Reyna Counseling

03/28/2024

HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO GOING VIRAL? And not in a good way! If you watch any videos aside from mine on social media you've seen the ones of people "going crazy" at the airports or stores. As entertaining as they can be at times, have you ever thought how close you could be to reacting to situations in the same way? Think of your mental health capacity as a balloon and every stressor, trigger, or negative encounter you have throughout the day is a breath of air into that balloon and that balloon started from birth. Some people are almost at max capacity with that balloon and are surrounding themselves with people and situations just waiting for it to get big enough to pop it with a needle. When the balloon pops there is no more control, there is no more rational thinking, and there is no amount of coping skills that will bring that back down in the heat of the moment. You don't have to be "crazy" to go "crazy" life unfortunately will present the perfect recipe over time if you're not taking care of your own mental health and maintaining stability. That mental break can pop up at anytime without warning it builds up over a long period of time but "pops" at any time. The good news is you can provide the stability needed to prevent it with the use of coping skills, goals, new hobbies and interests and of course through counseling. The more you utilize coping skills the more prepared your mental health is to tackle the bigger emergency situations.

03/25/2024

WHERE DO YOU FALL ON YOUR LIST OF PRIORITIES? Are you even on the list? Family, Work, Kids, Spouse, Friends...Where do you put yourself? Especially if you live in Texas, you understand the importance of the ground that a structure sits on. Unlike the structure itself it is always moving and changing, so what happens when that ground isn't taken care of? The structure and everything on and inside of it starts to shift, crack, and move, imagine if that structure was everything in your life that you prioritize. All of those people and situations and things on that list that you prioritize are dependent on you taking care of yourself first. If you're not ok how can the people around you be? So why do we find it difficult to be selfish and take care of ourselves? Well there's a difference in what we do to take care of ourselves and what we do to spoil ourselves, not to say some spoiling and pampering isn't needed. But it's harder to work on ourselves than it is to spoil ourselves, it's easier to buy something new that gives us moments of happiness than to change old habits that could lead to long-term happiness. It's easier to get rid of those relationships with difficult people rather than learning how to better communicate with them. If you put in even a small amount of work that you use when you prioritize others into taking care of yourself you might be surprised how better you feel when dealing with the other things on that list and start seeing how others make you a priority. Pamper and spoil yourself after you put the changes in place let them be a reward not a way of life.

03/15/2024

WHICH PATH IS THE RIGHT PATH? I can tell you this whichever one you pick it's gonna have speed bumps, there's gonna be tests, and you may have to climb a mountain or twelve...and no amount of Counseling is gonna flatten those out for you. Encouraged Yet? The quicker you learn that life is hard the quicker you can progress through all of that. Notice I didn't say that there's quicksand or a thousand foot tall brick wall with no way through or around. Mountains can be climbed with the right guides, knowledge, and skills. Speedbumps can be taken slowly to avoid the least amount of damage. And knowledge can be gained to pass any tests. Question is what are you doing to gain that knowledge, gain those skills, and what progress are you making? All that to say the path you choose is the one you put the most faith in and that becomes dependent on clarity, you learned in an early post clarity comes with mental stability so when you're having a hard time seeing a clear path work on stability you may be surprised what you see after.

03/13/2024

A little marriage humor

03/12/2024

03/11/2024

ARE THEY EVER GOING TO CHANGE? Depends on what they value in life, think about if I want to become a better parent I have to value my children, if i want to be a better husband I have to value my wife and the relationship, and if someone wants to quit drugs or alcohol or you want to exercise and diet you have to value yourself. To value something is to find importance or worth in it or find usefulness in it. What's the point of making a change in your life if you don't find your personal worth in life itself? If someone doesn't find you important or useful in their life, what makes you think they're really going to change and make things better? Change requires work and lets face it when the day is over how much work do you really want to put into making a change from the every day norm. It's easier to stay on the same path doing the same thing because that's what we're use to, but then we hold a higher expectation from others and wonder why they're not willing to make the change for us. Is the relationship you have with family or friends important enough to change so that it can grow? Are you important enough for someone to make a change to grow your relationship? More likely than not we sit and wait the change to happen instead of initiating the change, if you find yourself stuck in a rut in life or with others initiate the change yourself and see what that does to the world around you.

03/08/2024

What ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF? "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself". I'm sure we've heard that quote before but is there some truth to it or should we truly be fearful. Fear can be both learned and something we already have inside of us. Think about back in the old days when the only thing separating humans from wild animals was a layer of animal skin, they pretty much had to sleep with one eye open to make sure something didn't surprise them while they slept. They learned to adapt and develop the do's and dont's of survival to lessen that fear. Nowadays we just know to stay away from certain animals, situations, and people for that matter and have brick walls, metal, and boundaries to help with that. But what areas in life are you running from when you should be learning to adapt and what areas are you adapting to that you should be running from. Are you afraid of changing jobs or moving to a new area because you won't know anyone and don't have the same support system rather than seeing it as an adventure to get to know new people and have a real support system. Is there a relationship you're in with family/friends/loved ones or a job you're in when everything should be scaring you away but you're adapting to the situation and nursing the wounds when they come. When our mental health isn't stable we tend to let our fear become a defense mechanism that tells us don't do that or you're safer where you're at rather than experience something new and exciting. Think about what you fear, sometimes it is a real fear and the only thing we can do is adapt in the moment and learn from it til it passes and sometimes that scary leap of faith is only clouded by perception until you take that first step. Either way you won't know until you let your mental health work for you instead of against you.

03/07/2024

WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE? Boundaries are not meant for the benefit of others, they are there to protect you! When we think about boundaries or barriers in life we think about things we put in place where people aren't allowed to get past. Well how well did that work with your parents when you were a kid and well is that working now that you have kids, boundaries are only as strong as what's holding them in place. How strong are you making your boundaries in life? Who are you making some boundaries with but letting others get away with? There might be people who you stick your foot down and plant it like a tree that can never cross that line and when a family member approaches the same one you tend to let it slide and then wonder why both relationships are different. The boundaries that you set for others should protect you, they are not to make others happy so quit trying to please others when it comes to how you maintain a safe space in your life and start planting your foot down with everyone and yes that means family too. Creating boundaries actually strengthens relationships because it sets the standards early on in relationships that don't require change later on, and none of us like change. Some boundaries you already have in place from past experiences but you also have to ask yourself is that a healthy boundary to keep and is it not letting people get close to me not out of protection but out of fear. So if you find yourself in a struggle in relationships/friendships with other ask yourself what are you letting by or not letting by that's keeping that relationship from growing.

03/06/2024

AM I HAPPY? One important question that you could be asking yourself on a daily basis that many of us have a hard time answering, mainly because we have a hard time knowing what true happiness is. If someone were to hand you a million dollars tomorrow I bet you would be filled with happiness, although yes we know money doesn't provide happiness, but the act of receiving a gift like that does. Think about the things that make you happy a lot of them require some sort of action. Think of happiness as a chemical in the brain that's ready to release at anytime but requires something to trigger it. Think about the things that you do, the people you surround yourself with, and the things that you tell yourself on a daily basis, are you setting yourself up for happiness in life? Many times we find ourselves doing the same things day after day with the same people and wonder why we're not happy, We have not put ourselves in positions to possibly be happy. Changes in life can be scary with meeting new people, trying new things, or going on new adventures but any stimulation in life is better than no stimulation even experiencing bad service at a restaurant gives us something to laugh about later on. The only one who can produce true happiness in life is you and if you're having a hard time triggering it take a look at what's going on around you that could cause it.

03/05/2024

AM I THE PROBLEM? That's a hard question to ask especially when you're mental health is not where you want it to be. But think about it when you think about the relationships you have with people or the situations you find yourself in, is there a pattern? Many of you are out there wondering why you can't find happiness in the job you've been in so you're thinking about switching jobs because it must be the job situation that makes you unhappy. Or maybe you're thinking about changing relationships with family, friends, or loved one's because they're negativity and toxicity is rubbing off on you so your connection with them needs to change. Well take a look at yourself for a second and consider what you're contributing to those situations. When we focus on our own mental health our perception about people and situations change, maybe that job is not where you need to end up but it's where you need to be for now. Maybe that relationship just needs better boundaries to move in a better direction. What kind of behaviors or thought processes are you bringing from past relationships and situations that are getting in the way of growth in these areas that you don't realize? When we learn to focus on ourselves and quit worrying about what's around us the world becomes a little clearer. Our mental health effects our ability to focus, concentrate, make decisions, think positive or negative, and many other areas. How long has your mental health been effecting these areas that make it difficult for them to work?

03/01/2024

How do I avoid a breakdown? Ah the dreaded check engine light, tells us when something is wrong with our car when something bad happens. Most of us rely on icons to tell us when the car isn't working right. Unfortunately none of us have icons that can tell us that about our mental health, now you may be thinking no but we do have signs/symptoms and you'd be correct. Just like the icons on a car require energy/power so do we, and I can bet that when you're physical and mental stability is off the last thing you have is energy to figure it out. It's easier to just shut down crawl in the bed and deal with it tomorrow. How long do you have before you break down completely? So ok how do we avoid the dreaded icon/symptom much less the breakdown, listen to what your body and brain are telling you and check on yourself regularly. Before you go on a road trip you check the tires, the fluids, and make sure and give it a thorough check up so that you can avoid any bad situations right? But we don't do that for daily trips to the store because that's in our comfort zone/area. Quit being comfortable, unlike a car that can be replaced you cannot be. We all rely on our mental and physical health to keep us going but some of you have people who rely on you like you do your car and you're not going to be there in the way they need you. Some of you have some big obstacles coming that require you to be in tip top shape and you're a bump away from misaligning. Pay attention to what your body and brain tell you before you get to these times in life and ask yourself regularly, HOW AM I DOING?

02/29/2024

What if we stopped looking at our mental health as a weakness and started looking at is as a super power. Think about it every super hero has a weakness, but that doesn't prevent them from using their strengths to accomplish great feats. The same symptoms that fuel our mental health can fuel us to accomplish great things if we learn how to harness it. Think about these symptoms for a second and ask yourself what they represent: trembling, sweaty palms, increased heart rate, heavy breathing, perspiration. Negative symptoms of Anxiety right? WRONG, these are symptoms of Excitement. So what's the difference between these two? The same difference between two people who go skydiving, one who is excited and expresses it by smiling and screaming with joy and the second who has their eyes closed and is screaming in fear, PERSPECTIVE. The difference in our struggle with our mental health sometimes can be helped through changing our perspective about the situation and how we deal with it. When you go on that interview that your anxious about, think about it as a new opportunity in life to move forward. When you're about to speak in front of a large group of people, think of it as an opportunity to be heard and use your voice. When you're scared and worried about getting through the day think about how many days you've already powered through and one more is just another opportunity for something amazing to happen. When you can't control what happens in life, take control of your perspective about life.

02/27/2024

Patience, it's a word we all know but many of us probably don't like to practice including myself. But what's the first word that comes to your mind when you think about it, for many it may be the word wait. Patience is the ability to accept the negative effects that your current situation is presenting to you without letting it emotionally effect you. To wait is to stay in place until a particular time or something else happens. How many of you are finding yourselves waiting rather than being patient? Let me just wait until my situation gets better and I'll be in a better spot to deal with what's going on, well if you're waiting that means your in the same spot not in a better one. If I just wait a little longer my loved one will change and things will get better, you're loved one has their own path why are you waiting on yours for them to catch up. There are going to be storms in life that require patience, which means while you're weathering the storm to get to the next point in life it requires progress and movement. If you wait too long what do you miss out on ahead of you in life that's moving without you.

02/26/2024

Ever have problems focusing and concentrating? Gotta make some important life decisions but can barely focus on making dinner? Welcome to the wonderful world of Anxiety, ok well at least a couple of the symptoms. The higher the stress levels, fear, and/or worry the harder it is to focus and concentrate on anything, it could be why you struggle at work during certain times of the year or after certain meetings and even why you can't remember if you turned off the lights before you left the house, sorry now some of yall are wondering if you did or not now that I brought it up. It can be scary because as we get older it's harder to tell if it's related to mental or physical. One of the ways to deal with those symptoms is learning new skills and tools to better deal with the worry, stress, and/or fear which can be learned through counseling. Life's problems don't go away, you just learn to deal with them better.

02/25/2024

Check out the updated website and save it to your favorites

If you're looking for a therapist to help with your Depression, Anxiety, Anger, Trauma, Addiction, Relationship Problems, Life Transitions, and other areas of mental health this is the place to be. I have immediate telehealth sessions available and ready to be filled for anyone in the great State of...

02/23/2024

Remember the old bat signal? Whenever they needed help they turned it on and Batman came in to save the day. Well Batman won't show up but consider this your bat signal. When you get to a point in life where things become a little too much and you need some help all you gotta do is scan it and it'll pull up and have my latest contact information to get in contact with me so I can help. Best part is you don't have to remember my name, contact info, or name of my company it will bring it all up with one scan. Maybe you're just talking with a loved one or friend that mentions they're needing some help. If I can't help you specifically with what you're going through I can definitely get you in contact with someone who can without the hassle of endless pages of insurance or psychology today searches. Download this or screen shot it into your pictures/gallery, put it in your contacts as the profile picture under therapy, email it to your personal folder so you know where to find it, and then give it a scan if/when you need it.

02/22/2024

Why do telehealth? Do I need to live near the DFW to receive Therapy? How much is it? What do we do? ALL GOOD QUESTIONS WITH SOME ANSWERS!