Tag: stress
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How to maintain your mental health progress while being around family during the holidays
1st and foremost, not every family is horrible. Not everyone experiences trauma around their family of origin. However, there are a lot of folks that spend years working on cultivating a healthy sense of self which sometimes feels diminished around family. These feelings can be heightened around the holidays for a variety of reasons. Many…
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Set yourself up for holiday success by reducing stress
Remember being a kid and marveling at the sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday season? It is a distant but comforting memory. Over time that memory fades away with the demands of adulthood. Managing the inevitable stress that comes with the holiday season is so important. Every year I remind myself that in order…
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Mindfulness: a primer
Mindfulness has turned into a household word, and is one of those things that you can’t really define until you’re experiencing it. For the sake of learning, let’s describe it. Mindfulness has been defined in many different ways. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction, defines mindfulness as “awareness, cultivated by paying attention in…
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Biology of the stress response
I recently attended a complex trauma training with insights from Dr. Bruce Perry. Dr. Perry has contributed significantly to this field in understanding how childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect have impacted the developing brain. With this research and knowledge, we’re equipped to understand how childhood experiences impact the biology of the brain and our overall…