Kelley Counseling and Wellness

Do you constantly worry about the needs of others?  Are you so flexible with your schedule that it leaves you with absolutely no free time? Do you constantly feel like you are running from one place to the other with no breaks? Do you skip breakfast because you are too busy to eat?  Are you sacrificing everything for your friends, family, job, education, etc.? If so, it is time to learn what the word "self-care" means.   Self care is defined as "care for oneself" (Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, n.d.).  That seems simple enough, however, after considering all of the examples above, are you really doing a good job of taking care of yourself?   Self-care is also defined by what you consider to be important for your own well-being. This can be broken down into basic areas of concern. The following chart is a great representation of some of the various aspects of self-care.   So after looking through those aspects of self-...

Ever feel like the very thing you are trying not to think about you become or do? Many people are stuck with anxious thoughts and feelings that they just cannot seem to get rid of!  Any time a client or friend brings up being stuck I like to bring up the analogy of riding a bike. You know the feeling ... hands on the bars, two feet firmly planted on the pedals and off you go. Moving swiftly forward we aim stay on the right path, often straight, in order to stay safe and get where we want to go . Now what if when you were on this bike I told you " do not look at the tree to your left!" well often times even being told not to   do something puts your focus on it. You may look at it directly or even just out of the corner of your eye and if your looking at the tree there is a good chance you will drift towards it, even if you did not want to. Anxiety, depression, bad habits and other feelings of being stuck in life can be  very similar to the tree when yo...

"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. " - William James This quote seems appropriate for the start of our new blog, seeing as this quote inspires me personally, to be highly aware of my own thoughts.  James was definitely on to something. The ability to focus on, understand and modify one's thought processes is now a major practice in a number of counseling theories and techniques today.  To name a couple of the evidence based theories that we use regularly at Kelley Counseling - Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).  Both therapies have a component of becoming aware of our thought patterns and learning to choose healthier, more positive thoughts, which in turn leads to less emotional distress.  Though James was not around to see CBT and DBT flourish and become increasingly important in the counseling world, it is evident that he was aware of the importance of examining our...