Laura Carr, LMFT, Center for Mindful Relationships

Laura Carr, LMFT, Center for Mindful Relationships Center for Mindful Relationships offers affordable & skilled counseling services for Individuals, Families, Couples.

All individuals long for similar things: to feel loved, to be connected, to contribute to life and to receive acknowledgement for those contributions. At CFMR, we work with you to reach a place where you are able to identify what you truly want from life, recognize what obstacles stand in your way and see an opportunity to make different choices in the future. This process can take many forms, some of which are best suited for individual, couples, family and group therapy. In an effort to provide an integrated approach to therapy, we also offer additional resources and/or referrals based on the specific needs of the client.

Where is real rest available, not distraction?
What feels regenerative?
What feels depleting?An encouragement, invite cu...
01/03/2026

Where is real rest available, not distraction?
What feels regenerative?
What feels depleting?

An encouragement, invite curiosity as you explore what rest and regeneration actually mean for you.

Blessings,
Laura

As the year turns, there’s a lot of pressure, spoken and unspoken, to leave things behind.
To resolve. Improve. Become s...
01/01/2026

As the year turns, there’s a lot of pressure, spoken and unspoken, to leave things behind.

To resolve. Improve. Become someone new.

But healing doesn’t work that way.

I just published a new reflection on the fantasy of “getting past it,” and how trauma doesn’t live in the past, it lives in the present until it’s met with awareness and compassion.

This isn’t about resolutions.

It’s about staying.

If you’re feeling the pull to start over, this may offer a different way to enter the year.

Link is in the bio.

Blessings,
Laura

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! 🎄✨ May you have many moments of presence, genuine smiles, kindness towards yourself ...
12/25/2025

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! 🎄✨

May you have many moments of presence, genuine smiles, kindness towards yourself and others. May your day hold lightness, warmth, and small acts of compassion that quietly brighten the moment.
Blessings
All of us at CFMR




The Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the year, a natural pause.
It invites a shift from doing to paying attent...
12/22/2025

The Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the year, a natural pause.

It invites a shift from doing to paying attention, from efforting to noticing what is already here.

In Compassion Based Awareness Therapy, this kind of orientation allows things to settle naturally. Nature is inherently wise, as is intuitive healing.

Slowing down, or simply being with ourselves, especially at the beginning of healing, can be unsettling.

Take your time with taking your time. Slowing down is part of how healing happens.

From this point forward, the days begin to get longer, even if we don’t feel it right away.

Light returns gradually, without effort. We do not have to force change.

We can trust the process and meet what’s here with compassion. You will come to know this through practice.

In lovingkindness,
Laura

12/19/2025

Laughter can be a valuable tool for healing. In challenging times, when violence and loss weigh heavily on our hearts, laughter can feel complicated. This is not about minimizing pain or turning away from grief.

Healing laughter arises from safety and connection. It creates softening in the body and reminds us we are not alone. It is never at the expense of another, and it can exist alongside sorrow.

Here are 7 grounded, body-based benefits of laughter, simple, real, and supported by what we know about the nervous system and brain:

1. Stress relief signal
Laughter lowers cortisol (the stress hormone) and sends a signal of safety to the nervous system.
2. Supports emotional attunement & ease
Laughter releases endorphins, the brain’s natural mood-supporting chemicals, offering brief relief even during hard seasons.
3. Strengthens connection
Shared laughter builds closeness, eases tension, and helps us stay connected through difficulty, especially in families and parenting.
4. Supports immune resilience
Laughter has been shown to increase immune-supporting cells and antibodies, helping the body stay resourced.
5. Supports heart health
It improves blood flow and encourages relaxation in blood vessels, supporting cardiovascular function.
6. Brings us into the present moment
Laughter moves us out of rumination and into embodied presence, the same grounded awareness cultivated in spiritual and contemplative practice.
7. Creates spaciousness
Laughter can open a small inner pause, a moment where we are not collapsed into the story, and where the body has a little more room to breathe.

Laughter is not a replacement for grief. It is a gentle way to remind the body that it can breathe again.

In lovingkindness,
Laura

The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself. - Carl SaganSo much of...
12/01/2025

The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.
- Carl Sagan

So much of what we struggle with comes from believing the loud voice inside our minds, the one that criticizes, worries, judges, scares and repeats old conditioning. But beneath all of that, there is something much deeper. There is a presence that is steady, wise, and connected to everything, much like the “star-stuff” that Sagan speaks of.

My latest blog explores this inner landscape and invites you to consider a powerful possibility, the voice in your head is not you. When we learn to recognize that voice for what it is - the social conditioning you have been immersed in and instead turn toward the Unconditional within, healing becomes possible.

Read more in this week’s post on Compassion Based Awareness. See link in bio.
✨
Blessings,
Laura

Unconditional Love is who we are. How do I know that? Because on my own journey I have discovered this truth that the Sa...
11/30/2025

Unconditional Love is who we are. How do I know that? Because on my own journey I have discovered this truth that the Sages all point at. It is one of the most common paths of suffering - Seeking unconditional love outside of ourselves.

There’s a book called, That Which You Are Seeking Is Causing You To Seek. The title itself is the teaching (but I also do highly recommend reading the book)!

You wouldn’t want Unconditional Love if that isn’t who you are - you wouldn’t know to want it.

I created this image to send to someone as today is their birthday. Once sent I realized we could all benefit from the message. If today is your birthday - happy birthday! If today is not your birthday - happy Saturday! Here’s to discovering the Unconditional Love that we all are.
Blessings,
Laura


Falling in Love can only happen when we learn to step away and stop indulging self-hating messages of any kind! That voi...
11/27/2025

Falling in Love can only happen when we learn to step away and stop indulging self-hating messages of any kind! That voice inside your head is NOT you. It is the voice of socialization. And, we’ve all been socialized!

We must learn
to identity the voice of socialization… that is the voice of self-hate.

You can’t stop something you don’t know is happening. And you won’t stop something that you actually believe (especially if it is unconscious).

If you can’t let it go and step away from it, then you need help understanding what is keeping you tied to this message of self-hate. There is an underlying need there, likely a wound, that needs attending to. The human being needs to be freed from the self-hating messages which are generally tied to earlier life experiences where meaning got created, and put up upon the human.

If you could just stop believing the self-hating messages and love yourself, you would’ve done that a long time ago. Something is keeping you from that. What if our journey in life - our purpose- is to find those barriers so that we can live in the love that we are!!

This is the opportunity for each of us, regardless of what has happened to us. Regardless of your past, your True Nature cannot be harmed and is waiting to be seen.

Blessings,
Laura









Please beware and inform yourself. If you were accessing therapy services through any of these types of platforms, it is...
11/13/2025

Please beware and inform yourself. If you were accessing therapy services through any of these types of platforms, it is very possible that your information is not protected.

Address

2333 1st Avenue, Ste 203
San Diego, CA
92101

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 7pm
Tuesday 8am - 7pm
Wednesday 8am - 7pm
Thursday 8am - 7pm
Friday 8am - 3pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm

Telephone

+16193541005

Website

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All individuals long for similar things: to feel loved, to be connected, to contribute to life and to receive acknowledgement for those contributions. At CFMR, we work to help you identify what is blocking you from the experience of joy, compassion, freedom, excitement, wisdom. This process can take many forms, some of which are best suited for individual, couples, family and group therapy. In an effort to provide an integrated approach to therapy, we also offer additional resources and/or referrals based on the specific needs of the client.