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Eight Signs You Need Counseling
Just the word, counseling, often has a negative effect on people, I have noticed. If you want to cause a defensive reaction in someone, suggest gently and without any judgment, they would benefit from counseling. Immediately they hear only something is wrong with me. Then wait for the litany of various reasons why counseling will not work or has not worked in the past. Counseling is too expensive, time-consuming, and doesn’t help them. They know someone who went to counseling and boy, did that counselor mess them up. I have even heard the excuse that God, as our Wonderful Counselor, did not endorse other counseling, despite the many verses in…
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Me, My Parasympathetic Nervous System, and I
Some people imagine they have the devil one shoulder and an angel on the other, giving competing advice. For me, I have my sympathetic nervous system shouting in one ear and my parasympathetic nervous system whispering in the other. One is unreliable but sometimes right. The other gives very good advice that I just don’t quite want to take. The first has a megaphone and a Chicken Little complex; the other is like an elusive oracle from some ancient myth. You know it said something of earth-shattering importance that will change everything. The problem is you can’t process the information because the horrible voice screaming that the sky is falling…
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When Positive Thinking Doesn’t Work
I hate positive thinking emergencies. They creep up on me at my worst moments. I stand at cliff’s edge, vicious barbarian armies closing in on me. In front of me lies the ocean. Even if I were to survive the sharp rocks that stud the cliffside, there is a sea monster waiting below, his gaping maw revealing rows upon rows of pointy teeth. I feel panic grip my chest, my throat. My hands shake. Then out of nowhere, I feel the hand of my co-worker gently squeeze my shoulder. “Try to think positive thinking,” he says, meaningfully and with sincere sympathy. “That’s it!” I think and begin to hum The…
Healing Through Art & Words
