THE BRAVELY BALANCED BLOG
For the overachiever and the overworked!
How exhausted are you? I know the feeling!
Does being exhausted serve you? What if I told you that you could have it all without subjecting yourself to hustle culture?
Sounds divine, doesn’t it? Follow along and feel the ease!
Category
- Analysis Paralysis
- Anger and Depression
- Anxiety Stress & Fear
- Balance
- Burning the candle
- Burnout
- Change
- Dealing with Urgency
- Doubt
- Drive
- Emotional awareness
- Empowerment and Living
- Epigenetics
- Expectation
- Faith
- Healing
- Hope
- Inspiration
- Introversion
- Leadership
- Personal Boundaries
- Personal Strengths
- Resilience
- Self-reliance
- Shame
- Trauma
- Victim Mentality
- Vulnerability
- Worry
- avoiding conflict
- balance
- being alone
- conflict resolution
- connection
- decluttering
- duty and guilt
- emotional eating
- empathy
- energy
- feeling stuck
- happiness
- imposter syndrome
- intentions
- justice
- love
- mindfulness
- overeating
- perfection
- perfectionism
- procrastination
Why Decisions Need Daylight
I was speaking with a friend the other day about choices: she had a decision to make that was difficult, not only because it was momentous but also because it was emotional. She wanted to talk it over with her friends so that whatever decision she ended up making would be something she could live with.
I’ve done that and always appreciated the clarity I received from simply bringing it to the light of day. I’ve also not done that, making decisions based solely on my own thought processes. Sometimes these ended up being good decisions. Sometimes they led to circumstances I deeply regretted. …
I’m A Thinker, Not Just A Worrier
I worry, as do many of the people I see weekly. I worry about how I’ll be received, how the state of my community will be tomorrow or a month from now, how my practice is doing. I worry about my health and that of my loved ones. There is no lack of things in my world to worry over. …
The Quiet Power of Friendship: Lessons from 2025
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want for 2026, and also a lot about what I learned in 2025. One thing about 2025 that stands out for me are my friendships: how these friendships deepened my experience of the year in so many ways. …
Thoughts To Begin 2026 By
There were a few times that I began the new year sending you inspirational quotes. This year, with so much chaos and uncertainty, I want to do it again. This blog is a combination of those earlier quote blogs, with a few additions.
I hope these bring you renewed hope, and enjoyment. …
The Help We Love and the Help That Changes Us
This holiday season, most of us need a helping hand – neighbourly help, family support, help around the home, even an unexpected moment of kindness. I’m a therapist, and offer help to others by facilitating mental and emotional growth and happiness.
I also gratefully receive help from others - in so many ways I lose count. But the most important kinds of help I receive are 2: one immediately appreciated and one appreciated only many days or years later. …
Your Shadow Is Not the Problem—It’s the Path to Your Light
In a recent peer review, one of the reviewers remarked at my honesty in my self-assessment. I was with two others being reviewed, and one of them commented on it after the review. That honesty is something that’s grown with experience and age, but also as a result of working with others …
Dream, Release, Reflect: Preparing Your Heart for a New Year
If you’re in the Northern hemisphere, you are quickly approaching the shortest day of the year. It might be dark when you get up and before you’re done with work. I remember as a child in school during the day wondering about that, wishing I could enjoy some sun.
I was speaking with a friend this week, asking her what she was planning over the next few weeks. …
Reclaiming Power, One Choice At A Time
I’m a therapist and coach. In all the work I do with clients, my deepest desire is to support them in re-discovering their power.
In my work, so often I see and hear people identify as victims – abused, cheated, manipulated, taken advantage of. I’ve felt that in my life, worked through it, and want more than anything to see those I work with overcome it too. …
Why A Quiet Mind Changes Everything
I meditate in some form daily. I find it sets my day in a good direction: even if the rest of the day is really difficult, I know it began well, and tomorrow will too.
Most of us know this at least intellectually. And yet, …
When Differences Don’t Divide Us
I was at a gathering with friends a few weeks ago. One member talked about his work situation – how it was dangerous work with many disagreeing politically with one another. He ended by saying: The main thing is, we have each other’s backs and at the end of the day – for that reason – we all get to go home.
That group of workers have all made a conscious decision to be there for each other in a way that matters. …
Faith Isn’t Belief — It’s Movement
I’ve been struggling with something that I’m finding hard to step into; there’s a kind of inner resistance that creeps up whenever I worry about it – whether I’ll measure up.
The advice I receive is to have faith. I was raised Baptist. Faith meant something very specific that was all about accepting religious doctrine with no proof. That never appealed to me, …
The Story That Helped Me Say Yes to Change
This week, I was going to write about something quite different. Then I heard from a friend who is struggling with whether to take a chance and move on. You probably know what that feels like – …
Movement As A Form Of Courage
I read a blog a while ago that made a great point on what grabs our attention. If I’m looking for something I’ll naturally notice anything that changes (moves). On the other hand, if I don’t want to be noticed, I’ll stay still.
This is true …
Will It Improve The Silence?
“When do I speak up? I usually keep quiet because I tell myself that I need to process something first. But am I fooling myself?”
I get this question a lot. I’ve asked myself this question many times. …
When Doing More Leads To Less
Last week, I wrote about solving problems. This week, I want to talk about a particular kind of problem that comes up in my life quite a bit – paradox.
A paradox is something that seems contrary to opinion – in this case, my opinion. Here’s an example from my own life as a student many years ago: …
Changing My Attitude Changed Everything
All of us encounter times when we are torn between two actions.
Here’s a fairly common one for me:
I had a real problem: …
Rooting for the Strugglers: A Guide to Believing in Your Own Success
I read a blog by Seth Godin recently that contrasted what we believe about ourselves and good or bad outcomes. Some believe they’re smart and savvy because they got lucky. Others believe they’re lacking in some major way because they haven’t yet succeeded in what they’re trying to do.
This blog is about that second group, …
The Quiet Message of an Overloaded Space
I read the quote below online recently, and resonated with it. When I’m busy, I’ll occasionally stop and take a good look around my office. If there’s any place other than my chair to sit, that means things are pretty good. It means that I’m addressing what I need to address, bit by bit. Piles of stuff are slowly disappearing from all the surfaces.
Those piles of stuff represent …
When You Doubt Yourself More Than Others
I was with a friend today who complained about her tendency to give others the benefit of the doubt over herself. What happens with her over and over is when she does that, she almost always regrets it, realizing too late that she would have been better off to go with what she, herself, had thought.
Even though she knows this,…
The Gift of Giving Others the Benefit of the Doubt
I listened to a podcast today that was a fruitful dialogue between 2 people of radically different views. I felt that both of these people were earnest in their desire to build bridges. However, …