(I have celiac disease, so I address this issue through a celiac lens, but the emotion-soothing techniques can work for anyone.) Common emotions that celiacs experience as we adhere to a strictly gluten-free diet include anger, resentment, sadness, desperation, frustration, fear, and exasperation, just to name a few. These are difficult emotions to live with….

When a chronic condition makes your old ways of life impossible, how can you develop a satisfying new life? (I have celiac disease, so I’m going to explore this question through the celiac lens, but you can apply my approach to whatever chronic condition you are dealing with.) When You Can’t Do Something You Used To Do…

Celiacs often face upsetting social situations around food. We fear that being assertive about our needs will seem rude, and we don’t want to offend anyone or wreck anyone’s fun. But, when we don’t speak up for ourselves, we are being rude to ourselves by denying ourselves the care that we need — and we’re…

by Sherry Scheideman, MA, Registered Clinical Counsellor. Pain can help us become less prejudiced against people and situations in the world around us. When physical or emotional pain is strong or persistent, it’s hard to not tense up and wish it weren’t happening. But the more we practice re-framing pain as sensations, and relaxing into…

by Sherry Scheideman, MA, Registered Clinical Counsellor. Want to get off the cycle of pain? When we’re in physical pain, we often feel angry, desperate, frustrated, and afraid. This emotional pain makes the physical pain worse. We’re already dealing with cramps or aches or whatever it is, and then we add the extra suffering of…

by Sherry Scheideman, MA, Registered Clinical Counsellor. There is a big link between anxiety and the gut. I know this from personal experience – I have celiac disease (in which the gut is damaged by eating many of the most common foods in the Western diet) and as a result, I’ve experienced a great deal…