Personal Development

Sometimes life hands you a bucket (or an entire tree) of sour lemons, and you are desperate to find joy again. Times When Individual Counseling Might Help Consider these examples where individual counseling might be appropriate: You don’t get into the college of your dreams and feel like you are suddenly wandering in the wilderness, unsure of where to go next. The person you think you are in love with and want to marry dumps you out of the blue. You find out a parent or best friend is terminally ill. You find out that one of your closest friends has been spreading rumors about you for years. You are in a season of medical testing, infertility, or recently felt the heartbreak of a miscarriage. You are in a season of “new” that is proving to be much more difficult than anticipated. You have a new marriage, new baby, or new job, and did not realize how depleting and emotionally rocky this new season would be. You are blindsided at work and find out that your position is being terminated. You are in a season of disappointment in the friendship department. Maybe you don’t feel like you have close friends, or you have recently been left out by your close-knit circle and don’t know how to move forward. You feel like you just can’t catch up on bills, no matter how hard you work. You feel distant with God right now. Maybe you aren’t sure how to praise Him in the storms of life. You feel overwhelmed with emotions because one of your children just received a devastating diagnosis. You feel like a failure because one of your children is dealing with anger and rage like you do. You might feel like your life has become a nonstop cycle [...]

Sticking to a routine can bring normalcy and comfort even in the most chaotic times. A morning routine can boost your mental wellness if you address the different aspects of your life and approach it in a state of peace. Knowing you have accomplished so much first thing in the morning sets the tone for your day. You can start your workday or walk out of the house with your head held high in self-confidence. Your morning routine. You may have recently seen headlines covering the morning routines of celebrities and successful businesspeople and wondered what the hype was all about. It is not hype. Successful people have used their morning routines to prepare them for the day, work on themselves, and get a jump on a new venture. Jim Rohn, Tim Robbins, Tim Ferris, Richard Branson, Oprah, and many celebrities, authors, politicians, and others have used a morning routine to ground themselves and shift their mindset. The following are some ideas you can add to your routine to improve your mental wellness. What sticks out to you? Create a short list of activities to get started. Your routine can be as quick or as long as you want, depending on your schedule. Move your body. Exercising first thing in the morning might sound like a challenging task when you just forced yourself out of bed. But gentle stretching, yoga, or walking will get the blood and oxygen moving through your muscles, improve your heart health, and clear your mind. When you exercise, the neurotransmitters in the brain send out an overabundance of serotonin that will leave you feeling happy and accomplished. The physical benefits of moving your body go even further than mental wellness. By working out, you are burning calories, lowering cortisol in the body, lubricating the [...]