds of children playing in the surf. Wafts of barbequed sausages coming from […]
When guilt isolates, “I am with you” is the only bridge back to hope. The power of solidarity helps us in the face of judgment and shame. How are they going to respond? How will they react? They had done some things they knew would go against what everyone thought […]
Are you waiting for the other shoe to drop? It’s called anticipatory anxiety, but you can find release and the anxiety can go. You know it’s going to happen; it’s just a matter of when. And in that waiting, in that zone of tension, you sit. How do you hold […]