Kelly Lewis Counseling & Healing

04/22/2026

More and more clients are acknowledging the negative impact of social media on their mental health and subsequently taking breaks and seeing the benefit. This article touches on the importance of having/ building a life of meaning and fulfillment as being the antidote to a compulsive drive towards technology/social media. These ties in with what I previously posted regarding the therapy of music, art, dance, spirituality, etc. Anyone considering pulling back from social media, technology I would encourage you to consider how can you bring more of these types of activities back into your life.

Article link in comments. 👇

04/20/2026

I love this. I would even say that these activities can even be more therapeutic at times than some "therapy." A good therapy will encourage engagement in these ways of healing, in and/or out of session.

04/05/2026

As mentioned last week, I am providing more information on the Realization Process, before beginning the classes in May. This following paragraph was emailed to the teachers, by the founder and leader of RP, Judith Blackstone, Ph.D. It's a nice summary of the practices. I will provide more detailed information as we get closer.

"Realization Process has three parts. It is a spiritual technique that, if practiced enough, can lead you to the realization of your own nature as the undivided self-other oneness of fundamental consciousness. It is an embodiment technique that can help you deepen contact with yourself, to feel whole within your body, and uncover the subtle qualities of your aliveness. And it is a psychotherapeutic technique that uses attunement to fundamental consciousness, embodiment practices, release practices and therapeutic dialogue to help heal the effects of painful circumstances and trauma in our early lives. In the Realization Process, trauma is defined as any event that was too painful, intense or confusing for us to fully experience it as children, so that we had to protect ourselves against its full impact." J. Blackstone

The classes that I will be offering will be focused on the spiritual and embodiment portions. As a therapist I can and do work with RP for trauma healing, but that is not appropriate in a group setting. If you have any questions on this please feel free to reach out.

03/28/2026

Hello, I wanted to share that in May I will begin offering one hour classes, to teach and guide participants in the Realization Process.

As a very basic introduction, the intention of the Realization Process practices/meditations are intended to help you to attune to fundamental consciousness or the ground of being(the one consciousness/being/presence that emanates as all things), to be more embodied as fundamental consciousness, and as a result to experience yourself more fully connected to all of life. There are numerous benefits to these practices and I will share more as we near May. Each session will focus on one or a couple of practices, and q/a. These sessions will not be about learning per se, but more about experiencing.

A ten dollar donation will be requested, and all proceeds will go to a couple of different charities; Swan Valley Pay It Forward, Saginaw County Child abuse and neglect council, and Saginaw County Hidden Harvest food donation center. In this way we are all practicing giving and receiving which puts you into alignment with the flow of life.

As of now I plan to meet on Zoom on alternate Sundays from 10:30 am EST to 11:30 EST.

06/11/2025

Being open to all experience is equal to surrender. It is a surrendering, an openness to what is. It means non resistance, non judgement, acceptance, and it facilitates peace of mind and well being. The opposite of surrender and openness is being closed, resistant and giving up and leads to depression, anxiety, anger, etc. If you tend towards the giving up/closed way of being, reflect on ways that you can be more open and in a state of surrender/acceptance and begin to feel the change this brings to your mental state/health. As always, perspective determines experience and IS a choice.

04/27/2025

The Heart Math Institute has done incredible work in researching how focusing on heart felt emotions reduces stress and improves overall well being. It's simple: intentionally and periodically through the day, remember times that you felt a positive, heart felt emotion (such as kindness, compassion, gratitude) reconnect with that feeling, then imagine breathing that energy through your heart, as if your heart is actually breathing it. Continue and feel the shift in your being. Go to HeartMath Institute for more information on the research and benefits.

04/23/2025

Stillness and quiet is essential for overall wellbeing. What often happens though is for most people the brain is literally addicted to stimulus and so there is a discomfort in quiet and stillness. If you relate to this, I challenge you to give yourself a couple of minutes to start, without any electronics or stimulus and just breathe.... despite the discomfort or urge to get moving or distracting. You can use that time to notice how much you crave that, and begin to question why you need the constant distraction-not judging, just getting curious. And after noticing the craving to get up, come back to your breath. Slowly add time as you begin to adjust to the this new experience of stillness, which will eventually become something that you realize you can't peacefully live without. Reach out if you want to make this kind of change and need some help.

03/24/2025

THIS iS a great acronym for a great way to be with your experience. I think often of the quote: "what you resist persists" and so it is with emotions and thoughts; until they are allowed to be without any resistance they will continue or increase. Noticing, allowing, feeling without judgement or analysis and then choosing compassion is transformative. Try it. SNAPP.

03/16/2025

People abandon themselves in all sorts of ways, typically to fit in or people please, and this leads to depression. So to come back to embracing yourself some questions you can begin to ask yourself:
1) Do I like this? ---- about everything and follow what feels true.
2)Who taught me this?--- don't keep believing what you were taught by society, parents, teachers, etc, just because.. start questioning so that you can tap into your own intuition and find what is authentic to you.
3)Is it real? Is the thought that you're thinking valid?? question your thoughts if they don't feel good, generally you will find limited evidence to their reality.
4) What do I want? truly, what do you, at your core, in your heart want. if you find the answer is one that can hurt you, you can ask what is it that I want from that, and you will find something deeper that touches into your heart. i.e. if you think you want a drug/alcohol and ask what is it I really want from that, you might discover you are wanting calm, confidence, to relax.
5) Why am I doing this? ?this kind of follows the others, but is important to consider. If the motivation for anything is hurt or fear, you might want to consider if the action is hurting or helping you and then seeking to understand this a bit more through deeper self questioning/inquiry.

These questions are great for getting in touch with YOU. if it's difficult for you to dig in and find these answers, reach out... help is out there!

03/08/2025

Self approval can be a choice, and the thought/belief that it is not is only that..... a thought. You can practice choosing self approval/acceptance any time that you notice self judgement arise; 1) ask yourself am I willing to let go of disapproving of myself, 2) feel yourself let it go as easily as you would let go of a pen that you are holding onto (it's the intention that counts) 3) ask yourself can I approve of myself just because and allow yourself to feel the energy of approval directed towards yourself (if that is challenging think of someone you do approval to get in touch with that energy and then hold it and turn it towards yourself). If you need help with this process, reach out.... it's invaluable to learn to love and approve of yourself no matter what and makes those things that you would like to change, more likely to change.

03/05/2025

There are two types of mindsets: growth mindset and fixed mindset. When in the midst of challenging times focusing on a "growth mindset" not only help you to get through the times while maintaining better mental health, but it allows the experience to help you grow. Below are some things to keep in mind if you want to shift into this type of mindset.

03/03/2025

It's important for everyone, and especially those who have a history of trauma, that we do not victimize ourselves. This is done through various ways but they all take us away from coming to know the goodness of who/what we truly are. One of the most basic ways this can show up is by judging ourselves for not being where we want to be on the healing journey. Be kind to yourself no matter what, and trust that if you just keep taking one small step after another, you will not "get there" as there is nowhere to get, but you WILL START TO FEEL BETTER AND your experience of life will change for the better.