I feel like I have to relearn this one over and over again. Perhaps I'll get it soon. I so easily put my worth in to other things or people. I look for approval. I get hung up on the result. I find myself stressed out and overworked because I'm trying to prove something. And [...]
Growing up in a lot of chaos and abuse I developed relationships with pain. Where pain actually became part of my identity. I have found that it is not an easy identity to give up. I see this happen in many different situations. For me, it was growing up in abuse, becoming very disconnected and [...]
This morning I had the honor of sharing my relationship graph with God while teaching someone one on one. For those that are not Grief Recovery Alumni the relationship graph is a component of GR where you graph out all the events related to a specific relationship. There is then further work to do to [...]
Anxiety can be a very debilitating thing. Anxiety means "a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome." Believe it or not, the feeling of anxiety does serve a purpose. It is meant to be a short term warning about possible danger. It's an uncomfortable feeling [...]
Last night was such an incredible night for me. One of my Grief Recovery classes read their completion letters and will now be heading toward their celebration next week. Though I am bound by confidentiality and cannot share their individual stories, I can share about the impact of the class.It's not easy to be a [...]
Today I had another encounter on my hike on the hill. I love those times, though quite honestly this past week I've had a couple of days where I really didn't want to go. I had to push myself to get in the car, drive the 5 minutes and begin the hike. It's not the [...]
Having come from a background with a good deal of trauma, I am far too familiar with denial as a coping mechanism. Of all the coping skills I learned as a child, denial seems to be the one I have most mastered.I learned to deny from my family. I was taught early on that when [...]
Grieving AloneWe as people were created for community. We were created to be in relationship with other people, to experience life together. I believe that is why so many of us will do things for acceptance. It is a natural given desire to belong. We need it to be healthy and happy. We need to [...]
PerseveranceThe word persevere means to continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no indication of success. The truth is perseverance is hard. It means moving forward in the most challenging of circumstances, believing when everything around us looks uncertain, focusing on a vision that seems completely [...]
Overwhelming ResponsibilityOne of the things that I have wrestled with a great deal is responsibility. I often don't know where I stop and others begin. What is my responsibility, what is not. What is from God, what have I created? It has been a journey of many lessons over many years.When I first became a [...]
