Gina L. Luera, LPC, LCDC Evolve. Therapy & Consulting

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Short Session Sunday:
Friends. They are hard to come by. And even harder when you're older. Part of recovery, from anything is having a solid support group. As humans, we need people. We need the connection. It is wired in our autonomic nervous system, that part of rest and digest that we have; part of our sympathetic nervous system and Maslows Heirarchy of Needs. Before engaging in the hustle of the day at the base of things we need family and friends as a root that allows us the grace to function. Who are your friends? Do they serve to uplift you, to express who you are and allow you to give of all the special ways of who you are? If this applies to you, ask yourself, at the beginning and end of your day, do you have a root to return to with your stress and happiness and if not, who can you incorporate in this space?

Short Session Sunday:

The world is a very noisy place. Our thoughts can be even louder. As humans, it's really effortless to gravitate towards negative thoughts. We capture them like moths and keep them in a jar of our mind. We can tend to think that there is no way to control what thoughts we select. I'm here to tell you that this is FALSE. In therapy, I ask people to do what's called, "shelfing". When a negative thought or worry crosses your mind you can pause. Stop everything you are doing and become mindful. Become curious. Why is this thought here? What brought it on? You can do one of two things, invite it to play and ruin your day OR shelf it. Visualize putting that thought on a shelf for later. I suggest verbalized it out loud to throw it into the universe by saying something outloud like, "I'm not going to talk about this right now" or, "You can wait until later at 6pm and then we will talk". This allows you to go about your day and know that if it's still an important thought, you've allotted some time later in the day to really explore it. If this applies to you, try it out!

Short Session Sunday.
Have you ever had a difficult time letting someone go? Did you come to the realization that they needed you more than you needed them, in a deeper way. Maybe as a parent or a teacher, rather than a lover or friend? Did you get the gut feeling that the relationship was one-sided or unequal? Did you feel exhausted when around this person, feeling like a caretaker? Well, this sentence completion exercise may be for you. Sometimes it's helpful to spend time pondering on a simple statement and use freewriting to help you get the understanding you need behind your actions. Therapists often use this exercise in talk therapy to engage you in uncovering your core beliefs about yourself, life, others, or the world around you. If this statement applies to you, give it a try!