Center for Balanced Living

11/27/2025

Gratitude is not pretending everything is fine.

It is training the brain to notice what is steady and supportive, even on hard days.

Today, try a 10 second pause to name three small things you are thankful for. Warm coffee. A safe person. A deep breath. The sun in your face. Laugher in another room. The smell of pie and cookies baking. Notice these moments.

Practices like this are linked with lower stress and greater resilience over time.

If it feels hard to find anything good right now, you are not doing it wrong. It may simply mean your nervous system is overwhelmed and could use support. That is the work we do together in therapy.

What is one small thing you feel grateful for today? Comment below.

11/26/2025

Today I want to press pause on a single staff spotlight and honor the people who hold this practice together every single day.

To Jada, Kimmy, Kimberly, Amanda, Kirsten, and Brianna: thank you for showing up with full hearts, sharp minds, and a willingness to keep learning. This work is not easy. It asks us to sit with pain, hold complicated stories, and still believe in growth. You do that with such care and integrity.

Anyone who knows me knows that I push for excellence. I ask a lot. I expect us to keep sharpening our skills, to think critically, and to keep our standards high for the people who trust us with their stories. You meet that challenge. You do not just tolerate that level of accountability, you live it. You deliver.

From the beginning, I had a vision of building not just a practice, but a community. A place where staff feel supported and seen, where we walk our talk about connection and compassion, not just preach it. You stand by that idea with me. You build it in the way you treat clients, and in the way you treat each other.

I feel so grateful and genuinely blessed to be surrounded by each of you. You are wise, kind, resilient humans, and the nervous systems that walk through our doors feel the difference you make.

Thank you for the work you do that is seen, and the work you do that no one sees but still matters.

With so much appreciation,
Niki

❤️

11/25/2025

For Tip Tuesday....

Today’s focus is on simple co regulation cues that help the body shift toward safety. A warm tone of voice, a slower pace, or a softer expression can calm the vagal system long before the mind catches up. These gentle signals tell the nervous system it does not need to brace. Try offering one of these cues to yourself or to someone you care about. Even small changes in how we relate can create meaningful physiological relief.

11/25/2025

“Enough” sounds lovely until you have to live it in real time.

You get the invite.
You feel the pressure.
You hear the story in your head about what a “good” person, friend, or family member would do.

Here is one gentle way to practice enough this week.

First, pause.
Before you automatically say yes, take one slow breath. Give your body a second to have an opinion.

Then notice.
Ask yourself, honestly:
Will this give me energy, or drain what I have left.

If the answer is “This will drain me,” you still have options.
You can say no.
You can choose a smaller version.
You can arrive later, leave earlier, or show up in one way instead of five.

Choosing enough is not selfish. It is a way of protecting your capacity to be present, kind, and real in the moments that matter.

What is one decision this week where you could practice pausing, noticing, and choosing enough instead of automatic yes.

11/24/2025

Let Monday be the day you let go and enjoy the small things

11/24/2025

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11/24/2025

This week’s Motivational Monday message is enough.

This week will offer a lot of messages about more.

More food.
More plans.
More doing.
More performing.

What if this Thanksgiving was not about more, but about enough.

Enough love to feel connected, even if not everyone understands you.

Enough presence to actually taste your coffee, notice the light, hear someone’s laugh.

Enough courage to say no to what drains you, so you can say yes to what matters.

A meaningful life is not built in grand gestures.

It is shaped in small, quiet choices to show up for what feels true to you.

As this week begins, you are allowed to ask:

What would make this season feel genuinely meaningful for me, not just acceptable to everyone else?

Let that question walk with you today.

11/22/2025

11/21/2025

Gratitude often lives in the smallest moments, the ones where your body settles without you even realizing it.

A quiet pause, a familiar rhythm, or a brief sense of comfort can shift the entire tone of a day.

These moments matter because they help the nervous system register safety and steadiness.

As you close the week, take a breath and remember one moment that helped you soften. If you feel comfortable, share it with us.

Naming these experiences can help you anchor them more deeply and remind someone else that calm is possible.

11/21/2025

Every December, insurance takes center stage in my office.
Not holiday wishes. Not self care.
Audits. Clawbacks. Denials. Rising premiums.

I wrote a three part blog series about what this actually looks like from inside a small psychology practice and why it matters for you if you are trying to get therapy or a psychological evaluation.

Part 1 looks at how insurance decides what my work is “worth” and why comprehensive ADHD, learning disorder, and autism evaluations are so often underpaid or reduced to quick screenings.

Part 2 walks through the reality of audits, recoupments, and seven months of not knowing if an insurance company would take back 90,000 dollars for work already done.

Part 3 turns back to you as the client or parent, and what this broken system means for your access to care, your options on the marketplace, and why so many experienced clinicians are rethinking how they work with insurance.

If you have ever felt confused, shamed, or discouraged by your coverage, this series is for you. The problem is not that you are asking for too much. The problem is a system that was not built around real care.

Read the series on the blog and feel free to share with anyone who is wrestling with the insurance puzzle right now.

COMING DECEMBER 1 substack

11/20/2025

Check out thisweek’s Therapy Skills Thursday.

Rhythmic regulation is a gentle way to help the nervous system shift toward safety and steadiness.

Watch the full video on YouTube to learn how this works and how to practice it in everyday moments.

Full video: https://youtu.be/sqiR1Gt8XP8

11/19/2025

Today we are highlighting Amanda (on the left) and the gentle reminder she offers to anyone beginning their healing journey. She shares that healing is not linear and that small steps matter. Even moments that feel slow or difficult are part of the process as the nervous system learns to feel safe again. Her message encourages patience, self compassion, and the practice of noticing quiet progress. Amanda’s presence brings steadiness to the people she supports and reflects the grounded care at the heart of our work.