Challenges Facing Retirees
How do I make the most out of my retirement? I’m so used to having a purpose and now I awaken every day and have to think about what I can do.
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Dr. Connie L. Ingram is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Life Coach, and Corporate Consultant. Connie is known for her training in the areas of relationships, stress/anxiety, and leadership.
Convictions Motivate Actions
I make numerous promises to myself and set goals but I cannot seem to keep them. I don’t understand. I can keep my commitments to others but when it comes to keeping them for me, I fail miserably. What can I do to reach my…
Women and Post-Retirement Identity
Post retirement identity crisis for women isn’t a new concept, it just has a new name. We used to call it “empty nest syndrome”. A mom who steeped her identity into being the mother of demanding little kids suddenly finds herself with “nothing to do”.…
Christmas and Covid-19
So much has changed since the introduction of the Corona Virus. We at I&A have watched the incidences and intensity of anxiety, fear, and depression skyrocket. Not so much because of the virus itself, but because of the unknown. Because of how people have begun…
Dear Self,
In Tina Lifford’s book “The Little Book of Big Lies”, she reminds us that we are “never to ignore a person who loves you, and misses you…especially if that person is your Self”. (2019, p. 93) The inner fitness practice to help us begin this…
Empowerment in a Chaotic Environment
What does it mean to be empowered? What keeps you from feeling empowered? How do others seem to be so self-confident? What will it take for you to be a strong decision-maker? What is the secret to becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling…
Has COVID-19 changed your brain?
Many of the clients we have been treating actually claimed to enjoy the quarantine…at first. So many drawers and garages and filing cabinets were being organized. Rooms were being painted and patios pressure washed. Books were being read and movies watched. At first it was…
Navigating through Crises
In this current COVID-19 environment, we must have strong and powerful principles for navigating through the crisis. What we are witnessing can be seen as panic when people begin to forget their fellow man, the community, and begin to hoard the supplies that we all…
An Apology That’s Meaningful
Why is it so hard to apologize? Why is it so hard to accept and acknowledge responsibility for our words or actions? It takes an emotionally mature and stable person to do just that. To admit wrong, stop blaming circumstances or others and just own…
The Charles Schulz Philosophy
The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just ponder on them. Just read the e-mail straight through, and you’ll get the point… Name the five wealthiest people in the world. Name…
Do you want to be Right or do you want to be Happy?
Believe it or not, you can be both…right and happy. Ask yourself, what is my attachment to being right? What makes it so important that I would sacrifice my relationship for it? If you have “right” what do you really have? You may have white…
The Best Gift Ever!
The very best gift ever is to “Create a life that tickles your soul”. In a book by the same name, Dr. Suzanne Zoglio reminds us that happiness is in our very own hands. Though we have often heard that retort, it seems that we…
Hurricane Preparedness for Relationships
As Hurricane Irma approaches, I have made several observations as people prepare that seem to fit the paradigm for relationships. For example, when the weather person first begins reporting that a storm is coming, people don’t seem to take it to seriously and just listen…
How contagious is your mood?
The July 17, 2017 FIU Center for Leadership News asks; “Just how contagious is your good mood?” Basically it relates the results of an experiment by Facebook wherein temporary changes to the newsfeeds of 689,000 users omitted negative emotional words and replaced with more positive…
The Benefits of Therapy
Several years ago I had a couple come into my office for their first session on a Monday. During the course of the initial conversation, they related that they had an appointment with a divorce attorney on Friday. In essence, I had one chance to…
Thank you for teaching me valuable social skills…
This great note and gift is from a client whom I saw beginning at age 4. We have been through many phases of his life together and he has fought the good fight and shows his appreciation for it. I often say that as therapists,…
A Letter to My Anxiety
This letter was a therapy activity given to a young woman who suffers with anxiety. The assignment was to write a letter to her anxiety. She did such an introspective and well-written job with it that I asked for her permission to share it with…
Couple Communication Techniques
Every day in my private practice I see couples who complain about their communication skills. They talk about listening, understanding, expressing feelings, too many words, not enough words, withdrawing, aggressive speech, and more. The truth is that most marriages could be improved upon without talking.…
New Year’s Resolutions
Christmas has come and gone and the New Year is here. Many people use this as the jumping off point for resolutions for more exercise and less food. More relaxation and less work…more time for relationships and less time spent checking off the “to do…