Every day I see evidence for the importance of emotional intelligence for positive self-esteem, healthy relationships, life satisfaction, and overall personal success. Take a look at this article, about not only the importance of our own EQ, but of teaching kids about it too.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle
Excellence is not about being without error, but rather being our best self, the person that we are meant to be. Often times, our choices or habits, shroud our true identity and cause us to be our less-than-better-selves. Consequently, our lives add up to a series of habits, choices that we make, and behaviors that we do. We all have habits or behaviors that we’d like to change:
Changing a habit or behavior can be difficult, but not impossible. It takes desire, self-discipline, and commitment. We often try to make changes, only to quickly fall back into old patterns. However, if we take some advice from Aristotle, excellence or rather the success of reaching our desired behavior, is only a new habit away. Making a habit change has several stages: self-awareness, making a plan, working the plan, and maintaining the new behavior. Having a trusted companion, like a therapist, can provide a source of accountability, encouragement and support in making habit or life changes that last. So what's standing in the way of you being your best self?
Every person is inherently creative whether they recognize it or not. Sometimes, creativity is thought of in a limited way, in regards to making art, or other external creative designs. However, the definition of create shows us differently:
create:
One of the aspects that sets me apart from other therapists, is my ability to integrate creativity into the therapeutic process. Being creative in therapy, is about tapping into each client's ability to create something unique. From utilizing metaphor, to art making, to creative problem solving, I am always trying to keep the therapy experience interesting and evolving. Growth and change requires a movement away from sameness or stagnation, towards bringing newness into existence. In other words, therapy is a collaborative creation.
No matter what season of life you find yourself, with age, relationships, career, or family status, taking care of yourself is not only vital to your own health and well being, but also to those who rely on you. As women, we often strive to support and give to others with our time, money, energy or individual talents. We work hard to give our best to our careers, families, friendships, and all the other aspects of our lives in which we are involved. Sometimes we feel like we are giving so much, and that there is hardly any time or energy left to devote to nurturing ourselves. However, it is vital for us, no matter what season of life that we are in, to be nurturing ourselves, inside and out. Most women I talk to do agree that it is important to take care of themselves not only to be healthy themselves, but so that they can continue giving of themselves in all the ways they do. Yet, so often there are hindrances that stand in the way of being able to practice self care at all, let alone do it well. Sometimes women think that focusing on themselves is selfish or they experience a sense of guilt about it. Other times, women have difficulty setting clear boundaries around their commitments and end up giving all their time or selves away. Take some time to reflect on your own life and assess whether you are giving yourself the amount of time and focus that you need to nourish yourself in body, mind and spirit. For today ask yourself these questions: How well am I caring for myself and my own needs? Do I tend to prioritize the needs of others to the detriment of my own? What hindrances are prohibiting me from giving myself the care that I need?