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.

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

As with any major setback, whether it be a pandemic or economic failure on a wide scale, people and businesses suffer. But, from these setbacks, there are people great and small that rise from this to prosper at different levels, not only helping themselves, but providing a service to others.

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.

Five ways to check in with yourself

Imagine you have 16 enthusiastic, 40- to 60-pound dogs wearing brightly colored harnesses. They are all barking excitedly at you.

The season of change is upon us! Equinox energy is abundant with opportunities for transition and transformation. In the northern hemisphere, the fall equinox celebrates balance with the pinnacle day of equal dark and light, presaging a shift into more dark than light.

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 suck at volunteering. I’m far too selfish, over-committed to other things, and, okay, lazy. I truly respect and admire people that volunteer their time and efforts.

I love being in love and falling in love. When love is reciprocated, it is absolutely the most delicious of experiences, don’t you think?

t’s the big question of the New Year—what’s to come?? Love and romance? Big adventure? More money? Better health? A new home? Great happiness? An appealing exercise regimen??

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.

Corbie Mitleid’s is such a gifted psychic and intuitive medium that she has a worldwide following, completing well over a thousand readings a year (in addition to teaching, providing psychic parties, performing speaking events, and authoring books).