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Desires

Each of my children has their own individual cravings. My son loves pizza. I think he could eat pizza for lunch and dinner every day. Sweets. 🤦‍♀️ My youngest daughter loves sweets. She screams when she doesn't get sweets. My oldest loves cereal. She could probably eat the entire

A Little Brighter

So last week I shared a little bit about what I've been struggling with: fear. I wrote that I have let fear control my actions. I also said that my goal was to not let my fears have power over me. I wanted to share a little of

Faint Glow

It has been a minute. The last 2 months have been an emotionally dark place for me and I have been struggling to figure out the emotions. I've been feeling stressed and overwhelmed in so many ways. We all have our challenges and face them daily. However, it

Buna

Have you ever experienced something so impactful that it's practically impossible to forget? You know, one of those "I have to write this down" sort of experiences? I had one such experience in May of 2018. I attended a Women's Conference and heard a

Communication: Part 5

My husband likes to argue. In fact, he is really good at it. I guess he had lots of practice in front of judges and other lawyers while he practiced law. He seems to have a knack for argument and persuasion. From what I know, he was good at arguing

You Are Not Alone

This last Sunday I taught a lesson on mental health in church to the adults and youth.  I know I only scratched the surface of such a broad topic.  One of my goals was to bring awareness and a desire for people to learn more about mental health. Based on

Shuffling Priorities

Do you have things in your life that you think you enjoy doing but never seem to find the time to them? Does it feel like you can barely keep up with the things you have to do? Do you ever feel like giving up on the enjoyable things forever?

Communication: Part 4

Last week I wrote about the FAST DBT skill. FAST helps us develop more effective communication through honest recognition of the value each person holds, including ourselves. It helps us learn to compromise fairly. In Part 2 of my Communication series, I wrote about how important it is to honestly

Communication: Part 3

I am very hard on myself. When something doesn't go as planned, I blame myself. Did I make an honest mistake? It doesn't matter; I'm a horrible person. I have extremely high expectations for myself. When I don't achieve these expectations, I&

Communication: Part 2 Follow-up

In last week’s post I wrote about not hiding the fact that we have mental health issues. I mentioned how helpful it can be to open up to someone else and be honest about something you’re struggling with. I also mentioned that opening up doesn’t only help

Communication: Part 2

One of the biggest challenges with communication is learning to be honest about something you're struggling with. Everyone is struggling with something. And everyone is trying to hide what they’re struggling with from everyone else. Maybe we fear judgment. Maybe we're ashamed or embarrassed. Maybe

Communication: Part 1

The human brain is an amazing communication tool. Our challenge to communicate begins on Day 1 as a baby. Our brains teach us to cry when we're hungry or tired. If we're really hungry or tired, our brains learn to increase the volume of our cries.

Emotions: Part 5

I just got back from spending a week with my family. We had a great time together kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, playing in the river, hiking, playing games, and just having fun together. It's so important to make memories with family! Now I am back and ready to

Emotions: Part 4

If you haven't yet, read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this discussion on emotions. Over the last 12 years of being a mom I have learned that emotions with my children ebb and flow. Some days are better than others. Daily I recognize the need

Emotions: Part 3

If you haven't yet, read Part 1 and Part 2 of this discussion on emotions. In Part 2 I discussed how using a bridle helps tame, train, and direct a horse to be of great use. Without a bridle the horse might otherwise be hostile and dangerous. Our

Emotions: Part 2

In my previous post on emotions (read it here if you haven't yet) I discussed my belief that emotions are neither good nor bad, but that learning to control our reactions to emotions is essential to avoiding undesired results. In this post I want to continue with a

Emotions

I know I have been MIA for the last couple of weeks. I have been really busy and my posts got put on the back-burner. Sometimes we just have to roll with the punches. Let's talk about emotions. A few years ago I experienced several emotional breakdowns over

Judgmental Speech

Hey, Brain. How are you? Not great. I'm such a failure. Why do you say that? My kids just don't listen. If I was a good mom, my kids would listen. That's why I'm a failure. In some of the first meetings

Fear

Ok, I’m not going to lie. I’ve had a hard few weeks. I know what things I'm struggling with, but I couldn't figure out why I was struggling with them. (By the way, I'm still struggling with them.) Then the other day

Meeting People Where They're At

Throughout the decades society has held expectations: * Wives should have dinner on the table when their husbands get home from work. * Toddlers should behave well in public at all times. * We should keep our homes spotless. * Women should have perfect bodies. * Children should have perfect grades. * We should be able

Boundaries

A few weeks ago [www.howareyoubrain.com/choices/] I wrote about scenarios that present the chance to make intentional choices. As a kind of follow-up, I wanted to talk about boundaries. All of the scenarios I listed related to my relationship with other people. And more often than not, I

Balance

With so much going on in my life, I often struggle feeling balanced. Starting in the mornings, I have to: * Do personal gospel study * Say my prayer * Wake up my son * Make my son breakfast * Wake the girls up for family prayer * Get my son to school * Make breakfast for

Choices

> "The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice." George EliotEach day I see how much more important it is to be intentional when making choices. We make choices all day, every day. Most choices are not between right and wrong. Most are simply about our

Shame vs. Guilt

Hey, Brain. How are you? > I feel guilty about going to that activity tonight. Why do you feel guilty about that? > Honestly, I feel guilty leaving our husband with the kids because the kids are supposed to bathe tonight and the kitchen is still a mess and and

Finding Safe People

Hey, Brain. How are you? > I'm not great. I feel really alone. I think we're keeping a lot in. What if we share what we're feeling with someone? > I just don't know who to talk to. Why don't

Honest Recognition

Hey, Brain. How are you? > I am fine What about that outburst we had a little bit ago? That didn't seem fine. > I was just stressed. I'm fine now. That has been happening regularly. Maybe something else is going on. > You're

This is me.

Hi, Brain! How are you today? > I'm fine. "Fine" is code for "I want to talk." So tell me: what's going on? > I feel like I failed today because I didn't get anything done. I'm sorry