Contentment: Turn What You Have Into Enough
No one can steal contentment, joy, gratitude, or peace… we have to give it away. Kristin Armstrong As we enter another week of #StayHomeMN, you might notice an antsy sort of ...
Healthy Boundaries, Holidays, Seasonal, Winter
10 (More) Ways to Say No (with Kindness)
When you say “Yes” to others, make sure you are not saying “No” to yourself. Paulo Coehlo When it comes time to say No to someone or something, many of ...
Fall, Holidays, Seasonal, Self-Care
Self-Care for Kids: Helping Kids Learn to Treat Themselves
When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it’s our job to share our calm, not join their chaos. L.R. Knost This week, the kids in your life likely have ...
Caring in the Midst of Infant Loss
What we have once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us. Helen Keller As a culture, we tend ...
Emotions 101: Improving Your Emotional Vocabulary
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. Robert Frost We’ve covered a lot of territory in our series on Emotions! We’ve: Separated ...
Emotions 101: Sharpening Your Emotional Intelligence
need to be comfortable talking about feelings. This is part of teaching emotional literacy – a set of skills we can all develop, including the ability to read, understand, ...
Your Emotional Wellness: 50+ Ways to Support It
It’s a big day on the Sonder blog… Today marks our 50th post! We’ve had so much fun sharing practical emotional wellness guidance, tips, and inspiration over the past year. ...
Therapy 101: When a Loved One Is in Therapy
It takes courage to push yourself to places you have never been before. Anais Nin So, your loved one is in therapy. Maybe you helped them decide to try it. ...
Back to School, Fall, Relationships, Seasonal
Do You Work with Students? Commit to 3 Things This Year
I am enough of a realist to understand that I can’t reach every child, but I am more of an optimist to get up every morning and try. Preston Morgan ...
Back to School, Fall, Seasonal, Self-Care
Heading to College? 3 Pieces of Advice
Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. Frederick Buechner Dorm supplies have been purchased. Good-byes have been said. Dr. Seuss has been quoted (and ...
Back to School, Fall, Relationships, Seasonal
Back to School: 3 Keys to Preparing as a Family
You know the signs. The weather is changing. The email communication has begun. Unless you’ve been spending the summer unplugged on an uncharted island somewhere (in which case, good for you), ...
Anxiety, Gratitude, Mindfulness
Having Anxious Thoughts? Give This a Try
Don’t believe every worried thought you have. Worried thoughts are notoriously inaccurate. Renee Jain Good old anxiety. It thinks it’s helping us (and sometimes it is)… …but often it’s just ...
Creativity: Your Secret Emotional Wellness Weapon
Keep your eyes open. Listen. Follow your curiosity. Ideas are constantly trying to get your attention. Let them know you’re available. Elizabeth Gilbert Do you consider yourself a creative person? ...
Habits & Goals, Healthy Boundaries, Relationships
Forget Work-Life Balance, Aim for This Instead
Work-life balance… that’s a debilitating phrase because it implies there’s a strict trade-off. It’s actually a circle. It’s not a balance. If I am happy at home, I come into the ...
Depression, Self-Care, Therapy
Suicide Prevention: 3 Practical Steps We All Can (and Should) Take
At any given moment, you have the power to say: “This is not how the story is going to end.” Christine Mason Miller Unless you looked closely, you may have ...
Medication: 7 Questions You Might Be Asking
Medicine is not only a science; it is also an art. It does not consist of compounding pills and plasters; it deals with the very processes of life, which must ...
In Our Nature: 3 Ways to Revisit this Emotional Wellness Resource
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. John Muir In trying hard to live our best story, we’re constantly on the lookout for the next, ...
Positive Thinking: Is It Always Best?
Every day brings new choices. Martha Beck As the passing days and changing seasons… (…or UNchanging seasons…) …bring events and circumstances that we can’t necessarily change… It’s natural to shift ...
Depression, Gratitude, Relationships, Seasonal, Winter
Cabin Fever: A Survival Guide
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. Albert Camus Spring is here! …or so they say. The calendar says it’s April. Spring break ...
Therapy 101: Who Goes to Therapy?
We don’t have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to. Brené Brown Imagine a world in which we talked about emotional wellness as freely as we ...
Emotions, Gratitude, Self-Care
Laughter: It’s Not Medicine, But It Sure Can Heal
No one is ever more him/herself than when they really laugh. Their defenses are down. It’s very Zen-like, that moment. They are completely open, completely themselves when that message hits ...
Habits & Goals, Healthy Boundaries, Mindfulness, Relationships, Self-Care
Unplug Your Way to Emotional Wellness
Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. Anne Lamott This Friday marks National Day of Unplugging. An invitation to enjoy a 24-hour global respite ...
Abuse and Trauma, Back to School, Relationships, Seasonal, Self-Care
3 Ways to Promote Emotional Wellness in Schools
When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments — tenderness for what he is and respect for what he may become. Louis Pasteur Less than two months ...
Healthy Boundaries, Relationships, Therapy
How to Help a Loved One: Limits
Letting go helps us to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to ...
Healthy Boundaries, Relationships, Therapy
How to Help a Loved One: Respect
Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself. Thomas Paine NOTE: This post is the 2nd in a series on How to Help a loved ...
Emotions, Relationships, Therapy
How to Help a Loved One: Empathy
Empathy is the hard part. The rest is mechanics. We’re not wired to walk in someone else’s shoes, it’s not our first instinct. Showing up with empathy is difficult, hard ...
Habits & Goals, Seasonal, Winter
Habit Change in 3 Easy(-ish) Steps
Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped. Charles Duhigg Resolution or not, there’s probably something you’re ...
Therapy 101: 7 Signs You Might Benefit from Therapy
More than ever, we’re including emotional wellness in our understanding of what it means to enjoy a healthy, well-balanced life. For most of us, this probably means ongoing self-care practices, ...
Eating, Healthy Boundaries, Holidays, Seasonal, Winter
Holiday Eating & Boundaries
NOTE: This is Part 3 of our series on holiday boundary setting. Read Part 1 and Part 2. Does the thought of food and eating during the holiday season conjure ...
Healthy Boundaries, Holidays, Relationships, Seasonal, Winter
Saying No (with Kindness)
NOTE: This is Part 2 of our series on holiday boundary setting. Read Part 1 and Part 3. “No” is a complete sentence. Anne Lamott Setting boundaries around your time, resources, ...
Healthy Boundaries, Holidays, Seasonal, Winter
Holiday Boundary Setting: 3 Areas to Consider
NOTE: This is Part 1 of our series on holiday boundary setting. Read Part 2 and Part 3. You’re fighting through traffic when the phone rings… It’s your neighbor, inviting you ...
Handy Tool or False Alarm? When Anxiety Helps, and When It Hurts
We all experience it. Sometimes it’s fairly predictable, like the seasonal depression that arrives each year for many of us. Other times, it catches us completely off guard. We’re talking about ...
Fall, Holidays, Seasonal, Self-Care
The Trick is Treating Yourself to Self-Care
Self-care is never a selfish act. It is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can ...
Why Mental Health Should Not Be the Focus of the Las Vegas Shooting (…and 3 Reasons It Should Be)
No sooner had the shots rang out than the speculation began: “…mentally unstable…” “…psychologically disturbed…” “…undiagnosed mental illness…” The Las Vegas shooting on October 1st has raised many issues that immediately ...
3 Myths About Emotional Wellness
Wellness is the complete integration of body, mind, and spirit— the realization that everything we do, think, feel, and believe has an effect on our state of well-being. Greg ...