Michelle Cru Psychotherapy

07/08/2025

A terrific somatic practice! I have used this many times, and it is an effective way to start addressing people-pleasing, boundaries, and re-attuning to our body's signals!

04/23/2025

Super cool article about writing through anger, with prompts to help you understand, befriend, and channel this emotion!

Writing Through Anger 18 by Amber Lea Starfire Anger is a negative emotion—that’s what we’ve been taught and what our culture believes. But is it true? Is anger “bad”? Years ago, in the midst of divorce, I came to the surprising realization that I had been angry for a very, very long time....

01/16/2025

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024) provides an emotional, profound, and inspiring glimpse into how gaming (World of Warcraft) can foster healthy relationships, healing, and community. Any tool carries such potential for incredibly positive and negative applications - it's a breath of fresh air to delve into how humanity can use technology to better themselves as well as the world.

Mats Steen, a Norwegian gamer, died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. His parents mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life, when they started receiving messages from online friends around the world.

09/11/2024

There is such a thing as productive guilt (to be differentiated from unproductive guilt and shame)! All emotions have a function. All emotions are valid. All emotions can be explored and worked with.

09/06/2024

A terrific article about the pitfalls of being overly nice in close and/or romantic relationships!

"Nice" seems like a desirable quality in a romantic partner. But over time it tends to come at the expense of more valuable attributes.

06/24/2024

Fantastic review of somatization-based conditions in kids/youth, and somatization in general.

​​Somatization is the expression of distress through physical symptoms and results from the mind-body or brain-body connection. Find out how it affects your child's health.

06/11/2024

Canadian Red Cross published this fantastic resource about giving yourself and others psychological first aid. Check it out!

04/24/2024

Mindfully engaging with our shadows: a cheat sheet!

06/10/2023

Tiny Buddha

06/06/2023

Sometimes "crazy" is just a normal reaction to a crazy situation. Like many people experiencing anxiety right now, as we see signs of crushing instability around us... One look at those smoky skies, and our challenging emotions just seem like a completely reasonable response. Let's start to reduce how much we pathologize each other. Not everything is a disorder.

05/16/2023

“Allow” by Danna Faulds

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.

05/07/2023

Just attended a Jungian training on finding meaning in death and dying. What a data download! We die and let go so many times in our lives, in preparation for the final surrender. It also informs my view of insomnia (my own and that of others) - as something you can lean into and use as an opportunity to practice. The rush of uncontrolled awareness during hypnagogia (the state between wakefulness and sleep) can be part of how we go into sleep, and thus not antithetical to rest or something to resist. Moving forward with trust, courage, and compassion may be a way to sleep better, not need other sleep aids as much, and support our minds in processing their loose ends. Some people pray, but I have found gratitude practice and mindful practices to be most effective so far. Happy practicing!