Spelunking: A Therapist’s Metaphor for Emotional Exploration
Let’s dive into a journey of emotional discovery, much like the thrilling adventure of spelunking in uncharted caves. I’m going to guide you through this exploration, highlighting the significance of venturing into the depths of your emotions with expert guidance, much like navigating through the darkness with a seasoned spelunker. By the end of our journey, you’ll see how this [...]
Navigate Your Emotions Like a Skilled Explorer — with Master Guide: Heidi Vernon, LMFT
Ever felt like you’re just “winging it” through life with a map that only shows highways of whim and landmarks of logic but gives no indication of the rollercoaster of emotions, or sometimes of desert landscapes with no oasis in sight)? Imagine cruising through life’s journey, armed only with whims — like trying to use Google Maps but the voice [...]
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Heidi’s Recommended Reads
Atomic Habits
This is a phenomenal read — jam-packed with nuggets of wisdom and suggestions for practical application at an atomic level, which I particularly appreciate. If you want to enhance your life in any chosen area, this book shares the principles for doing so. Highly recommend. In fact, if you’ve taken one of my courses, I would suggest following the implementation pattern: choose one principle to practice each day for two weeks (until that principle has become more solidified), then choose the next “baby step” and follow the same pattern, allowing the principles to build upon themselves incrementally until you have a solid routine going. Again, perfection isn’t the goal, but consistency. Just keep going.
Running On Empty
I love Dr. Webb’s work. This book is the first place I recognized the impact childhood emotional neglect can have. The first source that taught me what it was called, and now that I’ve gone into treating complex trauma, it is a root component of the development of trauma symptoms in life: if one doesn’t have access to immediate emotional support directly following a highly stressful event, particularly children, are likely to internalize the stress and present with trauma symptoms. Great read, easy to digest.
Running On Empty No More
Book accompaniment to my Emotional Intelligence 102 course.
Do you sometimes feel like you’re just going through the motions in life? Do you often act like you’re fine when you secretly feel lonely and disconnected? Perhaps you have a good life and yet somehow it’s not enough to make you happy. Or perhaps you drink too much, eat too much, or risk too much in an attempt to feel something good. If so, you are not alone―and you may be suffering from emotional neglect. Running on Empty will help you understand your experiences and give you clear strategies for healing. It also includes a special chapter for mental health professionals.
Daring Greatly
A great companion read to her world-famous TED Talks about Vulnerability and Shame. One day, I hope to be my own version of Brené. She’s a great role model to me, and I’m sure millions of others.
Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”
Emotional Intelligence
If you want a rather thick read that goes more into the theory than practical application, this is your book. Not my personal preference, but some of you may find it interesting.
Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence, we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman’s brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers startling new insight into our “two minds”—the rational and the emotional—and how they together shape our destiny.
Running On Empty
Great extended read about assertiveness. If you want a deeper dive than my quick-reference handout as part of Emotional Intelligence 102 course.
Whether they take place at work or at home, with your coworkers or your spouse, Crucial Conversations have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you’ll never have to worry about the outcome of a Crucial Conversation again.
