Author: Keri

I recently watched a repeat of “The Princess Diaries” on the Disney Channel. You may know the story – A rather plain 15-year old girl named Mia suddenly discovers she is a princess; the sole heir to the kingdom of a small European country. She is immediately thrust into a world she doesn’t understand and undergoes an Eliza Doolittle-type transformation. Transitions. Like it or not, they are part of life. Your transition may not be as dramatic as Princess Mia’s. It can be deliberately chosen or a complete surprise, pleasant or unpleasant. Relationship changes, death or illness, jobs or retirement, having a new baby, pop culture terms like “empty nest,” “mid-life crisis”, “downsizing.” In his book Transitions, William Bridges discusses three phases of transition: Endings First we begin to disengage…

Spring Break at our house means watching movies – at the theater or at home, and this year was no exception. I saw two movies that inspired me to write about the power of our beliefs in ourselves and in others. In the not-exactly-critically acclaimed but visually stunning “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” the Kansas carnival magician/illusionist/con man (Oscar Diggs, or “Oz”) arrives in the Land of Oz via tornado to discover the people there are expecting a wizard. Upon spending time with the guy and seeing him for who he is, Glinda the Good tells him, “You may not be the wizard we expected, but perhaps you are the wizard we need.” She tells him the people must have someone to believe in or all is lost. As the…

Many people continue to struggle with questions and deep emotional reactions in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut last Friday. Questions such as “Why did this happen?” and “How could this happen?” are essentially dysfunctional questions because we seek answers where there are none. We’ve heard speculation about mental illness, rants about gun control, the role of the media and that it’s ”because we’ve taken God out of schools.” We hate that we cannot control our environment; casting blame and pointing fingers because we believe we can prevent tragedy from happening if we just cover all the bases. We quickly and desperately attempt to switch our focus to the positive – heroes, courage, remembrance and love. Trying to find a reason behind a senseless act,…

“There is luxury in self-reproach.” When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has the right to blame us.” – Oscar Wilde I recently had one of those rare, free days, with nothing scheduled and no obligations. I had planned to go for a walk, write in my journal and block time to work on an upcoming workshop on Positive Psychology. But I had the whole day ahead of me and told myself it would be OK. I would work in something fun; maybe even a movie or some shopping. After perusing Facebook, checking email, and paying a couple of bills online, I decided to take myself someplace nice for a (late) breakfast. I was seated next to four rather loud senior patrons and overheard every word of their…

As a Coach, my job is to help individuals take information and skills that they already have and (1) make decisions about which changes they would like to make, (2) develop a personal action plan in order to make those changes, (3) implement the action plan and make behavioral changes, and (4) develop strategies to maintain the changes made. I will support, encourage and help clients stay “on track” toward their goals. Although there are some similarities between coaching and therapy, I will not conduct therapy with my coaching clients. These are different activities and it is important that clients understand the difference. Coaching is a service in which individuals come to me for help in making decisions and implementing them in order to achieve goals that they decide for…