Conscious Living Counseling & Education Center

03/26/2026

"Often, people struggling to fall asleep turn to the familiar advice to count sheep. But sleep researchers say a different mental exercise may work better, one designed to mimic the strange, scattered thought patterns the brain naturally produces as it drifts toward sleep."

://www.inc.com/leila-sheridan/cognitive-shuffling-sleep-trick-anxiety/91316296

Struggling to fall asleep? Learn how a technique called "cognitive shuffling" mimics the brain's natural path to rest, silencing intrusive thoughts and short-circuiting midnight anxiety.

03/23/2026

My Season of Ativan... is an excellent read! Of course, the title jumps out at me, and I have so many things to say about the use of short-acting medication. But that isn't what's important here. This article is so sweetly layered with so many things. I believe each reader will read it and focus on something profoundly different. How about you? What does this article stir within you?

"For many years, I’ve been told that I have “dense” and “busy” breasts—not as a compliment but as a warning that they require extra monitoring. I had been seeing a breast surgeon every six months for checkups. The Friday before Labor Day, I went for what I thought would be a routine scan. Dr. K. usually chatted me up while she examined me, but this time she went silent. She told me that she didn’t like the way something looked on the ultrasound and wanted to perform a biopsy. After the procedure, she said that she would walk the sample over to Cedars-Sinai and hand-deliver it to Pathology. That’s when I knew."

Amanda Peet writes, “I admire people who can sit with uncertainty in matters of life and death. I’m not one of them. I suck at mindfulness.”

03/19/2026

What does normal digestion really look like? What's happening when people are anxious, and the gut is doing flips? What can you do about it?

You don’t have to accept bloating, cramping, urgency, or pain as your “normal.” When clinical pharmacist Izabella Wentz was first diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, she was told her digestion was simply “overly sensitive.” For years, she assumed everyone’s stomach hurt after eating...

03/15/2026

You don’t need a special somatic class to heal.

Somatic work is not a “special movement” but movement awareness or flow. Somatic work is knowing how to breathe without tension, releasing when you go to the bathroom, dancing without shyness, p*eing when have to go p*e, hydrating when you’re thirsty, sleeping for rest, moving your body to maintain flexibility, balance, and strength. Climaxing with ease and openness. Taking time to smell the air and nature. Feeling sunlight on your face…

Somatic work is about all parts of you working in cooperation. It pairs well with quality, high-impact CBT.

02/18/2026

There is a saying in sleep therapy, "nothing changes until sleep changes."

Sleep is essential for optimal brain health, and brain health is vital to quality mental health. Sometimes, we all need some help in this area. Sleep tools can be temporary or used for a longer stretch or phase in life, such as going through a major stressor, a health issue, or menopause.

Don't be afraid to try a few things. Just remember that sleep tools must be paired with movement, hydration, nutrition, mental challenges, and life-navigation skills (AKA CBT).

DM me if you have any questions.

02/16/2026

World's fastest-growing brain disease = Parkinson's Disease. Dr. Dorsey is a leading expert and wants to get your attention. This is worth a listen.

Dr. Ray Dorsey is the director of the Center for the Brain & the Environment at the Atria Health and Research Institute. The center’s mission is to identify ...

02/07/2026

It isn't about what others think about you. What matters is what you think about your situation! When you make that switch, the path forward gets clearer. Reminder: anxiety conditions require specialized care. Seeing a generalist provider is unlikely to address the root cause of an anxiety condition. I know it's tricky to find the right person; we all need to learn self-advocacy skills to navigate today's medical system. But don't give up. Keep moving forward!

01/19/2026

Family, friendship, community…
We’re not only bound by love and shared values. We’re also bound by shared fears.

We don’t learn what to fear in isolation. Whole groups of people can end up organized not just around what they cherish, but around what they’re afraid of losing.

Right now in America, we’re seeing a lot of anxiety:
Fear of losing identity.
Fear of losing freedoms.
Fear of losing safety, stability, or the country we thought we understood.

When people share fears, they don’t just drift apart; they often reorganize around them.

Anxiety and fear aren’t character flaws or signs of weakness. They’re protective systems. They exist for a reason. And the more we understand how they work, the less they run the show.

When people understand their nervous systems and threat responses, then outcomes can improve. Or, they come together once they can identify a greater shared threat.

01/09/2026

Must be all the global stress? I keep getting asked which magnesium to support "deep sleep" stages. Currently, research gives a thumbs up to Magnesium Threonate. Here is an article from 2024. I believe this study was repeated in 2025 with the same findings.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39252819/ #:~:text=Results:%20The%20MgT%20group%20maintained,impacts%20on%20overall%20brain%20health.

This showed MgT improved sleep quality, especially deep/REM sleep stages, improved mood, energy, alertness, and daily activity and productivity. These are consistent with how MgT works in neuron cells and animal models, suggesting broader positive impacts on overall brain health.

01/06/2026

Try swapping the word "goals" for "direction." It’s consistent with agency, trajectory, and orientation rather than outcome-fixation. It captures the nature of change - ongoing and daily choices, movement, and daily orientation vs a destination. Sure, you can think of the endpoint goal (or not), but then work backwards and figure out what choices you need to make today to get you where you want to be. Then, "point" yourself in that direction.

Does that still seem too hard or complicated?

Learning how to simplify is a big part of learning healthier coping strategies. An anxious brain needs to be taught to simplify and take the subsequent logical, reasonable actions without overcomplicating wellness. Many commercial markets (such as self-help books) sell these concepts... "Reduce your anxiety in 10 steps." The truth is, you need to find your own way, but it helps if you have a better influence on your mind, and that's where CBT helps. CBT isn't the answer; CBT changes the brain and enables you to process information better so you can find the right answer for you.

12/16/2025

Endings. New Beginnings. We’re closing out 2025 and making space for what’s next. Wishing you clarity in both mind and heart as the new year arrives.

12/10/2025

"The needless suffering of millions of people continues because of a lack of both awareness about OCD and clinicians adequately trained to diagnose and treat it properly. Stigma, shame, lack of health insurance coverage, and high costs are also significant barriers to care."

https://iocdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Full-Report-Americas-OCD-Care-Crisis-12-9-2025.pdf