The Happiness Project

05/22/2026

You can allow an imperfect self or you can require perfection and internalize shame.

05/21/2026

Therapists have an ethical mandate not to push their values on others. This can make it tricky for people to have religion or spirituality come up in the therapy session.

I wanted to say this: if your beliefs are an important part of your life, or if you have struggles with the world that may relate to how you see things religiously or spiritually, these should be safe topics in therapy.

While you might want to explore ideas or to bounce things off of a therapist, your beliefs have to be something you decide because they are right for you, not to please someone else or because a someone thinks you should follow a certain path.

You can look up the ethics of any mental health profession (Counseling, Psychology, Social Work) and find the mandate to honor autonomy of values for clients. Make sure you and your therapist are honoring your voice and where you are on this and other topics. Use your intuition on whether you are feeling nurtured in this or any other situation.

I wish you all happiness and contentment.

05/18/2026

Is your favorite chair empty?

Welcome to spring! Are you busy with your goals? Are you focused? Are you achieving? Also, are you resting? Productivity can feel very good. However, I've come to believe that we are not in balance. In American culture, we highly value productivity. We are taught that respectable people are busy. We...

05/11/2026

Remember to breathe - literally!

Welcome back! I thought it might be nice to share ways I like to use breathing exercises with myself and others. These ideas could be the start of a meditative exercise, or the entire exercise. Begin by focusing on your breath. You can use a word to help focus your mind. For example: Inhale: "Calm"....

05/04/2026

I highly recommend following this guy and listening to his clear, concise and wise parenting shorts!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1296331379339309

04/22/2026

"When you are not experiencing the present, when you are absorbed in the past or worried about the future, you bring great heartache and grief to yourself."

04/20/2026

Can we think better thoughts?

Hello! Creating positive thoughts that are true for you and help your frame of mind is a skill that can take time and practice to learn. I'm here to help! Getting assistance with positive ideas can teach us what types of thoughts work for us. I'll take samples of unhelpful thoughts and list related....

04/15/2026

GRIEF. Does it pathologize grief to offer therapy?

I got clarification at last year's EMDR conference about what it looks like to work with the trauma around a grief experience. There are often traumatic moments around the death of a loved one as well as maladaptive negative beliefs. Both of these can be healed with EMDR.

Once these are healed, the pure grief can shift and evolve in a healthy and natural way.

04/13/2026

Be patient with your process.
You are transforming.

Pain is always challenging, but it often leads us to our greatest metamorphoses. There are gifts and strengths within us that only emerge when they are required. Pain is not the only teacher, but many times it is a necessary one.

This does not mean we should remain trapped in pain, but rather use it as an impulse for growth and strengthening.

Healing our wounds, becoming stronger, and allowing our virtues to flourish is a process that takes time. This journey is filled with nuances, setbacks, and breakthroughs. Healing is not linear. It unfolds gradually.

When pain arrives, the invitation is to turn inward. To reflect on what it has come to teach us and what needs to change within us.

Little by little, transformation takes shape. What once hurt and felt like an ending becomes a beautiful beginning.

Do not be afraid of the changes in your life. Our experiences are cocoons that support our emotional metamorphosis and the birth of our best version.

DM - Daily Motivation by Alice

04/13/2026

What do positive thoughts look like?

Hello and Happy Monday! I hear a lot about positive thinking. Being positive is harder when we're in the middle of a difficult time, so I thought I'd put together a list of thoughts that could be of use. If you broke your foot, it's okay to acknowledge that it's not fun to feel unwell. You can also....

04/10/2026

Wisdom from someone who was grieving:
"The bad memories don't take away the love."