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Karl

General Grief & Loss

The Tipping Point – Exercise

The Tipping Point Most of us have had the experience of the playground teeter/totter in our youth. Two bodies on the ends of a long bar with a fulcrum in the middle and with equal participation from each person, a fun ride! It occurs to me that the image is a good one for moving forward in your grief journey.…
Karl
May 14, 2025
General Grief & Loss

The Principle of Replacement

“I can’t turn my brain off! How do I get these painful thoughts to stop?” Traumatic and emotionally powerful images, memories and thoughts root themselves in our brain and by force of their emotional weight create well-worn neural pathways that our brain uses to remember and recall. A problem with these thoughts is they carry with them painful emotions that…
Karl
May 14, 2025
General Grief & Loss

Journaling Exercise

One of the best ways to maintain awareness of what you are experiencing is a targeted journaling exercise. Using the Cognitive Therapy Triangle of thoughts, feelings and behavior, stop 3 times a day to write about your experience. In your journal or notebook write the date at the top of the page, then write the time of day. It is…
Karl
May 14, 2025
FamilyGeneral Grief & LossMarriagePre-Marriage

Circles of Influence – Exercise

Write the names of people in your relationships on the graph above. Those closest to the center will be those with whom you spend the most time, and those above the line are mostly positive, filling experiences while those below the line are mostly negative, draining ones. Give thought to how to spend more time with those above the line…
Karl
May 14, 2025
General Grief & Loss

The Frightening Landscape of Fear

The Frightening Landscape of Fear and the freedom of living a love-based life. Living in fear is not a happy, comfortable, or productive place to live. In a time where a virus can threaten your life, or the life of someone you love, it is difficult not to live in fear. A focus on death counts, being told to wash…
Karl
May 14, 2025
General Grief & Loss

Suffering – A Biblical Response

The "problem of pain," as the well-known Christian scholar, C.S. Lewis, once called it, is a potent weapon against the Christian faith. Our human intellects and notions of fairness reject the apparent contradiction between a loving God and a world of pain. A way to reconcile this issue is to view the world from God's perspective. Understanding God's perspective begins…
Karl
May 14, 2025
General Grief & Loss

How Change Feels

Aspen leaves turn into the familiar shades we love to remind us that the seasons change and nature transitions. People also experience transitions requiring adjustment. We experience loss, whether it be in the form of a person, pet, place, job, habit, or object. We experience loss in the form of change. We experience loss within ourselves. Loss is scary. It…
Karl
May 14, 2025
FamilyGeneral Grief & LossMarriagePre-Marriage

A Garden of Relationships

Loneliness & Isolation in a Changing Culture Growing a Garden of Renewing Relationships Social distancing may be something we do to avoid the transmission of a virus… However, it increases emotional pain in people who feel lonely and crave social interaction. Many of us are energized by working alongside other people, experiencing physical contact, and intermingling with others as part…
Karl
May 14, 2025