Tag: mental health
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Book #18- Reflections on “Field Study”
Book #18 Field Study By Helen Humphreys The Calming Effect of Nature and Books This book is simple and profound. I felt as though the author and I briefly met (at least through her written word) before each going on our individual year-long journeys. There was a certain parallelism to the way we spent our… Read more
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Why Emotional Awareness Matters in Today’s World
Society Doesn’t Pause for Trauma We never seem to be given much time by society to process traumatic events. A person gets assaulted, well too bad because you’ve got a test to take on Monday morning. A parent dies, you get a few days off, then back to work. Brianna Wiest talks about this in… Read more
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From Isolation to Connection: Understanding Your True Self
“… needing solitude too often usually means there is a discrepancy between who you pretend to be and who you actually are.” – Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You From Bubbly to Isolated Welp. I feel called out. I used to be very bubbly and outgoing, but now I spend a lot of time alone.… Read more
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Book #16- Reflections on “The Mountain Is You”
Book #16 The Mountain Is You By Brianna Wiest “When we self-sabotage, it is often because we have a negative association between achieving the goal we aspire to and being the kind of person who has or does that thing.” – Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You Hmmm okay, interesting. Let me think about this.… Read more
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Am I a Reliable Witness?
I think when a person is victimized repeatedly, they start to blame themself. And when they are in an environment that is toxic, they start to believe that they are the toxic one. This makes asking for help very difficult. The second guessing creates confusion over whether they are a reliable witness. Okay, so story… Read more
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Blooming Pink Flowers
I have been feeling pretty pessimistic about the world for the past few years, but through this year of self-improvement I am trying to be more positive. This has meant that I have been consciously noticing more of life’s sweet moments. Recently, I was sitting in a park reading a book for my 2025 Reading… Read more
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The Blessing of a Delay
Convenient Content I was recently writing a blog post in a place where the Wi-Fi wasn’t great. I was outdoors by the water so I am not complaining and I used my iPhone’s hotspot to write. After about an hour of writing, I took a break. I took a sip of my now-cold tea, and… Read more
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Being Entertained by Other People’s Lives vs. Our Own
My Own Life Became Filled With Other People’s Storylines In my latest blog post, I talked about the ethical consumption of other people’s lives for our own entertainment. But there is another part of the story that I am grappling with. That is, being entertained by other people’s lives vs. being entertained by my own.… Read more
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Living Ethically in the Age of Entertainment
Our Lives as Entertainment We consume each other’s lives more than we ever have. If I go on social media, I can find out what a coworker ate for lunch, details of my friend’s messy divorce, and that another friend’s child had to be rushed to the hospital. We aren’t just living our lives, we… Read more
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How Reading Books Helps Me Cope With Anxiety and Uncertainty
Feeling Insecure & Uncertain Can Lead You Down a Bad Road In Misbelief by Dan Ariely, he attributes much of a person’s fall down a rabbit hole to a sense of feeling uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. This person then seeks easy, quick answers online and feels a temporary, short-term sense of power and control… Read more
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How to Be More Present: 6 Ways I’m Fighting Mental Burnout
Are You Enjoying Your Relationships? I don’t enjoy my relationships as much as I used to. That takes a lot for me to admit. Coordinating our schedules used to happen effortlessly, and we were present when we were together. Now, scheduling a meeting with friends typically takes weeks if not months to organize. When it… Read more
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When Lies Rewrite Your Life: The Impact of False Narratives
Dealing with the effects of misbelief will soon be its own therapy topic, I think. Not just for the one who believes the false information, but also for the one who is the subject of the lies. For the latter, the situation can feel incredibly disorienting since they often do not see the rumors develop-… Read more
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How to Rebuild Trust and Secure Attachment
The Need to Feel Secure & Connected While reading Misbelief by Dan Ariely, I realized that I can explain one of the overarching issues in my life with more scientific language. That is, the difference between insecure and secure attachment. I have slipped into a mindset of insecure attachment. I no longer expect the ground… Read more
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7 Ways to Foster Healthy Relationships in Society
I am beginning to sense a theme in my 2025 Reading Challenge (which is to read 52 books this year). I have intentionally chosen books of a variety of genres- some artistic, some self-help, some biographical, some fiction, etc. But one theme has slowly been bubbling to the surface in many of these books: the… Read more
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Book #14- Reflections on “Misbelief”
Book #14 Misbelief By Dan Ariely Fake Controversy Dan Ariely begins this book by talking about being confronted with a series of disturbing rumors that he is apparently an evil mastermind with a nefarious plot related to the COVID-19 pandemic. He found this incredibly unnerving and disorienting due to how little the story had to… Read more
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You Can Be Affected By Trauma Even if it Doesn’t Occur
You Can Be Safe, But Still Scared In If Only I’d Known!, Chelsey Brooke Cole talks about the emotional impact of a near miss. Events can still affect you even if they don’t actually end up happening. She uses the example of nearly hitting an animal with your car. Your heart may still be racing… Read more
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Giving It Time
Trauma Cloaks My Writing in a Fog I recently read If Only I’d Known! by Chelsey Brooke Cole. It is about dealing with narcissists, setting boundaries, and rebuilding self-worth. It is unfortunately the exact book I need for context on my life. That being said, I actually had quite a difficult time writing blog posts… Read more
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Putting My Needs First
Acknowledging My Own Needs I think putting my needs first is what this blog is all about. Well, actually that might be too ambitious to say. I think I have to start even smaller than that by perhaps first admitting that I even have needs and beginning to wonder what those needs are. For so… Read more
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The Suction of Abuse
The Progression of an Abusive Relationship Very rarely do abusive relationships start out that way. Often each person involved is on their best behavior in the beginning. Wonderful memories are made. You hope this will last forever. Over time, disquieting experiences start to show. You start to feel unheard or subtly disrespected. No matter. The… Read more
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Book #13- Reflections on “If Only I’d Known!”
Book #13 If Only I’d Known! By Chelsey Brooke Cole LPC-MHSP, CPTT, RPT The Compounding Relationship Between Trauma & Blame Therapist Chelsey Brooke Cole begins this book by talking about how upset she was at herself for being in yet another abusive relationship. The negative feelings she had toward herself had intensified with each mistake,… Read more
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Modern-Day Posters
Our Need for Quick Information Before social media, before television, before radio, before even photography was invented there was the humble poster. This was the primary means of disseminating information on a wide scale to the general public. Often, posters need to have maximum visual impact for people walking, biking, driving, or taking public transit.… Read more
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Book #12- Reflections on “Drawing For Illustration”
Book #12 Drawing For Illustration By Martin Salisbury I have been choosing a lot of art books for my 2025 Reading Challenge, which is to read 52 books in 2025. Although I do occasionally create art, it is more of a hobby. I think one of the reasons that I am hesitant to call myself… Read more
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Rediscovering My Voice: How Blogging Revived My Writing
Until I began this blog, I hadn’t realized the writing skills that I had let wane over the years. I don’t mean writing for the sake of a report for school or work, ie. writing that strips any personality out of my thoughts. That’s the sort of writing that includes a lot of “as per… Read more
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The Number of Blog Posts
How I Became a Better Reader & Writer I was surprised by how many blog posts I wrote about the book There is No Ethan by Anna Akbari. Up until that point I was writing one or two posts about each book I read. For There is No Ethan, I ended up writing seven. I… Read more
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The Difference Between Subject-Matter and Content
What is a Creative Work Really About? In his book How To Be An Artist, Jerry Saltz makes the distinction between art’s subject matter and its content. The subject matter is what a piece is about, the content is what the piece is about. The subject matter of a painting, for example, might be a… Read more
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Thinking Like a Critic vs. Thinking Like an Artist
Critical vs. Creative Thinking One of my issues that I have with the modern school system is that it teaches students to largely think like a critic. We are taught to dissect things, find the problem and the solution. Creativity doesn’t work like that. Often the questions are open-ended and the answers are subconscious. It… Read more
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An Artistic Exercise
Art That Makes Me Uncomfortable In his book How To Be An Artist, Jerry Saltz suggests to list three artists whose work makes you feel uncomfortable and then list three reasons why you are uncomfortable. Fine, I’ll bite. I’ll do the exercise. I will write about one of those examples in this blog post. The… Read more
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Book #11- Reflections on “How To Be An Artist”
Book #11 How To Be An Artist By Jerry Saltz Do You Want a Formulaic or Creative Life? In this book, Saltz is talking about artist Sol LeWitt when he says, “Rigid adherence to formula can trap you in a cul-de-sac….” This resonates quite literally with me. My bachelor’s degree is in mathematics. It is… Read more
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Questions vs. Answers
Giving Yourself the Space to Ask Questions Lately I have been thinking a lot about the benefits that this blog has been having on my life. I have talked about how I feel lighter and happier for having a place to share my authentic thoughts. I began to wonder why this is. I know honesty… Read more
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Blogging vs. Therapy
Finding Mental Health Improvements Outside of Therapy I am a big fan of therapy. I think it is incredibly helpful when you are in crisis and also when you are doing well. It helps you to understand yourself and others better so that you can make informed personal choices about your life. It is empowering.… Read more