Part 2: Learning How to Trust Myself (Again!) As a young child of 7 or 8 years old, I had a very loud inner voice—let’s call it intuition— that compelled me to consistently honour what felt right for me. My intuition was what encouraged me to become a vegetarian when I was in Grade 3, despite belonging to a family that was very fond of eating animals. My intuition also guided me to take a strong stance in favour of human rights, women’s rights and children’s rights. I belonged to so many different groups intended to advocate for all sorts of rights, including Amnesty International and PETA, an ..read more

Surrender is a powerful aspect of healing. When we surrender we come to accept that we do not have control over most things, while simultaneously freeing up space + energy for new things + possibilities that may be more suitable for us. While surrender is often confused with resignation, the two are far from the same thing. Resignation is a state of hopelessness, helplessness + disappointment which highlights feelings of failure, while surrender is an active, conscious choice, a decision rooted in the awareness that life is an unpredictable, uncontrollable journey. Surrender is difficult becau ..read more

I grew up in a family and during a time where self-love and self-care were seen as frivolous and indulgent—perhaps nice-to-have, but surely not necessary. As a young child, I remember witnessing my mother work extremely hard, both within the home and in our family business, day in and day out, without taking time for herself most days, to unwind, focus on her health and well-being or to simply just be (versus constantly doing and being available for others). While my father followed a similar lifestyle, I do recall him carving out time for self-care in the form of volleyball.  As I grew u ..read more

Over the past 11 years, while working as a Child & Family Therapist, and specializing in supporting individuals and families who have experienced trauma, I have also been teaching about mindfulness. But it wasn’t until +/- 3.5 years ago, when I began my own Kindfulness journey, that I became really curious about mindfulness as a tool for self-healing. At first glance, mindfulness seems like the perfect tool to work through issues of grief and trauma, since mindfulness, like grief and trauma, is rooted in embodiment. Furthermore, while trauma activates our stress response, mindfulness effec ..read more

I recently had the chance to catch up with an old friend and while chatting she asked me about my New Year’s resolutions for 2021. I shared with her that I had stopped setting new year resolutions for years now and she noted her shock at hearing this because she always thought of me as such a goal-oriented person. I was a little thrown aback by her comment because I was unable to appreciate why she thought that not setting new year’s resolutions was incongruent with being goal-oriented. I took a moment to explain my position and noted that I have been working tirelessly over the last few years ..read more

The winter holidays are, hands-down, my favourite time of the year. After recently reflecting on why, I came to the conclusion that there are a few reasons. The main reason is because for all my life, until I became a mother in 2018, it was during this time that my parents, younger sister and I would venture to every corner and crevice of the Earth and spend weeks of uninterrupted quality time together exploring and enjoying ourselves. I had the privilege of spending New Year’s Eve in a new country almost every year of my life until I was in my 30s, and since having children, we have continued ..read more

Hello friends! As the gift-giving season is upon us, I have been receiving lots of requests about my recommendations for Kindful books for children. Instead of a usual blog post, I thought I would compile a list of books that my family and I enjoy, as well as those I have shared with clients and loved ones alike, which have been helpful and meaningful for us. Please share any titles with me that I may have missed so that I can add them to my personal collection, as well as share them with others who are on a quest like us to help raise and nurture a generation of kind, compassionate, loving an ..read more

Gratitude is more than just a buzzword or popular #hashtag— which is why it’s no wonder that avid practitioners corroborate the plethora of research that suggests it has the power to significantly and positively impact our social and emotional lives, including our health, happiness, personality and career. While gratitude is clearly one of the healthiest emotions human beings can embody, what isn’t so obvious or common sensical is how to teach and practise gratitude with little ones. In my work as a Heart-centred Child & Family Therapist, I often discuss, with parents and educators alike ..read more

Language is powerful. It is so very powerful. With it, we not only tell stories to others and express our desires and deepest darkest secrets, but we also tell ourselves stories about the world, and perhaps most importantly, stories about who we are, where we find ourselves in our lives and why we are the way we are. With language we piece together the isolated snapshots that comprise our life, and create a comprehensive masterpiece—the narrative of our existence. I have always been fond of language, and of communicating through the spoken and written word. But, it wasn’t until I realized, thr ..read more

School is back in which means that stress, BIG emotions and challenging behaviours are back on the rise in many households. While Time-outs are a go-to for many adults hoping to correct a child’s behaviour, I often hear adults question if the strategy is effective, given that Time-outs commonly result in power struggles and because adults sometimes find themselves sending children on Time-outs multiple times a day or week, for the same behaviours! For this reason, I thought it would be helpful to discuss why Time-outs are not such an effective behaviour modification tool and how the lesser-kno ..read more