If you’ve been in therapy (or on the internet in general), then you’ve probably been introduced to the concept of “mindfulness.” Mindfulness is often described in a similar vein to meditation: done in a quiet place, maybe with some soft music, in a comfortable position, for five to ten minutes. While this may be the [...]
Author: Ann-Marie Wingerter
Giving the Benefit of the Doubt
These days, we are encouraged to “be positive” to improve our mental health. One of the ways I recommend practicing positivity is by building the habit of giving others the benefit of the doubt. Giving someone the benefit of the doubt means acknowledging that we do not have all the answers and cannot possibly judge [...]
Anxiety Visualized as a Thief
We are all acquainted with anxiety to one degree or another. Our minds become preoccupied with thoughts such as: “What if I’m missing something?” or “What if I look like a fool in front of these new people?” When questions like these swirl around in our minds unchecked, we can be kept in an anxious [...]
The Power of a Positive Mindset
We’ve all heard about the placebo effect, where the positive outcomes of a treatment are more due to the patient’s belief that the treatment will work than to the actual treatment itself. For example, a patient believes taking a pill will improve their energy, not knowing that the pill is a sugar pill. But have [...]
Gratitude for Our Day-to-Day
In a world of instant gratification and “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses," it is easy to begin to begrudge our day-to-day life. Our routine. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep life interesting by shaking up our “ordinary” lives now and then by going and doing something fun, novel, etc. What I am referencing here is more of the [...]
Progress is Progress, No Matter How Small
I have noticed a trend (even in myself) to discount small steps in progress. We impatiently compare ourselves to one of our goals and, instead of focusing on how far we’ve come, we tend to focus on how far we have yet to go. Our self-talk tends to feel more like self-flagellation rather than encouragement. [...]
Anger Management
When we find ourselves angry with someone, my uncle once told me, we should ask ourselves, “What rule of mine was broken?” This question helps to shed light on the reason we became angry in the first place. Our rules can be about anything: how we believe we should be treated or spoken to; how [...]
On Being Self-Compassionate
“If my friend was struggling with the same thing I am, would I speak to them the way I just spoke to myself?” This is a question that I encourage clients to ask themselves when I hear them being overly self-critical. It serves as an introduction to the importance of exercising self-compassion when improving our [...]