Category Archives: Counseling

From Grief to Relief

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How Can You Go From Grief to Relief?

Adapt, Reframe, Plan – Then Find and Feel Relief

To go from grief to relief, adaptation clearly is critical to our success. The New Year is upon us, bringing continued threats of an ongoing pandemic, inflation, losing or changing employment, and even the potential of a world war as Russia threatens further invasion of Ukraine. That’s the global view. In addition, most of us have personal challenges that may include the death of a loved one.

What is a person to do to stay sane and productive? How can one acquire or maintain the good mental health that is so important for physical health? Let’s get personal.

Going from Grief to Relief May Involve Reframing

It can start with reframing your outlook or understanding of things that have happened to you, as you navigate forward. We’ll offer an extreme example and then an all-too-common life challenge. Finally, we’ll talk about the aftermath of the death of a loved one (human or animal) for whom you may have been Care Giver. Continue Reading →

Chronic Pain, Absolution, VooDoo, & Help

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Pain Hurts! (no kidding) What to Do About It 

image shows chronic pain in back and neck of woman in ponytail

Under the auspices of the Virginia Department of Health, Prince William Area Agency on Aging, I completed the certification coursework for teaching people how to deal with chronic illness. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the final practice classes were canceled. However, I learned about several things that influence chronic conditions, including pain, and most of them confirm what I already knew and have talked about as a certified practitioner of healing modalities over many years. You may have seen my posts or have been in my classes about:

Influences Affecting Chronic Pain Levels 

  • balancing emotions – establishing methods – (e.g., physical activity, meditation, listening to music, hypnotherapy, counseling, etc.) for relieving anxiety and depression 
  • breathing – shallowly or consciously, deeply, and purposefully (There are many techniques with differing emphasis on various parts of the body.) 
  • evaluating nutritional intake – proper – or inflammatory and bone-deconstructing foods and drinks 
  • exercising – mental (learning helpful, practical skills; keeping mentally alert; distracting oneself from pain) 
  • exercising – physical (how much, when, and whether to do it while in pain) (aerobic exercise for immobile people – the chi machine)
  • making decisions – avoided or done well (with the help of a coach, counselor, or caregiver, if necessary)
  • sleeping – well or poorly (the amount needed and techniques for inducing restful sleep and for avoiding disrupted sleep. Since I’m not going into detail here, I’ll just share the link to my Sleep Like a Baby guided meditation which is available wherever you get your audio media. It put the sound engineer to sleep mid-recording session!) 
  • using self-management tasks, like: 
    • scheduling medications and making lists of questions for health care providers 
    • acquiring tools and other aids needed to accomplish functions that used to be easy (like step stools for reaching high shelves or shoe hooks for inserting feet into shoes without having to bend down) 
    • creating a plan to address emergencies 
  • using holistic healing modalities, like Reiki, massage, hypnotherapy, and natural foods and herbs. Click Here for more tools and tips. 

You Can Take the Self-Management Class for Chronic Pain and/or Illness! 

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