Blog
My Recent Covid Scare and the Goodness of the World
If you’re sick of hearing about COVID, we understand! This week's Gathering Gold episode is about a few themes that are being highlighted for many highly sensitive people in their internal landscapes during the pandemic: anguish over an inflated sense of...
How to Untie the Link Between Relationship Anxiety, Sex Anxiety, and Shame
We talk about social anxiety. We talk about relationship anxiety. We talk about transition anxiety. Now it's time to talk about sex anxiety: not only how anxiety in general or relationship anxiety in particular kills libido but how much anxiety we carry about sex...
This is the Magic that Happens When Women Share their Fears about Sexuality
When I launched the first round of Sacred Sexuality: A 40-day course for women to heal body shame and ignite desire in June 2017 I had no idea what to expect on the forum. Would the members feel reticent to share their innermost fears, secrets, questions, and stories...
Are you Ready to Reclaim Your Sacred Sexuality? The Time is Now.
With the exposure of sexual assault, abuse, and violation in this country in the last couple of years, there can be no doubt that our culture suffers from profound sexual dysfunction and illness. Many of us, especially women, have been privately aware of the toxicity...
A Christmas Eve Gift for You: Gathering Gold through Winter’s Paradox
Victoria and I are excited to share this podcast episode on Winter's Paradox with you on Christmas Eve. ♥️♥️♥️ Winter is a season of contrasts. In the long dark nights, candles burn more brightly. Amidst the cold, we find ways to generate heat. And in the...
I’m Going to Tell You a Few Essential Secrets that Make Life Worth Living
As Victoria and I prepare for our next Gathering Gold episode on winter, I’ve been thinking a lot about contrast, risk, and paradox, and how the highly sensitive person, whose tendency is to stay within the safe bounds of a comfort zone, has to push themselves to take...
This is the Roadmap of Relationship Anxiety that will Help you Break Free
There is often a predictable arc to relationship anxiety that includes three stages.* The first stage is characterized by typical symptoms of anxiety and panic: Trouble sleeping Difficulty eating Tearful Depressed Bolting awake in the middle of the night Difficulty...
This is One of the Most Effective Ways to Break Free from an Intrusive Thought
I've written many times about the confluence of my work with my personal life, and how they each inform the other: what I learn parenting my sons influences how I work with my highly sensitive clients and what I learn from my clients influences how I parent and how I...
If You’re Feeling Lonely During the Holidays, You’re Not Alone
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we're entering into what can feel like a particularly lonely season for many people: the leaves have fallen from the trees, daylight disappears early, and the holiday season is upon us. In this week's episode of Gathering Gold, I share...
I’m Sending You Some Comfort and Guidance as We Enter the Holidays
As we descend into the holiday season, I'm sending you these past posts and a webinar with hopes that they'll offer support and comfort for whatever may arise during this charged time: loneliness, sadness, grief, joy, excitement, fear, dread, disappointment. May these...
This is How Worry Can Steal our Breath and Also Return It
I've been thinking a lot about worry lately. I hear it in my clients. I see it in comments on my posts. I watch how it shows up in my kids. And, oh, how I know worry in my own cells. It's part of my DNA, quite literally. I've been curious about the shape and tone of...
I Turned 50 on Friday and This is What I Want to Share With You
I've written a birthday blog post almost every year since I started this blog in 2009. I wrote about entering my 40s here, and in today’s very special Gathering Gold episode, Victoria and I reflect on aging as I cross the threshold into the next decade of life: my...
How do I Know the Difference Between Intuition and Fear?
On a recent group call, a participant asked one of the most common questions for those struggling with anxiety and intrusive thoughts is: "So if I don't trust these anxious thoughts then what can I trust? If my truth is really that we are not right for each other [or...
How Laughter and Humor Can Be Sources of Both Pain and Joy
Laughter is powerful. It can be a sign of deep comfort and intimacy, or a weapon used to reject and humiliate. Some of us grew up in homes where jokes were plentiful but tears weren’t allowed; others may have felt that silliness or goofiness was frowned upon. For...
How the Anxiety, Grief, and Joy of Autumn Can Lead the Way to Growth
Every autumn, I hear an upsurge of anxiety, grief, longing, groundlessness, and joy among my highly sensitive population. Sometimes it will sound like this: "I've been feeling more anxiety lately and I'm not sure why." Me: "Well, we don't have to know why, but if you...