11|2022
Make preparations in advance. Recovering addicts need to assemble a “recovery kit” they can take with them before joining their families for holiday celebrations. This kit would include contact information for the recovering person’s sponsor and therapist. People in recovery that may be traveling out of town need to bring reading material, whether it is… Read more »
10|2020
Drop the word “exercise,” throw out the term “physical education” and stop cowering when you hear “dance.” Replace those dreary and loaded terms with the sheer joy and the simple pleasure of moving your body. No matter your size, your shape, the flesh that jiggles, the bones that stick out, the maleness or femaleness of… Read more »
09|2020
Anxiety is different than fear but it is related to it. Fear is a feeling of tension that is associated with a known source of danger. Anxiety is also a feeling of tension, but in this case, the danger or the threat of danger is unknown. Anxiety is often anticipatory — worrying about the future…. Read more »
09|2020
When that overwhelming feeling strikes, it’s easy to feel powerless and immobile. Everything feels too big. It’s not just everyday busyness and packed schedules. When we’re overwhelmed, just making dinner becomes a monumental effort. Take the Thriving quiz below to see how well you’ve learned to deal with overwhelm. True or False 1. I try… Read more »
06|2020
If trying to maintain balance in your life makes you sometimes feel like Terrifico, the Terrified Tightrope Walker in the Circus of Life, working without a net while the crowd below holds their breath in anticipation of a slip, you’re not alone. These days almost all of us have so many demands placed on our… Read more »
06|2020
Physicians use the word “trauma” to describe a serious injury to the physical body resulting from a sudden impact, such as an accident or a violent act. But you can also suffer emotional trauma, which can cause an equally painful wound to your sense of self as a whole, coherent being. Just like a wound… Read more »
05|2020
At its best, fear is an instinctive, natural ability to help us survive. At its worst, it’s that nagging voice inside our heads that heralds doom and disaster even before we get started on something. Fear keeps us from taking risks that might enrich our life or holds us back from doing some things we… Read more »
01|2020
Holiday Drinking The holidays are a time of “More”. More parties, more social gatherings, more celebrations. And more holiday drinking. Many of the usual drinking rules are relaxed during the holiday season. Drinking in the daytime for example, and drinking at the workplace where office parties often add alcohol to the mix. More drinking and… Read more »
12|2019
Grief and the Holidays For those experiencing sorrow, whether, through death, separation, divorce, illness, job loss or relocation, the glittering commercialism and unrelenting cheer of the holiday season can be stressful. Facing Thanksgiving Day and Christmas with an empty chair at the table can make unbearable grief so much worse, says Karen Silbert, MD, Associate… Read more »
11|2019
Sober for the 2020 Holidays About this time every year, we like to take a closer look at the unique challenge of staying holiday sober. Sobriety is not just wishful thinking – it’s a daily commitment to making good, healthy choices over bad, destructive ones. Staying holiday sober takes extra effort on the part of… Read more »
