You may have heard that therapy is not the place for politics, and that therapists are obligated to maintain neutrality in the room, regardless of their personal beliefs. It is true that there used to be a time when therapists were trained this way, and this history still finds its way into many or most training programs. Today, there are still therapists who attempt to practice this way. I am not one of them. In fact, my practice is founded on the basis that our mental and spiritual health is intertwined with the ways in which we interact with the world and the world interacts with us- individually and collectively. Our racial identities and experiences are a core part of how the world interacts with us, and we cannot meditate or therapize ourselves out of the reality of racism. 

As many of us continue to be living with stay at home orders, social distancing, and limited options for safely engaging with the outside world, we are spending more time with ourselves. I am hearing from many that this increase in self-reflective time has increased the pre-therapy jitters. It’s common to feel a bit nervous before a therapy session. In a pre-pandemic world, it may have been a quieter build up of nerves due to rushing to session (maybe even in person) from work, or going right into a social get together after a session. With less face to face interaction with others, we can hear ourselves that much more clearly, and that might bring up fears of doing therapy “wrong” or fear of really being seen in therapy. Today we’ll take a look at factors that contribute to these nerves, how to cope, and when it might be time to reconsider your path with therapy. 

It is incredibly easy to find information about how to exercise, how much you should be exercising, and why it’s important to exercise. In fact, this information seems to find us, even when we aren’t looking. You might receive this information from your doctor, your friends, the nightly news, and daily targeted advertisements on your social media! The message behind much of this information is that you need to exercise to be healthy and this might also mean changing something or many things about the way your body looks. It can feel really challenging to divert your attention from these messages and check in with yourself on how much and what type of movement your body needs. 

This Sunday, May 10th, is Mother’s Day here in the United States. Although Mother’s Day is particularly weird this year, let’s be clear that Mother’s Day can be a day of mixed emotions any year. You may be relating to the day from the role of a mother or from the role of an adult child --or both. I find that any day that carries the expectation of joy and celebration also carries with it the shadow of loss and pain. I hope that you can allow yourself to honor the multiple truths of the day that feel present to you.