Finding the right therapist can be a tricky business. It’s hard to know where to start. If you have never been to counselling, there may be a plethora of questions about the format, the length of treatment, cost, and insurance coverage. Therapeutic modalities can be baffling. More importantly, you will be sharing the most vulnerable […]
How to Find The Right Therapist Read More »
Thomas Merton once wrote: “I love beer, and, by that very fact, the world.” This statement is at once whimsical and puzzling. How does a fondness for pale ale stray into a confession of love for the world? Perhaps Merton suggests a fundamental relationship between the mundane and the sublime, the miniscule and the cosmical. Ask a brewer
I Love Coffee, and By That Very Fact, The World Read More »
I meet clients who come to therapy when they are hanging by a thread. Their careers are unforgiving, academic pressures unrelenting. Parents are walloped by the rigours of child-rearing; others are worn thin caring for aging parents. Responsibilities multiply, but the hours remain few. Despite a profusion of duties, they are weighed down by expectations that
Simplicity: Sanity in Mad Times Read More »
I am standing by the harbour, peering past the sailboats and skycrapers into the mountains in the distance. A bar of sunlight lifts the hillside, cold and deep. Clouds curl into flakes and break over waters glistening with the starkness of light. The nip of winter air, sharp and bristling. Black mountaintops dotted with snow. The city
Nature and Mental Health: The Call to Come Home Read More »
In my clinical practice, I often meet clients who are at odds with themselves, caught between one commitment and another. They wrestle between aspiration and duty, self-care and care for others. There are teenagers who struggle to assert independence against the authority of their parents, lovers who cleave to each other despite the call of
“I know. . . but. . .”: Notes for Those Who Wrestle with Themselves. Read More »
Festive lights during the holiday season brighten up the long cold nights, but the shorter days can dampen our moods and spoil our outlook. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is the common name for a subtype of depressive disorder. The northern hemisphere sees fewer hours of daylight during the autumn and winter. We are less exposed to
Mental Health in the Dark: How to Cope with Seasonal Affective Disorder Read More »
Every meditator experiences ebbs and flows in practice. There are times when awareness arrests us, engulfing us in crystalline stillness. Other times we brace against squalls of the anxiety. Sometimes our discipline is sharp and square; we practice without waver. Other times we are reluctant to drag ourselves to the sitting cushion, depleted by the
Can’t Sit Still? What To Do With Restlessness in Meditation Read More »
The bamboo forest appeared surreal and fantastical. The vertical, segmented columns rose into feathered tops that swayed in the wind, the path covered by long, papery leaves. I hiked the forest in astonishment. In my imagination, bamboo forests are places of old Eastern legends, the backdrop of martial arts movies and ancient Chinese fairytales. Yet,
On the Pilgrim’s Path: Walking as a Metaphor for Life Read More »
The Talking Cure There is little to do here But speak Tremulous at first Uncertain whether there is enough light under the sun To counter the darkness of your secret, Whether your dreaded thoughts Might rumble the earth beneath. Still you speak. At first in fits and starts, In whispers and breathy utterances, Until
For many living in western societies, modernity brings with it the blight of busyness. Stress weighs us down; the onerous demands of studies, career and family can leave our bodies neglected and minds frazzled. Hives of self-help advice tend to underscore the importance of balance. Here, balance serves as a central metaphor for that harmonious
In Search of Elusive Balance Read More »
David Chang Counselling is gratefully located on the territories of the the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. David supports and celebrates diversity in race, gender, sexual orientation, language, culture, and neurological composition.
Copyright © 2024 David Chang Counselling