Beyond Sessions Counseling Services

09/09/2025

Good evening, Queens & Kings,

Something I am continuing to learn, is to DO THE BIG THINGS FIRST. Like I said, I am still learning this, as I often find myself at the end of the day saying, “Doh! I still have to do that big thing and my work day is over!” It is helpful to keep a list of the things that NEED to be done this week in your line of sight (that’s certainly how MY brain works). Then, you can regularly check it and not have to wonder what it is you’re forgetting. You will also be able to figure out when you START your day where that big activity will fit. I once heard a sermon where the pastor talked about this, using rocks in a jar. He said you have to FIRST put the biggest rocks in your jar, bc once you put in little rocks and sand, there’s no room for big rocks! We have to learn prioritizing (which, yes, is quite a challenging skill for the ADHD brain) so we don’t leave big, taxing tasks for when our brain is almost fried.

So, practice this this week:

1 - Keep your tasks for the week where you can look at them often during the day (I love my dry erase board for this or you could keep it on a second monitor at your computer).

2 - Choose which tasks would be best for today and when it would be best to do each one (ie: how much time each takes, energy level required, etc).

3 - Relax when the day is done and you know you haven’t forgotten anything important, AKA: the big rocks!

Talk soon!

Love,

Reg (Now that we’re close, you can call me Reg 😀)

Moving BEYOND…together.

09/08/2025

09/08/2025

09/06/2025

Hello Valiant Victors!

My family and I recently went to a wedding together. Weddings always get me thinking about my own wedding & marriage. I hold my husband’s hand & squeeze it intermittently during the ceremony, reinforcing my love & commitment to him. Marriage has been the BIGGEST education of my life! We’ve been married for 26 yrs and it’s been thrilling, challenging, & so much more. I’ve grown & learned a lot over these yrs & thought I’d share a lesson about this for our EDUCATION MONTH.

Be merciful & gracious with your spouse.

There will be times when your spouse will say or do something hurtful unintentionally. He might’ve had a rough day, or might be trying to focus, or be in a bad mood. Remind yourself in these times that he is a good man and his heart is NOT to hurt you or to be unkind or unloving. I’ve reminded myself before that my hubby’s intentions are to treat me well and not to be harsh. Sometimes I’ll gently say something in the moment about how I felt just then, or I may say something later (Offering mercy & grace DOES NOT mean you become a door mat. It’s still healthy to let your spouse know when they’ve crossed a boundary). Often when I tell him in the moment, he softens and apologizes, recognizing that he allowed his poor mood to trickle over onto me. This is important in marriage bc oftentimes arguments can start from an event like this. Many fights in fact are about something stupid. The more we can control our emotions, take a step back, and assess what’s really happening, the better. There are times I even ask if I can do something for him, support him in some way, realizing that he’s having a hard time. This “lesson” applies to wives AND husbands. Next time you’re at a wedding, look over at your spouse & appreciate who’s hand you’re holding. They need as much mercy & grace as you do.

Lovingly,

Regina

Moving BEYOND…together (this applies EVEN MORE to this post!)

09/06/2025

09/05/2025

09/04/2025

Hello Lovable Learners!

“Let’s talk about DBT!” DBT, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, is a therapeutic approach that can benefit ANYONE. It was created by Marsha M. Linehan to treat people w/Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis (another therapist who has a lot of info on this is Lane Pederson. I like his stuff). HOWEVER, it has been found to be helpful to lots of people - with AND without diagnoses of any kind. It is composed of 4 modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance (just what it sound like - learning to be able to tolerate challenging situations when you can’t leave them), Emotion Regulation (learning how to not allow your emotions to run your life or drive the bus!), and Interpersonal Effectiveness (helps you to have healthy interactions with people). Today, I’m gonna share one fun acronym for helping with distress tolerance: IMPROVE.

I: Imagery
M: Meaning
P: Prayer
R: Relaxation
O: One thing in the moment
V: Vacation
E: Encouragement

Each of these parts of the acronym is a skill to help you cope when in distress. I will break these down more in other posts, as I tried to do so here for all of these in this post, but there were TOO MANY WORDS! Aww stinks. So, check this out on the website if you like (see below) and I’ll talk to you more about DBT soon.

Love you, beauties!

Regina

Moving BEYOND…together.

*Props: Resource where I got this great IMPROVE acronym is therapistaid.com, which is another great place to learn stuff about mental health. There are articles, skills, worksheets, etc! Lots of juicy stuff to learn :) :P = - )

09/03/2025

When was the last time you practiced just BEing?

09/03/2025

Hello World-class Winners!

Today, in line with our giveaway book (& EDUCATION theme), let’s talk about simplicity. I learned about minimalism c. 10 yrs ago. I can’t express how life-changing it was. I love the idea of having a beautiful home w/space for what I value over an accumulation of stuff. The author of this week’s book has embraced a strict version of minimalism. He has very few items in his home. But the principles are there & apply to all. Again, I want things in my home that are beautiful & functional. Look around your home. Is everything you see beautiful or functional? If I told you in the next 20 min you had to leave your home forever and only take what’s important to you, could you do it? Imagine that. To me, it would feel like a weight lifted off my chest. Consider this – When you have less stuff, you have LESS upkeep, LESS things to clean, LESS stress, MORE space to move, MORE freedom in regards to time/$/etc. I felt many times I couldn’t focus on what was really important to me bc there was so much visible clutter causing internal clutter. I felt there were barriers re: me spending my life doing, enjoying, and learning all I wanted to bc of the tasks I made for myself by having a bunch of crap that didn’t add to my life. Here’s a little homework: 1- list out your values, life dreams/goals, everything important to you. 2- look around your home. How many things can you find that don’t align with any of that? 3- ask why you’re keeping that stuff? Out of obligation? Bc you spent a lot of money on it? Bc that’s what you feel you’re “supposed to own?” Bc you want to be a golfer but never use those clubs? I think the more we look at ourselves & rid ourselves of what’s not important, of what’s holding us back, the quicker we can get to the good parts of our lives. The good parts of my life don’t involve cleaning, fixing, finding, or organizing random crap that doesn't support any goal/dream/interest in my life. Let’s simplify via purging all barriers that keep us from our dreams!

Regina

Moving BEYOND…together.

Learn more! The Minimalists, Joshua Becker, Courtney Carver, Colin Wright…

09/01/2025

Let's learn by connecting with nature.

09/01/2025

08/30/2025

Last reset blog entry: Reset: SHARE!

Hello Interesting Introverts & Extraverts!

Today is our actual, official last day of reset. Whew! I hope you found something of value this month in all that I shared. This last day, consider how you might share this idea of reset with someone who needs it. If you know someone who’s kinda stuck and/or who struggles to give themselves and others grace, let them know that they can reset any area of their life.

Regina! Next month will NOT be called Reset: whatever. Reset is done!

My bad! In one of the videos, I called next month Reset: Education. That is INCORRECT! Wow, once you get on a topic, it’s hard to stop! September’s theme is Education. I will be sharing lots of wonderful, exciting, rich things I’ve learned over the years - and keep learning! Cuz who wants to stop?! And PLEASE DON’T FORGET! Because I love to learn and I love books, I’m giving some away. Yippee! I will shortly share more deets on how you can win a book. But just to be safe: like, subscribe, share, comment, ALL THE THINGS on these posts so you know you’ll definitely be in the running. And there’s a good chance that the more you do (ie: subscribe, like…), the more chances you’ll have to win. As a reminder, I’m giving the same book away each week on Insta and Fb, so if I give away book A wk #1 on Fb, I’ll give away book A also on Insta. The next week, I’ll give away book B on Fb, and book B on Insta, and on and on. So, yes, I bought 2 of each book. Whew again! I can’t wait to get sharing and learning with all of you.

Lots of love & learning,

Regina

Moving BEYOND…together.