Does this sound like you? This phrase keeps running around in my head: Hyper-Vigilant Perfectionist Mind-Reading Empath It isn’t complete, but it broadly sums up fifteen years of therapy. It describes me, my childhood, and my healing struggle. And I wonder if it describes others as well. That’s the point…
Tag: anxiety
The Cumulative Stress Hypothesis
Are you aware of the stress in your life? Can you FEEL it when stressors are building up and you think you may pop? Do you ever feel like you’re right on the verge of a meltdown? I think most of us are familiar with these scenarios. We can only take…
Doesn’t Life Want to Live?
Do you ever think about what life was like for early humans once we had our basic needs met? You know, once we figured out how to procure victuals and maintain a shelter. What was life like? Experts including historians, anthropologists, and scientists seem to disagree. Some say we were…
What Really Matters?
What matters to you? What is important? What do you value (Episode 46 Values)? We say things matter to us when we put energy into developing, protecting, and thinking about them. Our families matter. Our relationships matter. Things that matter have meaning to us. What is meaningful to me might not be meaningful to you. But as I have…
I Don’t Know (KEW Episode 120)
I say it all the time. The three most powerful words in the English language are, “I Don’t Know’. When I worked at a pet store, the boss publicly humiliated me for not being able to say, “I Don’t Know’. I learned quickly that it is not only ok, it…
One Cognitive Distortion You Can Change To Reduce Anxiety
Meditation for your middle-of-the-night worries Do you follow the weather? You know, do you check the forecast to see what it’s going to be like outside? Do you appreciate meteorologists? Or beat up on them? It probably depends on whether the forecasts are accurate. And they are accurate a lot…
“How Do You Know How Much is Enough?” KEW Episode 20: Enough
When asked how much is enough, John D. Rockefeller famously replied, “Just a little more”. We’ve all thought this about some things. Whether it’s losing ‘enough’ weight, making ‘enough’ money, being loved ‘enough’ we all (mistakenly) believe that if we get ‘enough’ of ‘whatever’, we’ll be ‘happy’. And since a…
“Enthusiasm is More Important Than Delivery” Preview KEW Episode 90: Improvisation, Yin-Yang, and the Grateful Dead.
Improvising is Magic for your Life
FLASHBACK!! KEW Episode 42: Safety
In this Episode I talked about how important it is for humans to feel safe. We need to feel safe in the same way that we need food, water, and shelter. Feeling unsafe is exhausting and will do whatever it takes to feel safe. Truly, we spend all of our…
KEW Episode 54: The Bully and your DNA: Part 1
Last week I introduced a few examples of the Are vs. Should problem. One of the most obvious examples comes up when we think about our careers. When we’re young people ask us what we want to be when we grow up. As adults, many of us wonder what became…