Over Thanksgiving my daughter and I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to snag a few bangles and bobbles to decorate my house for Christmas. The pizazz was a bit overwhelming, but fun nonetheless. One-thousand smells, two-thousand sparkling lights and three-thousand ornaments. My last grab was a new Christmas tree stand, which I snagged without much thinking. It was the only one on the shelf. At the register my bill was twice as much as I expected, making me gawk at the reciept as I

I have witnessed many humans traversing through life with a solid dead stare. The hurts, habits, and hangups have all become too much, so they've numbed and settled into the routine swell of solemn slavery. Whatever it is, they feel like they have to keep going. I don't want to disrespect this type of stability. It is certainly valuable to trudge through what must be endured. But let's be clear that there is another way to live. The other path perhaps feels sadder, because i

This question is wildly so much harder than it seems. Many clients come into the counseling office because something is off in their life. They're unhappy, they're frustrated, they're overwhelmed. But when I ask them what they hoping to get out of the experience, sometimes it's very hard for them to tell me. What do you want? Being disgruntled is a great place to start. Knowing what you don't want is better than knowing nothing at all. But the harder question will always b

I spent most of today stripping stain and varnish off a bed frame gifted to me by my aunt. I don't know what I'm doing. I watched a few YouTube videos, called a few experienced friends and borrowed a workspace and an orbital sander from a neighbor. I sent update pics to a few of my fans who cheered me on. I am learning as I go, failing and trying again. It's slow progress, but I am having a wonderful time. You could say that I spent most of my day alone, but it didn't feel li

America loves to overwork. America praises those who worship the grind, pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, and never settle for good enough. I see it every day on billboards, watch it on social media, hear it from talking heads, and feel it in cultural undertones. Sometimes we do it because we want to. Sometimes we do it because we think we have to. I get ahead by my own two hands. I can't stop or else I'll fall behind. If I don't keep working, what will I have? And

write to think think to speak speak to feel Everyone works differently. For most of my life I have needed to put words onto paper in...

Art? Religion? Philosophy? Science? The artists and the religious are fantastical. What is faith but a dedicated hope? The imagination,...

Sometimes I need to just sit and stare at the wall. I have been jumping from task to task for so long that all the thoughts in my head...

"I just like to do nice things for people," she said. "I want them to feel like we have a bond and we can have fun together." Spending...

Over the past couple of months a lot has been changing in my life. In fact, almost everything has changed. My schedule, my family, my...

Last week I spent some time in Colorado visiting a friend. While I was there I took some time to adventure out on my own, just looking...

Being able to operate one-hundred percent freely is a privledge of only well-cared for children. When your parents have done a good job...

Walking with a lot of clients through dating, I have watched an interesting transformation happen. Clients longing to connect often first...

What are you afraid of? "I'm not afraid of anything," is what you are supposed to say. There's pressure in a fast moving world of...

You're doing your book report in middle school. You read the book, brainstormed, made an outline, then flushed out the paragraphs. You...

While on a trip this past weekend with a friend, I was reminded again of how powerful laughter can be. She and I talked about so many...

Over my almost twenty years as a counselor, there are a few goals clients have set that encapsulate what I believe many humans long for....

I finally made it through one of the most popular recent best sellers: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is...

In my work with humans and their relationships, I often find that so many of us long for connection and intimacy with one another, but...

A sailor on a yearlong journey across the ocean has no control over the weather he will encounter. Some days he wakes up to clear skies,...