Objectives Connecting to every aspect of your life is difficult but is at the core of allowing your body to heal. “Being” with your past may be challenging but is necessary in order to learn and grow. It is the opposite of pursuing self-esteem, which separates you from you. The … Read More
My first year in training I will never forget my first holiday season as an internal medicine resident in Spokane, WA. I learned that the holidays are a nightmare for the medicine service, especially the GI service. Diabetics don’t take their insulin and their sugars go out of control. Cardiac … Read More
Objectives The “C”quence of healing is connection, confidence, and creativity. You must first become aware of and connect with all aspects of your past in order to move forward. Confidence originates from being deeply connected to it. It is the antithesis of pursuing self-esteem where your efforts are spent trying … Read More
Dealing with Holiday Triggers This blog is written in conjunction with Dr. Les Aria, who is an experienced pain psychologist working in Northern California. He brings a wide range of approaches into successfully treating and solving chronic mental and physical pain. Being triggered and stressed is so common during the … Read More
Objectives Our view of the world and our place in it is programmed in from the moment we are born. It becomes reinforced with age. Our relationship with food is a core example. Like many aspects of our life, we mentally punish ourselves if we don’t stick to our ideal … Read More
Objectives Social isolation is both a contributing factor to anxiety and also a result of it. When you are suffering, it is challenging to reach out to others in a meaningful way. The physiological effects are devastating, with significant mental and physical consequences. It even affects the expression of your … Read More
We all know that when you try not to think about something, you’ll think about it more. Most of us don’t pay much attention to the implications of it, but it is at the core of human suffering. The underlying neurological process reflects the “ironic effect,” a term coined by … Read More
Objectives Your brain is incredibly neuroplastic and can change quickly in whatever direction you choose. We automatically know how to feel pain. What about feeling pleasure? It gets buried in the stresses of life. Play and social connection are inherent in all of us and using feel and visualization to … Read More
Objectives It is easy to become focused on problems to the point where you forget what you really want out of life. Most of us complain about problems – our own, other’s, society’s,, and the those of the world. But what do you want? What is the vision of your … Read More
KEY POINTS When stresses overwhelm the coping capacity of your nervous system, your body will go into flight or fight physiology. You have choices regarding what you input into your nervous system. If your attention dwells on disturbing topics, you’ll remain agitated, which fires up the physiology of your whole … Read More