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It Takes an Inner Village: You and Your Many Parts
This morning I found myself in an unexpected argument with my husband. 😬 It was supposed to be a mildly mundane conversation about our schedule wherein I offer to take on more time with our children. But all of a sudden he’s upset with me and I’m completely baffled. I’m convinced that I’m acting from…
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Taking a Meaningful Inventory of Your Friendships
Loneliness is one of those conditions that is at the root of so much of our suffering. Human beings are designed to live in community, and so when we feel disconnected and apart from others our systems don’t tolerate it well. Loneliness is born from the illusion that we are separate. When indeed, we are…
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Finding Calm One Note at a Time
We can all find ourselves in moments of frenzy. This morning I caught myself loading the dishwasher WHILE tucking in my shirt. 😵💫 Our frenzy isn’t always visible on the outside but is certainly still felt inside. It’s even possible (and common in the clients I see) for the inner frenzy to lack any cause…
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Open Unimaginable Doors by Doing What You Please
Can you sometimes be your own EVIL STEPMOTHER?? “Clean that up!” “Get back to work!” “No, you can’t go to the ball!” Somewhere along the way we started to believe that if we want to be “successful” or of any worth, we need to force ourselves to do things we don’t want to do. ‘Cause…
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Nurturing Your Child’s Creative Spirit
The importance of your child’s creativity (as well as your own, by the way) cannot be overstated. You can think of it like this, When your child is creating, the billions of neurons and its many synapses in her brain are growing beautiful and wild…setting her up for a future that is bright with creative problem-solving,…
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Washing the Baby Buddha: The Sacred Tasks of Daily Living
I can get dizzy with all of the daily tasks of living. Like, literally, dizzy. I spin around in circles – from the empty toilet paper roll to the change on the floor to yesterday’s unpacked bags. All while demands are piling up: text message alerts, my children’s constant and urgent needs for snacks and…
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Four Obstacles to Pursuing Your Dreams
One of the foundational stories in my therapy practice is the story of The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho (PRO tip: If you want to give yourself a most precious gift, let Jeremy Irons read this tale to you in the audio-book). Coelho, I believe, was the chosen recipient of a message that was channeled from the Beyond.…
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“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”
The suffering of our planet is nothing new to those who have been listening with their hearts. But when the pandemic first introduced itself to humankind and we locked ourselves into our bubbles, we were left to sit in our helplessness, captive audiences of the despair that surrounded us. This was when the words from a…
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Why Are People So Annoying? Jung Explains…
(HINT: It has to do with what you see in the mirror) The friend who is always late The roommate who never washes their dishes The co-worker who gets away with doing nothing all day These are the kinds of people that can send you to the store for eggs and toilet paper Why do…
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Life with an Open Palm
One of my favorite stories to share with my clients is the old parable about how to catch a monkey. My Inner Animal Activist always pretends it’s not a real story, so feel free to imagine with me. It goes like this: In the olden days the hunters would carve a hole into a coconut,…
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Guilt: The Misguided Crime Stopper
It happened again this morning. I was scraping the ice off the windshield of my car and I noticed this all-too-familiar feeling inside me. It was part anxiety, part guilt. The ominous feeling that I had done something wrong. And I was already punishing myself, imaginary whip in hand, deep in self-flagellation. 😔 Had I…
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Seven Signs You May Be Spiritually Bypassing
The road to a spiritual life is different for everyone, but spiritual bypassing is a potential hazard for all. Sometimes our spiritual journey can feel so slow-going that to think that we go too fast seems a far-fetched idea. Some spiritual awakenings can feel like a blissful catapult into a new mind-blowing paradigm where nothing…
Adrienne Cress, LLC
Expressive Arts Therapist and Educator
Adrienne Cress, LLC 