ON THE BLOG

A simple & quick meditation for grounding yourself in the present during times of stress or discomfort. Before you begin, close your...

Seven Things I Learned From Stepping Away, Receiving Care, and Making Space to Listen Editorial Note: I originally wrote this article in 2022 after attending six different wellness retreats. Since then, I have continued attending retreats—and creating and leading them through Windows to Wisdom. I have revised this reflection to share more fully what retreats have taught me, what they can genuinely offer, and why stepping away can become such a meaningful window into ourselves

We put our heart into our work, family, and relationships, but if we aren't taking care of ourselves first, we are heading for burnout.

Five Seasonal Practices for Reflection, Renewal, and Mind-Body Balance Editorial Note: This article was originally published in 2022 as Back to Balance: 5 Ways to Start Fresh This Fall and has been revised and expanded. There is something about fall that can feel like another beginning. The pace changes. School resumes. Work becomes busier. Calendars fill. Daylight gradually shifts, and the ease or expansiveness of summer begins to give way to greater structure. Even if our l

The everyday stressors we encounter daily can take a toll on our mind-body health. Unwind and reset your evenings with these six calming...

Updated: August 2026 How Family History, Fear, Shame, and Money Stories Shape Our Financial Choices Editorial Note: This article is intended to support reflection and self-awareness, not to provide individualized financial advice. Do you know what is happening in your financial life right now? Not approximately. Not what you hope is happening or promise yourself you will examine next month. Do you know what you have, what you owe, what you spend, what you save, and what you m

Five Reflective Practices for Developing Self-Awareness and Recognizing What We Cannot See Alone How are you doing right now? Not the answer you give automatically. Not the version shaped for the person asking. How are you, beneath the activity of your day? Many of us move quickly among work, family, friendship, caregiving, and responsibility. We may remain highly capable while losing contact with what we feel, need, fear, or long for. Self-reflection creates an opportunity t

Updated: August 2026 Five Reflective Practices for Exploring Gratitude, Dreams, Patterns, Desires, and Inner Wisdom Editorial Note: This article was originally published in 2022 and has been substantially revised to reflect more fully how I understand journaling: not simply as a record of our lives, but as a window into our conscious and unconscious experience. Do you remember your first diary? I received mine when I was eight years old. It was the pocket-sized kind with a ti

The Nine Pillars of Holistic Health Editorial Note: This article was originally published as The Seven Pillars of Health. It has been substantially revised to reflect the expanded Nine Pillars framework I now use, and a more personal, integrated understanding of wellness. We are often taught to approach health as something we should achieve. Eat correctly. Exercise consistently. Sleep eight hours. Manage stress. Stay positive. Each recommendation may contain something useful.

Understanding the Hidden Patterns, Meanings, Memories, and Expectations That Influence Us Editorial Note: This article has been substantially expanded to make one of psychoanalysis’s most important ideas more accessible,and to show how the unconscious appears not only in therapy, but throughout ordinary life. Why do we repeatedly choose relationships that leave us feeling unseen? Why can a seemingly minor interaction produce an unexpectedly powerful reaction? Why do we procra

Here are six signs it’s time to bring more balance to your life: At one point in my career, I found myself yearning for much-needed...

The Role of the Unconscious, Repetition, Insight, and the Therapeutic Relationship Editorial Note: This article grew out of an earlier piece that attempted to explain both how psychoanalytic treatment works and the meanings of numerous psychoanalytic terms. Those subjects deserve space of their own. This revised article focuses on the process of change; a companion glossary explains the language. Many people begin therapy with a sincere and understandable question: What can I

Three Mind-Body Practices for Listening, Regulating, and Responding Updated: August 2026 Stress is part of being alive. We experience it when something challenges, threatens, excites, stretches, or matters to us. Sometimes stress comes from pain, uncertainty, conflict, exhaustion, or demands that exceed our capacity. At other times, it accompanies experiences we genuinely want: creating something new, pursuing a meaningful goal, falling in love, traveling, leading, performing

AND HOW OUR EGO HELPS US MANAGE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF LIFE Our Ego helps us manage the necessary...

Windows to Wisdom® Free Dream Interpretation Exercise Use the following prompts to guide your dream interpretation journey & write down...