At Emotion Station we always talk about routine and structure and how it keeps us calm and brings security, safety, and trust. But sometimes life on life‘s terms takes that all away from us.  At any given moment everything that has made us comfortable can be taken away leaving us displaced. We may not want it that way, we may not choose it that way, but now we have to find a way to start slowly building that safety and security back in a new form.  The grief of displacement makes us feel beaten, battered, and little motivation to pick ourselves up.  Shuffling through the different grief stages keeps us…

In the world we live today temptation is all around us, it can come in the form of people places and things. Temptation challenges us to stay within our identity and pushes the morals, values, and beliefs of what we stand for. Temptation wants to create chaos and take us outside of our normal comfort life. Once we step outside our identity and give into temptation the reaction to that is usually anxiety and panic   People can be tempting because they can make us believe that the grass is always greener on the other side, or that what they have is better than what we have. Temptation of others can put…

At Emotion Station we help people with things they can control and the things they cannot control in their life.   One of the things people may not be able to control in their life is outcomes. We like to investigate if we can accept outcomes or if we’re always trying to control them.   Controlling outcomes would be putting pressure on the situation , even forcing a particular direction for self-purposes only. When we think we can control outcomes we think we can control people, which can get very dangerous and cause us to abuse our self and others.  We put a lot of anxiety on our self when we try to…

We live in a country mostly of surplus of temptation, reinforcement, and instant gratification.  This can be deceiving for us because it gives us a false sense of security with material objects and false pretenses.  This security is what we learn to turn to as a coping skill in times of turmoil or trauma which triggers the old question of wants versus needs.  I learn in therapy clients get comfortable with giving themselves what they want maybe even from an early age in life. Many times, individuals choose what they want but is it best for their needs?  If we constantly reinforce what we want is it the healthiest choice…

We engage in diets for our physical health we should do the same for our mental health.  Think of how good it feels to lose weight and how it affects other areas of our lives as well.  Now imagine how good it would feel to lose mental weight including the negative and distorted thoughts that weigh you down emotionally.  Distorted thoughts are like extra pounds they weigh you down, make you feel less about yourself, and hold you back from what you are capable of.  The following acronym CREAM is something Emotion Station uses in therapy to help guide you down the mental diet path. Commitment- Make a commitment to…

The last four months have been exhausting on us mentally and it would be foolish to think that we would not experience anxiety because of the conditions that come with pandemic life.  Anxiety is common at the current time and if you are experiencing it there is nothing wrong with you as a person.  The fear of the unknown, the loss of control, and the loss of purpose will always ramp up anxiety.  Another component that plays into factor with anxiety during pandemic life would be routine.  Before quarantine and pandemic life most of us had a comfortable routine that allowed us to remain secure and safe even when life…

The New Year is upon us and people often make resolutions to motivate themselves to make healthy changes.  At Emotion Station we help people make healthy changes year-round and focus on goals that are realistic.  The momentum of a new year can also bring new purpose.  Many times, in therapy we analyze emotions with an individual’s purpose, and we find out that when people are not fulfilling a purpose it becomes difficult to find fulfillment. Many advantages exist to positive emotions when we as humans are fulfilling a purpose including self-worth, value, and relationships.  Self -worth is important for our emotions because we find more security when our self-worth is…