MARRIAGE & FAMILY COUNSELNG BLOG
Therapy2Thrive® Pleasanton
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Pleasanton Counselors at Therapy2Thrive® bring Hope for Healing
Our Pleasanton counselors at Therapy2Thrive® provide compassionate, practical, and evidenced based practices to assist you in the therapeutic process to meet your goals and find hope to heal the challenges you are facing.
Read our blog articles below. Contact our marriage and family counselors in Pleasanton for private consultation.
Ground in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Ground in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Therapy2Thrive® Pleasanton 925-998-3392 Ground in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 A simple, easy-to-remember sensory awareness grounding technique to help calm and ground you in the present moment when anxious thoughts and feelings arise. It is a...
Parenting and Playtime
Parenting and Playtime Therapy2Thrive® Pleasanton 925-998-3392 Parenting and Playtime One of the joys of childhood is play. One of the joys at any age, actually, is play. For children, play is key to learning of all kinds. Parents who make time to play...
Discipline as Punishment or Praise?
Discipline as Punishment or Praise? It’s a sunny, crisp Sunday afternoon and you’re standing in the kitchen preparing a delicious crust-free sandwich lunch. Samantha and Ellie are sitting at the kitchen table coloring together. There have been moments of bickering...
5 Ideas for Fun Family Activities to Get You Through the Holiday Break
For most kids, the excitement of the holiday break is a sense of eager anticipation that starts at the beginning of the school year. For parents and caregivers, the second longest break from school can bring on both a sense of excitement and a sense of overwhelm at the thought of having to keep the kids busy on their days off.
Discover 3 Major Stages of Stress
Have you ever had one of those mornings, where the alarm didn’t go off and you woke up late? As you rush around getting ready, you spill coffee on your only clean white blouse that matches your black and white poke-a-dot skirt. Now you are even more stressed….
Housework is Sexy!
A 2018 study published in Socius that was led by Daniel Carlson of the University of Utah found that couples now share more household tasks than they did in the 1990’s and this had a positive effect for couple relationships, including couple’s sex lives.
Develop an Attitude of Gratitude
With the holidays and end of the year quickly approaching, this is a great time to reflect on and develop our feelings of thankfulness. This may seem like a simple and maybe even cliché concept, but in reality it is something that can truly affect our sense of well-being from the inside out.
Transforming Holiday Blues
With the holidays coming up, I think it is worth taking a look at the way we experience them. Holidays are rituals of connection in our life, ways that we come together and spend meaningful time around values we want to honor, cherish, or have fun with.
Breath In Peace
I paused and I looked up and in that moment I saw the beauty that surrounded me– I took in the crisp scents of the evening air and listened to the rustling of the bushes in the breeze. It was a feeling of total peace—a moment of clarity in the fog.
Earning A Black Belt In Relationships
Aikido is often translated as, “the way of unifying spirit” and was originally developed to provide folks with self-defense without causing injury to others. One signature of Aikido is moving with an opponent while staying balanced – yielding to win. This is a powerful concept for relationships!
4 Tips To Be Successful When Faced With Back-To-School Blues
In kids, anxiety responses to the thought of going back to school can manifest in the form of stomachaches, headaches or even excessive clinginess. Often the nerves and worries of being back into the routine of the regular school year will fade within the first month.
A Shift In Thinking Will Shift Your Mood
People who pay attention to what they did wrong, or what they could have done, are at risk for prolonged periods of sadness, feelings of helplessness and anxiety. Thankfully, deepening our understanding, and awareness, of how we explain adverse life events will lead to shifts in our thinking and ease our anxiety.
Raising Compassionate Boy’s
Raising a compassionate boy in today’s world isn’t easy, especially with role models who value aggressiveness over understanding, and dominance over compassion. Our boys are faced with many stressors that do not promote empathy and gentleness toward others. Societal...
Lonely in Love?
Loneliness has been discussed recently as a major problem, not just for our society, but for our health. It is a predictor of premature death and is a bigger risk factor than obesity in this regard; it is the equivalent of smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day
Be Kind To Yourself
One deeply impactful commonality is an experience that harsh self-criticism somehow leads to growth and self-improvement.
Chasing Happy
The ultimate goal is to live a happy life. Clients frequently talk with me about a deep struggle in not feeling happy or that they are not happy about some or many of the things in their lives. This has me thinking about “happy” and if it is something that we should really be chasing.
Building Stronger Relationships
Couples often seek out counseling after the discovery of an infidelity. Infidelity can happen for different reasons, and every story has its own twists and turns, but if couples could have a way of turning back the clock, what could they (or each partner) do differently, if anything? I love the quote from Neil Barringham, “The grass is always greener where you water it.” This gives some important hints as to what couples can do to safeguard their relationship from infidelity.
Youth Violence Prevention
Youth violence in our nation is staggering. Its range is far reaching from violence committed by a child or committed against a child, and can include child abuse, rape, murder and nonfatal assault. In school, bullying also is considered youth violence.
How To Become An Emotion Coach For Your Child
Have you ever found yourself uncomfortable with your child’s emotions in a given situation? Like when he got his feelings hurt or shared with tears his friends did not want to play with him?
When Men Come to Counseling
People often ask me if men actually come to counseling and if so, what do they do there anyway. I get questions such as: Why do men avoid coming to counseling?
Stop The Four Horseman From Running Over Your Relationship
In relationship terms, the Four Horsemen are Criticism, Defensiveness, Contempt, and Stonewalling. When these come calling, the likelihood of relationship unhappiness and/or divorce skyrocket.
The Secret to a Deep and Fulfilling Sex Life
If your partner has been a good friend lately you are more likely to be in the mood to play together and have fun.
Affairs
70 percent of married women and 54 percent of married men did not know of their spouses’ extramarital activity. Is it possible to recover? If a couple wants to stay together, is it even a good idea to try?
Predicting Divorce
Dr. Gottman found that for couples who would eventually divorce, when they talked about an area of disagreement, there was slightly more negativity than positivity as compared to those couples who would stay together – 1.25 times more negative than positive.
Am I Oversensitive?
“Maybe I am just oversensitive”. I have heard this over and over through the years and I think there is something in this thought that is worth thinking about.
5 Effective Parenting Tools for Everyday!
Parenting can be very rewarding. It can also provide some of life’s most challenging situations. I work with parents to bring structure, connection and happiness back into the home.
New Year’s Resolution Progress – Tips from Pleasanton Therapy 2 Thrive
Take a few breaths before you start! Be specific and make your goals small and achievable, while keeping in mind the reasons “why” you want to accomplish the goal. It will give you a much better chance of making it happen. Little changes made daily or weekly, can lead up to big changes over the course of the year.
Self Care Starts with You, Mom’s!
I believe that we can have it all, we just can’t have it all at once. When we have balance in our lives and learn how to set boundaries and prioritize, everyone in the family is healthier and happier. Your family deserves the best version of you and the only way that’s possible is by making yourself a priority.
Finding the Stars on Your Way to the Moon
Do you ever have an idea or want to set a goal for yourself that you later give up on because someone tells you it isn’t achievable?
5 Ways to Fit Self-Care
5 Self Care Tips to fit into your busy day: Mindful breathing, One mindful meal a day, One joyful activity…
Five Tips for Talking to Teens in A Tech World!
Minimize Eye Contact, Texting Really Works, use other tech communication?…
Marriage Counseling: The Turtle and The Woodpecker Get Married
Relationships can be a lot like the marriage of a turtle and a woodpecker. In their marriage, when danger comes along, the turtle pulls into his shell and the woodpecker taps on it to get him to come back out.
Sexting Prevention
“Sexting” is a current trend among an increasing number of teens. Recent studies show almost 50 % of all teens participate in “sexting,” risking social and legal repercussions.
The Power of Being “Too Sensitive”
Perhaps you grew up being called a cry-baby or perhaps you have a child who insists you cut the tags out of all his shirts. You may have heard people say, “You’re too sensitive.”
Don’t Panic! It’s Only Change – Stress Managment
Meditation and relaxation can help with any of the difficulties associated with change. Don’t panic. Change brings new choices and opportunities.
Negotiation Skills for Couples
For many couples, arguing becomes the primary focus of their relationship, leaving the nurturing, fun and joyful aspects of their relationship behind. Developing strategies to manage conflict can strengthen your relationship ….
Why Play? For Adults!
Why adults play? Build Brain Power, Learn about Emotions (Yours and Others), and…
A Positive Approach to Creating Change in Your Life!
Our lives are like a stone thrown into a lake. We create ripples that change everything around us. How can we act in a way that will create positive results around us and in us?
5 Ways to Strike a Better Work-Life Balance
In an age when work follows you home on your laptop, and home life can intrude on office time in email and cellphone calls, it’s hard to strike a balance between your career and the rest of your life.
5 Reasons to Say “No”
Your boss appears at 5 pm on Friday, dumps something on your already overloaded desk and demands that you drop everything to work on it immediately.