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Different mental illnesses reflect different coping patterns. In our latest video, understand these well-intentioned friends for an idea of where to start to create a life you are excited to live. As always, we would love to hear your feedback through the comments or any of our social media. Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pinterest (

Note: This information applies to conditions such as Depression and Anxiety Disorders. Other psychiatric disorders are not included. I can’t tell you if taking medication is the right choice for you, but what I can do is provide you with information to help decide for yourself. In our latest Youtube video, I talk about the ‘feel-good’ chemicals, what contributes to them, and what you have the most influence over to effect your own levels of ‘feel good’ chemicals. Please conne

What we strive for in life is always the same, but how we learn to get it is variable and even changes throughout our lifetime. Understand this, and learn what it takes to win at the game of life! Check out our new video here: Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new

Any relationship we invest in will bring up mixed feelings. The more we invest, the more vulnerable to hurt and disappointment we become and the more likely anger will come up when people fall short of our expectations and how we think things should be. One common response to these mixed feelings is to try to ignore the “bad feelings” that come up and only focus on the good part. In order to do that, we have to distract and avoid. Unfortunately, we aren’t very good at hiding

Life is about choices. What we prioritize vs not completely changes our lives! It determines if we are happy or miserable. If we are healthy or not, what kinds of relationships we have … in short, our ability to prioritize our values and needs determines everything! Wouldn’t it be great to be able to choose what we cared about or not? Here is a great video showing you how… Enjoy your new found freedom! Let us know how it goes ;0) Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens

The most common way we harm ourselves is by PRETENDING it isn’t a big deal. We minimize how hurt or angry we are, pretend smoking or drinking just this time won’t make a huge difference, or having that last piece of cake,  and then distract ourselves to keep it all at bay. We use distracting ourselves to help us pretend. It takes the edge off whatever feeling or insight we don’t feel ready to sit with. We distract ourselves by eating, watching NETFLIX, spending hours on socia

This great TED talk focuses on how early life nurturing actually changes the expression of our genes, of our DNA. There are two layers to our genes, the older, harder to change layer, and the epigenetic layer, that is impacted by our life experiences and our choices. This means that who we choose to spend time with, how often we prioritize exercise, how we talk to ourselves and what we choose to focus our thoughts on (scary vs positive) actually changes how our body operates

Before I even open my eyes I am aware of the warmth of my blankets and the sweet bundle of fur pressed against the back of my legs. I breathe in; the silence is comforting. I pry my fur baby from his chosen spot to mine and nestle in for some morning snuggles, enjoying his familiar scent as I rest my cheek on top of his head. I savour these moments, these good feelings, mindful of a time when at first breath it was trepidation, rather than contentment that filled my lungs. Si

by Heather Crosby Gionet (Information on upcoming Awesome Life Retreat 2.0 below!) Feedback. You know, that awful noise that comes out of the speaker when the mic is in the wrong place. That’s the good stuff. Let me tell you, you want to learn to LOVE the sound of feedback. Ok, so maybe not that kind of feedback, I am not sure that anyone loves that sound, and would be really surprised if they did! However the feedback I am talking about is our body/mind/soul’s similar way of

Carol Dweck introduced a concept called the Growth Mindset, a way of thinking, and talking to ourselves and others that promotes healthy and more positive outcomes. You might assume it is complicated, but it isn’t, something as adding yet to the end of something you can’t YET do, changes what parts of our brains stay engaged and which don’t. I am pretty sure we can all at least try something so simple, but in case you need more convincing, watch her 15 min talk about the Powe

Remember that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome. After all, we can’t use the same thinking that got us into a problem to get us out of it. This is a great talk about Willingness. Willingness to face our struggles. It is set in the context of PTSD and the military, but it extends to all of us. So ask yourself, how much do you WANT to be well? Are you WILLING to face the difficult thoughts, emotions,  sensations or m

Finding our calling or our purpose is like giving the perfect gift. We are so full of anticipation and excitement that we can barely contain ourselves, and when they open it and we get to see their response we get as much or more out of it! When we identify our gifts and act on them, it is like giving the perfect gift every day. When we don’t, it is like having all of that excited energy trapped inside of us with no where to go. It quickly turns from excitement to agitation,

3 Simple Life Hacks to Living Your Values 1.Start before you feel like it 2.Watch your language 3.Don’t find time, MAKE time Start before you feel like it! Most of us wait until we feel like doing something BEFORE we do it. This is a problem. If we wait to do the things that will make us feel better until we are already feeling better, we won’t feel better at all!  Susan Jeffers wrote a book called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, based almost entirely on this principal! 2. We

We default to the familiar and associate it with safety (even when logically it is not actually safe) We don’t leave our familiar safety net unless things get REALLY bad and it becomes virtually impossible for us to keep pretending it is ok We passively wait for change, especially if our initial attempts at active problem solving were not successful In my experience both personally and professionally, that old saying about staying with the devil you know is true. We have all

Three simple but not easy questions can help you with this. Are you prepared to take the good and the bad? Are you willing to change the stories you have about yourself? Are you ready to risk failure and looking like a fool in order to find out who you are now? Let me explain… TAKING THE GOOD WITH THE BAD One of the biggest things that holds us back is when we have  mixed feelings towards others. It comes down to the fact that we don’t want to be mad at the people we care abo

For example would you spend your last dollar on a lottery ticket if you had never won the lottery, nor even known anyone who has? Probably not. Similarly, if my experience is that in groups of people I get rejected and excluded, that is what I will expect when faced with a group of people. It makes sense. Our past experiences help us understand the world we live in and so we can feel safe. We like to think we can predict how things will go and make decisions accordingly. Let’

We ALL do it and it almost always causes stress when we do? The title may have given it away- you got it…PROCRASTINATION! Watch this funny 15 min video and maybe try out the worksheet to help break it down and helps us put things in perspective. Procrastination (aka avoidance and self sabotage in most cases) is a problem when we have deadlines, and an even BIGGER problem when we don’t! The Panic Monster never shows up and we can spend our lives lacking the motivation to pursu

We have friends who are “finding themselves” with a new husband/ wife, new cars, going on backpacking trips or even pilgrimages in order to discover “who I really am”. Others are “finding themselves” in a bottle or by over-indulging at work. We talk about fining ourself as if it is out there, waiting to be discovered like a treasure on a map. That is like saying I am going to find my nose in Fiji, or my new wife will help me find my nose, or I will find it by going on this tr

I am 6’4, 240 lbs. Granted I have a bit of extra padding, but I’m also just a pretty big and strong dude. My favorite sports are rugby and judo. I like watching UFC and I play rough and tumble with my 3 boys every chance I get. I have, not infrequently, been referred to as masculine. I don’t know when it happened, but for ages, any time someone referred to me as masculine, I felt ashamed, dirty. That went on for a looooooong time. When did that happen? I’m not sure. These day