Relationships Change Over Time But what do you do when your relationship is not getting better despite your best efforts? Some people stay in the relationship, but check out emotionally, and find other ways to comfort themselves. While others plead and try to convince their partners to get help or see their part in the […]

We all have parts of us that are trying to protect us from feeling or experiencing pain. Whether these parts don’t want us to re-experience something traumatic or hurtful from our past. Or these parts think we can’t handle feeling certain emotions, they each mean well. But if our protective parts are left in charge […]

After you’ve experienced hurt, disappointment, and loss, it can be really hard to let yourself dream again. This kind of dreaming isn’t the kind that comes to you while you sleep, but the personal dreaming that opens you up to the world of possibility.  It makes sense that there would be a part of you […]

I have been feeling sad about the state of the world and angry that some people seem to be going completely against the world I’m trying to help create. From protests last week at my teen’s school to mass shootings in the US, and remembering the anniversary date of George Floyd’s death, it’s stirring a […]

“The broken open heart holds more light than the closed heart too afraid to break.” ~ Meggan Watterson Your inner people-pleaser has been doing the best she can. She’s been working hard to keep you safe. Because she thinks if she can be seen in a positive and pleasing light, then she won’t ever have […]

Determining if people-pleasing is a problem for you is the easy part. But when it comes to shifting your actual reaction, you often feel lost. You try to will yourself to react differently, so you can choose yourself this time. But guilt or shame keeps you stuck.   You replay situations and possible responses in your […]

Do you wish you could keep others happy with you or just make loved ones happy in general? If so, you may be a people-pleaser. You may already be aware of your people-pleasing behaviors. Or you may not realize all the subtle and sneaky ways that people-pleasing shows up in your relationships, work, and life. […]

Self-love has come a long way in popular culture, but it is still evolving. Originally self-love had an exclusively negative meaning. The term was originally used as early as the 1500s. And as far as I can tell, self-love was defined in dictionaries through the late 1990s as conceited, egotistic, and even narcissistic. A re-definition […]

Boundaries are necessary for all of us, but sometimes we can have too many. Chances are if you grew up in a family that didn’t have a lot of boundaries, you want them now. Or if you have ever been in a relationship where you felt like you were disrespected most of the time, then […]

Have you ever tried to convince someone else to stop or start doing more of something? But instead of feeling heard, you were left feeling more frustrated than ever! When you know what isn’t working for you in a relationship, and you don’t know how to shift the pattern or others’ behavior, it can be […]