Healthy boundaries create guidelines promoting resilient and sustainable caring. Like a white picket fence around a yard, boundaries are limits designating what we are and aren’t responsible for.

Have you ever seen a preschooler doing a prolonged wheelie on a tricycle? Short legs pumping hard to turn the pedals, red streamers flying off the handle bars while the front wheel is up in the air. No? Neither have I.

“Why did I say “yes”? I complained while dropping onto bed fully dressed. My schedule was too full already, but I knew exactly why I said “yes.” I was afraid to say “no.”  …

“You should lose weight.” “You should be passive.” “You should be okay with a smaller salary after all your husband has a good job.” I have heard or felt all of these ‘should’ messages and they make me want to scream. What “should” messages get in your way of …

“I should have done better” and “I’m not good enough” are deeply entrenched …

“You are so beautiful,” said Ned, the head of staff where I was doing a professional internship. What?! I’m married and he knows ….

Tears dropped as I looked at the yellow, orange, red, purple, and white flowers surrounded by notes on the dirty snow where …

While leading a healing group for women escaping abusive relationships, there was a young woman curled up in a corner afraid to look around. In seeing such deep suffering my heart went out to her …

Anxiety, like a contagion, moves rapidly from person to person. As we choose to decrease the pull of anxiety tornados, we promote life balance for ourselves and everyone around us.

When does helping others bump up against your sense of right and wrong? Shauna, a mental health provider, struggles…

Rick quietly sat at the oak kitchen table staring at a cup of cold coffee. Susan paced the linoleum floor while weeping and asking, “Why? Why? Why?” Their only child had died. Tears coursed down my cheeks as …

Wouldn’t it be great if we could authentically share vulnerabilities and support each other rather than feel intimidated by other people’s success? There is power….

I had just finished leading a session on decreasing anxiety with more than 100 sixth graders in a rural Honduran village, when….

Compassion changes lives. This was true for Augie, an abused dog who …..

Caregiving is among the most rewarding and meaningful things we do. Despite this, do you ever fall in bed at night wondering if you did enough? Or are you worried about someone else’s wellbeing while …