Psychotherapist, Author, Estrangement Specialist
If you’ve been cut off by your adult child or children, you might experience some of the following signs and symptoms of anxiety: You worry excessively. Your breathing is often shallow and fast, rather than slow and deep. You can’t seem to relax, physically or mentally. You have trouble concentrating on other things. You do things you know you shouldn’t, because you can’t stop yourself. Anxiety in the face of unwanted estrangement is understandable. The …
Walking through my local city park this morning, I noticed one else was there. ‘There’s no one in the park right now,’ I thought to myself. But then I remembered that I was in the park. So there was someone in the park after all. Small, spontaneous perspective shifts like this remind me that a change in perspective is always possible. As Daniel Kahneman said in Thinking, Fast and Slow, what we see is not …
It’s natural for parents to want to support their children, no matter their age. But when it comes to adult children, setting boundaries can be especially challenging. Parents may feel torn between offering help and maintaining healthy, respectful limits. Recently, I had the opportunity to contribute to this article in Woman’s World that offers practical guidance on how to set boundaries lovingly but firmly with adult children. The article refers to situations that may be …
One of our new members over in the Reconnection Club recently posted an introduction in which she said she was reminding herself to breathe. There was a time in my life when such a thing would have struck me as bizarre; isn’t breathing automatic? Why would anyone need to remember to do it? But the more I learn about breathing, the more I come to understand that not all breathing is automatic Survival breathing is …