After three years of living mostly in physical isolation, I’ve learned a fair amount about this way of doing life. As such I figured I’d put out some resources over the coming days to share some of what I’ve learned. Tool #1 – Rhythm, Ritual and Rest *Create rhythms to your day, marked by whenContinue reading “Tools for Life in Physical Isolation”
Category Archives: Tools for the Toolbox
Emotional Regulation in Hard Times
Some suggestions for emotional self regulation during hard times: Create intentional PLANS and SCHEDULES to help organise your day and increase your sense of AGENCY and CONTROL. Don’t be afraid to Make these plans VISUAL in a notebook or on a board. Use MOVEMENT and CREATIVITY to allow your body to process stress as itContinue reading “Emotional Regulation in Hard Times”
A ‘Third Way’
Do you ever feel backed into a corner in an argument? Or forced to choose sides between polarizing forces? Perhaps in your intimate partner or family relationships? Perhaps in our wider, increasingly divisive social sphere? One of the biggest relationship-savers that Trevor and I have discovered over the last few years is to recognize whenContinue reading “A ‘Third Way’”
On Grieving
A year ago I was sitting in bed mid-way through watching ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with my daughter when the phone rang. Through sobs and gasps I heard a very good friend utter the devastating words … “he’s dead”. Her world had shattered in a heartbeat – completely out of the blue. That morning herContinue reading “On Grieving”
Emotional Workflow
One of the things I didn’t learn well growing up – maybe because of my autism, or maybe because of my experiences of gaslighting – was which things were emotionally my responsibility, and which things were not my responsibility.
All The Feels
So on Monday I introduced you to the idea of sitting with your hedgehogs (your emotions). It was a great description that helped me to understand a new way of interacting with my emotions.
But what I discovered for myself, for my kids and with an increasing number of the families I work with, it’s difficult to sit with your hedgehogs and name your hedgehogs if you’re not actually clear about what emotions you’re having in the first place.
Spoons In, Spoons Out
So last week, I asked the moms in my parenting class to bring all of their clean spoons when they came.
I didn’t tell them why, but I specifically said, “don’t clean any spoons specially – just bring what you have”.
Forgiveness
The idea of forgiveness can be very difficult for many people. It had always been drilled into me that it was important to forgive, and I would screw up my eyes and try hard to forgive those who had hurt me, but it rarely seemed to make much of a difference.
Then a couple of years ago I ran across a book by the Rev. Desmond Tutu and his daughter, Mpho Tutu, called, The Book of Forgiving: The Four-Fold Path For Healing Ourselves and Our World. And I figured that since Desmond Tutu had grown up under the horrors of apartheid as a black South African, and overseen the Truth and Reconciliation commission there, he might have something of value to say on the subject of forgiveness.
A Rainbow of Truths
What if there wasn’t simply BLACK truth and WHITE truth? What if, instead, truth came in a RAINBOW of colours?
Tuning In
So we’ve spent the last few weeks talking about getting to know the different parts of who we are – heart, soul, mind (part 1 and part 2) and body. We talked about how important it was for us to get to know these different parts of us, because each of these parts are designed to work together to help us to function in the best way possible.
But what does that look like? How do we get to the point where we know the answers to these questions?
The first step is simply to become more aware.
We start by tuning in.
