Inner Healing Resources LLC

12/30/2025

I invite everyone to look at my updated website,innerhealingresources.com

12/24/2025

The Best Gift You Can Give Yourself This Season: Permission to Feel

While the holiday season often brings a lot of “sparkle and cheer,” it can also bring some complicated feelings. This week on the blog, I’m looking back at a small, stunted tree and a boy named Charlie Brown who reminded us of a beautiful truth: it’s okay to not have everything perfectly together. Whether you’re 5 or 85, this story is a warm hug for the heart.
A Legacy of Emotional Honesty

As a counselor, I’ve seen how much the Inside Out films (the first of which captured our hearts back in 2015) have helped children and teens understand their “emotional headquarters.” But long before Riley and her emotions took the stage, A Charlie Brown Christmas was way ahead of its time.

Back in 1965, holiday specials were usually nothing but pure cheer. Then came Charlie Brown, bravely admitting he felt sad and didn’t understand why. That kind of honesty was rare, especially in a show for children. It told us the truth: joy and sadness often sit right next to each other. By naming those feelings, Charlie Brown gives us all permission to be honest about our own hearts.
The Strength in Reaching Out

We see Charlie Brown do something we often struggle with as adults: he asks for help. When he speaks his truth, it creates a space for others to show empathy and kindness.

The “stunted” little tree he chooses is a beautiful metaphor for all of us. At first, it was mocked for not being “perfect,” but through connection and care, his friends transformed it into something beautiful. It’s a gentle reminder that there is beauty in our imperfections. This story tells us:

It is okay to need support.
It is okay to reach out.
You don’t have to have everything “together” to be worthy of love and belonging.

🏠 A Moment for Yourself

I encourage you to take a little time this week to watch this classic. Whether you are watching with your children, your grandkids, or just curling up with a blanket on your own, let it be a reminder to be kind to yourself.

Where to watch: You can find A Charlie Brown Christmas streaming on Apple TV+.

A Note from My Heart to Yours As you navigate the busyness of this season, please remember that your feelings are valid and you don’t have to carry them alone. I wish you a season filled with grace, gentle moments, and the courage to be exactly who you are.

12/12/2025

UNC Health, Cigna agree to new contract, restoring coverage for 65,000 patients

11/25/2025

America’s gentlest poet carried a lifetime of grief — and turned it into the most hauntingly beautiful words we’ve ever read
Robert Frost wasn’t the warm grandfather we imagine when we think of snowy woods and quiet roads.
He was a man who lost almost everything — and somehow kept writing anyway.
Four children buried.
A wife he adored gone too soon.
A son lost to despair.
And a life that taught him early that the world does not promise safety.
He grew up poor, anxious, and brilliant — a boy who read by candlelight while his father drank himself sick and died before Robert turned twelve.
By twenty, he had buried his first child.
By his thirties, he was a failed teacher, failed farmer, failed editor… and a desperate writer with nowhere left to go.
So he gambled everything.
He sold the family farm and moved his wife and children to England — a reckless leap that became the turning point of his life.
In a tiny cottage near Beaconsfield, Frost finally found his voice.
He wrote the poems that would make him immortal — Mending Wall, Birches, Home Burial, and the seeds of the verses generations would memorize.
People saw pastoral calm.
But inside the lines were razor blades — grief, exhaustion, loneliness, choices that left bruises, and the quiet ache of trying to carry on.
Loss followed him for decades.
His daughter Marjorie died after childbirth.
His wife Elinor passed away, leaving him shattered.
His son took his own life, and Frost found him.
One tragedy after another… yet he kept writing, not to escape pain but to survive it.
That’s why “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” feels peaceful at first — until you realize Frost was writing about the temptation to give up, and the courage it takes to keep going.
By 1961, he was an American icon — white-haired, revered, undefeated by the life that tried to break him.
At JFK’s inauguration, when the sunlight blinded him and he couldn’t read the poem he’d written, he simply set it aside and recited another from memory.
A poet too old to see the page, but strong enough to deliver the moment anyway.
Robert Frost wasn’t soft.
He was steel wrapped in snow.
A man who carried unbearable grief and somehow turned it into lanterns we still hold when life gets dark.
His poems remain because they’re not about nature — they’re about us.
Our crossroads.
Our fences.
Our promises.
Our long walks through nights that feel endless.
Our decision to take one more step when we’re not sure we can
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10/05/2025

09/18/2025

“Today was a Difficult Day,” said Pooh.
There was a pause.
“Do you want to talk about it?” asked Piglet.
“No,” said Pooh after a bit. “No, I don’t think I do.”
“That’s okay,” said Piglet, and he came and sat beside his friend.
“What are you doing?” asked Pooh.
“Nothing, really,” said Piglet. “Only, I know what Difficult Days are like. I quite often don’t feel like talking about it on my Difficult Days either.
“But goodness,” continued Piglet, “Difficult Days are so much easier when you know you’ve got someone there for you. And I’ll always be here for you, Pooh.”
And as Pooh sat there, working through in his head his Difficult Day, while the solid, reliable Piglet sat next to him quietly, swinging his little legs...he thought that his best friend had never been more right.”
A.A. Milne

09/16/2025

“The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it. All too often these ill-conditioned implicit beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies in our lives. We create meanings from our unconscious interpretation of early events, and then we forge our present experiences from the meaning we’ve created. Unwittingly, we write the story of our future from narratives based on the past...Mindful awareness can bring into consciousness those hidden, past-based perspectives so that they no longer frame our worldview.’Choice begins the moment you dis identify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present…Until you reach that point, you are unconscious.’ …In present awareness we are liberated from the past.” Gabor Mate

09/07/2025

Medical trauma encompasses both interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions. It refers to the deep emotional and psychological impact that medical experiences can have on a person. This trauma may arise not only from the nature of the medical procedures themselves but also from interactions with healthcare professionals—where feeling unheard, dismissed, or dehumanized can leave lasting wounds. At the same time, the individual's own internal responses—such as fear, helplessness, or shame—also play a significant role. Understanding medical trauma means recognizing the full spectrum of a person’s experience, validating their pain, and approaching their care with empathy, respect, and compassion.

09/07/2025

The Path to Healing

Healing from trauma is a process, not a destination. It involves gently and patiently addressing the past without being overwhelmed by it. It requires a safe space to process emotions, re-establish a sense of control, and rebuild trust. For some, this may mean talking through memories in therapy. For others, it's about learning coping skills to manage triggers and emotional responses.

What I've learned most is that empathy is a powerful catalyst for healing. When a person with PTSD feels seen, heard, and understood, it can break the cycle of isolation and shame. My role as a counselor is to provide that compassionate space, to help individuals recognize that their symptoms are valid, and to empower them to find their own unique path toward peace. It is a privilege to walk alongside them on this journey of courage and hope.

08/29/2025

"When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change" ~Wayne Dyer

08/19/2025

“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.” -Carl Rogers