The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

  By: Dwight Bain, LMHC A recent USA Today poll asked this question, “Which best fits your holiday emotional state?” Relaxed   - 18% Joyful   - 31% Stressed -   27% Depressed -   24% Why do people feel so overloaded with additional problems during the holidays? I believe the majority of the pressure they feel is from trying to live up to unrealistic expectations of creating a ‘perfect’ Christmas. Remember Clark W. Griswald from the movie ‘Christmas Vacation?’ He is the laughable, but best illustration of a guy who tries to do everything right, only to have literally everything go wrong. Dysfunctional relatives, one blown bulb derailing all of the decorations, the Christmas tree goes up in flames, the turkey is dry, the check for the swimming pool is going to bounce, add in a crazy cousin kidnapping the hateful boss, while the dog destroys the house chasing a rabid s...

By: Brian Murray, LMHC “Shame is a soul eating emotion.” ― C.G. Jung Guilt and shame are a dynamic duo often found in the lives of many people. It can be experienced on many levels and often comes with the price of our overall mental well-being. There is a distinct difference between the two and often people become confused about what they are experiencing. Guilt is something that is experienced in the present. Often a person does something that may cause a feeling or regret overdoing it, feels guilty and then decides on how to proceed by either attempting to right a wrong or coming to the conclusion that their behavior is justified and drop the guilt and move on. Shame is guilt for doing, or not doing, something and then harboring that guilt over time. What happens when a person carries shame is there is something tugging at them inside to correct a situation. This internal pull begins to infiltrate every part of the person and over time it begins to cause other prob...

By Cara Griffin-Locker It is a new year and a new you.   This time of year is a great time to embrace starting fresh and a good time to think about new aspirations and meaningful goals.   It is a time when we ponder on what our story will be.   It is also a time when many of us set the wonderful eagerly anticipated New Year’s resolutions. Sounds great, right? Maybe the part about the goals and aspirations and the possibility of writing a whole new story, but what about the resolutions? If you are like most people, you set the resolution knowing it is going to be broken or soon forgotten.   Or better yet, you set a resolution just because everyone else is setting one. Who loves setting a resolution that is often not kept and leaves one feeling discouraged, defeated and depressed in the middle of January? Why do we do this to ourselves? Is the societal epidemic of keeping up with the Joneses partially to blame? Or can we simply blame ourselves for the lack of t...

By Christine Hammond Have you experienced intentional exploitation by your spouse? Regularly endured insults mixed with rejection and alternating with affirmation? Feel manipulated into doing or saying something out of character? Then you might be experiencing abuse. But is it really abuse without bruising?   Abuse is not just physical. There are many other forms of abuse such as sexual, financial, emotional, mental, and verbal. While some of the other forms of abuse are obvious, mental abuse by a narcissist can be difficult to spot. It starts simply with a casual comment about anything: color of the wall, dishes in the sink, or the car needing maintenance. The remark is taken out of context by the narcissist to mean that you disapprove of them in some way. You try to explain that wasn’t your intention but they are off on a tirade which ends in you feeling like you are losing your mind. How did this happen? Here are several favorite narcissistic mental abuse tactics...

By: Matt W. Sandford, LMHC What is self care? Self care means attending to your self – increasing and/or maintaining your personal emotional well being. An objection to self care that I’ve heard people say is that it seems self indulgent. This objection is commonly rooted in the Christian understanding that our calling is to serve and focus on others. There are, in fact, scriptures that seem at first to be in support of this viewpoint. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be serve d, but to serve , and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Phil 2:3-4 There are actually plenty of passages we could reference to support this idea. But I want to consider a few other passages to help us to gain balance as to the intention of the passages on serving. “Whatever y...