Over the next few months, we’ll be issuing a series of articles that we hope will provide some guideposts during these times of uncertainty. Consider this your pocket guide to navigating what researchers call cognitive dissonance, a fancy term for that sinking feeling you get when a close friend posts something…
You can also read this post on Peter Olsen’s blog here. We suspect you’ve been feeling it too. A frustrating sense of ‘molasses’ clogging your thoughts. A fatigue you just can’t seem to shake. Feeling ‘tired’ or ‘worn-out’ as you search to journey through normal days that simply don’t feel…
A few years ago, I hosted a birthday party at Third Degree Glass Factory. With hors d’oeuvres in hand, we casually sidled up to the demonstration area. I was jostled out of my reverie by the site of the largest, hottest, fire blazing oven I’d ever seen. Amazed, we watched…
The longer I sit with people, the more I am convinced that technique, skill, and insight alone cannot really transform without one key ingredient. It is simply love. Getting to the place of being simply loving, however, seems to be a complicated business. It requires that I know my heart,…
The power of gratitude has become a focus of much research in the field of psychology. Much of this research has been done by two psychologists in particular, Dr. Robert A. Emmons and Dr. Michael E. McCullough. In one study, three groups of participants were asked to briefly journal about…
Recently, my daughter injured her back. The doctor showed us a picture of a nicely curved healthy spine. Then, he showed us my daughter’s x-ray. She and I both exchanged alarmed looks. Repetitive blows from years of gymnastics had created misalignment in key areas that were now affecting her body’s…
She was stuck. I knew it, she knew it, and neither of us could find a way to move her out of it. She had overcome self-harm and was now 2 1/2 years clean from cutting. The healthiest relationship she’d been in to date resulted in her moving out of…
written by Paul Olsen as a eulogy for his brother It is no secret that my brother, JT, struggled with severe mental illness for most of his life. He had Borderline Personality Disorder, a diagnosis considered difficult to treat. But, it would be tragic if we defined him by his…
“Salvation comes by grace, and grace comes by art, and art does not come easy.” …
She came into my office and unfurled the map. Circled in red pen were the communities she knew, home to the people she loves. “I want to bring the kind of counseling CrossRoads offers to my part of Illinois. They don’t have anything like this.” she said. Patty had been…
