All of My Thoughts and Articles
How to Be At Peace with Yourself and the World
When you get to the bottom of people’s problems, most problems have to do with a lack of peace. Stress, anxiety, sorrow, depression—all these difficult emotions and experiences have the potential to disrupt our equilibrium. ...
Let Down Your Drawbridge
When we are in pain, we have the tendency to raise our defenses. This actually makes good sense. We don’t want to get hurt again, so the prudent thing to do is to protect ourselves. ...
In the Journey of Life, Keep Heading East
Not too long ago, I was feeling frustrated. I had been working on some goals related to my health and fitness, but I felt like I wasn’t making much progress. I was starting to get ...
When in Distress, Follow the Example of Jesus
We all go through times of distress. The other day, I was feeling quite upset. My uncle was sick with Stage IV cancer, and his prognosis didn’t look good. I was also dealing with some ...
How to Create a Work Snowball
If you are struggling to complete a task at work, it can be helpful to create a "Work Snowball." The Debt Snowball I got this idea from reading a book about money management by Dave ...
How to Use Negative Emotions as Information
Most of the time in life, we try to avoid or escape from negative emotions. This is really common in counseling. Most of the time, people seek counseling in order to “feel better.” On one ...
12 Steps to Complete a Thesis or Dissertation in Psychology
The most difficult thing to do in graduate school is to complete your thesis or dissertation project. The thesis or dissertation can seem like such an overwhelming project—sometimes people don’t even know where to start. ...
Why Grace and Acceptance is Our Greatest Need
A few years ago, I spent the Labor Day weekend in Holland, Michigan, connecting with some good friends from graduate school. Holland is a beautiful small town in Western Michigan. We caught up, ate great ...
How to Improve Your Focus with a Work-Break Balance
Sometimes I struggle with getting distracted during my workday. For example, the other day I was really trying to focus on a writing project. I was making good progress, and then for some reason I ...
