Temanos Counseling Center

As I get ready to teach a meditation on being w/ emotions; both pleasant and unpleasant, tomorrow at , I'm reminded that every experience can be a reminder to use Love in all ways and to wish everyone health & well-being..

I'm happy to guide meditation sessions at The Yellow Room, biweekly on Mondays @ 10:00am. Next one is Monday, July 15.

Donation Based Class: Unshakeable Resilience Through Meditation
Ginna Minervini

Mindfulness meditation to increase joy and decrease stress, depression and anxiety. Connect to your innate strengths & self-compassion in a supportive group setting.

Leave feeling calmer and more able to meet life with grace.

Your teacher, Ginna Minervini, has dedicated her life to learning, practicing & teaching about the inner workings of the self and its interactions with all of life. She has been deeply involved with holistic health, meditation and spiritual practices for over 4 decades

The Yellow Room :: A Therapeutic Community Space Schedule your appointment online The Yellow Room :: A Therapeutic Community Space

Getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep immediately changes the game for many/most of our clients and the symptoms that are troubling them. As you change your brain through our breakthrough technology, ask your doctor about adding nutritional support from these natural supplements.*

* This is NOT medical advice, and may not apply to you. Please consult your doctor or health professional before making changes to your nutrition, or medication.

The movie Cabrini is at the Bonner mall cinema. It's about an Italian nun who built and hospitals. I'd say it's the most powerful movie I've ever seen. Everyone should see it and be inspired.

As a psychotherapist it may be surprising that I don't think venting is helpful. I often make a distinction w/ my clients about expressing emotions (yes!) and venting or ruminating the stories over and over (not helpful). Granted, sometimes you feel compelled to do it until you exhaust yourself of it. This is a great article on why venting & ruminating isn't helpful. Neuroscience—specifically, neural plasticity—explains why venting reinforces negative emotions.

Stop Venting! It Doesn’t Work. Researchers proved decades ago that venting won’t make you feel better.

So true. And sometimes even in calm waters a rogue wave will come. Going through the grief enables the life you've lived with your loved one to resurface in memory.

Sharing Jimmy Buffet’s description of grief.

You are not only enough, you’re magnificent!

She spoke to the teachers,
they told her to sit
to wait for her turn
and to speak with respect

She spoke to her parents
they told her to try
to never give up
to work hard and strive

She spoke to her friends
they told her to change
to act more like them
to stop being strange

She spoke to her self
she wondered what’s wrong?
why don’t I fit in?
why cant I belong?

And finally when
her exhaustion was high
she wandered bereft
out into the night.

She spoke to the moon
and the stars let her see
you’re already enough
why can’t you just be?

You sparkle with life
you’re so full to the brim
why worry about
the need to fit in?

You’re made of pure sunlight
with so much to share
don’t walk down the same road
you're not going there…

Donna Ashworth

From ‘I wish I knew’: https://amzn.to/3JVMJlZ


Art by Josie Wren Josie Wren

Their physical body may be gone but you can converse with them still and connect to the life they lived with you through the love & the memories you shared.

When someone has gone,
you can bring them back
for just a little while
by talking them into life
by painting a picture with your memories and your words
breathing their essence back into existence
for just a few moments.

When someone has gone
you can see them again
for a minute or two
by being all the things they once were
by allowing their best traits to filter through you
shaping your words, your thoughts and your deeds
back out into this world.

When someone has gone
you can feel them again
for just a moment
by playing their music
and singing their favourite songs
by giving yourself up to the notes that brought them alive
once upon a time, it will again.

When someone has gone
you can keep a part of them alive
by giving the love you had for them a forever place in your life
a forever seat at your table and a glorious chapter in your book.

Stories never die
tell them.

From ‘I Wish I Knew’ https://amzn.to/3JVMJlZ

Beautiful art by
Phyllis Harris Design

This is beautifully said. If you have the privilege of being with someone who as they die, take heart. Clear away the medical equipment, be still in the mystery, you’ve entered sacred ground. When my Dad died in the hospital, I unhooked him from the IV and machines. Put his false teeth in. And my family & I proceeded to be with him for 6 hours, telling stories and saying goodbye. It was extraordinary the hospital let us be. Perhaps they, too, were blessed by the acknowledgement of the sacred passing.

When someone dies, the first thing to do is nothing. Don't run out and call the nurse. Don't pick up the phone. Take a deep breath and be present to the magnitude of the moment.

There's a grace to being at the bedside of someone you love as they make their transition out of this world. At the moment they take their last breath, there's an incredible sacredness in the space. The veil between the worlds opens.

We're so unprepared and untrained in how to deal with death that sometimes a kind of panic response kicks in. "They're dead!"

We knew they were going to die, so their being dead is not a surprise. It's not a problem to be solved. It's very sad, but it's not cause to panic.

If anything, their death is cause to take a deep breath, to stop, and be really present to what's happening. If you're at home, maybe put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.

Sit at the bedside and just be present to the experience in the room. What's happening for you? What might be happening for them? What other presences are here that might be supporting them on their way? Tune into all the beauty and magic.

Pausing gives your soul a chance to adjust, because no matter how prepared we are, a death is still a shock. If we kick right into "do" mode, and call 911, or call the hospice, we never get a chance to absorb the enormity of the event.

Give yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, or 15 minutes just to be. You'll never get that time back again if you don't take it now.

After that, do the smallest thing you can. Call the one person who needs to be called. Engage whatever systems need to be engaged, but engage them at the very most minimal level. Move really, really, really, slowly, because this is a period where it's easy for body and soul to get separated.

Our bodies can gallop forwards, but sometimes our souls haven't caught up. If you have an opportunity to be quiet and be present, take it. Accept and acclimatize and adjust to what's happening. Then, as the train starts rolling, and all the things that happen after a death kick in, you'll be better prepared.

You won't get a chance to catch your breath later on. You need to do it now.

Being present in the moments after death is an incredible gift to yourself, it's a gift to the people you're with, and it's a gift to the person who's just died. They're just a hair's breath away. They're just starting their new journey in the world without a body. If you keep a calm space around their body, and in the room, they're launched in a more beautiful way. It's a service to both sides of the veil.

Sarah Kerr, Death Doula
https://www.facebook.com/SoulPassages/videos/610729049323633/?t=59

Love this & I celebrate all those courageous souls willing to face the flames. It is there that we transform & grow!

“Family pathology rolls from one generation to generation like a fire in the woods, taking down everything in its path until one person in one generation has the courage to turn and face the flame. That person brings peace to his ancestors and spares the children that follow.” - Terry Real

Tap ❤️ if this resonates with you.

—

Terry Real is one of the presenters in the Radically Reframing Relationships Summit hosted by Maria Shriver. Watch more from him and our incredible guests >> https://bit.ly/3DsEiOR

❤️

Rick Hanson, PhD is one of my favorite teachers. He has synthesized Buddhism, psychology & neuroscience into readily accessible ideas & easy to follow practices. One of my fav books to share with clients, friends & people on my Unshakeable Resilience course is Hardwiring Happiness. I’m currently reading his new book, Making Relationships Work & it’s also a winner! I’m so happy to share this link on how to work with kids for healthful pathways thru this life!

Teaching Kids Psychological Skills In this column, we explore how to teach basic, essential psychological skills that all children need, like being able to let go of upsetting experiences or take in positive ones.

This is so true & why I love the practice of EMDR so much. It really awakens the wise adult that can reparent the traumatized younger one.

Cognitive Biases and Brain Biology Help Explain Why Facts Don’t Change Minds - Neuroscience News Our worldview forms during childhood as a result of our socialization within a particular cultural context. Our views get reinforced over time by the social groups we keep, the media we consume, and even the way in which our brains are wired. Challenging our worldviews with facts can feel like an at...

Breakin' up w/ comfort for awhile! Here goes - leaping into the abyss.

Credit: Ali Scott. Thanks for the post Deborah.

Meditation: Befriending and Opening to Life (28:56 min.) - Tara Brach Meditation, Emotional Healing,and Spiritual Awakening from Tara Brach, PhD - Psychologist, Author, and Meditation Teacher