Posts by Gail Garwood

Having integrity mean living honestly as yourself. It means sharing your thoughts, feelings, values and beliefs. You also stand up for yourself or set boundaries in line with these. To have this, you first have to build selfawareness. Many people go along to get along, disregarding what their gut or intuition is telling them. They…

So, why do I believe this statement is true? Our nervous system is constantly working to maintain balance. We have a protective internal system, called the polyvagal system. It automatically functions without our conscious thought once we perceive danger. When this happens, cortisol and adrenaline are released, triggering our fight, flight, or freeze response. In…

When people hear the term self-care, they often picture expensive spa days or weekend getaways. While those can certainly be enjoyable, true self-care is much simpler. It is the daily practice of taking care of your physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual well-being so you can better handle life’s challenges. The good news is that…

In trying to feel better people make one BIG mistake. When trying to feel better, people exile parts of themselves. They attempt to disown or repress their troublesome feelings. They say to themselves (or perhaps to others). “I feel sad. I don’t want to feel sad.” “I don’t want to feel (fill in the blank)…

There are many people who think that the way to mental health is to get rid of difficult to handle parts of themselves. They say, “I hate feeling sad.” Or, “I hate being scared all of the time.” At first glance, I totally get it. These emotions get in the way of feeling your best…