April is National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, this topic is very important to me. And since one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18 (according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), this issue should […]
Crisis Management 101 (How to be resilient when you or your family experiences a series of unfortunate events.)
Has your family ever been slammed with a whole lot of difficulties, all at once? Just when you think things are getting better—maybe even back to normal—some new problem arrives to knock you to your knees. A few years back, our family experienced a number of negative issues: boom, boom, boom. Cancer diagnosis for my […]
10 Tips for Living a Whole-Hearted Life (As taught by Brene Brown when she was my co-pilot)
At the end of last year as I drove over the river and through the woods to visit my grown daughter, Brene Brown taught me how to live a whole-hearted life. Because my friend Karen Haring—founder and executive director of Libera, Inc.—recommended more than once that I listen to Brown’s 6-cd audio recording of her […]
Life Planning 101: How to Make Your Life Great Again
I have a theory on life. Actually, it’s more like a set of rules. I call them my “Joy Rules.” Practice Gratitude Examine Your Life Pursue Your Purpose In my opinion (and experience), if you apply these three principles, life improves. Since it’s the first month of a brand new year, let’s leapfrog over Joy […]
How to Win a Wrestling Match (with Loneliness)
Confession: I stockpile Facebook statuses. Hey, don’t judge me. My ammo pile of cleverness is for your benefit. My goal always being to educate, inspire, and/or amuse you. There is, however, one status I was too chicken to post: ”Don’t feel sorry for me, but I’m lonely.” From time to time, posts like this appear […]
Crossing over Fear (Aka: What happens when you have no choice but to do the thing that terrifies you.)
On Dec. 2, 2017, I accomplished something awe-mazing. I drove over the New River Gorge Bridge. That may seem like no big deal to you, but, to me, it’s huge. If you know me well, or if you read my post last week, “A Scaredy-cat’s Guide to Travel,” you know I suffer from gephyrophobia, fear […]
1st Responder: How to react when the traumatized child is your own.
“In this life you will have trouble.” Man, do I believe this statement. Not simply because Jesus said the words, but because I’ve personally experienced trouble. And now that I’ve lived a half a century, time and again I’ve seen bad things happen to good people, people I love. But what if it’s your own […]
Do Yourself A Favor: Thoughts on Self-Care and Self-Love (from the founder and Executive Director of Libera, Inc.)
by Karen Haring Just this week, I was talking through a struggle with my counselor. One that made me cry, one that I wasn’t sure how to navigate. “Do you think it could be because you devalue yourself?” Ugh. Don’t you just love it when your counselor/friend/significant other nails it? And you didn’t even see […]
