What is Traveling Light and how do we rise?

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TRAVELING LIGHT illuminates pathways in life that serve us well.

 

It includes psychotherapy, workshops and seminars that guide us in exploring our pasts, finding healing through acceptance and forgiveness, and embracing healthier ways of thinking, of perceiving, of coping and responding to challenges. It guides us to healthier ways of living. And of being. 

 

Treatment Approaches & Modalities

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Anxiety, Depression, Loss & Life Adjustment, Low Self-Esteem

 

Clients experience cognitive restructuring using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques, e.g., learning to challenge cognitive distortions and to gain a more balanced perspective about themselves, about others, about life, purpose and spirituality. Practicing mindfulness and other stress-reduction strategies, clients begin to pause more and breathe. Most realize two things in the stillness: (1) that we are blessed to be resilient, and (2) that we are empowered. We get to decide how we will think, act and perceive life as we approach our next moment.

 

Applying principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), clients learn to accept life's challenges in a framework of balance and peace, embracing their own resilience and faith.

 

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) acknowledges that life can be hard, and it's normal to feel down or stuck sometimes. Using DBT techniques and skills, clients become: (1) more mindful and in control of their thoughts, (2) better able to regulate their emotions and tolerate distress, and (3) more skilled at effectively communicating their thoughts, perspectives, feelings and needs. They are then better able to release anxiety, anger, resentment, pain and depressive symptomology, and to accept their imperfections, thereby giving themselves a soft place to land. My clients become a true friend to themselves. Once they discover why they should.

 

Trauma

 

Through EMDR therapy, clients experience relief from distress caused by traumatic experiences and memories. My process of trauma-informed care begins with techniques to help clients access their trauma, anchored in the safety of the present. With careful application of bilateral stimulation, clients experience transformative relief.

 

Because wounds from our childhood may still hurt today, Inner Child work is often useful in overcoming our defensive reactions that re-emerge when we encounter rejection, abandonment,  betrayal, injustice or humiliation today. that  that were once helpful, but that don't serve us well anymore. Clients transform when they realize: (1) the effects these experiences have on us, often driving our choices and behaviors, (2) they have resiliently survived the trauma, (3) at this point in their journey, they are sufficiently able to care for themselves, and (4) it is completely okay that they couldn't back then.

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Christian Counseling

 

Faith can be challenging. And it may diminish when our life's experiences don't align with the belief that a loving God cares. We may question whether God exists at all. And if He is love, why it seems that He doesn't love us. Or that He doesn't care. As my clients process their experiences, their current circumstances and beliefs, I walk beside them with compassion, with Biblical knowledge and with wisdom from my painful spiritual journey - and from hundreds of journeys I've been blessed to touch. Collectively, similarities are that: (1) life is hard, (2) it often hurts and (3) sometimes it's hard to trust God. Until we see Him clearly. Christian counseling is an exploration of life journeys, life's direction, disappointments, fears, questions about ourselves, questions about God, and questions about the purpose of it all. Clients are offered - if they wish, together to seek a glimpse of God.

 

TRAVELING LIGHTer, we are freer to connect with our purpose and passion. And to arise and shine.

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The Essence of Traveling Light

 

The TRAVELING LIGHT therapeutic approach emerged from 3 things I've discovered in practice:

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1.  Life is a journey.

 

That moves along surprisingly fast. It's made up of moments, big and seemingly inconsequential. And many that take our breath away - in both good and life-shattering ways. We all travel pathways of both pain and promise. And through life's challenges, we're called to rise. But rising is hard.

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2.  We can all stand to rise.

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We don't have to be an emotional wreck t0 better ourselves. Growing is at the heart of true living. TRAVELING LIGHT is about human growth - whether we're sad or unmotivated, whether life is moving along fairly well, or if we're smiling at the top of our world, these principles, skills and strategies will enlighten us, lift us toward serenity, and we will never be the same.

 

3.  People, the world over, are much the same. And we rise the same. 

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It seems a universal truth hidden in plain sight: we all share common hopes, dreams and aspirations. And we have common human needs. Research identifies our most important needs as: to belong, for companionship, esteem and respect. We all hope to dwell within our own truth. And to experience acceptance. We all hope to be considered good enough - from the mega movie star to the toothless wanderer living in a cardboard box. From the lonely wife to the sixty-five year-old bachelor. From the African American who can't get promoted to the elderly farmer with racist beliefs. From people who wish they could rise from their wheelchair to athletes who soar through the Olympics. We all hope to be considered good enough, and to have enough tomorrow. It hurts when our needs go unmet, and we may question our worth. Or give up, because for us, they seem out-of-reach.

 

My gift as a therapist is a delicate exploration of existential themes. Because this brings us closer to wholeness. And to hope. That we can be more than our pasts. That we can be better tomorrow. Regardless of who told us or showed us otherwise. Regardless of who loves us or doesn't. Despite whoever walked away. Or didn't believe in us. Then, my work is to do what TRAVELING LIGHT does. To gently restructure my client's ways of thinking. Of perceiving. Of feeling. Of communicating. Of being. And of understanding the world. So that they journey on better aligned with rhythms of life that serve them best.

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Who benefits most from Traveling Light's approach to therapy?

 

   Do reach out if you want to:

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• understand yourself better

• heal from past hurts

• understand the benefits of forgiveness and embrace them

• breathe, and gain a more balanced, peaceful perspective

• challenge negative thought patterns

• grow stronger mentally, physically, socially or spiritually

• become more compassionate toward yourself or others

• communicate your needs more effectively

• move forward when you feel stuck: in relationships, with career goals or general life patterns

• discover purpose in your life

• visualize more than your eyes can see

• desire a glimpse of God

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Set your course for THE LIGHT HOUSE  for Traveling Light.  It will transform your life.

 

Virtual sessions are available.

 

I look forward to this.

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Peace and Light,

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 Dr. Sharen M. Waters, LCSW