Carolina Mountain Counseling

10/11/2021

How's your positive self-talk? Most of us don't do a very good job--we're more inclined to verbally beat ourselves up. Part of changing, growing, and healing is finding ways to treat ourselves lovingly and respectfully. Pay attention to your self-talk. Try to add phrases like, "Let it go, we all make mistakes." Or, "I'll work on that and do better in the future." Or, "Even though I messed up, I'm a lovable, worthy person."

09/17/2021

Loneliness, belonging, standing apart, courage, and creativity, all wrapped together by Brené Brown. Worth watching more than once!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_sYCThUQc8

Who is Brené Brown? She is a research professor at the University of Houston. Brown has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame and...

07/19/2021

You may not live near woodlands, but at least get them outdoors! Cooking is good, but get them outside! Board games are good, but get them outside! Even if they complain! :)

"After adjusting for other variables, the results showed that higher daily exposure to woodland (but not grassland) was associated with higher scores for cognitive development, and a 16% lower risk of emotional and behavioural problems two years later."

Researchers found a correlation between better cognitive function and lower risk of emotional or behavioral problems in children and teens who live close to woodland areas and green spaces.

06/19/2021

Get your kids moving! If they are active, can you up it?

Children who are physically active have higher cognitive function and increased functional connectivity in the brain later in life than those who are less active, a new study reports.

06/18/2021

Just try it! "Spending just 15 minutes [writing] may give you an opportunity to become more self-aware – which could lead to improvements in your mental health."

From reflective journaling to creative prose, writing can help boost self-esteem, deepen a sense of self-control, and improve self-awareness. Writing can also help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.

05/22/2021

If you keep thinking the way you've been thinking, you'll keep feeling the way you've been feeling. How do you need to change your thinking in order to change how you feel? What's one thing that you can re-frame today so that from now on, you'll feel differently about that situation or that person or that experience?

03/29/2021

"Bloom." About caring for others. Sweet. Short. Lovely. Created by students at San Jose State University.

https://gratefulness.org/resource/bloom/

A tender and beautiful animated video illustrates the healing and joy that can come from caring for others.

03/23/2021

A poem about you. A poem about change. A poem about transitions.

A House Called Tomorrow
by Alberto Ríos

You are not fifteen, or twelve, or seventeen—
You are a hundred wild centuries

And fifteen, bringing with you
In every breath and in every step

Everyone who has come before you,
All the yous that you have been,

The mothers of your mother,
The fathers of your father.

If someone in your family tree was trouble,
A hundred were not:

The bad do not win—not finally,
No matter how loud they are.

We simply would not be here
If that were so.

You are made, fundamentally, from the good.
With this knowledge, you never march alone.

You are the breaking news of the century.
You are the good who has come forward

Through it all, even if so many days
Feel otherwise. But think:

When you as a child learned to speak,
It’s not that you didn’t know words—

It’s that, from the centuries, you knew so many,
And it’s hard to choose the words that will be your own.

From those centuries we human beings bring with us
The simple solutions and songs,

The river bridges and star charts and song harmonies
All in service to a simple idea:

That we can make a house called tomorrow.
What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day,

Is ourselves. And that’s all we need
To start. That’s everything we require to keep going.

Look back only for as long as you must,
Then go forward into the history you will make.

Be good, then better. Write books. Cure disease.
Make us proud. Make yourself proud.

And those who came before you? When you hear thunder,
Hear it as their applause.

03/21/2021

"Self-compassion is not the same as self-esteem or self-confidence. Instead of a way of thinking about yourself, it is a way of being or a way of treating yourself."

https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-develop-self-compassion-4158290

Self-compassion means treating yourself with kindness when you fail or mess up. Learn how being self-compassionate helps you manage life's challenges.

03/14/2021

A reminder list for parents about disciplining. Don't feel bad if any of these reflect where you're at, just give yourself a kick and get back on track! :) Your kids need it!

https://www.verywellfamily.com/unhealthy-reasons-parents-avoid-disciplining-children-1094778

Don't let these 10 excuses get in the way of giving your child the discipline he needs to become a responsible adult.

02/26/2021

Which kind of rest do you think you’re most in need of?

Are you getting your seven or eight hours of sleep a night — yet you still feel exhausted? Here’s why that could be happening, according to physician Saundra Dalton-Smith.