Mindset | Blog

By Sarah Ward Bruce Perry defines trauma as “an experience, or pattern of experiences, that impairs the proper functioning of the person’s stress-response system, making it more reactive or sensitive” (Perry & Winfrey, 2021). In other words, trauma occurs when the experience is prolonged or at a high intensity that impacts the development of the brain. Trauma is interesting because for one person an event might produce low stress and the same event might cause a high level of stress and be difficult to cope with for another person. This has to do with an individual’s window of tolerance. If a person’s window of tolerance is smaller, they will be triggered to go outside of the window more easily. As a result, treating trauma is a

Living with OCD can be mentally and emotionally exhausting. The intrusive thoughts and distressing feelings may make you feel like you should be able to “control” or eliminate them, leading to frustration and self-blame. Do you find yourself spending all day trying to manage OCD, only to feel completely drained by the evening? You might even think, “Who has time for self-compassion?” Quite often, it’s difficult to recognize that you are not at fault for the distress OCD brings. Whether you’re personally struggling with OCD or supporting a loved one who is, self-compassion can easily be the last thing on your mind. For parents, seeing a child suffer from OCD can be heartbreaking. Balancing their

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought of itself.” What happens when you keep worrying about the future, focusing on mistakes of the past, or judging yourself every day? Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” As we do this, we become observers without making evaluations or judgments about our internal (e.g., thoughts, memories, evaluations, feelings, sensations, and urges) experiences. When you struggle with life’s challenges, your anxious mind provides advice so you can protect yourself from pain and discomfort. Are the coping strategies you are using now providing you with a vital and mean

We are all traveling on the same train of humanity and are very familiar with pain. However, it may be our dream to someday be free of a particular challenge. “Someday I’ll be free of this thing,” we may say. Yes, we can all hope this will be the case. However, when we begin to hyper-focus on getting rid of something that afflicts us and that we can’t control, have you noticed what happens? What does it feel like when you’ve done everything you possible can do and yet, the pain persists? It is frustrating and suffering is magnified because we may be insistent that this challenge has to go so we can move on with our lives. The solution? Do not give up and lose hope. It has been said that when hardships come our way, grit, purpose