The Long Drive: Health, Pace, and Preventive Maintenance One of the core principles of this practice is little and often, over the long haul . Real progress almost always happens in small, stepwise advances. A wise patient once told me, “God gives you only the challenges you’re prepared to handle,” and over time I’ve found that to be remarkably true. Life rarely moves in dramatic leaps—it moves in steady miles. I often think of the human body like a car on a long road trip. O

Historically, I’ve promoted the idea of defining a minimum effective dose  of self-care—small, consistent actions that keep you grounded. After returning from deployment, I learned that to withstand significant daily stress, I needed to do just three things every day: Move my body. Learn something new. Let my family know I love them. When I did these consistently, I became more resilient. Dan John teaches a similar concept he calls a pirate map : a short list of 3–5 non-negot

The Pain Dial: Why We’ve Stopped Recognizing Our Own Stress A concept I’ve been thinking about lately is how few people recognize their own level of stress. I often hear patients say, “I don’t feel stressed.” Then I start listing what’s actually happening in their lives: marital conflict, a child struggling with addiction, looming retirement without a plan, the guilt of having to let long-time employees go, financial insecurity, and 50 extra pounds they can’t seem to lose. Su

Healthy, Happy — and Why “Happiness” Feels So Hard When I ask people, “What would make next year a success?”  the most common answer I hear is simple: “I want to be healthy and happy.” Health, I’ve written about before—metabolic flexibility, rest and effort, the dance between individual well-being and community responsibility. Happiness, however, is harder. Not because it’s mysterious, but because we often confuse a fleeting emotion with a state of being. When most people say

Isolation One of the most distressing human experiences is isolation. Renowned neuroendocrinologist Robert Sapolsky has argued that...

Playing God and the Illusion of Control One of the most common causes of mental distress is trying to control the...

Author: Kelley Kramer Sieger, LPCC, An Inspired Life Counseling  Date: 6/7/2025  What Is Normal: From a Mental Health Therapist’s...

Understanding Trauma: Scars, Coping, and the Path Forward Trauma is the residual emotional consequence of a distressing event. In...

What Is “Normal” from a Mental Health Perspective? What does it mean to be normal—psychologically, emotionally, behaviorally?...

Rethinking Mental Health: Status, Stigma, and Self-Awareness Mental health has become a more socially accepted topic of conversation. For...