Wilson Counseling: The Armchair Chronicles

I need to connect with people and disconnect from my screens. I want to keep this post simple. Life is complicated enough without a complicated post about how you can change your life. I can let work and life distract me from really being present and fully enjoying the people and experiences in my life. I know I am not alone. I find times with friends often interrupted or diminished by regular phone checking. For myself, I'm working on being more mindful and less distracted, which usually means having clear boundaries with the things that distract me, like my phone and computer. I find myself regularly trying to multitask. This desire to multitask comes from the nagging feeling that I can never get everything done. The reality, however, is that multitasking actually makes me less efficient, less present, more anxious, and less capable of enjoying my life and loved ones. This New Years, I am going to focus on changing something that no longer serves me well--being...

People can begin to experience healing often after just a single encounter of empathy I would be a rotten therapist if I didn't have empathy. Empathy allows me to understand and feel the world of my clients. It gives me the ability to help clients feel seen, cared for, and feel normal. People can begin to experience healing often with just a single encounter of empathy. If empathy is such a great thing, why does it sometimes feel so bad to be an empathetic person? When people suffer, empathy allows us to go into their world and hold some of their suffering. But there is a cost to that. If you really share in someone's pain, that means you may also feel that pain. You lighten their burden, but sometimes in the process, you take part of their burden on yourself. As a therapist, I have generally been able to be empathetic and present for my clients without taking all of the pain home with me. I have had less success doing that in my personal relationships. ...

We have all used food to deal with our emotions. If I have a bad day at work, I might come home and eat some ice cream or chocolate. I have clients who stop at the drive-thru on the way home from work and get large meals and binge eat them in their car before heading home. They do this in hopes of push down some of the pain or anxiety they are feeling.  I love food as much as anyone, but I know that when I use food to stop the pain, or distract myself, or keep myself from getting bored, it never works for long. After eating a tub of ice cream, I still feel lonely. I feel lonely and uncomfortably full, and ashamed.  You can experience freedom from this kind of  emotional eating  and learn to meet your real needs. In this video, we explore how to do that. It is a good first step. If you want more help,  we have  Houston, Texas Counselors  who can meet with you. You can  contact  us by calling 713 -591- 3612 or by email at Nancy@wi...

Wilson Counseling is excited to welcome Sarah Bradshaw. Sarah is employed as a school counselor, in addition to working in private practice, so she has a lot of experience working with adolescents, including all educational issues, as well as college and career planning. She also has a heart for working with individuals who are going through infertility issues. Sarah is working at Wilson Counseling on Saturdays. We know that sometimes it can be hard to make an appointment during the weekday, so we are thrilled to make Saturday appointments an option for clients. If you are interested in setting up an appointment with Sarah, please contact Wilson Counseling at nancy@wilsoncounseling.org, or you can fill out a contact request  here . 

Change your critical self talk and you will change how you feel about yourself. Learn to notice negative self talk, stop it, and replace it with more affirming language. Don't be your own worst enemy.  If you are struggling with feelings of despair, sadness, or anxiety, we have Houston, Texas Therapists who can help you. For more information, or to schedule an appointment, call Wilson Counseling at 713 - 591 - 3612 or email us at Nancy@wilsoncounseling. org.

I have been blogging for a while now. It started from a place of wanting to share information that could be helpful to people who may never walk into my office, as well as people I work with who need resources even when they are not in the therapy room. I love writing and wish I could do it more regularly, but I honestly can't keep up with it, so I decided to make some changes and try vlogging instead. It's much quicker for me to shoot a video than it is to write a blog. When things are not working in your life, it's important to be honest about it and switch course to doing something that works. I hope to be putting out video content more regularly than I have been able to blog.  This first video is about improving communication.  You love your partner. You don't want to fight, but you find yourself miscommunicating and arguing anyways. In this short video, I cover two easy steps you can take to start communicating better with your partner, or really with any...

When you bury your emotions, they have a way of coming out anyways I always keep tissues in my counseling office. For a lot of people, once they start to open up, the emotions just find their way to the surface. Those emotions have been buried and pushed down long enough and the body knows. It needs an outlet. It needs to cry. It's interesting that people often apologize when they start to cry in my office. I always reassure them that tears are a perfectly normal and healthy part of getting better. I point them in the direction of the tissue box. I like to think of the box as a reminder that they are not alone in feeling overwhelmed. Lots of people cry in my office. You don't need to apologize for your tears; they are a sign of your humanity I have one client who jokes with me about how I like to make him cry. He's a stocky, muscular guy who played football in college. It's not exactly true that I like to make him cry, but I am grateful that he feels c...