Mindfulness, Acceptance & Letting Go

  – Carolyn Moriarty, LCPC     Sometimes, life can feel unfair—not just mildly inconvenient but, like, really unfair. We’ve all been there. Maybe your offer for an apartment didn’t get accepted. Or you got rejected from the job you really wanted. Or months of diet and exercise are “undone” by an unexpected injury or week of stress-eating. If several of these events happen close … Read More

How to Get Unstuck in Life

– Carolyn Moriarty, LCPC   Have you ever felt that you are “stuck” or falling behind in life? This feeling might convince you that maybe if you just tried harder, you could propel yourself into a life experience that will bring success and happiness. This feeling might prompt you to search Pinterest for motivation quotes, purchase self-help books and bullet journals, … Read More

What is a Midlife Eating Disorder?

    – Carolyn Moriarty, LCPC   National Eating Disorder Awareness week (NEDAW) is observed each year during the last week in February. During my time in high school, this “awareness” typically looked like some well-intentioned student organization plastering triggering images of “textbook anorexic” models in the girls’ bathroom. Although perspectives on eating-disorders have become more progressive, there is still … Read More

How to Let Go

by Carolyn Moriarty, LCPC   Regret is an inescapable part of life. We are human. We make mistakes. Yet the feeling of regret seems almost intolerable at times. We may find ourselves hanging on to past actions or inactions, believing that whatever personal losses they resulted in could have been avoided. Rumination over these losses can feel like it is … Read More

Coping with Change

Preparing and Managing Transitions Have you noticed the shift? A subtle change that marks the departure of summer? Is it the breeze being slightly cooler or is the absence of children playing outside as they resumed their scholastic obligations? For better or worse, school is back in session. For students, this can be a big change compared to laxer curfews … Read More

Self-Compassion: Support from Within

Down and Out When we find ourselves in low mood states, when we’re stressed, tired, and hopeless, it can be extra brutal to encounter thoughts kicking us when we are down. Blaming us. Angry and hurt potentially that we are in this position to begin with. In certain situations, a compassionate friend might just be what is needed to support … Read More

Negative Thinking Traps… Part 3

Finishing up our in-depth review of negative thinking traps, there are another five common traps that can hijack us into negative feedback loops if we are not prepared. Taking us to places that are unproductive and skewing the truth when in reality, the situation may be easily resolvable. Rounding up the last of the prominent negative thinking traps we can … Read More

Eating Disorders, Exercise Addiction, & a Pandemic.

  Commonly Known Types of ED & Their (Brief) Diagnostic Criteria: Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and Binge-Eating Disorder (BED).  Anorexia Nervosa (AN): is characterized by an individual’s refusal to maintain healthy body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and significantly distorted perception of one’s body image. There are 2 types: 1 is the restricting type- meaning there is … Read More

Suspending Judgment with our Thoughts

By Martín Prete, LCPC Being in our heads 24/7 can be difficult. Thoughts can be relentless. Passing through our stream of consciousness in a variety of manners. Sometimes it feels like speeding bullets while other times, we can barely think at all. Sometimes too, our thoughts can be nasty and cruel, even if deep down inside we don’t believe it. … Read More

Negative Thinking Traps… Part 2

In our previous post, we gave a brief outline on the concept of negative thinking traps and how they have a nasty habit of taking us away from the present moment, exacerbating our negative emotions and distorting reality. These thoughts tend to just pop into our heads but are prone to stay within our thinking process if we buy into … Read More