Posts by Laura K. Schenck, Ph.D., LPC
Identify & Accept Your Shadow Self
“One must have chaos in oneself in order to give birth to a dancing star.” – Friedrich Nietzsche We all carry an image of ourselves in our minds of who we are, what we are like, and what qualities we have. We form this sense of self through repeated experiences in the world with others…
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Choice Theory: 7 Relationship Habits
“Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.” – Rainer Maria Rilke As long as we insist…
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Keirsey: The Four Temperaments
“People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson In yesterday’s post, we learned about the basic principles underlying the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS-II). Dr. David Keirsey, educational psychologist and creator of the KTS-II, defines temperament as “a configuration of observable personality traits,…
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Understanding the Keirsey Temperament Sorter
“Whenever two people meet there are six present. There is the man as he sees himself, each as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.” – William James Temperament and personality shape the way that we see ourselves and others, the way that we choose to interact with others, our…
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Mindfulness Practice for Sleep
“And if tonight my soul may find her peace in sleep, and sink in good oblivion, and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.” – D.H. Lawrence Many people experience difficulties with sleep. As humans, we have the ability to keep ourselves awake with…
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Sadness vs. Depression
“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” – Carl Jung Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between feeling “sad” and feeling “depressed.” Both emotional experiences can feel similar, and the distinction often requires consultation…
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Dive Into Your Fear & Anxiety
“I am a very old man and have suffered a great many misfortunes, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain When we avoid fear and anxiety through experiential avoidance, the results can be a sense of disconnection from ourselves as well as an increase in fear and anxiety. There is no doubt that life can…
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Learn How to Welcome “What Is”
“Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be that events should happen as they do, and you shall have peace.” – Epictetus For many people, the idea of opening their hearts and minds to painful or uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and sensations seems like the last thing they wish to…
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Attentional Myopia: In with Alcohol, Out with Mindfulness
“When the wine goes in, strange things come out.” – Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller Alcohol has a reputation for causing a wide variety of effects on different people in different contexts. We all have the images in our minds from the media or from our own experiences of the angry drunk, the flirtatious drunk,…
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How to Give Yourself the Validation You Crave
“Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.” – Henry Van Dyke Many people who grow up in an invalidating environment gradually internalize invalidating messages about the self. This may happen with a child who was never taught to trust his own competency or ability to take care of himself. This child…
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