Bobbi Emel

Bobbi Emel is a psychotherapist who helps you bounce back from life’s significant challenges. Download her FREE ebook Bounce Back! 5 ways to survive and thrive through life’s ups and downs. You may also want to join her on a journey toward living a richer, more meaningful life on The Bounce Blog.

How to Unhook From the Pain in Life

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pain in life

I don’t feel good today. I have lived with depression for many years now and today is not a good day. What I want to do is go back to bed, curl up in a ball, and read something riveting like The Hunger Games.

Anything to take my mind off of how I feel and what that mind is telling me. (I just realized how funny that is: I want to take my mind off of my mind!) The worst part of depression for me is often what goes on in my head. My inner voice comes up with some doozies:

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How to Free Yourself from Life’s Emotional Traps

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chinese finger puzzle

Have you ever seen a Chinese Finger Puzzle? They’re those little tubes of interwoven paper that look harmless enough. Usually, the gig goes like this:

Your friend hands you the Chinese Finger Puzzle and instructs you to insert your index fingers into each end. So you do. Next, with a mischievous grin, your friend tells you to take your fingers out of the tube. Puzzled (pun intended) as to why this might be so hard, you try to pull your fingers out.
But you can’t. The tube has tightened around your fingers.

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Welcoming Change

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welcoming change

Monique sent us a kaleidoscope. But it wasn’t the beautiful, smoothly-sanded wood or the delicate glass end piece that moved us. It was the note in the box.

Dear Ruth and Bobbi, Looking through a kaleidoscope, I find that I love the scene in front of me. It’s so intricate and beautiful, I just want to look at it forever. But eventually, I have to turn the glass. The tiny pieces inside jumble around and, for an instant, there is chaos. Yet soon a new, even more exquisite pattern emerges. One I would not have seen if I had not turned the kaleidoscope. I send you this to remind you that your current journey is much like the turning of the glass: A new, beautiful picture is coming into view.

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