top of page
Welcome to my blog: Perils and Pearls
My heart's desire in this endeavor is to offer support and encouragement to the hearts' of women. That you would feel accompanied - not alone - as we travel together and find the jewels in our sometimes perilous journeys.


Part 5: Breaking the Loop—12 Strategies to Shift Fear-Based Patterns
You can change your relationship with your thoughts This is my final writing in a series of posts re: fear loops. Together, these 5 short pieces build a cohesive journey: Recognizing the loop → Understanding your biology → Clarifying the emotions → Reframing your thoughts → Practicing strategies This last post will get to the strategies, that when practiced, can guide you from stepping out of the fear loop to nurturing resilience and reframing the pain into purpose. (*Go h
-
22 hours ago6 min read


Part 4: Escaping the Happiness Trap—Shifting Thought Patterns
You can change your relationship w/ thoughts This is Part 4 of a series on thought loops that can be formed from fear, worry and anxiety - how we can get trapped in them and how to break free from them. (If you want to read the first three in this blog series go here .) In the previous post (Part 3), I covered the distinctions between the three distress emotions - fear, worry, and anxiety - how each contributes to a fear loop. I also defined ‘feedback loops’ and differentiate
-
Nov 115 min read


Part 3: Fear, Worry, Anxiety and Stress—Untangling the Distress Web
This spooky web can be sticky to get out of! I have been sharing my exploration into fear - its webs and loops, and generally speaking, its power to throw our emotions into dysregulation and our body systems out of the homeostasis for which we were made. My first two posts on the topic can be found here , if you would like to read them. I used the personal story of our family handling the acute crisis of my husband resigning suddenly, to introduce the idea of fear loops as we
-
Oct 235 min read


Part 2:Restoring Balance—How Our Bodies Seek Homeostasis
You were built for balance In my last post, I started a series on the topic of fear loops: How life brings situations that can set us up...
-
Oct 104 min read


Part 1: The Fear Loop — When Life Hijacks Your Calm
It was the 1990s on a typical weekday, with the usual sounds – me clanking kitchenware as I prepared dinner, and our two kids in their...
-
Oct 14 min read


Real World Resilience: Cowboys Kicker Brandon Aubrey
A Story of Hard Work, Perseverance & Resilience I just finished a series of posts on the topic of resilience. ( Click here if you would...
-
Sep 175 min read


Part 5: Bend Not Break – A Resilience Practice for Everyday Life
Building a Life That Bends, Not Breaks This is the final installment of considering the concept of resilience. ( Go here if you would...
-
Aug 294 min read


Part 4: Pancakes in a Snowstorm – How Creativity Can Emerge from Crisis
A Story of Improvisation Let's take a look at another aspect of resilience. (The topic I have been exploring in the last several blog...
-
Aug 144 min read


Part 3: Resilience Is Risky Business – The Role of Personality and Risk
What Type of Thinker Are You? This is my third post on the topic of resilience.(Go here if you want to read Part 2.) We have established...
-
Aug 63 min read


Part 2: The Complexity of Resilience – More Than Just Mental Toughness
Resilience Is a Full-Body Experience Picking up the topic from my last post... (Go here if you want to read part 1) Resilience can be...
-
Jul 34 min read


The Art of Resilience: From Cracks to Courage Part 1: The Beauty in Brokenness – Introducing the Kintsugi Way
Finding Strength Through Our Cracks I recently wrote an article for the American Institute of Stress (AIS) e-magazine, Contentment, on...
-
Jun 243 min read


Spanish Seasonings of a New Life Season
Can a dozen different orders of patatas bravas change your life? For sure the quest for the best has got me pondering the deep...
-
Jun 37 min read


Making Room for Growth & New Life
Advent means an arrival or coming For this Christmas post, I just wanted to throw out something I have been pondering during this 2024...
-
Dec 24, 20243 min read


The Thrill of Adventure: Dirt, Water, and Scrapes Included!
The setting: Our (then) eight-year-old granddaughter and eleven-year-old grandson were visiting in July a few years ago. Our daughter and...
-
Nov 14, 20247 min read


Is Pain Amnesia a Thing?...I Forget
Many years ago, when a close friend stopped all contact with me for over a year (14 months, to be exact), I was in great pain. I could...
-
Sep 9, 20245 min read


Scrabble as Therapy
May I do something a little different, and throw out a question at the begin of a post? Will you consider pondering this with me today?...
-
Jul 11, 20245 min read


Empathy's Darker Side: Emotional Monitoring
I sense my title may be evoking various versions of curiosity: What is emotional monitoring? How could empathy ever be bad or dark? I had...
-
Jun 20, 20245 min read


Coach Reid’s Range: The Tale of 2 KC Stars
For most Americans (and the world, for that matter), this captured image is old news by now; but the leadership lesson modeled by Coach...
-
Feb 16, 20245 min read


The Power of an Arrow: Embracing Heart Change Without Cupid
We are into February (already!), probably reassessing the resolutions we made a month ago, and headed towards Valentine’s Day. So, I am...
-
Feb 8, 20244 min read


It Was a River Rescue to Remember
Ahh...This photo, taken several years ago, looks to be an image of summertime bliss, of serenity, pleasure, relaxation. And it is all of...
-
Aug 22, 20234 min read
bottom of page




