Many people come to therapy because their emotions feel overwhelming. They may say, “I just sit in my feelings and nothing changes”  or “I don’t know how to process what I’m going through.”  These two experiences — sitting with emotions  and processing them  — are related, but not the same. Understanding the difference can open up more compassionate ways of moving through difficult moments. Sitting With Emotions To sit with an emotion means to allow it to be present without p

Much of daily life can be organized around the idea of automaticity . We’re encouraged to build habits so ingrained that we no longer need to think about them—wake up, brush teeth, answer emails, make dinner, repeat. Automaticity is often framed as efficiency: less effort, fewer decisions, and more productivity. But for many people, automaticity does not always create ease. In fact, it can quietly erode autonomy, increase internal resistance, and drain meaning from daily acti

Many of my clients describe a familiar challenge: when they finally have unstructured time, instead of using it in ways that feel...

Procrastination is often misunderstood as laziness or lack of motivation. But for most people, it’s not about being unwilling—it’s about being overwhelmed.  The moment you put something off, it can bring a mix of relief and guilt, but can make things feel more stressful as the deadline looms, or bring up feelings of shame for struggling to get to something that 'should' be easy, setting off a cycle that feels hard to break. From an occupational therapy and psychotherapy pers

October holds special significance in Canada. It is Occupational Therapy Month —a time to highlight the essential role occupational...

One of the most common struggles I hear from clients is this: “I start off with good energy, but then I lose momentum and everything...