Have you ever experienced something so scary that you thought your life was over? Perhaps your entire life flashed before your eyes? Maybe you even felt frozen, or felt a rush of adrenalin so powerful that you could have sprinted a marathon? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have experienced something that psychologists call ‘trauma’.

Our self-perception can shift throughout any given day in response to our daily roles and circumstances, but life after loss abruptly shifts everything all at once–including our identity.

“Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.” — Thich Nhat Hahn

We may know how emotions feel and how they affect us, but do we know exactly what they are?

When we initially experience loss, our inner world feels as though it has come to a screeching halt, and on some level it actually has.

I’ve been in a good place spiritually for the past few years, and it wasn’t until—in the twilight of my life as it were—my first book was published that things started to go awry.

My mother died the same day I had an emergency appendectomy.

I never thought my life was abnormal as a kid. Even after my father abandoned all seven of us kids along with my mother.

Growing up as a white, middle class Protestant girl of German and English-descent, it seemed as though I must be in the mainstream. But I knew I wasn’t.

To offset less balanced days, I choose to support my health with specially chosen supplements that assure my body is getting what it needs—not just to live but to thrive. I am not alone in this quest to feel my best.

I don’t know exactly when it happened; I have no recollection of the exact moment in time when working with the transgender population became a focus of my therapy practice. Like all things in life, it was a confluence of events and knowledge, a synergistic melding of intention, experience, and information.

I wanted to write about “Big Pharma” (aka the pharmaceutical industry) and how the industry affects all of us. I didn’t realize that I was personally affected.

I was eating my daily square of dark chocolate (a quasi-nutritious snack), and it got me thinking.

Time doesn’t have to be running out—it’s about how we choose to age. Every day is a new day.

Colette Lopane-Capella of New Day Vitality Psychotherapy in both Westchester and the Bronx, New York is a therapists’ therapist.

Some time ago, I was overwhelmed by how stressed I was feeling, how many deadlines loomed, and how much I needed to ground myself and meditate.

Feeling sluggish? Drained? Overwhelmed? Are you chronically ill? If you’re uncertain about trying and/or choosing a Detox strategy?

Part of becoming more aware of my surroundings is realizing that I was eating unconsciously and barely tasting my food. After a loss in my life I became aware of honoring myself by creating attractive and healthy food.

When I started to connect the dots between diet, lifestyle, chronic inflammation, and disease, I felt inspired to take control of my health.