Month: April 2017
Sleep 101: How to Give Yourself the Best Chance at a Good Night’s Sleep
It’s been a long day. From the time the alarm went off until this moment, as you lay your head on the pillow, you have been going full steam ahead. Meeting the demands of your job, your kids, the household chores, the errands, and your social life has taken every last ounce of energy you have. You expect to fall into the oblivion of sleep the moment your head hits the pillow. But once you get there, “it” happens. Your mind starts going, thinking about the things left undone, the things you worry about, the plans you are making. Now sleep is just about the last thing you can do. But you know you need to. You start doing the math. “Only 6 hours until the alarm goes off. I have to get to sleep now or tomorrow is going to be a disaster.” The more pressure you put on falling asleep, the more unlikely it becomes.
If you can relate to this story, you are not alone. The sleepless are not just in Seattle; sleep issues are a factor for nearly every client I see in my practice. Thankfully, there are some very straightforward things that you can do to improve your sleep. While these guidelines are simple, they are not easy, as many of our bad sleep habits are deeply ingrained. However, with dedication, you can see some dramatically positive improvements in your sleep within a few weeks.
Should I Stay or Should I Go: How to Decide What to Do With An Unfulfilling Job
Chances are, we’ve all been there: dreading to go to work the next day because we just absolutely despise our job. Perhaps it is due to the work itself: too boring/unchallenging or stressful/overwhelming; perhaps it is due to your co-workers or boss; perhaps it is due to the clientele you deal with. Whatever the reason, nothing can be more dispiriting and have a stronger impact on your overall well-being than being stuck in a job you hate. The connection between work stress and negative effects on both mental and physical health is well established, even if all other aspects of your life are fulfilling and healthy. Hopefully, these suggestions will help you to navigate what to do if you are currently in a negative work situation. Instead of reading this article word for word (which you’re welcome to do if that is your style), I recommend that you skim through to the sections that apply to you and your particular brand of job dissatisfaction and then read the section on coping efforts. After doing so, you will hopefully have a clear answer to the question posed by The Clash in their 1982 song “Should I Stay Or Should I Go.”
Grief & Loss – Understanding and Coping with the Pain
There may be no life experience that is more profoundly painful than the loss of a loved one. Unfortunately, it is an incident that we all must face at numerous stages in our lives. Even though these are losses that we must all go through, we often find ourselves ill-equipped to deal with the depth of the suffering that we may experience.
While we will focus mainly on loss in terms of the death of a loved one, it is important to note that the grief and loss response can be triggered by the loss of anything we hold dear. This could be loss of a valued job, moving away from a neighborhood that we were connected to, or the break-up of a relationship or friendship.
Defeat the Worry Beast
We have all, at one time or another, been overpowered by the beast that is worry. We are bombarded by “what if” thoughts, attacked by nightmarish fantasies about every possible thing that could possibly go wrong. This may be triggered by hearing an awful story, a stressful situation that has arisen, or just a random thought that comes to us, seemingly from nowhere. We feel the weight of this worry: physically, emotionally and mentally. We end up tense and exhausted, anxious and nervous, overwhelmed and fearful. In short, the worry beast can wreak havoc in our life.
At best, we may attempt to distract or calm ourselves from this onslaught of negativity, but there is a nagging feeling that our efforts have been futile and we will be a victim of these thoughts indefinitely. It is difficult not to feel despair when this seems to be the case.
However, the good news is that there is a way to defeat the worry beast. We can learn to work through our worried thoughts to where they are not out of control and creating these negative side-effects. Before we can get to the specifics of what to do to handle worry, we first must understand a little bit about what worry is.
From My Bookshelf: A Review of the Most Often Recommended Books
Books have tremendous power. They can move us to feel deep emotion. They can educate us. They can allow us to travel back or forward in time. They can help us address and overcome challenges we may face. There are countless excellent books available that address behavioral health issues. This post is here to highlight some of the best of those works that I have read.
I am nearly constantly reading books from the field of behavioral health, reading novels only when on vacation. The bookshelves in my office are full of the titles I have read and there is a special section in my bookshelves where I keep the books that I have found to be particularly enlightening and helpful. It is from this selection that I culled my “most recommended” titles to review and share with you. While I probably could have done a write-up on each of these books, I have limited myself to a “Top 10” listing.
Stress Management
the Search for Balance 
