Transforming and Changing is Part of Our Journey

~ You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar 
Trina Paulus


Recently, I saw the above quote, and it touched me in a profound way.  Last month, I wrote about the Stages of Change, where I described the transitions and steps we take as we experience the process of change.  I explained that during the change process, we identify the internal reasons and motivating factors that lead us toward and help us want to change.  We contemplate and identify the pros and the gains of change and then we need to develop a willingness to give up the old and welcome the new.  


The metamorphosis that a butterfly experiences includes a cocoon, pupa, or chrysalis stage.  We often experience a similar stage when things are at a status quo, or even uneventful in our lives.  When we experience this stage, we often feel safe, protected, and calm.  It is when we think about changing, moving on, or transforming that we begin to feel vulnerable, unshielded, and anxious.  The anew is filled with unknowns, vulnerabilities, risks, and often fear. 


However, we can remind ourselves of the beauty and the freedom of a butterfly.  Hence, the beauty and the freedom of our own anew, whether it's a new chapter in life, a new challenge, or a new relationship...it can bring us an opportunity to experience life in a whole new way.  With every new experience and transition, our vantage point, lens, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings about ourselves and our lives alter, develop, and change.  


It's how we grow.  It is how we transition and transform.  It is part of our life process.  It's part of our journey.  It is a profound, freeing, and beautiful process which unfolds within us.  


Supporting You on Your Healing Quest

Quote for the Week

~ You can't solve a problem with the same thinking that created it ~

~ Einstein

Do you find Empathy through Creativity?

This message is significant and profound.  I encourage you to spend the next 6 minutes taking in the message and identify the part or parts that connect within you.





Here is the link to the Realizing Empathy website.

Supporting you on Your Healing Quest

Quote for the Week

~ I can be changed by what happens to me.  But I refuse to be reduced by it ~

~Maya Angelou

Counseling and Psychotherapy in Bartlett Illinois

My office at 7N750 Route 59  Bartlett Illinois, 60103

I have yet to take the opportunity to write about my private practice and tell you specifically about what I do.  I actually wear many hats in my life.  I am a mom, a wife, a director at a community counseling center, a part time professor at a local university and also, I am a therapist who offers counseling and therapy services to adults and couples in my Bartlett, Illinois office.

I have a special interest in helping women who have reproductive health issues.  Often women struggle with stress, depression, anxiety and pain from disorders and issues such as:

• endometroisis, adenomyosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, or PMS 
• infertility, miscarriage, postpartum depression
• peri menopause, menopause, uterine fibroids, hysterectomy, pelvic prolapse, or surgical trauma

I also have a special interest and extensive training, including using EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) in caring for those who have experienced different types of trauma.  Some complex trauma may be due to sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, war trauma, accidents or injuries.  Many people who have experienced trauma may have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and may suffer from:

• flashbacks, triggers, and nightmares, 
• depression, agitation, and anxiety
• avoidance of things that remind them of the trauma
• an emotional and physical numbing of their feelings and body 

And finally, I provide counseling and therapy for adults who are struggling with 

• loss, grief, and mourning
• relationship issues 
• depression and/or anxiety

If you are looking for counseling services in the area, please call me to learn more about my services.  If you know of someone close to you, who is considering counseling for themselves, please share this blog with them.   

Supporting You on Your Healing Quest

Quote for the Week

~ Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall 
together ~
~ Marilyn Monroe

How Attached Are You to Your Stuff?

Recently I have been cleaning, organizing, pitching, and donating a lot of stuff.  I try to do this at least two times per year. Honestly, I am one of those people who is not attached to her stuff.  But I know a lot of people who are "stuff" kind of people.

I was talking to a friend of mine who moved last year, and she was explaining how many things she donated and gave away. Honestly, she had a lot of stuff.  I asked her if it was freeing for her, and she said emphatically, "Yes!"

About 3 years ago I started to read (I have yet to finish) the book called The Power of Less by Leo Babauta.  I also read his blog, Zen Habits.  I appreciate his ideas and the way he thinks...but it's difficult getting into the groove.  I firmly believe what he says...the less stuff you have the less you are tied down to it, and the more time you will have to enjoy life.  He talks about having a clutter free space.  I love the concept, like I love when my desk space is clear at my office, but as many of my colleagues know, my follow through needs to greatly improve.

Some believe if your space is cluttered, then it is symbolic of your mind being cluttered as well.  A lot of stuff brings chaos and we all know people who thrive on chaos. I have known people who have so much stuff, they become overwhelmed by it and cannot get out from under it.  (I don't mean literally, as with some people who are true hoarders), but I believe it can be a symbolic representation of the overwhelming feelings they have inside.  People can also hide behind these feelings and when they do, they stay isolated.  Some people joke about how they have so much stuff, they feel shame and embarrassment and they have CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome.)

We all know our sentimental stuff can evoke attachment and security.  It provides an avenue to recall and re-experience people and events in our lives.  As we look or hold one of our sentimental objects, we can remember the time, place, and often person/people we were with when we acquired it.  Hopefully, we can get in touch we some very positive feelings and re-live those moments as well.

Our stuff can be powerful.  But when we hang onto the old, the security, and the attachment too much...it can get in the way of living.  Our stuff then becomes a barrier and a problem.  Leo Babauta talks about our stuff entrapping us...too much stuff is not freeing at all.  It can hold us back from feeling free, decrease our openness to new life experiences and blunt our ability to fully live in the present.

How attached are you to your stuff?  A Little, A Lot, Just Enough, or Too Much?


(Feel free to share your thoughts below....)


Supporting You on Your Healing Quest 

Quote for the Week

~ Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced ~

~ Lucille Ball