tolerating calm is difficult

Tolerating Calm, Part 3

Tolerating Calm, Part 3 OK, I was planning to wrap-up this whole tolerating calm thing today.  However… it ain’t gonna happen.  I’m having too much fun writing about it.  For the 3 people reading this blog (Hi Mom!) I promise I’ll get to the “how to fix it” stuff.  Later. Two weeks ago, I wrote…

tolerating calm feels uneasy

Tolerating Calm, Part 2

Part 2 of Tolerating Calm How does one tolerate calm, when the state of calm can actually trigger anxiety? Well, psychotherapy has been on about this for a long time.  It’s a big part of what I do every day. It Takes a Village I’m not alone and psychotherapy itself is not alone in helping…

calm and relaxed state

Tolerating Calm

“Tolerating calm.”  Say what, now? I’ll admit, when I first heard this phrase – tolerating calm – it sounded odd; almost an oxymoron.  What’s to tolerate?  It’s… calm. Calm itself can be quite pleasant.  The young folk might use the word “chill” (or at least they did at some point; I can’t keep up with…

worry leads to suffering

Worry Leads to Suffering

As I have mentioned before, I am a nerd. My love of Star Wars inspires the title of this article. Yoda said, “Hate leads to suffering.” Following Yoda’s lead, I’ll go with, “Worry leads to suffering.” While I don’t keep stats, I’m fairly confident the #1 thing which brings people to my office is anxiety.…

cognitive distortions and miscues

Lies and Deceptions

I think it’s about time that I shift from writing about counselling and psychotherapy — which I’ve been yammering about for weeks now — and start talking about the stuff that bugs people enough to want to try it.  One common denominator for problems which drive people into therapy involves lies and deceptions. Many problems…