Launching Counseling Site

I am excited to let everyone know about the new venture that my family is undertaking! This spring we have kicked off Kristi Cash White Counseling, my private practice that is focused on the mental health of children and families. I have a great office in North Portland, just about five minutes from my house.

Please check out our new website: Kristi Cash White Counseling and subscribe to the blog on that site for fun and informative posts on counseling, parenting, kids issues, and mental health.

See you at the other site!

And One, Two, Three!

I have several friends right now who are trying to take better control of their bodies through diets. There are some pretty creative ideas out there on how to lose weight. How about the Alternate Day Diet, where you basically alternate between starving and indulging. Just thinking about the Cabbage Soup Diet makes me nauseated. There's all those single food diets, where you pack your gills with one food, like watermelon or grapefruit. There's a million choices: Adkins, Weight Watchers, low-carb, low-calorie, pills, powders...it is a dizzying array.

Here comes confession time. I have gained 20 pounds in the last few months. *cheeks blushing, head shaking side to side* Excuses aside, my health needs to be kicked in gear once again. Here's some interesting things I found on Psychology Today:

The government has long espoused moderate daily exercise—of the evening-walk or take-the-stairs variety—but that may not do much to budge the needle on the scale. A 150-pound person burns only 150 calories on a half-hour walk, the equivalent of two apples. It's good for the heart, less so for the gut.

I don't like where this is headed.

"Radical changes are necessary," says Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of Waistland. "People don't lose weight by choosing the small fries or taking a little walk every other day." Barrett suggests taking a cue from the members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a group of more than 5,000 successful weight-losers who have shed an average of 66 pounds and kept it off 5.5 years. They had one thing in common: vigorous exercise for at least an hour most days of the week. She estimates they burn an extra 2,800 calories a week.

Did you catch that? Vigorous exercise for at least an hour most days of the week. I didn't think this was going in the direction I was hoping, which involved more Heroes watching and blog writing. Well, alrighty then. I want to be motivated. I want to be healthy. I want that for my friends as well. So let's get to it, shall we?

Question #2

What are you trying to ignore?

Anxiety is a tap on your shoulder saying, "Something important is happening here!" Pay attention.

I'm afraid that I am ignoring a few important health considerations. With a family of diabetics, including a sibling, I have a huge bullseye target sitting right there on my pancreas. Can't you see it? None of us are overweight, so it is easy to think we are healthy. I'm not sure what greater motivator I could have for daily exercising, but somehow diabetes is not enough of a threat for me.

There's a few relationships that could use some healing in my life. I'm not sure how to make that happen, so I ignore the splinter. Not so wise an approach.

Everyone has dreams that creep into consciousness at times and whispers, "Why aren't you coming after me?" I wonder sometimes if I am ignoring some Spirit-led direction in my life - because to answer the whisper would be scary or hard or confusing.

I'm trying to ignore all the TO-DOs that I see around me each day - the cluttered basement, the roses that need trimming, the cookies that should be baked...

*shiver* I'm feeling somewhat vulnerable at the moment, so I think I'll go do something else and ignore these feelings.

Personality Continued

Thanks for all of your input on the personality discussion! Have I mentioned how much fun this stuff is?

So one of the books sums the types up with a one phrase byline. I added the people whose types I know. They seem remarkably accurate for the most part, don't you think? *I'm adding updates as people tell me.

ESTP [for some reason I don't have the tagline for this one]

ESFP: You Only Go Around Life Once

ESTJ: Life's Administrators
Rebecca

ESFJ: Hosts & Hostesses of the World
Lori

ENFP: Giving Life an Extra Squeeze (i.e. lots of laughing and talking)
Big Steve, Allan, Randy, Kami, Kristi B.

ENFJ: Smooth-Talking Persuader (i.e. lots and lots of talking)
Luke, Erica, Sarah, Kenli

ENTJ: Life's Natural Leaders
Jason, Carol (J's mom), Ike (seriously - Ike & Jason have the same type? interesting...), Priscilla

ENTP: One Exciting Challenge After Another

INFP: Performing Noble Service to Aid Society
Andrew (you do-gooder, you!), Lindsey

INTP: A Love of Problem-Solving

INTJ: Everything Has Room For Improvement (a byline that is close to my heart)
Jessica G, Adam (intern), Jessica B

INFJ: An Inspiration to Others (insert Chicago song here)
Cheryl, Casey

ISTJ: Doing What Should Be Done ("Lord, tell Mary to come help with dinner!")
Aimee Jo, Kristi, Christa, Cheronn

ISTP: Willing to Try Anything

ISFJ: A High Sense of Duty
Emily, Leah

ISFP: Sees Much But Shares Little
Kaelea, Jeb

Now I'm trying to figure out what other people are. I think my brother Jeff (he & Kenli are the only ones I know who have scored 100% extroverted!) must be an ENTJ? Dad may be an INTJ and mom and INFJ? Kaelea would probably be an INFJ? Suzy is an ESFJ?

I know you want more of this, so stay tuned! Possibility for an argument to come (get ready INTJs & ENTJs!).

Personality Type

I entered the field of psychology many years ago primarily because I am fascinated with what makes a person be the person he or she is. Birth order, societal influences, traumas, successes, personality wiring - they all play a part in making us who we are.

This last week a few of us from PUMP took the summer interns out on our annual intern retreat. We spent time on a ropes course, playing games, and discussing our Myers-Briggs types. The Myers-Briggs is one of the most highly respected and amazingly accurate personality indicators. I always enjoy watching people discover and share about those unique aspects of their own personality. And as many times as the staff and I take it ourselves, our discussions always serve as excellent reminders about our areas of strength and those that stretch us into zones of discomfort.

Introvert-Extrovert
From where do you draw your energy?

Sensing - Intuition
How do you prefer to process information?

Thinking - Feeling
How do you prefer to make decisions?

Judgment - Perception
How do you prefer to organize your life?

You can take an online version here. I'd love it if you'd share what your type & percentages are. This site doesn't have the best descriptions of each type, but there are a ton online if you want more (or I'll share what I have with you!).

I'll talk about my own type soon...

Anyone Know a Good Pet Shrink?

People may argue about the validity of animals having emotions, but I have discovered that cats can indeed suffer from PTSD. It might occur if, let's say, a timid little feline is cornered under a small bed by a rather boisterous young man-cub and then trapped there by mounds of clothes and toys. Freedom only comes some time later when mom hollers, "Who unloaded their dresser on to the floor??" "But I needed to keep the cat under the bed, mom." What?!?