The poem, “A Brave and Startling Truth,” by Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928–May 28, 2014), flew to space on the Orion spacecraft and Angelou dedicated it to “the hope for peace, which lies, sometimes hidden, in every heart.” Published in a commemorative booklet in 1995 and later included in “Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry”. Read more “A Brave and Startling Truth”
A Brave and Startling Truth
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Estimated: 3 minutes to read
Music that Carries Us
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Estimated: 4 minutes to read
Staff Favorites has been a monthly installation of 2019 featuring the mental health and self-care picks of LifeWorks’ staff. Thank you for being on this human journey with us, and for sharing the various experiences, objects, books, music, art and more…. Your contributions have helped cultivate change and offer paths to relief and soothing during […] Read more “Music that Carries Us”
Podcasts & Blogs
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Estimated: 5 minutes to read
This month’s Staff Favorites will feature a collection of blogs and podcasts that we follow that have inspired or transformed us in some way. Some of these podcasts are specific to therapy and mental health, while others are simply about being human and living in the world. As always, we look forward to hearing what […] Read more “Podcasts & Blogs”
Approaches to Fear
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Estimated: 5 minutes to read
Staff Favorites is a monthly installation featuring the mental health and self care picks of LifeWorker staff. Posts in 2019 will highlight books, self-soothing items, blogs/instagrams, places to move your body around Chicago, and more. We look forward to sharing our favorites with you! This month we are focusing on the ways LifeWorks’ staff approach […] Read more “Approaches to Fear”
8 Ways to Love Yourself thru the Holidays
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Estimated: 5 minutes to read
This is your life and your holiday experience. You get to design it, enjoy savor it, and exercise the power of loving yourself, and the holidays are no different. Try out 8 embodied ways you can love and take good care yourself through the holidays: 1. Align Yourself to Your Desired State of Being What would you […] Read more “8 Ways to Love Yourself thru the Holidays”
Is Your Partner Guessing?
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Estimated: 4 minutes to read
Have you ever noticed that rather than communicate directly, you make your partner guess about what you want? Certain conversations can be difficult to begin. Strong emotions can keep us from getting started. Fear of conflict escalating may hold us back. Unspoken signals can confuse us and make it less safe to proceed. Not trusting […] Read more “Is Your Partner Guessing?”
Infidelity as a Growth Opportunity
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Estimated: 6 minutes to read
Santiago Delboy is a colleague and friend to LifeWorks who brings insight and thoughtfulness to his work, writing and collaboration. We are pleased to share some of his thougths about infidelity. This post appears in Santiago’s blog, which can be found here. This afternoon, I watched a TED talk by therapist and author Esther Perel about infidelity. I read her book Mating […] Read more “Infidelity as a Growth Opportunity”
Sailing Into Therapeutic Parenting
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Estimated: 9 minutes to read
This article is a guest post from parenting expert Billy Kaplan, LCSW. He is the President and Clinical Director at House Calls Counseling, which develops and promotes healthy family relationships by encouraging the emotional, behavioral and mental health of children, teenagers, adults, couples and families. This post on therapeutic parenting first appeared here. I learned to […] Read more “Sailing Into Therapeutic Parenting”
How to Create Fulfilling Relationships After Experiences of Abuse
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Estimated: 8 minutes to read
We are pleased to share this article by our friend and colleague, Niyati Evers, MAPW, and diplomate in Process Work. Niyati is a sex-positive therapist with Alchemy of Eros, a Portland, Oregon-based professional counseling services organization that seeks to create a welcoming, non-judgmental space where people can explore issues around relationships, intimacy, power, passion, desire, […] Read more “How to Create Fulfilling Relationships After Experiences of Abuse”
Anam Cara: Soul Lessons From Anxiety & Panic
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Estimated: 7 minutes to read
There is a phrase in Gaelic, anam cara, which means “soul friend.” According to the Anam Cara Therapy Center in California, anam cara is: A teacher, companion or spiritual guide … where consciousness is dulled, distant or blind, its presence grows faint and vanishes. Therefore awareness which brings integration and healing, is one of the […] Read more “Anam Cara: Soul Lessons From Anxiety & Panic”
Interpersonal Boundaries: How Trauma Keeps Us Silent
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Estimated: 2 minutes to read
What are personal boundaries? Personal boundaries are what separate us from other people and things and help us form a distinct identity. Boundaries help us protect ourselves. Boundaries help define what belongs to you and what belongs to someone else. Boundaries can define what is “ok” and what is “not ok.” Boundaries help others know […] Read more “Interpersonal Boundaries: How Trauma Keeps Us Silent”
The Saint Aside
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Estimated: 4 minutes to read
And if I say it’s alright to love another one I will smile with calm dignity shift wince to wisdom grin feign peace in your pleasure reach back to pat for a mind as open as the wound in my chest and I’m grasping your fingers for blades your swell and gaze but I was […] Read more “The Saint Aside”
Eating Meditations: A Practice of Equanimity, Gratitude and Blessing
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Estimated: 4 minutes to read
Can mindfulness be useful for difficulties with food and eating habits? Many think so. Here is an exercise I came across years ago that may help you slow down, name your experience, start to tune into your body and be thoughtful about how you nourish yourself. For this approach, at first, try using a small […] Read more “Eating Meditations: A Practice of Equanimity, Gratitude and Blessing”
Managing Fear After the Election
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Estimated: 1 minute to read
Managing fear has been difficult for many people in the days following the 2016 US Presidential Election. No matter which candidate you supported, you may find yourself overwhelmed by distressing news reports, tense conversations with loved ones, and your own complicated feelings. LifeWorks is an explicitly inclusive therapy practice that welcomes all people. We know how […] Read more “Managing Fear After the Election”
Take Heart, Heroes
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Estimated: 2 minutes to read
We vote with every moment, With every choice. With our attitudes we elect our reality and the world we yearn to share. We long for heroes to hold our hope and express our power, Our rage, our pain, our kindness, To make our struggle righteous, To champion our smallness. Yet, We are never larger than […] Read more “Take Heart, Heroes”
Pull the Next One Up
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Estimated: 2 minutes to read
by Marc Kelly Smith When you get to the top of the mountain Pull the next one up. Then there’ll be two of you Roped together at the waist Tired and proud, knowing the mountain, Knowing the human force it took To bring both of you there. And when the second one has finished Taking […] Read more “Pull the Next One Up”
The Pain is Our Pain
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Estimated: 2 minutes to read
The pain is our pain. It is the wound in the world and we are of the world. I know that all moments, across the whole of humanity, are occasions of suffering and joy, beyond my scope. I suppose that when a blow lands so close to heart and home, the perimeter I hold […] Read more “The Pain is Our Pain”
In the Shadow of Disney World
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Estimated: 9 minutes to read
ORLANDO SHOOTING JUNE 11, 2016 When I think Orlando, I think of sun filled days, blue skies, parents and grandparents offering up days of fun and excitement, showering their children with the time of their lives at Disney World. But from yesterday on, I will think of Orlando in a different way. I will think […] Read more “In the Shadow of Disney World”
Bad Dreams Have Meaning
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Estimated: 3 minutes to read
In honor of the season, we are looking at things that scare or frighten us and why that is. Our colleague and process worker, David Bedrick, helps us understand how inner critics sometimes appear in bad dreams and how we can make use of the messages they bring. The following article originally appeared in Psychology […] Read more “Bad Dreams Have Meaning”
Communication Challenges: Yes, That Again!!
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Have you ever fallen into the pit of communication challenges? Or should I say miscommunication challenges? What an interesting phenomena it can be, if and when you have the detachment to notice you are in the pit and are able to name it as interesting! More often it is experienced as a quagmire, an endless […] Read more “Communication Challenges: Yes, That Again!!”