Holiday Gift Guide

First, I want to say thank you to all of my clients who have worked with me this year and trusted me in our work together. My gratitude to all of you is sincere, and I admire your willingness and bravery in doing the often difficult work that you do. It is an honor. It really is. I don’t think I say that enough, how rewarding and meaningful this work is.

This has been my first year in private practice and overall it has been an amazing experience. I get to learn so much every day. I can’t think of a more meaningful career and it wouldn’t be possible without the clients who trust me to work with them.

Another positive experience I have had this year is partnering with The Therapy Collaborative in Troy, Ohio. Each of us has our own private practice and we come together to support one another, learn, and grow. This is a wonderful group of therapists, so if you or someone you love is looking for a therapist, I highly recommend anyone in the group.

And with that, in the spirit of the holidays and gift giving, I have the following recommendations.

First, I often recommend books and audiobooks to clients. One of the best sources I have found is the Sounds True library. This library contains audiobooks and courses taught by experts in the field of psychology and more. You can most likely access their library free through your public library. I use the Hoopla app, which is free through my public library. On the app you can search for the Sounds True audio courses and audiobooks.

One of the Sounds True titles offered free through the Hoopla app that I particularly recommend is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy narrated and taught by its founder, Steven Hayes. He provides eight sessions that outline the philosophy behind Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and specific exercises you can do to improve mindfulness, acceptance of difficult thoughts and emotions, and live a full life in accordance with your values.

Next, I recommend the Nonviolent Communication Workshop by Marshall Rosenberg. This is also offered through Sounds True, and available free through the Hoopla app. I listened to this a few years ago and found it immensely helpful in having difficult conversations. It helps with assertiveness skills and Rosenberg’s principles can vastly improve communication. This is worth a listen at least annually.

A book that I recommend frequently is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I recommend buying a print copy. This is a wonderful tool for anyone who wants to be more creative. I think we are all creative, and that creativity is something that we should all be open to and bring more of into our lives. Creativity is the ability to break free from old patterns and create something new—which is also one of the main goals of therapy.

Cameron shares two useful and helpful practices: the morning pages and the artist’s date. The morning pages involve writing three pages by hand each morning, without a filter, without worrying about how it sounds, without attention to grammar or an audience. It is getting everything tht is in your head out on the page. This can help with processing difficult experiences and help with coming up with new ideas. It can also bring you clarity as you engage in the day ahead. The artist’s date involves basically taking yourself out once a week to do something you want to do—going on a date with yourself. It can be something new, something inspiring, something fun. Cameron describes it as something that will feed yourself as a creative person or artist. The rest of the book is a workbook (ideally completed over 12 weeks) that helps you overcome what keeps you from being creative. And being creative doesn’t have to mean you create a song or a work of art, it could mean creating the life you want to live, the relationship you want, the business you want to start.

And last but not least, consider giving the gift of experience to yourself and your loved ones for the holidays. The gift of experience can be planning a date night, planning a trip, planning a day out to someplace fun in your area, or making a nice dinner. One important idea I have come back to over and over again this year is that connection with ourselves and others is what is most important—more important than buying things that will be forgotten. We grow through our relationships with others. Those relationships can and generally are very challenging. But if we can grow through them and evolve together, that is a gift to us all.