New Beginnings

Welcome to CounselingMatters.live and to our first post!  I am honored you are taking the time to visit and read on.  This blog will have many contributors on many different mental health subjects and topics of interest for people interested in living an emotionally healthy lifestyle. I hope you find these entries helpful.

This entry is written by Louella DeVries, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and the President of Olive Branch Counseling Associates, Inc.  Olive Branch is located in Tinley Park, Illinois.

This is the time of year that many have put away their New Year’s resolutions and marked them as unattainable.  I’ve had years like that, too.

This year finds me fully resolved to look for where my power lies in whatever situation in which I may find myself.  It isn’t always easy to find power, especially while looking into the eyes of the unexpected or the terrifying or the terrifyingly unexpected.  I have been encouraging clients to do this for decades, and have been pretty good at it myself.  Yet, I can do better.  I need to do better, for me.

Something to remember is this: we cannot always change or control a situation.  We can change or control our response to it.  That’s where our power lies.  That is what separates us from the rest of creation.  As people, we have the ability think about different ways to respond and chose the one that fits the ideal of the person we chose to be.

The important first step to making a change toward being less reactive and more proactive is to stop before reacting to a stimulus.  Stephen Covey called this ability pushing the “Pause Button”.  This imaginary button is in the middle of your forehead. We can become aware a situation is presenting itself to us.  Then push the pause button to consider possible options of response.  Pick the one that best fits the person you want to be and use it.  Now that’s Power!