Articles

Life Coaching and Counseling
Curious man

My 20 Favorite Questions to Ask Clients

Human connection heals! As you prepare for interactions with your family, friends & co-workers, here are some questions that can strengthen bonds.

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Dating Marriage

12 Dating & Marriage Building Activities

A healthy marriage takes effort, but it’s well worth it, especially when you count the costs of divorce (financial, emotional, etc.). Here are 12 activities that can take your marriage from average to extraordinary.

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Coffee Connection

25 Connection Hacks to Build Closer Relationships

Here's the ULTIMATE guide for building relationships. 25 practical tools for strengthening your connections at home and work.

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Relationship building questions

50 Fun Relationship-Building Questions

Here's a list of 50 of my favorite relationship building questions. Use this tool to build relationships at work, home, and with your friends. They work well for team meetings and family events. Enjoy!

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Feeling Overwhelmed

Feeling Overwhelmed? Try These 15 Simple Calming Techniques

Be prepared to handle difficult situations in a positive fashion. Here are 15 ways to calm yourself when feeling overwhelmed.

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Motivate your team

3 Foolproof Ways to Motivate Your Team

For over 25 years as a family therapist and coach, we've helped thousands of families and hundreds of companies improve their work culture. There are many similarities between the healthiest companies and families.

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Decision Making

How to Make Good Decisions

Few things bring as much relief as getting decisions made. With practice, you can improve your ability to make quality choices. Here are 17 tools to start using today.

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Happiness

30 Happiness Building Actions

There's a lack of happiness and no shortage of stress and anxiety in the world today. People who take care of their mental health do things differently. They engage in actions that are distinct from those who struggle.

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Grateful Woman

25 Gratitude Questions to Stay Positive

We all have seasons in our lives when it's very hard to be positive. Gratitude is one of the only things that can end my pity party. 

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Man With a Vision

Clarifying a Vision for Your Future

We are 100 times more motivated moving towards what we want, than away from what we don't want. Create a picture of what you want! Our goals lead you toward your vision, or they're not the right goals.

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Emotionally health

How To Be Emotionally Healthy

There's a correlation between a lack of healthy emotional expression with depression and anxiety. How do I know this? Well, from research, as well as, from my own personal experience. But there is hope! The healthier you become emotionally, the better life gets.

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Why You Must Face Your Past

I want my clients to live full and free lives. I don't want the past holding them back. Frequently I challenge clients to process, and come to terms with, past trauma. Their future, and mine, depends on us facing our demons.

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Vulnerability

Taking Decisive & Consistent Action

If we don't risk getting hurt emotionally, we hinder our ability to feel good emotionally. Emotional vulnerability is a lifelong struggle and crucial to being emotionally healthy. We grow from experiencing failure, rejection & embarrassment and realizing we can handle it. 

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Without hope

Fear vs Hope Cycle

Everyone struggles with fear & anxiety at different points. Sometimes it's triggered by trauma. Sometimes a lack of sleep can sleep causes it. You can take specific actions to change your perspective from fear to hope.

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A Simple & Powerful Stress Coping Tool

Clients frequently ask for help in coping with stress. Most people can identify the source of their tension (e.g. parenting, relationships, the economy, money, job, health, COVID, etc.), but often CANNOT figure out how to stop the worry.

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Stressed Out Young Woman

Overcoming Anxiety & Depression

Anxiety focuses on what can go wrong. It zeroes in on the worst outcome coming true and bad things happening again. Hope focuses on what can go right, and the opportunity in every circumstance.

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Life change transition

Your Change Toolkit: 3 Keys to Life’s Biggest Transitions

Change is hard and unavoidable. Those that make it through successfully approach life's biggest transitions differently. Here are three keys to success.

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Being brave skydiving

7 Unexpected Benefits of Being Brave

Being brave decreases anxiety, improves relationships, and takes the focus off yourself. Remembering this motivates me to not take the easy way out.

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chat with friends

47 Chat Starters: Get to Know People Better

One of the best actions you can take to improve your life and the lives of others is to reach out and start a meaningful chat. Many people crave a deeper connection with others.

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20 Questions to Ignite Meaningful Conversations

Meaningful conversations have changed my life. I long for them. You can create an environment where meaningful discussions happen consistently by courageously asking great questions.

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Stop Being Lazy & Get Things Done

Clients share with me frustrations about not getting things done. They almost always know what they need to do, but they don't do it. Here are 4 strategies I use to help myself and clients overcome procrastination.

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divorce couple

Divorce Often Starts Here: 14 Common Pitfalls to Avoid

For over 25 years as a family therapist, I've seen the same core issues that, left unaddressed, lead to divorce time and time again.

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