It creeps up on us slowly; almost imperceptibly… the sun sets earlier and rises later. Nights are cooling off and shadows are lengthening. Farmers’ markets are overflowing with abundant corn crops. It’s time for the annual Perseid meteor shower (next year I vow I’ll watch it far away from Toronto’s light pollution!). Summer here in Canada is over halfway over & the last few weeks will disappear in a blink.
Me time. Self Care. Down time. We hear this all the time, but what does it actually mean? How do we do it? Let’s look at the what, the why, and the how. Self-care is intentionally carving out time free of commitments and responsibilities to others. It is spending time fully engaged an activity or practice that will recharge your battery. It is not laundry and chores, catching up on
It’s OK to not be OK I was puzzling how to articulate the value of experiencing a range of emotions when Disney handed me the answer. This answer came via the new animated feature Inside Out. My kids have been referring to it as “The Emotions Movie”. In a fun and playful way, this film tackles the task of explaining the confusing, complex, sticky wonder of our emotions. How memories
We’ve all felt it at some stage or another. It’s unpleasant. It’s uncomfortable. It has no redeeming factors. It’s the one emotion that I refer to as useless. Guilt keeps us stuck and it doesn’t help anyone. In fact it’s a pretty self-centered activity. As long as you’re focused on guilt, you’re prevented from seeing solutions and making amends. Let’s try an exercise. Fill in the blank: I
Where’s your net? One week in November I found myself at Saint Timothy’s Anglican Church. A week later I was at Manor Road United Church. Come January, you could find me at the Anglican Church of St John the Baptist. In February it was St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. I wasn’t having a faith crisis or sampling different doctrines. I was in the lucky role of delivering faith and
What’s the big rush? So you’re separated. One of you has moved out and the process of divvying up whose is whose is underway. Or as Amy Poehler puts it, “Imagine spreading everything you care about on a blanket and then tossing the whole thing up in the air. The process of divorce is about loading that blanket, throwing it up, watching it all spin, and worrying what stuff will
“It gets easier”. We seem to tell the sleepless parents of newborns that all the time. The truth? It does get easier. AND it gets more difficult. It gets different. Yes, for teens you’re not changing their bottoms & feeding them. But you may return to sleepless nights, lying awake worried about them. Babies may be loud, but they don’t talk back. And they certainly aren’t having sex or contemplating
New Baby? Exhausted? Psst. Hey you…. I have the secret to help you navigate the madness that is parenting. Oh ya, you heard me. OK, actually I have TWO secrets to help you get through it. Before we get to the fixes, let’s set the stage. You’re exhausted. Not just any kind of exhausted, thebleary-stinging-eyes Exhausted. The “I-need-an-intravenous-coffee-drip” Exhausted. The “I-fantasize-about-sleep-instead-of-sex” Exhausted. I totally get it. Some women say you
I thought I would be an ace in the hole having babies, being a mamma. I had three degrees, one of which in child psychology. I was a child and adolescent therapist. I’d worked with kids in clinics and hospital. I’d circled the globe traveling and lived and worked abroad. Moving to other countries? No big deal! Trekking in the Himalayas? Bring it. I was never under the illusion that
