When gratitude and unhappiness collide Hello Friends, As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I have been reflecting on gratitude. Gratitude is essential… and yet it can be complicated. Sometimes it almost feels wrong to be grateful in a world that has so much...
What if anger can be a force for good? Hello Friends! Last Friday we celebrated the 4th of July in the US. For those who celebrate, did you feel a mix of feelings? Personally, I felt a big mix—happiness for good things (like friends and family), outrage and despair...
And a Summer Update! ? Hello Friends, I have long been delighted by the many ways caregivers use the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids, including parent-child pairs, school groups, kids in private therapy sessions, and even parenting groups! Lately...
Dr. Chris Germer Helps us Release Parenting Shame Hello friends, The other day, I was on social media, and I saw this parenting post from the Institute of Child Psychology (please note my comment on the bottom of the post): Of course yelling is not an optimal...
Do you still judge this mom after you hear the whole story? Hello Friends, We oftentimes hear about difficult events in the news, but when it touches our lives personally, we feel it more deeply and the reality becomes more profound. This past week I was teaching...
Sometimes we really need something to pull us back to the Present Moment Hello Friends, Have any of you found yourself flooded with difficult thoughts and feelings lately? If so, you are not alone. Many of us are going through hard times, and self-compassion is a...
Coping with Letdown and Holding space for Joy Hello Friends, Life is full of cycles. The seasons have cycles. My kids’ sports teams have cycles. And projects and book launches have cycles, too. When we put a lot of time and energy into creating something...
Hello Friends! You may be familiar with the 4 S’s of attachment: Seen, Safe, Soothed and Secure. Well, I’d like to add a 5th S: Strong! Ever since Kristin Neff published her book, Fierce Self-Compassion: How women can harness kindness to speak up, own their power, and...
An Emotional Intelligence Boosting Exercise for Kids and Grown-Ups Have you ever told yourself that you shouldn’t feel jealous of someone? Me, too. Thinking that we shouldn’t feel jealous, or angry, or __(fill in the blank with the emotion)__ is common for kids and...
So, it’s summer, and my kids are out of school. Yay! Boo! Both things are true.As a mom who works from home, having kids home for the summer presents both gifts and challenges. The kids see that I am at home, and they think that they can interrupt whatever I’m doing...