Author: Nicole Weis

Breakdowns Can Lead To Breakthroughs

Breakdowns Can Lead To Breakthroughs | 11.02.2021

Have you ever felt like you were going to have a breakdown or actually experienced one? How did you handle it? Did you learn from it? Often breakdowns can lead to breakthroughs. They can lead us down a path to better understanding ourselves and our emotions. At first, we can feel out-of-control and overwhelmed with our feelings of despair and anxiety.  It’s hard to see that what we are going through is often a gift wrapped in a not-so-pretty package. 

A breakdown can remind us to slow down, regroup, take a breath and look at other possibilities. It can be a time of remembering what is really important and letting go of what’s not.  

In other words, what if we could see the good that can come out of challenges and know that we can learn, grow and evolve from them? In order to shift from despair to gratitude, we must first give ourselves permission to experience our emotions and remind ourselves we are going to, ultimately, be stronger. 

There are many healthy ways to shift from breakdown to having a breakthrough. Here are just a few suggestions:

  • Take a deep breath and slow down: Stop, breathe and ask yourself what really matters to you. 
  • Identify your feelings and sit with them: We often fight breakdowns, which makes them more painful and terrifying. We have a choice. We can choose to stay stuck or we can try and find gratitude in what is being uncovered. 
  • Talk to someone you trust: It can help to process and share what we are going through. Being vulnerable with a safe and healthy person can lead to reduced anxiety and more connection.
  • Journal: Write, draw or sketch what you are feeling and experiencing. Ask, “What can I learn from this situation?” 
  • Exercise: It can be as simple as taking a walk outside. Or, it might be running, yoga, Zumba or playing a sport. Find what you enjoy and works for you.
  • Ask for help or support:  Sometimes we have this idea that asking for help is a sign of weakness; however, it’s the opposite. It is a sign of strength and courage.

So, when you are experiencing what feels like a breakdown, slow down and remember what matters - YOU. Maybe, this is exactly what you needed to make a positive change.  

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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The Criticism Epidemic

The Criticism Epidemic | 10.19.2021

How often do you feel criticized by your partner, children, co-worker, boss, friend or parent? Do you feel like you are never good enough no matter what you do? Do you feel like you will not live up to someone else’s expectations of you? Are you critical of yourself and others? 

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to criticize means to find fault with or point out faults.  Criticism is like cancer in relationships and can tear them apart. Self-criticism leads to feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy. If we are hard on ourselves, we tend to be hard on others. 

Why do you criticize? Is it to get people to change or do things your way? Is it because you feel powerless inside and not good enough? Is it because you feel you know better than the other person? Is it a way to manage your anxiety, fear and hurt? Does it create a barrier to getting close with others? The answer may be “yes” to several of these questions. 

Below are some immediate steps you can take to shift from being less critical and to becoming more accepting and peaceful. 

    1. Explore when you started being critical. Was someone critical of you early in your life such as a parent, boss, friend or partner and now you are continuing that pattern in your personal life? Do you have black and white thinking? Will you argue to win and be right? Ask yourself whether you would rather be right or in a connected relationship. Needing to be right is a relationship killer. 
    2.  Stop and think before you speak. Be mindful about what you are thinking and whether or not there is value in saying it. Begin to look at why you are being critical and the purpose it serves in your life.  
    3. Begin to accept others as they are and focus on working on you. What we resist and try to control, will persist. We cannot change others. Criticism isn’t going to change anyone including ourselves. It will push them further away and have the opposite impact. 
    4. Know the difference between criticism and feedback. We can tell someone how we feel and speak our truth without attacking someone else or putting them down. We can share how we feel out of love and coming from a place of grace. When we are trying to be “right,” then we are more likely to be critical of another person. We want to feel heard and understood.

We can only change ourselves. Take steps today to end criticism patterns. It will change your life!

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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What Is Your Love Language?

What Is Your Love Language? | 10.11.2021

Have you ever felt unloved by your partner? Perhaps you both are simply speaking two different love languages.

There are several great relationship books. One I find extremely helpful when working with couples is The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. According to Chapman, the way we feel loved is different for everyone. This is how you feel the most loved and how our love tanks are filled. We have a primary and a secondary love language. He broke it down into five following basic love languages:

  • Acts of Service: These are doing something for your partner like emptying the dishwasher, doing laundry, cleaning the house, etc. You appreciate help more than anything.   
  • Physical Touch: This can be expressing your love by holding hands, a back rub or a touch on the arm. The type of touch varies based on the individual.
  • Words of Affirmation: This is when you notice and communicate something you like or appreciate about your partner. It can also be words of encouragement. For instance, if you notice that your partner vacuumed the living room, you might say, “Thank you so much for taking the time to vacuum the living room. I really appreciate it.” It helps your partner feel loved and appreciated.
  • Gifts: This is achieved by giving your mate a “special something.”  It can be as simple as a rose out of the garden, or a card from your local card shop. This is an “act of love” to your mate by taking the time to pick up and find the right gift, which shows to your mate your love. Often, less can be more.
  • Quality Time:  Some people feel loved by spending time together, whether they are walking, talking, eating or working out in the yard. It’s about being together without distractions like the television, computer or cell phone. 

In order to understand your own love language, ask yourself these questions: 

  1. How do I give and express love?
  2. What do I complain about the most? 
  3. What do I ask for most often?

Speaking in your partner’s love language probably won’t be natural for you or how you feel loved. Typically, we tend to give our own love language. For example, if your love language is physical touch, you will offer a lot of affection. However, that may not be your partner’s. Once couples figure out their primary love language, I have seen relationships transform. It seems so simple yet it can be extremely powerful.

Once you become aware of your love language and your partner’s, begin to “speak” their language, and see what happens. Check in with your partner and ask, “What can I do to help fill up your love tank?”

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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Bully Prevention

Bully Prevention | 9.21.2021

The effects of being bullied can have a lifelong impact if they are not dealt with or worked through. Bullying can lead to lower self-worth, depression, anxiety and even suicide. When you have either experienced or had one of your children experiences being bullied, it really hits home. If we continue working together as a community, we can help prevent bullying and stop others from a lifetime of pain. 

Now, with the internet, texting using cell phones and social media such as Facebook and Twitter, there are so many more avenues to harm others. It is now labeled, “Cyberbullying,” and it has had devastating effects on many young people.  

Bully prevention first begins at home. There are several key initiatives to help stop bullying in our schools and communities that you can begin today.

  1. Teach empathy – Work with your children on empathy skills. The most powerful way to teach empathy is by using it yourself with others and your children. You can start by saying, “I can imagine you feel (sad, mad, scared)." It helps them understand what it is like to be validated for their feelings and understood. It’s important to learn feelings and what they mean so they can identify what another person might be feeling. Ultimately, you are trying to help them see how another person might feel. You can ask questions like, “What do you think he or she is feeling? How would you feel if you were in the same situation?”
  2. Speak Up – It’s extremely important kids feel like they have a voice and will be heard. This first begins by telling someone safe what is happening like a parent, teacher or school counselor.  For years we taught our children not to be “tattle tales.” In other words, we didn’t want them coming to us to tell everyone time someone did something wrong.  I recommend having a conversation about if someone is saying mean words or pushing them around that is not okay and to first use their words to tell them to, “Stop!” Assertiveness skills are essential for life. Teaching them to say, “I don’t like it when you push me. Stop!”  If the words do not work, then they need to tell someone safe. If it happens more than three times, it needs to be reported by an adult to a teacher or someone that can help keep your child safe.  

Internet Safety – If you do let your children use cell phones, Facebook and Twitter, it’s imperative that you have access and passwords to their accounts. Do not be afraid to monitor their texts and threads, which are the conversations. It will provide you a lot of information on their friends and what is happening in their social world. Outline safety rules and guidelines and consequences if they do not follow them.

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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Parent-Child Relationship

Parent-Child Relationship | 9.06.2021

Do you ever feel like your partner is acting like your parent? Do you communicate to your partner like they are a child? Or, perhaps, you feel like the child in your relationship. Do you feel rebellious or, maybe, you want to take “control” of your partner? If this sounds like it fits, you probably have a parent-child dynamic playing out in your relationship. This is not something we may consciously think about, but when we pause and answer the questions, it starts to become clearer whether we fall into this type of communication pattern.  

This is a common relational pattern that seems to happen over time and can be passed down over generations. People begin to feel criticized, distant or resentful of their partner and how they are being talked to and treated. It’s important to stop and think about your relationship and how this dynamic started. Below are a few steps to take in order to begin changing the “roles” that have been created.

It’s important to look at our past to create understanding, not to get stuck, blame or dwell. It helps us to understand current choices, behaviors and patterns. 

  1. Look at your family-of-origin. This is a key piece to really explore and become curious about. It opens the door to really making sense out of your current and past relationships. There are several important questions to answer such as how did your parents and grandparents communicate? Did one person seem more parental of the other one by telling them what to do or how to be? What did you learn from their interactions or lack of communication?
  2. Explore relationship patterns. How do you communicate with friends, co-workers, other family members or neighbors? Is the pattern different in these relationships or similar? What were the roles and patterns in previous relationships? Did they play out the same way or different?  
  3. Work on yourself. One of the essential pieces to any change is to take ownership about how you have contributed to the issues in the relationship. Begin to look at the fear underneath the patterns. Are you afraid of rejection, abandonment, loss of freedom, not feeling good enough and so on. 
  4. Begin to change the way you communicate. If you do what you always have done, you will get the same results. Try to step outside your comfort zone and put yourself in the other persons’ shoes. Start by using “I” statements. For example, “I feel scared when you leave during a disagreement.”  Ask yourself if what the other person is saying makes sense from their perspective. This doesn’t mean you agree.

These are a few steps to take to begin the change process. It’s never too late to create the relationship you want! 

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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Are You an Enabler?

Are You an Enabler? | 9.1.2021

Do you tend to make excuses for the behavior or choices of others? Do you want to rescue or save others? Do you want to help people and end up feeling exhausted? Are you working harder than the other person? Do you do things for others or stuff your feelings just to keep the peace? Do you rationalize or minimize other people’s choices or behavior in order to keep from being embarrassed? These are all key questions when exploring whether or not you are an enabler. 

What exactly does it mean to be an enabler? Enablers have good intentions of helping other people yet they provide solutions and fix things for others preventing them from suffering their own consequences. Ultimately, people never learn the lessons they need in order to make better choices and grow. Enablers end up doing the work for them and the person floats along without solving their problems.  

There is a big difference between enabling and equipping people. When we equip someone, we give the person the information or guidance and then let that person make their own decisions. We let go of the outcome and understand it is out of our control and the other person has to want to help themselves. 

We also let the person know they can handle it on their own. We understand we are doing a disservice to another if we try to save or rescue them. They have to want to help themselves. We model what it looks like to have good boundaries by saying “no” when necessary. There is an understanding that we are all responsible for our own decisions. We empower others to step into who they are and help them learn from every decision they make.

On the other hand, an enabler tends to want to save and rescue others. Enabling doesn’t allow the other person to make their own choices and understand the connection to the consequences. Many people have to learn from experience in order to not repeat the same mistakes. Enablers have a hard time seeing someone struggle and learn from their own choices. They take responsibility for others' choices and somehow feel responsible themselves. 

We can often see an enabling pattern with parents. The best job we can do as parents is equip our children so they can make the best choices. Let them learn from their own choices and understand the cause and effect between choices and consequences both positive and negative. Ask yourself, “Am I equipping or enabling them?” before taking action.

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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Healing Through Loss

Healing Through Loss | 8.24.2021

Have you ever experienced loss? How did it impact your life? How did you grieve?

Loss is an inevitable part of life, and grief is a natural part of the healing process. Loss can be many different things such as losing someone you love including pets, a job loss, the loss of health, infertility, or letting go of a long-held dream. People process loss and experience grief in many different ways. 

Elisabeth Kϋbler-Ross was the first to study loss and grief.  She developed the five stages of grief in her book, On Death and Dying. While it’s important to note that everyone moves through grief differently and there is no “right way” to grieve, these stages simply create an understanding and context when you or someone you know has dealt with loss. 

The first stage is denial, which serves as a buffer to shocking or difficult news.  The world may become meaningless and overwhelming. Life doesn’t seem to make sense. You are in a state of shock. 

The second stage is anger. Why is this happening to me? There are many other emotions under anger such as fear and, ultimately, the pain. 

The third stage is bargaining. This often looks like making a deal with God, asking “If I do this, will you take the loss away?”

The fourth stage is depression. The person may feel numb. Empty feelings present themselves, and grief enters our lives on a deeper level, deeper than we ever imagined. This stage often feels like it will last forever. 

The final stage is acceptance. It is about accepting reality about our loss and recognizing this new reality is the permanent reality. We may never fully like this reality; however, we eventually accept it. Instead of denying our feelings, we listen to our needs. We move, change, grow and evolve. We may invest in our friendships and in our relationship with ourselves. 

People often think of each stage lasting weeks or months. The stages are responses to feelings that can last for minutes or hours as we flip in and out of one and then another. We do not enter and leave each individual stage in a linear fashion. We may feel one, then another and back again to the first one.

Grief is sometimes compared to climbing a spiral staircase where things can look and feel like you are just going in circles, yet you are actually making progress. Being patient with the process and allowing yourself to have a range of feelings about the loss can help. 

Everyone has their own way of coping with painful experiences. The list below may help you with ideas about how to manage your feelings of grief. 

  • Talk to family or friends
  • Let yourself feel your emotions
  • Seek spiritual support
  • Read books

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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Managing Our Triggers

Managing Our Triggers | 8.10.2021

What are your triggers? Have you ever responded with anger by yelling or being short with someone and then feel terrible or guilty because you have no idea what just happened? If so, chances are you were triggered by something. 

We all have stressors in our lives. What turns a stressor into a trigger is the level of your reaction. When you overreact to something or someone, it is generally because of an internal trigger. They are created by emotional events in your past that have meaning to you and are often subconscious.  

Our brain stores circumstances we have lived through, which become our stories. It also stores lessons learned, which are our beliefs, and it applies meaning to circumstances, which create our feelings. Then, when something happens in the present moment that feels similar to the past event, it’s overwhelming. Our brain sends a cascade of chemicals throughout our body creating a fight or flight reaction. 

As long as you are unaware you are being triggered, your responses remain outside your conscious control and may result in damaged relationships or lost jobs.

The good news is once you become aware of your hot buttons or triggers then you are able to understand and shift to create a different response. It’s important to note when you are hungry, angry, lonely, tired, bored or scared, you are more vulnerable to being triggered. 

Here are some helpful steps to manage your triggers:

  • Identify and notice your triggers: Identify and write down a list of people, things and events that bring about a deep emotional response within you.  If we have a certain level of awareness, we will then notice a change in our body somewhere. For example, we might have some tightness in the chest, lump in the throat, stir in the stomach, sweaty palms or racing heart. Our bodies can be the first signal or communication that we are being triggered. We might not like what we are hearing, seeing or experiencing. 
  • Pause and breathe: Once you recognize you are getting triggered, take the opportunity to pause and simply breathe. This gives you some separation from the trigger and allows you to recognize it and not immediately react. 
  • Explore the trigger: When you have time, sit down and ask yourself some key questions like the following:
    • What exactly started the trigger (words, actions, experience, smell, tone of voice)?
    • What is it about that situation or person that triggers me?
    • What is my story about it?
    • Have I ever been triggered by this or something similar in the past?
    • Where might the pattern come from?

So, the next time you overreact, stop, breathe and become aware of your triggers.  You can work through and conquer them.

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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Final Step to Healing

Final Step to Healing | 7.19.2021

Is there someone you need to forgive? Maybe you need to forgive yourself, a family member, friend, neighbor or even an abuser. Forgiveness does not mean you condone their choices or agree with their actions. It doesn’t mean you will forget what happened. 

Many people think if they forgive someone, it makes what they did okay or somehow they are agreeing with what was done to them. Forgiveness really is about taking back your power, letting go of the pain and hurt, and living a life with more peace, joy and happiness.

Forgiveness is a process – a journey. For certain people and circumstances, it happens fairly quickly, while others may take years to move on. If we hold onto the hurt, anger, bitterness and resentment over years, it begins to take a toll on our bodies, mind and spirit and our relationships. It becomes the block to connection to others and ourselves. 

I really love this quote from Catherine Ponder, “When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.” This really sums up what forgiveness can do for your life.

How do you begin the healing process? Below are a few steps that may help you move closer to forgiving. 

  1. Recognize and own your feelings. How does it feel to hold onto the feelings that come with not forgiving? How have these served you in your life? As you recognize your feelings, the healing process can begin.
  2. Look at how lack of forgiveness has impacted your personal and professional relationships. How has this affected your ability to trust and connect with others? Have you been the victim and now want to take back your power? Have you allowed the past to determine your future? 
  3. Focus on what’s in it for you. Remind yourself that forgiving can free you to move on with your life and set you free. Tell yourself that the point is to reduce angst.  
  4. Turn the details of your story around. Victims don’t have control of their lives yet heroes do. So make yourself the hero of your own saga. Another way to think of this is that although someone may have precipitated your misery, whether or not you stay miserable is entirely up to you.
  5. Write a letter to the person you feel harmed or hurt you and then let it go. You can either burn it or send it. It can be the final step to letting go. 

Lewis B. Smedes said, “You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.” This is the ultimate goal of forgiveness.

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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Give Back and Change Your Life

Give Back & Change Your Life  | 07.06.2021

When you are sad, down or feel depressed, how do you handle it? Do you sit and dwell in it or simply feel like a victim of your circumstances? Do you cry and get it out? Do you do something for someone else? Or, perhaps, you do a little of everything. 

One of the most powerful and helpful ways to move through pain, hurt, sorrow or sadness and shift, is to first let yourself move through your feelings and then do something to help someone else. Focusing on someone else helps you put things in perspective and turns your pain into gain not only for you but for others. 

Many research studies have proven that helping others regularly is essential to bettering your well-being, moderating mood swings and boosting your immune system.

Volunteering or giving back doesn’t have to be something “big” or overwhelming. It can be as simple as a smile, hug, calling a friend that you just thought about, sending a card to someone going through a difficult time or really listening and being with someone in need. You might feel called to volunteer at a soup kitchen, focus on recycling, offer to mow your neighbor’s grass or start a new community project.  What you do doesn’t matter as long as you feel like you are contributing by helping others.

Maybe you’ve had an idea or a way you have wanted to make a difference yet you never felt you had the time or didn’t make the time. This could be just the perfect opportunity to make a difference while turning your hurt into greater good. 

I have always loved the “pay it forward” concept. “You don’t need much to change the world for the better. You can start with most ordinary ingredients. You can start with the world you’ve got.” This quote is from the 2000 movie, Pay It Forward. 

Have you ever purchased coffee or gone through a drive thru and the person in front of you paid your bill? It’s a meaningful way for your contribution to spread wings and stretch further. It’s about paying it forward.

Everyone experiences life’s peaks and valleys.  The way we choose to handle these ups and downs is what really matters. Focusing on others during your next down moment can help make the world a better place and might possibly be the best way for you to move out of that valley and into the next happy time in your life. So, think about how you can pay it forward today.

-Kristen D Boice M.A., LMFT, EMDR Trained

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