Self-Critical Thinking

We ALL occasionally have thoughts that are self-critical, toxic and destructive to our self-esteem. This may occur because of a traumatic or stressful event in one’s life, after a separation or divorce or some other life loss or stressor. What …

Forgiveness Activity

I see a lot of clients who struggle with forgiveness, whether it be forgiving someone who has wronged them or forgiving themselves for past behaviour. I often hear my clients express that they are aware that they need to forgive …

Assertive Communication

Assertive communication is a skill that many people struggle with and I often see this in counselling sessions with my clients. Being assertive means being comfortable speaking your mind, sharing your opinion and saying no in a respectful and confident …

Self-Care

Life is busy for us all, so much so that we often lack our own self-care. Work, family obligations and duties around the house often consume most of our time and it’s difficult to find the time to do things …

Guilt

We’ve all experienced the emotion of guilt, and the accompanying feelings of regret and shame that come with it. Guilt makes us have obsessive thoughts, makes us withdraw from the world and makes us self-critical and cruel to ourselves. Guilt …

Expressing Gratitude

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easily to only invest energy and thoughts in the things that we are dissatisfied with in life. This only leads to worry, stress, depression and poor quality of life. This is …

Words of Affirmation

Daily words of affirmation are important for lifting the spirit, overcoming a glum mood and for supporting one’s goals. If you want to be successful at something, the idea is to tell yourself that you have ALREADY achieved this success: …

Self-Love

What is self-love? There are several definitions of the term but my idea of self-love is having respect and healthy admiration for oneself, and putting one’s own needs first. It is fully accepting yourself as a perfectly imperfect human and …

Forgiveness

It’s difficult to forgive someone who has done you wrong or hurt you, it’s not something that can happen overnight, it really is a process. The best way to rationalize forgiveness, despite the hurt, is to realize that you’re really …

Expressing Gratitude

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easily to only invest energy and thoughts in the things that we are dissatisfied with in life. This only leads to worry, stress, depression and poor quality of life. This is …