Skip to main content

Maria Connolly, LPC Facebook Facebook Facebook

Blog

Continually grow as a person and find your work/life balance

How to Increase Self-Understanding? Use This Powerful Mindfulness Exercise

The beginning of self-understanding starts with mindful awareness of your world and how you respond to it, only then you can make responsible choices.“Why did I do that? Sometimes I don’t understand myself.” During a coaching session, has your client ever said that to you? Or perhaps you’ve felt that way yourself. If so, you’re not alone. Even though we live with ourselves 24/7, we don’t automatically possess total self-understanding. Just as it takes work to understand someone else, it takes time and effort to understand ourselves.

Oftentimes, we’re so busy and our lives and thoughts become so cluttered we get into a reactive mode rather than staying in a calm place of choice. This mindlessness makes us forgetful and causes us to feel separation from self, which creates a sense of merely existing rather than living a full and purposeful life. So how can harmony be restored? The answer lies in developing the skill of mindfulness. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. explains that 

Continue reading

How Trauma Survivors’ Hypervigilance Can Be Eased Through Mindful Noticing

Trauma survivors hypervigilance occurs when the brain works overtime to keep you safe after a traumatic event but you can calm it through mindfulness.Because many of my clients have experienced trauma survivors’ hypervigilance, a question often comes up: “Maria, how do I distinguish between a deliberate and mindful noticing that you encourage and the hyper-alert response that I’m having from my trauma? Can a practice of mindfulness help me calm my hypervigilance? I mean I’m already noticing every little thing! How can mindfully noticing more help me?” 

These are great questions! I hope this article gives you some answers and strategies you can start using today to calm hypervigilance.

Continue reading

How to Choose Your State of Mind. It’s THE Power Tool for Positive Living!

Experience peace even under stressful situations, by teaching your brain to access any desired state of mind or mood quickly through anchoring.Every craftsman has a favorite, go-to tool that they always reach for because it reliably gets the job done. Have you thought about what tools you often reach for when you’re in a stressful or difficult situation? For some people, it’s anger. Other people use pouting. Are those the best tools to use? They’re more like using a screwdriver handle to pound a nail. It may do something, but you’re not going to be happy with the results. Plus, you’re more likely to get hurt. So what’s the power tool that you can use to easily shift your mood and choose a more resourceful state of mind, even under trying circumstances?

Continue reading

What’s the Best Way to Achieve Your Goals? Take Baby Steps!

 If you want to achieve your goals yet you keep getting stuck, try this easy, proven process of breaking the big goal down into the smallest baby steps.Are you feeling stuck? Perhaps you have big dreams, but  you’re like many of my clients who say, “Maria, I don’t know how to do it!” “I just can’t make myself get started.” “I want to, but I keep getting in my own way.”  What’s the thing that keeps you stuck so that you can’t achieve your goals? Procrastination? Perfectionism? Lack of confidence? Whatever the cause, the one thing that reliably works EVERY SINGLE TIME, for EVERYONE is taking baby steps. When you break anything you want to achieve into the smallest steps possible, you can do it! 

Even when we’re not talking about closed-end goals, like losing 10 pounds or giving a public talk, baby steps work. (A closed-end goal has a final destination, i.e., lose 10 pounds and the goal ends. An open-ended goal is open to change and may apply to multiple areas of life, i.e., becoming more secure. It’s not a destination. It’s a direction.)  Yes! Baby steps can even help you change your inner person.

So if you’ve ever asked, “How do I become more secure?” “How do I become more productive?” “How do I become less anxious?” This article will show you how to break these big concepts into smaller, actionable tasks.

Continue reading

Feeling Frazzled? How to Increase Productivity through Body Awareness

You can increase productivity through body movement by learning to match body sensations and emotions, then choosing the most resourceful responses.Breathless, clammy, fuzzy, hot, heavy, dizzy, queasy, or shaky are a few body sensations you may experience when you’re frazzled. What if you could replace those sensations and feel energized, full, expansive, smooth, and radiating? It would definitely not only enhance your productivity, but it would also make you more joyful and confident. But how can you increase productivity through body awareness? Why is body awareness the key?

You’ll often hear people speak of the mind-body-spirit connection. Yet doesn’t it seem like the mind and spirit get most of the attention? What about your body? By increasing your body awareness you’ll be amazed how it enhances your productivity.

Continue reading


Let's get started with 30 free minutes

I invite you to learn more about me and my coaching and counseling services. Please contact me to schedule an “It starts with you!” 30-minute complimentary consultation with me, in-person, by phone or via video consultation, so we can explore our partnership.

SCHEDULE


How to Step Forward to a Future You've Created

Discover how to replace your old, self-limiting map with a new map full of possibilities for the future

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE INTRO TO STEPPING FORWARD TODAY!