As a psychologist, my goal is to facilitate your well-being. Sharing tools for well-being is one of my favorite things to do in life.

Actually, sharing awareness about tools for well-being is one of my favorite things to do; that's because nearly all of the tools are in your own possession already.

One of the most potent is your breath.

We here it all of the time, "Just Breathe!"

Since breathing is a function of our autonomic nervous system, that acts largely unconsciously, what more we can add to the mix?

However, mindful breathing, performed regularly, may have long-term psychological and physiological effects. Recent studies suggest that programs that focus on breathing exercises can reduce perceived stress, improve mood, and lower cortisol levels, cardiovascular response to stress, blood pressure and other factors.

Psychological benefits of breathing practice include improved emotional responses, fatigue, stress, and reduced anxiety.

When life feels out of control, focus on what...

All life transitions bring stress, even the amazing transitions, the ones we have worked so hard to make happen.

Difficult transitions create even more stress and make the challenges and pain worse. Here is speak of this later variety of stress, the raunchy cousin of the stress of witnessing miracles.

So why do we tend to hold onto every ounce of stress like it's a precious jewel?

We grasp and cling to stress like we are afraid that if we loosen our grip it just might, like the proverbial one million grains of sand, slide right through our fingertips.

Stress is coveted for many different reasons.

Don't get me wrong. There are good reasons galore for appreciating stress. One being, it motivate peak performance. But remember, the stress discussed here is the ball and chain kind of stress. The I not only can't run but I can barely walk kind of stress. 

Surely you have noticed how holding on to stress offers diminishing returns. How stress greedily sucks up to fear and leaves us...

Hey there!

It is stress awareness day.

Cue the band, right?

Let me guess, you are already out celebrating.

I’m kind of torn here, obsessed as I am with seeing 2 sides to everything.

I want to chat with you briefly about stress because it is an important topic, but…. I don’t want to stress you out by doing so.

Since I am a psychologist specializing in helping people with family and relationships (that may be how we got to know each other) and family and relationships are two of the five factors most often cited as a source of stress, I believe it is important I share something helpful.

Pertinent fact:

The way we experience stress impacts whether stress will help us or hurt us.

A massive study found that when people were feeling they were stressed out + also believed that feeling stressed out would be harmful to their health, they had a 43% increase in the risk of premature death.

But get this:

Those who experienced high stress but didn’t believe it to...