Being there for your kids

Life nowadays can be so overwhelming and crazy that it feels like you are going nuts, but probably not. However, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If this is you, counseling or psychotherapy may launch you on your healing journey. Check out my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. Buy your copy on amazonbooks.com by clicking on https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ.

It's true. What you pay attention to grows. Focus on the negative, negative grows. Focus on the positive, and the positive grows. While we do need to address feeling overwhelmed and put the negative in perspective, your healing journey begins when you pay attention to the positive. Check out my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life on amazonbooks.com by clicking on https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ Blessings, Dr. Jon

Ya know, each of us has so much going on all at once that life can be overwhelming. Making sense out of it all can be really hard. Other people's words can be hurtful and explosive, especially if you don't know where they are coming from. Ya know what else, when you are stuck like this, don't take it personally. In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I offer this as a rule for life. Finding out what else is going on opens the door to greater emotional intimacy. Buy your copy from amazonbooks.com at https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ. Blessings, Dr. Jon

Life can get so hectic so quickly sometimes that we all just need to breathe. Today's youth tell us to "Just take a chill pill." Good advice. In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I share my mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) components in real-life therapy sessions. Using mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behaviors strategies blended seamlessly together are the ingredients for a stress-relieving chill pill. Buy your copy on amazonbooks.com at https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ.

Your choice. Focus on the negative and it grows. Focus on the positive and it grows. The negative spirals you down and into your stuck-ness. The positive spirals you upward on your healing journey to soaring. My new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life is a good place to change your perspective. Buy your copy at https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ . Blessings, Dr. Jon

Your daily activities determine how you reach your goals and how you feel about yourself. When you are in a downward spiral of stuck-ness, there's not much movement. Progress is slow. To begin upward soaring, consider adding therapeutic journaling as a part of your daily regimen. It's a great habit to develop. In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I explain how helpful therapeutic journaling can be to your healing process. Buy your copy at amazonbooks.com. Click https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ. Blessings, Dr. Jon

Sorry for messing with you to get your attention. Your business is your own, but I do want to talk about your mind and how you can traverse stages on your healing journey, actually changing how our brain functions. There are 4 stages to your healing journey. Making the commitment to healing change, your brain develops brand new neuropathways. This process, called neurogenesis, is the source of hope and change with counseling and psychotherapy. Check out my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. Buy your copy at amazonbooks.com by clicking over to https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ Blessings, Dr. Jon

We all endure hardships of one sort or another. If we let them, they will turn into downward spirals that leave us feeling helpless and alone. What if you could take all of that mess that is yours and turn it from a curse into a blessing? In my book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I explain using mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) as a healing journey where your therapist is your guide in seamlessly weaving together mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral strategies to help you out of your stuck-ness and begin soaring. Get your copy on amazonbooks.com at https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ Blessings, Dr. Jon

When we grumble about what's wrong in our life, we stay on a downward spiral. I call it the "Woe is me." Eeyore syndrome. It's hard to function while grumbling, and grumbling affects your surroundings as well. Using mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT), I help guide my patients find things in their lives to be grateful for, however how miniscule it might seem to their problems. It's true. Gratitude affects attitude. When you are mindful, focus on the positive, and reframe difficult events in your life, you can turn a downward spiral into upward soaring. My new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, is a great resource for your journey. Buy your copy at https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Journey.../dp/B0CY9PQXMZ. Blessings, Dr. Jon

We all worry, about all sorts of stuff. Is it possible to be worry-free? It is if you learn to trade in any budding worry for curiosity. When you do that, your "what if" worry questions become "I wonder" curiosity statements. Add a potential positive outcome to your curiosity and you generate creative thinking and positive action to keep your worry at bay. Little Jonny (that's me, back in the day) thought to himself, "What if I fail this science test after all the work I've put into studying for it?" He remembers the "I wonder" trick and asks himself, "I wonder how well I will do on the science test after all my hard work." Check out Amanda's story that follows. Blessings, Dr. Jon

As we let go of the past and look forward to the future for a new year, we become more hopeful. Mentalligent Psychotherapy (MPT) offers you that hope on your healing journey. Check out how high school senior Kelly climbs out of her despair of being dumped by her boyfriend and finds hope as I use mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral strategies to guide her on her healing journey. Blessings, Dr. Jon

Everybody gets sad one time or another and for various reasons. What you do with that sadness can define your quality of life. The holidays are often occasions when feeling sad can overwhelm us and take us out of a good mood. Follow little Becky's exchange with her mama over the recent death of her Nana and hear an example of using mentalligent psychotherapy to conquer your holiday blues. For more on MPT, buy my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, at amazonbooks.com. Click on https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ to make your purchase. Happy Holidays, Dr. Jon

Are you one of the gazillion people who consistently wear masks? You know, the mask that hides what you are really feeling? Mask-wearers often engage in happy talk with others. Playing the game of socializing when you really don't feel like it. How about trading in your fake happy for real happy. Mentalligent Psychotherapy (MPT) can help you do that. By using the treatment strategies of mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive-behavioral interventions, you can leave your stuckness of fake happy behind and begin to soar toward real happy. Find more in my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. Buy your copy on AmazonBooks.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ

Clinical depression lives in about 20% of our population. Yet, we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Clearly, money doesn't buy happiness. One of the sources of stuckness is having a consumer-generated perspective. The more I have, the better I'll feel. Nope. Not so. One of your mental pathways on your healing journey is to trade in your consumerism , which keeps you stuck, and become more grateful, which frees you to soar. Gratitude motivates us to give to others, reach out, enjoy with others what we have. Focusing on our gratitude is one of the elements of positive psychology which I share with you in my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. Buy your copy at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ. Blessings, Dr. Jon

ONe of the most difficult things for folks who are stuck is to overcome absolute thinking. Chicken Little ranted in a panic about his conviction that the sky is falling. This is a folklore example of extreme, debilitating anxiety. Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh's friend ambled around believing that everything was absolutely aweful and would never change. This is a folklore example or reactive depression. In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I share with you means for overcoming your stuckness and beginning to soar. Check it out.

Being a one and done thinker is the origin of your stuckness. As you become more curious, you challenge your stuckness and open the door to being more resilient. More options equal more opportunities to embrace you healing journey. This is your path from being stuck to soaring. Blessing, Dr. Jon

Your healing journey begins with challenging your mindset. There are 5 paths to take, navigating each path clears the way from your stuckness to soaring, becoming who you want to be. Today's podcast presents the first of five paths. Check it out.

Are you messy? Does being messy keep you from staying focused? Getting things done? If so, what can you do about it? News flash!! It's okay to be messy. Messy is a descriptor, not a definer. If you use messy as an excuse for not accomplishing your goals, then messy has a hold of you. Rather, you want to get a hold of it. Mentalligent psychotherapy helps you use positive psychology, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral strategies to be okay with who you are and move forward on your healing journey. Blessings, Dr. Jon

Seeds are the beginning of everything. Plant them and stuff grows. Gardens we know about. Let me introduce you to the seeds that grow your stress resilience. Check it out. Blessings, Dr. Jon

Do you remember the old definition of insanity? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. With counseling and psychotherapy, we help patients change old, unhealthy habits and find new ways to get from here to there. My new treatment technique, mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) aligns with our brain's neuroplasticity, using mindfulness, positive psychotherapy, and cognitive behavioral strategies to shut down unhealthy, old neural behavioral pathways and generate new, healthy neuropathways on your healing journey. If you want to get from here to there, MPT is the means to embrace your brain's neuroplasticity. Blessings, Jon

When we're building a new relationship, we spend time getting to know each other. We plan, do stuff together, have fun. But really, that stuff is all about getting to know you, not getting to really know you. Sharing deep, intimate feelings with each other, being there in times of upset and crisis, that's when you really know the other. Those times together are spent in one's inner sanctum. It's always a risk to open up your inner sanctum to another. However, it's really worth it. That's where, in shared emotional intimacy, you find your kindred spirit, your soul mate. So, I'm asking today, where is your inner sanctum? Check out the following.

How many of your encounters ended badly because of misunderstood words? I bet it's way too many. It's really true that your words matter. When you have to add, "I'm just messing with you," or," Just kidding, Sheesh!" the damage of your words to your partner has already been done. In the following, I offer insight into how and why your words matter and also how you can be clear and specific to avoid hurt feelings. More is available in my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. You can find it on amazonbooks.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ

We all are who we are. But who is that? Many components over our lifetime make us who we are. The parts we like? We embrace. The parts we don't like? We can do something to change them. To look at how we form our personal identity, check out the following. For more, go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ.

Dieting is never fun. It seems like forever to lose to your goal weight. Once there, though, the reward in confidence, self-image, mood, and assurance is fantastic! Pattie needed to lose the final 30 lbs. to reach her pre-pregnancy weight. See how she got there. She's a whole new person. I have more such stories in my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. Find it at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ. Blessings, Dr. Jon

When summer starts and kids are out of school, kids go, "Yaaay!" Parents go, "Ugh! Groan." While there may be lots to fill the long summer hours, how about something new? This website, https://www,websiteplanet.com/blog/safest-coding-sites-for-kids/, is a great place to find some new stuff. It reviews 38 code-learning, gaming options for you and your kids, available for kids ages 5-18. Check you my examples and go to the above web-site for the whole package. Help fill your kid's summer with fun and educational stuff. Blessings, Jon

Bad things happen to everyone. It's how we handle them that develops our character and defines our lives. Really bad things can leave emotional scars that need healing. When those scars generate flashbacks to traumatic events, that's the heart of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Check out this podcast and get a context for your healing journey. Blessings, Jon

Healthy boundaries are the emotional elixir of strong relationships. When we maintain healthy boundaries, we balance self-care with other care. Feelings are not hurt. Good choices are made. Everybody is valued and all of us get along. Great! Easy to identify and talk about. Hard to put in place. With this podcast, I'm sharing with you the substance and context of setting healthy boundaries and also giving you an example from a therapy exchange. My new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, gives more concrete examples and shows how mentalligent psychotherapy can light your path on your healing journey. Blessings, Jon

In effective therapy, there are 4 stages. As you go on your healing journey, these mile markers will guide you. Check them out. Blessings, Jon

Rubber bands hold the key to our healing journey and mental health. Wait. What? Think about it. Rubber bands are so unassuming until you use them. Their use comes from their ability to stretch, expand, and gather essential parts. Does that sound like personal human growth to you? Ponder the rubber band with me. Blessings, Jon

Life is stressful. Good stress, called eustress, as well as bad stress, which we all know as distress. You can't get away from it. The best way you can deal with stress is to develop resilience. Being resilient gives you the tools to overcome any adversity and to develop healthy stress management. Today I offer the ABCs of mastering resilience. Whether you are among the stressed (aren't we all?) general public or a helping professional looking for the latest tools of innovative psychotherapy, check out this new episode.

Deciding to start psychotherapy and be a monumental decision for someone. You're stuck in your life. Probably have been there for a long time. You've tried other options to no avail. You want to get unstuck and forge a new life for yourself. In my clinical experience over 40 years, I've noticed 4 types of clients. Accordingly, they tend to complete their therapy in certain lengths of time. Mentalligent psychotherapy can help you zero in on your treatment goals and make the most out of your therapy experience. Check it out. Blessings, Jon

Getting into psychotherapy is a big, big deal. Some people jump right in. Most, however, are reluctant to invest the time and effort into healing. Go figure. With encouragement and commitment, therapy will begin. Your healing is a journey, while therapy is the process that can focus and energize your healing journey. This piece identifies the four stages of the therapy process and resources to facilitate your journey. Check it out. Blessings, Jon

Ya know? Getting unstuck is so hard to do because we are so used to being stuck. Ugh! Today I'm sharing with you my way of using mentalligent psychotherapy to help people make the shift from stuckness to healing. We are all used to the familiar, even when it is unhealthy. Embracing the new involves moving your mindset from the unhealthy, which is familiar to you, to the healthy, which is unfamiliar. With practice, then, the healthy becomes more familiar, your new normal. Check it out. If you are curious, get more from my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life. Blessings, Jon

Emotional baggage is a reference to the issues that we've endured from our past and that threaten to define who we are in our future. It's time to dump your emotional baggage. Mentalligent psychotherapy is a means of addressing your stress and stuckness, shedding a downward spiraling, and soaring into your future on the upward spiraling of your healing journey. Mentalligent psychotherapy uses three interwoven treatment strategies to help you soar. Mindfulness sets the stage for your journey. Positive psychology changes your focus from what's wrong to what's right. Cognitive behavioral interventions clean up your personal mess and clears you to soar. Check it out.

We all experience loss. How we handle it defines it as a blessing or a curse. While we first go to friends and family to make sense of it all, if our grieving and depression linger, we can benefit from psychotherapy. Mentalligent Psychotherapy (MPT) is an excellent resource for you.

Mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) elegantly weaves the treatment strategies of mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral interventions into a fabric of healing. Your therapist is your guide on a healing journey. MPT lifts you up from the downward spiraling of depression and promotes ways to maintain upward spiraling.

What if questions generate anxiety. I wonder statements generate curiosity. When you want to calm down, switch out your what if anxiety into I wonder curiosity. Being curious about your circumstances always has a calming effect. Check it out.

What's going on with you in here is equally important to what's going on out there. Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are generated from adaptive brain functioning. Mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) is designed to optimize adaptive brain functioning. Here's an example. Blessings, Jon

Did you know? What you pay attention to grows. If you labor on what's wrong, you might mis what's right. In this podcast, I help you find the blessing amidst the struggles and difficulties of your life. Mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT) is a means of doing so. Check it out.

Living life on the edge can be both precarious and thrilling. Sometimes the balance is worth it. Other times, the toll can be debilitating anxiety. Take a moment to check out this podcast and learn just how you can talk yourself off the edge, overcoming adversity, improving stress management, and restoring resilience. Blessings, Dr. Jon

One of the realities of life is that what we focus on grows. Focus on the negative and it grows. Focus on the positive and it will grow. In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I incorporate positive psychology as one of three major treatment interventions, artfully interwoven, to define mentalligent psychotherapy. "Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. That's What it's all about." A cute song back in the day that embraces positive psychology. Check it out.

People often dismiss being mindful as psycho-babble. Just talking stuff to sound cool. And yet, if you are in emotional crisis, being weighed down by past experiences and dreading the future, then learning mindfulness can be a part of your lifesaving healing journey of mentalligent psychotherapy (MPT). In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, I identify mindfulness as one of three critical treatment strategies of MPT. To avoid the gap if your depressive past and your dreaded future of more of the same, stay in the present. Mind the gap.

We change our minds all the time. Most is, whatever. But, when you start therapy, it's about changing your mind permanently. With mentalligent psychotherapy, your efforts to trade in downward spiraling for upward spiraling is about developing new neural pathways, using your brain's neuroplastic characteristic, to effect positive outcomes that last forever. In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, you will find the means to make those changes to your habits, personality, and relationships that will serve you well for the rest of your lifetime. Check it out and consider changing your mind.

Unless you find yourself in emergency circumstances, sorting out all of your options for beginning therapy is a good idea. To that end, I encourage using my 6-week rule. Check it out.