Spring 2024: Resources We Love

With spring in full bloom and summer on the horizon, now is the perfect time to pause, breathe, and reconnect with ourselves. In this bustling world, finding moments of mindfulness amidst the bloom of the season can be truly transformative. So, grab a cup of your favorite tea, find a cozy spot bathed in sunlight, and dive into the latest recommendations from our talented and caring therapists. We hope you find these resources as helpful as we have! Let's embrace the season of growth, renewal, and blooming together:

Stephanie Brown

This spring, the resources that are helping me bloom are the Substack newsletters from Elizabeth Gilbert (Letters From Love) and Susan Cain (The Quiet Life), as well as Songs to calm the nerves shared by NPR's All Songs Considered. 

Elizabeth Gilbert describes Letters From Love as "both a learning space and a spiritual practice." In each newsletter, Gilbert and her guests write and share their own letters from love. I myself have tried the practice of writing a letter from love to myself and have found it to be a deeply moving experience — just the practice for blooming! 

Susan Cain's The Quiet Life is also a wonderful space to learn, connect, and practice. She shares weekly letters, has Candlelit Sunday chats with guests, and each subscriber is encouraged to share their creative work and writings with The Quiet Life online community. Cain's goal for her subscribers is to experience a "richer, deeper form of happiness." Each of these newsletters provide me with feelings of joy and connection, but there are many other great newsletters to check out on Substack! 

As a therapist, I talk a lot about coping skills and adding tools to your kit but sometimes the best tools are the ones you already use! I love music and have used it for coping even when I wasn't aware of it. Over the years, I've created playlists for different moods, activities, and seasons but haven't created a playlist of songs that are just about calm. Cue NPR's All Songs Considered's list of "songs to calm the nerves," which helped me not only to discover new songs that can create calm but also encouraged me to create my own playlist of calm for this blooming and busy season. 

Aryn Davis

I highly recommend the Deeply Well podcast by Devi Brown. She describes her podcast as “a soft place to land on your journey”, and she touches on self-care practices, trauma, psychology, spirituality, astrology, and alternative healing practices. The entire podcast series is wonderful with too many "episode gems" to recommend just one — I encourage you to check it out!

Elizabeth Ebaugh

For those seeking cutting-edge science to support them on their path to well-being, I recommend reading “The Awakened Brain” by psychologist and researcher Lisa Miller, PhD. She reveals through studies and her personal journey that humans are universally equipped with a capacity for spirituality and that our brains become more resilient and robust as a result. It’s both uplifting and practical — serving as an inspiration and informative guide for building a robust foundation for a more fulfilling, “awakened” state. 

Liz Hagerman

In this newsletter, we talk about the value of play and presence — and a great way to open up space for these meaningful activities is to consciously take a break from screens. Screen-Free Week is an organization that makes this fun and possible. Check out their site for fantastic resources like screen-free bingo, a week of screen-free activities, and a list of wonderful children’s books. 

Liz Liptak

The practice of mindfulness can be a powerful tool for improving one’s sleep. Poor sleep is a common concern year-round but spring presents particular challenges. The longer periods of

daylight in spring interferes with our body’s production of melatonin, affecting sleep quality. Mindful magazine is offering a free 7-day Sleep Challenge with tips and guided meditations to

calm the nervous system and ease into restful sleep.

Kate Kelly

I’m often looking for ways to dial down stress and support the nervous system for myself and my clients (kids, teens, and grown-ups). So when I ran across psychologist Jennifer Taitz’s book, “Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes,” it captured my attention. 

Drawing on techniques from some of the best evidence-based psychotherapy modalities — including CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), ACT (Acceptance and Commitment therapy) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) — Taitz shows up big-time with practical and powerful science-based resets for befriending stress and living better.

I love her emphasis on a growth mindset and her confident support of our ability to make change even when we feel stuck, panicked, or somewhere in between. We can improve how we feel, she says, even with intense feelings in intense times. Whether it’s comforting yourself with touch (it’s true that hugging yourself can be super calming); singing your thoughts in a playful way; questioning your assumptions and focusing on something bigger; or simply moving your body in short, quick bursts, the book offers resets aplenty for mind, body, and behaviors to move back into flexibility and exit the negative cycle. 

Amy Murphy

I look forward to the arrival of spring every year, and cherish the various familiar rhythms. From the changing angle and increased warmth of the sun, to the emerging green from the earth — first the snowdrops, followed by daffodils and tulips. In our area, the iconic cherry blossoms are the literal symbol of springtime. A favorite leisure activity of mine through this season is to visit some of the beautiful gardens and natural spaces here in Washington DC. Right in our backyard, we have Hillwood Gardens which surround the estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post. The Bishop's Garden, on the grounds of the National Cathedral is another lush, colorful and peaceful place to visit. Both these spots are perfect for a family picnic, quiet introspection, or actually stopping to smell the roses.

Lisa Oakley

Later this spring I get to celebrate my youngest child's graduation from college. It’s truly a milestone for him — and for us parents! I feel like we are now entering new territory as parents of three adult-ish young people in their twenties. I discovered a podcast by Adam Grant where he interviews developmental clinical psychologist Meg Jay about her new book: "The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age."

I still need to dive into the book itself, but her points and research on this stage of life are insightful for both young adults and their parents. She explains why it can be tough to be a twenty-something and reveals essential skills for navigating some of the uncertainties around work, love, friendship, and mental health during this important developmental decade of life.