Article | September 6, 2024
Emotional Avoidance and Mental Well-being
In the realm of human emotions, there exists a natural tendency to avoid unpleasant feelings. Whether it's fear, sadness, anger, or even vulnerability, many of us have developed strategies to sidestep these emotions in hopes of maintaining comfort and stability in our lives. However, what seems like a coping mechanism in the short term can have profound implications for our mental health...
Article | September 6, 2024
Embracing Individuality: Nurturing Personal Growth Within our Relationships
In the realm of romantic relationships, the task of maintaining individuality while being part of a partnership is both necessary and challenging. It can be difficult to balance intertwining lives and nurturing personal growth. It is important to share our lives with the people we love while also prioritizing our own care and well-being.
Understanding Individuality in a...
Article | May 1, 2024
Riding the Wave: The Practice of Urge Surfing
Riding the Wave: The Practice of Urge Surfing
We all have thoughts and behaviors that we would like to reduce in frequency or intensity. These might include use of substances, intrusive thoughts, impulsive behavior, or intense emotional reactions. These impulses and desires can be approached with a unique mindfulness technique called urge surfing.
Instead of avoiding...
Article | May 1, 2024
Embracing Conflict: How It Can Strengthen Your Relationship
Conflict within a relationship often gets a bad rap. It's commonly associated with discord, tension, and stress, but what if I told you conflict can be normal and beneficial for a relationship? When managed constructively, conflict can lead to deeper understanding, stronger bonds, and personal growth for all individuals involved. Let's delve into why embracing conflict might just be...
Article | April 1, 2024
Creating Habits of Connection
Many couples struggle to maintain romance and connection as time goes on. Opportunities to improve romantic connection with your partner may be more reasonable than you’d think.
Research by relationship specialists such as Bill Doherty, professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Minnesota, and Dr. John Gottman, author of the book Why Marriages Succeed...
Article | January 11, 2024
Attachment Styles and Their Impact on Adult Relationships
Attachment theory focuses on psychological bonds in relationships and suggests that connections with primary caregivers serves as a guide for how we behave in other relationships, including friendships, partners, and our own future children. Our style of attachment impacts our feelings of security, meaning, and ability to build and sustain connection with others. According to research, there...
Article | January 11, 2024
A Deeper Dive into the Four Horsemen: Defensiveness
If you haven’t read the past article on criticism (Link here), it may be helpful to get a quick refresher. If you don’t have time to read the first blog post, this semester, we are taking a deeper dive into Gottman’s Four Horsemen: criticism, defensiveness, contempt, and stonewalling. This month, we are digging in further on defensiveness.
Defensiveness is an...
Article | January 11, 2024
A Deeper Dive into the Four Horsemen: Criticism
Conflict is normal in every relationship although not all conflict is created equal. Conflict can provide a space for an individual to increase understanding, trust, and positive connection. Contrarily, when conflict becomes negative, frustration, conflict, isolation, withdrawal, and negative interpretation follow. The next four relationship blog posts will take a deeper dive into Dr....
Article | January 11, 2024
The Contemptuous Road to Destruction
As it relates to interpersonal dynamics, few emotions are as destructive as contempt. Often referred to as the "silent relationship killer," contempt is a deadly force that erodes the very foundation of relationships. Dr. John Gottman's extensive research has revealed that contempt is detrimental to communication and a possible predictor of relationship failure. In this...
Article | January 11, 2024
Navigating Moral Injury: The Hidden Struggle Among Healthcare Professionals
Healthcare professionals are often seen as the pillars of compassion and care, dedicating their lives to healing and alleviating suffering. However, beneath their white coats and stethoscopes, many dedicated individuals grapple with an under-discussed issue: moral injury. This blog post will delve into moral injury, its significance in healthcare, and ways to address and prevent its...
Article | December 19, 2022
I Just Cannot Sleep
Do you have difficulty falling asleep? Does it take more than 20 minutes for you to fall asleep? Do you agree with the statement, “wired but tired?” Initiating sleep is a common challenge for many in the United States. Sleep issues can occur for many different reasons. One reason is poor sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene relates to the quality of your sleep routine or lack thereof. If...
Article | March 4, 2022
How to Have Difficult Conversations
One of the first steps in engaging in difficult conversations with others is to better know and understand yourself. Often times we have something that we want to talk about and our energy pushes us to have a dialogue when we have not yet taken inventory of why we want to have the conversation, what our goal in the conversation is, what values are guiding us, and what we might expect regarding...
Article | December 1, 2021
Gratitude
Gratitude. We hear it often, especially as the holidays come up. We feel this expectation of experiencing and vocalizing a heart of gratitude. However, sometimes it can feel difficult to feel gratitude when life is throwing what feels like punches in all different directions.
What are the benefits of having gratitude?
Gratitude boosts the immune system as it increases...
Article | October 25, 2021
Reducing Stress through Mindful Practices
In their 2005 psychological research, the National Science Foundation found that the average person has somewhere between 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. That same year, a follow-up study done by Cornell University showed that 85% of what we think about never happens. Furthermore, for the remaining 15% of what we think about, 79% of participants expressed that they could handle the...
Article | September 27, 2021
Diet Culture
“This is my cheat meal,” “I look so fat,” “I need to exercise more,” are some of a few statements that have slid into our culture that unconsciously support diet culture. As we label “good foods” versus “bad foods” and skip breakfast to account for the “heavy” meal that was eaten the night before, we are buying into a...