Emotion-coaching parents are those who see their child’s emotional reaction as an opportunity to engage with them, honor the emotion, and coach them through the accurate and appropriate expression of the emotion – especially the negative ones.
Seven Tips for Co-Parenting
A child can easily get trapped in the war and conflict of two parents getting a divorce. Some thoughts of children caught between parental conflicts could be “I need to fix the problem,” or “I’m the reason they are fighting.” Neither of which are true from an adult perspective but children experience divorce much different than adults. The best gift you can give your child when divorcing their parent is to do so respectfully and peacefully in the child’s presence.
Early Family Interactions and Your Listening Skills
We often intrinsically know whether we feel listened to and understood, ignored, dismissed, or misunderstood by another person. But how often do we intentionally think about our capacity to listen in relationships – whether that’s work, family, romantic, social, or spiritual – and how often do we reflect on the connection between our early family experiences and how they taught us to listen (or not)? Here are a few questions to help you explore how you have learned to listen (and what you expect from other listeners).
Compassionately Feeling your Emotions
It is important for us to lean into and allow ourselves to feel our emotions instead of trying to avoid them. Here are some reasons why!
Know Your Empathy Limits
A healthy form of empathy involves striking an emotional and intellectual balance between self and another person. One has the ability to pay attention to another’s needs without sacrificing one’s own.
Self-Care: Am I Just Being Selfish?
Self-care begins with taking care of your basic needs including eating, sleeping, bathing, and medical needs.
Self-care also includes activities to help you relax and de-stress. It is also maintaining relationships and finding balance between work life and personal life. Failure to attend to these needs could result in exhaustion, burnout, illness, and even possible hospitalization.
Vacation and Your Mental Health
Vacations help to alleviate stress. When someone is under chronic stress, it begins to take a toll his or her physical and mental health. Taking a vacation has the ability to break the cycle of chronic stress.
Being Present With Grief
Grief is best served when witnessed by a loving presence. This is the ointment needed to soothe the wounds of a grieving person, according to renowned grief specialist, David Kessler. Just being present with grief means more than we know.
Learning to Grieve Your Loss
By the age of forty, most people have experienced some form of loss at least fifteen times. The journey takes courage. Grief is not an easy path to negotiate and simply taking the next step forward is often fraught with overwhelming feelings. Is recovery from loss possible? Yes – although the definition of recovery may need some explanation.
What Stage of Change Are You In?
Have you ever felt like you’re ready to start thinking about change- whether it be a habit, a relationship, or even your hair- but you’re not exactly ready to take the steps to make the change? Don’t be too hard on yourself. This could be due to the fact that you’re simply not in the stage of change that you aspire to be in just yet.
