Blog: Gwen’s Gems

Many people tell me that it is difficult to love themselves.  I agree, so let’s just drop that idea for right now and go with something different.  There are a lot of people, myself included, who were just born with the idea that they were not good enough.  For some, there were incidents, comments from others, and traumas that reinforced that idea and made it more concrete in the mind and in the heart.  For ...
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There is a theme that runs through just about every story with every person who comes into my office for an individual session or for a group program: self-judgment.  We are always our own worst critics.   From beating ourselves up for something we have said or done to harassing ourselves to do better or be more productive.  It just seems to be a never-ending cycle, and a strain on our ability to move forward ...
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Part 3 in a series on anxiety. People have thoughts, lots of them.  It is estimated that people generate about 20,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day.  If you are female my guess is the higher number! ☺  When someone has anxiety think about how many of those thoughts are related to feeling insecure, anxious about taking a test or going someplace in public. Worry and distress are rampant, and can take over our lives in just ...
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It is hard to change paths.  Our minds can easily be set on a default pattern that continues on its’ own without any conscious effort on our part.  The brain is programmed for default patterns.  We like routine, we like structure.  But what do we do when that routine is not in our best interest?  How do we change the patterns? I personally like studying the brain and the mind, how they intersect and how ...
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Each day we have suffering of some sort or another.  Each day contains its’ own challenges, and carries its’ own burdens.  And each day gives us opportunity to continue in our path of troubles or to create a new experience of being kind to ourselves. According to research most of us find it really easy to be kind to others and we find it very difficult to be kind to ourselves.  Yet if we practice ...
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Part 2 in a series on Anxiety. I want to give you some suggestions for reducing your anxiety.  I know that it can be overwhelming when anxiety rushes in, but there are some things that can be useful to you in the moment as well as preventatively.  When therapists treat anxiety we tend to focus on some basic skills that can be addressed, then we move into more specific issues. Here are the basics: Reduce ...
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Part 1 in a series on Anxiety. Fighting with voices of worry, insecurity, leading to a lot of anxiety? Trouble taking tests? Tend to choke when you need to perform at your best? These are a lot of the problems that people with ongoing anxiety tend to complain about.  Sometimes we have these problems randomly even when we don't have ongoing issues. So what is there to do about this?  Are you interested in overcoming anxious thoughts and ...
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