Integrative Care for Cancer Patients

The following is a guest post: Integrative Health Care Eases Pain and Grief for Cancer Patients The pain and grief felt by people with cancer can be debilitating and exhausting. When combined, pain and grief exacerbate each other. As pain increases, the ability to manage emotions becomes challenging. As grief intensifies, sensations of pain may […]
Low Self-Esteem

Because a person’s self worth is developed during childhood, there may be several factors that contribute to low self esteem: Every child needs attention and love. If you grew up in an environment where there was childhood abuse and/or neglect, chances are you struggled with a good self-image. You may have learned that you didn’t […]
What is Contemplative End of Life Care?

Spiderman & the Little Stone Angel, Photo by: Michelle S. Scott Contemplative (Adjective): To allow for reflection and manifestation (expression) of deep thoughts, involving prayer or meditation and focusing on the divine presence or higher power, within. A person at the end of their life is leaving their world, including family and friends and many […]
Honouring Our Ancestors

I recently re-tweeted @sameetkumar: “When our loved ones die, they become our ancestors, those who came & went before us because we have outlived them. They are to be honored.” This is an interesting idea, one that may not have occurred to those who don’t follow a particular tradition or religion in their daily lives. […]
Listening to Pain

Chances are good if you hear the word ‘pain’ it will spark memories of a broken bone or scrape or stitches, or a back pain that immobilizes you from bending or lifting. There are so many types of injuries and conditions that can elicit pain. Emotional pain can also be felt physically. Pay attention the […]
Grief & Trauma

Go on any PTSD or mental health website and you will find varying definitions of trauma: – an emotional shock reaction to a disturbing event – anything that is deemed non-nurturing – debilitating symptoms as a result of a life-threatening or emotionally overwhelming experience. Surviving trauma means different things to different people. The numbing effect […]
Grief & Gratitude

Much research has been done and it has been proven that gratitude goes hand-in-hand with happiness, stress tolerance, a positive attitude, and satisfaction. It isn’t always easy to embrace gratitude when we are faced with injustices and life struggles. Experiencing trauma and grief & loss challenge us to find the silver linings. How can we […]
Happiness is … Not Always Feeling Happy

Recent research on happiness indicates not only does being happy feel good, it’s good for you. More than an emotion, happiness is a state of being. What may surprise you is happy people succeed in being happy because they have learned to embrace discontent and sadness. Surprised? There are some “happy” people that you may […]
Vulnerability Means Accepting Yourself

One of the toughest things to do is accept who we are; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Even if we manage to become aware of our biases and observe our judgements of others, we are still hard on ourselves. The negative self-talk is programmed in our early development; all of the negative comments […]