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Tolstoy and IFS

By |2023-07-18T19:02:59-04:00July 18th, 2023|Health Coaching, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Uncategorized|

 

Leo Tolstoy opened his blockbuster novel Anna Karenina with this famous statement: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. And went from there to show — in gloriously artful detail — how one family’s story could exemplify that observation.  Seems to me there’s resonance there with the Internal Family Systems model for understanding how any life can unfold into its own story.

~How so?

The internal family of Parts of us…when we are in harmony with each other…and there are no dragons to slay in the immediate or imagined vicinity…well we occupy a human nervous […]

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The Opposite of Trust is Not Distrust

By |2023-06-19T13:23:05-04:00June 16th, 2023|Internal Family Systems (IFS), Uncategorized|

A conversation:

I wish I could trust life, a sad Part lamented.

Tell me more about that, said Self, what does ‘trust life’ mean to you?

It’s like…expecting the good to happen.  For me, it’s the opposite.  I distrust the good, and expect bad stuff.

The opposite of trust is not distrust, observed Self. The opposite of trust is disassociation.

Huh? asked the Part.

Self began.  When you were just brand new, way before you could think about it, the nervous system inside you was making sense of your experience. Sometimes you […]

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Safeguarding our health

By |2021-04-07T09:28:01-04:00November 21st, 2017|Uncategorized|

All of us on the journey of health and wholeness must reckon with the grave influence of environmental toxins on our efforts.  Ubiquitous in our foods, our water, our air, our household products–the number of chemicals in use is growing daily.   Exposure to many of these is known to adversely affect the healthy development and function of body systems.   Sadly, the wise regulation of these in the public’s interest is diminishing.   If we are to be proactive about creating and maintaining good health, we must add awareness of this challenge to our […]

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8-10 servings of vegetables a day? How in the world…?!

By |2021-04-07T09:26:50-04:00November 20th, 2017|Uncategorized|

Yep, our super smart and well-informed nutritionist Nate tells us that’s how many servings of vegetables to eat in a day to get the vitamins, minerals, fiber etc necessary for good health.  How do we eat that much vegetable matter in 3 squares a day, especially given that one of those squares normally does not even contain vegetables?

Hint:  Let smoothies turn breakfast into a vegetable meal!  With the right equipment and mindset, smoothies are as easy, fast and yummy as any other other you might be used to, AND you can […]

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Exercise: It helps us feel better

By |2021-04-07T09:02:43-04:00November 20th, 2017|Uncategorized|

Exercise For Depression And Anxiety

exercise for depression and anxiety

Lots of research supports the benefits of exercise to make us less vulnerable to anxiety and depression.   In fact, we know that exercise is as effective in the treatment of depression as the SSRI drugs.   Why does this matter to our health and wellness?  Mental illness is a state of ongoing stress reactivity.  We experience it in our depressed or anxious mood, but the stress hormones continuously released are corrosive to the healthy function of our physiological systems in ways […]

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Triggering and UNtriggering fears

By |2021-04-07T09:04:22-04:00October 30th, 2017|Uncategorized|

anxiety triggersIt’s not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.
~Lena Horne

We have no shortage of triggers for our fears these days.   It’s too easy for our amygdalas – those almond-shaped structures in the primitive part of our brains that prime us to react way before our conscious logical mind can think about it –  to remain in a state of fearful vigilance that is highly corrosive to our health and well-being.

With our minds being constantly bombarded with stimulus as technology advances and we find ourselves constantly getting […]

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