Category: Uncategorized

Our Open House is coming Friday, November 14th and the theme for the evening is “The Way We Grow”. As you tour our building, the different therapy rooms will be set up and focused around different things we encounter that help us grow. The things that help us grow are not always things we see as positive. For example, we grow through pain. We also grow sometimes through getting angry. Kids grow and learn through their misbehavior. We spend our time trying to rid our lives of these things and yet, they are the very stuff which can promote our … Read more

There will be a theme at our Open House coming in a couple of weeks (Friday, Nov. 14th). The theme is “The Way We Grow”. When you step inside the building, there will be some simple interactive things in which you can be involved, focused on phenomena which cause growth to occur in human beings. Think “plants” and processes which take place around us in nature.

It’ll be fun. See you there!… Read more

Open House November 14, 2014

We would like to cordially invite you to our Open House coming up November 14 from 3 pm to 6 pm at the Real Life Counseling Offices. We would love for you to come and see our new space, learn a little about what we do, and have an all-around good time!

Refreshments and drinks will be provided. It would be our great honor if you would come!… Read more

Half the battle when you are approaching challenging circumstances in your life is having someone alongside you who is supportive, non-judgmental, and who will help you find solutions without trying to fix the problem for you. So many times in our lives, we have people who are “trying to help” blame us or someone else for the problems and although we ourselves and/or others may have had a hand in causing our present circumstances, it does not help to have someone blame, shame or condemn. We need someone who will come alongside, acknowledge that we all have things to work … Read more

We have really been taken by the work of Brené Brown, who wrote Daring Greatly, and has one of the most popular TED talks in existence. She has a raw, truthful and hopeful approach to presenting her research about shame and the “way through,” which is to become vulnerable – the most courageous thing any of us can do.

This is groundbreaking stuff, since our world is so full of fear, defensiveness and shame. We have found her approach quite helpful in what we do with couples, individuals, and families. One of the primary places we experience shame … Read more

Brené Brown, talking about seeking comfort in her book, The Gifts of Imperfection:

I wasn’t raised with the skills and emotional practice needed to ‘lean into discomfort,’ so over time I basically became a take-the-edge-off-aholic. But they don’t have meetings for that….For me, it wasn’t just the dance halls, cold beer, and Marlboro Lights of my youth that got out of hand – it was banana bread, chips and queso, e-mail, work, staying busy, incessant worrying, planning, perfectionism, and anything else that could dull those agonizing and anxiety-fueled feelings of vulnerability.

 … Read more

We wanted to introduce you to our friend, Delia Lujano. Delia loves working with children. She works with adults as well, but when it comes to her job as a Professional Counselor at Real Life Counseling, she prefers to work with children. Her face lights up and so does her voice when she sees the little ones she works to help.

Delia’s commitment to children shows in her clients’ love for her, as well. The children who come to Real Life Counseling and see Delia for Play Therapy know that they have her attention and that she really wants … Read more

Click on the article below to read about animal-assisted therapy in The Costco Connection Magazine, and read about our very own Therapy Dog, Cooper here.

	Look inside >
Healing heroes

… Read more

… Read more

“Confidence, like art, never comes from having all the answers; it comes from being open to all the questions.”

– Earl Gray Stevens

Check out this article on what happy people do. Seligman’s work is great.

The Habits Of Supremely Happy People… Read more

Check out the following link from ABC News posted today. It’s an article about the link between gut bacteria, GI disorders and anxiety disorders.

Anxiety In Your Head Could Come From Your Gut… Read more

… Read more

“Nobody’s ready for marriage.  Marriage makes you ready for marriage… Marriage is a people-growing machine.”

David Schnarch, “The Sexual Ecology of Love Relationships,” SMU-in-Plano, March 10, 2011

… Read more

We find journaling rather helpful in getting to know ourselves, and would recommend this book, The Book of Me: A Do-It-Yourself Memoir. It’s for anyone trying to start journaling or who is just interested in connecting with thoughts about their life or the world. It is a journal with a lot of writing space and a lot of prompts that help jumpstart your thinking to write about lots of important stuff.

Here are some of the prompts contained in the pages:

• What was the biggest emotional risk you ever took, and how did it play out? 
• Both men and women

There are several personality assessments (or inventories) available out there – tools which help you learn about who you are and help explain your thinking, behavior, feelings and motivations. Below are some personality assessments we refer to and use with people. They have proven helpful to many in getting to know themselves better:

Myers-Briggs – http://www.myersbriggs.org/

The Enneagram – https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

The Birkman Method – http://www.birkman.com/ (We also know a very talented and helpful Certified Birkman Consultant locally if you are interested.)

The human personality is a complex thing. No one instrument can capture the whole picture and account for all … Read more