Evolving Ourselves and Our World

Is there an issue, struggle, or fear that’s keeping you from being  your fullest, authentic self… health-related, mental or emotional, relationship or career, spiritual? Do you desire to be more conscious and grow as a human being? Would you like more tools and skills for being resilient during these challenging times? If so, here you’ll find information, guidance, and evidence-based practices that will support you in making the changes you desire.

The counseling I provide enhances your ability to transform yourself and your life. You will be supported and guided in overcoming conscious and unconscious blocks to moving forward and making changes that last. This includes developing the skills to manage your mind, self-regulate your emotions, open your heart, and restructure your brain, all of which shift your consciousness and turn on your mind/body’s innate self-healing capacities and resourcefulness. 

And, when we change and transform ourselves, we are better equipped to be agents of change and transformation in our world.

Not only do we all want to feel well and thrive, we want a world that promotes a healthy, sustainable and thriving way of life for all… what Charles Eisenstein calls “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”. Now, more than ever in recent history, doing our personal work is not enough. Our new consciousness needs to be embodied and put into action.

The current state of affairs in our world is mandating that we find our unique way of serving the greater good. We’re all hardwired for compassion and altruism; we just need to do the inner work to remove the blocks to our true nature and realize our inter-connectedness.  Then find an issue or cause that touches our heart and contribute something to that more beautiful world. Activism is our deepest values and spirituality in action.

Integrative Psychotherapy

My passion is the integration of spirituality, psychology, and science. I offer a holistic approach to healing and well-being that addresses the mind, emotions, body, brain, and spirit. And, the new science in the fields of physics, epigenetics, and neuroscience is validating what the yogis, shamans, and mystics have been teaching for thousands of years, that everything is interconnected and that the mind, heart, and nature are essential to our health and well-being.

 

Learning Opportunities

Throughout my career along with my therapy, I have enjoyed being an educator and have provided psycho-educational offerings through teaching classes, facilitating groups, and presenting seminars at my workplace and in the community. As a lifelong learner myself, I appreciate the value of gaining new insights and perspectives. It expands our minds, enhances our ability to be critical thinkers, and gives us new strategies and tools to personally heal and evolve. 

 

Resiliency in Troubled Times

Resiliency is defined as the capacity to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to adversity. This capacity reflects the amount of energy we have, especially emotional, to keep our “inner battery” charged. This applies to the normal stresses of daily living, major challenges, and the traumas, both personal and collective, we are facing in our world today. What’s more, there are resources, skills, and experiences that enable us to build our capacity for resilience.

 

Hello! I’m Eileen

Licensed Psychotherapist 

Choosing social work as my career stemmed from my concern about social justice issues. Later as a clinical social worker I dove into the study of psychology and ultimately went into private practice which I’ve been doing for the past 20 years. On a personal note, I’ve been a spiritual seeker most of my adult life which led to my interest in Transpersonal Psychology and becoming certified as a yoga teacher. My other two loves are doing holotropic breathwork and being in nature which I do at every opportunity. My husband, Steve and I are living in Anacortes and are thrilled with the natural beauty that surrounds us here.

 

My Blog – Inspiring Information & Practices

Personal Healing & Growth

Navigating Global Change

Intentional Activities That Promote Well-Being

A helpful reminder in these times: The “Science of Happiness” and neuroscience research found that the following activities had high correlations with measures of happiness. Attuned relationships: when we resonate with or “feel felt” by another. This is experienced as...

An Update on the Healing Power of Nature

By now you probably know how strongly I believe in the healing power of nature. But in case you didn’t get it, let me share with you my most recent experience while on vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to the trip, I’d been feeling, as I can tend to, very...

Changing Our Brains to Enhance Our Wellbeing

This post speaks to another subject I’m passionate about and hopefully is meaningful and helpful to you, as well. It’s on some of the new brain science and its application for enhanced mental, emotional and physical health and wellbeing. Since the advent of brain...

The Healing Power of Nature 3

  This blog is the final one, at least for now, on the healing power of nature. Why is a psychotherapist writing about nature you might ask... because I believe that nature has so much to offer us in terms of wisdom, healing, and well-being. Unfortunately we have...

The Healing Power of Nature 2

  In my last post I talked about the healing power of spending time in nature. In this post I want to take that a step further and specifically look at the healing power of flowers. I have developed a deep respect for their amazing healing potential. As a...

The Healing Power of Nature

I have found myself pondering the amazing healing power of nature. In fact, I feel compelled to write about it so I will be doing a series of blogs on the subject. In these challenging and stressful times, we all could use as many healing options as possible and I am...

The Power of Positive Emotions

We all want to be healthy and happy, right? If so, we need to know that emotional self-regulation is a critical piece of the healing, health and happiness equation. Besides what we intuitively know to be true, the science coming out of the field of neurocardiology is...

A Taste of Mindfulness

In my last blog I discussed the benefits of mindfulness training. Some of you may be quite familiar with the practice of mindfulness. We are hearing more and more about it as it has been the focus of a number of research studies in the field of neuroscience. It has...

The Benefits of Mindfulness Training for Health and Well-being

I have become fascinated by the current research in the field of neuroscience that’s being made possible by the new brain imaging technologies.  One of the main reasons this is so exciting to me is that what we are learning about the brain is further validating what...

The Sleep Factor in Healing and Well-being

You've probably heard for years that good sleep is a cornerstone of health, vitality and well-being. Good sleep is regenerative as it is the time when your body gets to heal and restore itself from the stress and strains of daily life thus lessening the chronic stress...

Collapse and Emergence

This post is a follow-up to my last post, “Holding The Whole Truth of Our Times”. Despite our innate and very human resistance to wanting to face the “sober truth” that collapse is underway, it’s hard to avoid it these days. The pandemic brought “life as we knew it”...

Holding the Whole Truth of Our Times

For me, my truth (not “the truth”) about these times is that there are two truths at work. There is the “sober truth” of our times which is that we’re well into the sixth mass extinction event on the planet. We are facing multiple system collapses, including...

Mental Health Effects of Our Climate Crisis

For those of you who have read some of my past posts, the most recent ones have been two series of posts instigated by topics that I’m passionate about, feel are important, and could be thought-provoking for others. Those were on “The Healing Power of Nature” and...

Transforming Ourselves and Our World #7

Going Forth This is the final post of this series on the training I took with the Pachamama Alliance. My hope is that these posts have given you food for thought. The last post discussed “game changing” actions that are needed to address the daunting issues we’re...

Transforming Ourselves and Our World #6

  Game Changing Actions This blog post is on the second to last module of the Pachamama Alliance’s training program and is about putting what we now know into action. In my last post I presented the idea that the social injustice and environmental devastation in...

Transforming Ourselves and Our World #5

  The Rigged Game In my last blog post on the Pachamama Alliance training I discussed the importance of choosing grounded optimism over pessimism despite the very scary and disheartening issues we face in our world today. There are answers to these critical...

Transforming Ourselves and Our World #4

  Optimist, Pessimist, Realist? Does It Matter? This is the 4th of 7 posts I’m doing on the intensive training I took with the Pachamama Alliance. In the last post I discussed evolutionary activism – intentionally choosing to participate in the evolution of our...

Transforming Ourselves and Our World #3

  Evolutionary Activism This is the third post in my series on the training I took with the Pachamama Alliance. The first two posts propose that personal transformation and the transformation of our world are both urgent and interwoven. They require that we...

Transforming Ourselves and Our World #2

  We Are Our Stories As I stated in my last post, I’m doing a series of blog posts on my interpretation of key teachings from my training with the Pachamama Alliance. Their mission is to foster personal and global transformation and promote an environmentally...

Transforming Ourselves and Our World

I recently had the good fortune to take an intensive training with the Pachamama Alliance whose mission is to bring about an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on the planet. They believe this takes both inner work and...

My heart breaks for all I cannot save

The trees, the plants, the lichen in the cave

The earth, the water, along with the air

The wolf, the tiger, the elephant, and bear

How do we face what we don’t want to see?

Can we survive without the coral reef and bee?

Ecosystems unraveling before our very eyes

Must we not only be blind, but deaf to their cries?

How do we grieve for all that’s being lost?

First, remove the blinders to seeing the full cost

No clean water, fresh air or life-giving soil

In the face of the pain must we simply recoil?

In the midst of despair can we find hope?

Coming together is the best way to cope

Only in the heart can it all be held

The tide is to separate, but we need to meld

These times are hard and are getting worse

Can we see in it a blessing, not just a curse?

We must help one another right where we live

In daily acts whereby we love, serve, and give

Act and accept, be angry and at peace

Imagine a new Earth and with it a new lease

Know in our hearts the light and dark serve

And compassion is the key to beating the curve

 

 

 

Contact Me

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(863) 838-2080

Anacortes, WA

eileenf8@gmail.com