gratitude | Julia Kristina Counselling

Don’t Bother With Your Daily Gratitude Practice – It’s A Waste of Your Time.

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:05:43-07:00April 4th, 2016|General|

You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it, we’ve all heard it: One of the biggest and most significant contributors to genuine happiness and fulfillment in life comes from being intentionally grateful. Have an attitude of gratitude (if you will). And once word got out around the power of gratitude, the whole thing became all the rage. Everyone started following the trend of taking on a daily gratitude practice that typically goes a little something like this: “Start or end your day with 3 things you are grateful for and it will change your life.” Well, yes and no. But mostly [...]

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3 Surprising Things that Will Make You Happier.

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:05:44-07:00January 14th, 2016|General|

You’ve heard them all before. The things you need to do to become happier. Things like be grateful, count your blessings, do things you enjoy, surround yourself with positive people, find the silver lining in every challenging situation. And so on and so forth. Not knocking those. No, not at all. They are all GREAT things to do and they will make a significant impact on your level of overall happiness. And who doesn’t want to be happier? Aren’t we all, at some point or another, searching for the magic formula that will rid us [...]

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What Every Boss Needs to Know (AND Every Person For That Matter).

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:05:52-07:00March 18th, 2015|General|

When I hear something once, I listen closely. When I hear something twice, I take note. When I hear something 3 times in one week, I take it as a sign that something bigger needs to be done. And this is it. Last week, in my practice I was told on 3 separate occasions by 3 separate clients about how they are feeling discouraged, disillusioned, disgruntled and disappointed with their bosses because they've been working really hard and their bosses don't actually seem to notice. They feel they've been pushing hard, giving extra, and going above [...]

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The Vancouver Real Estate Market: Missed the Boat.

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:05:54-07:00June 20th, 2014|General|

It's SO easy to get caught up in things that are really rather menial, but in the moment seem like the BIGGEST DEALS EVER! Just last night I was boo hooing to my most patient, calm, and rational husband about how in the last 10 years Vancouver went from being an expensive city to a totally unaffordable city, real estate wise… at least if you’d rather a family of 4 NOT live in a 500 square foot apartment in a sort of dodgy area of town. I could go on about my discouragement and frustrations [...]

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Not Too Bad At All.

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:05:56-07:00December 17th, 2012|General|

This year I plan to make the sojourn back to the motherland in good old Saskatoon Saskatchewan. Now for the past couple of weeks I have been sharing this news when asked what plans I have for the Christmas Holidays, and more often than not the response I get to my reply has been something like: “Oh wow! Good luck!” or “Really? Why?” or “Oh dear, it’s so cold there!!” or something to that effect. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really find this offensive – I get it. It is cold there and we [...]

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When a Prickle’s Just a Prickle.

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:05:56-07:00December 4th, 2012|General|

I’ve talked about this before, but I’m going to talk about it some more. One of the most effective antidotes to a crummy mood is to intentionally turn ones thoughts of woe into thoughts of gratitude. We call this developing an “Attitude of Gratitude.” How catchy. Anyway, I realize I make it sound so simple. That said it is usually much easier to reflect on that which we are grateful for when we are feeling good, and not too too difficult when we are feeling mildly blue. However, NOT so easy when we are feeling [...]

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With A Little Grace

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:05:58-07:00July 23rd, 2012|General|

Self deprecation and humility – there is a difference. I don’t know if it’s a Canadian thing or what, but I think many of us fear appearing egotistical, prideful, or cocky to such an extent that we overcompensate too much toward the other end and become almost self-deprecating. It’s often relatively subtle – an “oh it’s not that good” here, an “I kind of messed it up” there, a “You should see how good so and so does it”… but any and all put downs we give ourselves do still chip away at the soul [...]

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A Not-So-Gentle Reminder.

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:06:00-07:00June 11th, 2012|General|

I think because I make it a pretty major priority to eat relatively healthy and get a decent amount of sleep, I tend not to get sick very often. BUT when I do, and when it’s bad, let me tell you, it is a whole lot of no fun. I hate feeling awful – funny I say that because I’m wondering if anyone actually does enjoy feeling awful?? Anyway, as awful as it is to feel awful, without fail whenever I feel this way I find myself thinking: “Oh boy I can’t wait to feel [...]

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Grateful and Enriched.

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:06:00-07:00May 28th, 2012|General|

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity of giving a Presentation to my colleagues at the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy’s (CCPA) Annual National Conference in Calgary. I feel so blessed to have had such a warm, engaging, and responsive group of men and women to present to even though we were all pretty packed into that conference room. Thank you also to those participants who came and shared their thoughts, questions, and personal stories with me after the presentation – I really valued these opportunities to learn from you and grow with you. It [...]

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Happy Canada Day!

By Julia Kristina|2017-05-21T16:06:05-07:00July 1st, 2011|General|

Today I have an extra opportunity to think about and reflect on why I am grateful to be Canadian. I am grateful to live in a country with an incredible health care system that takes care of me when I’m sick. I am grateful that when I enter any hospital from coast to coast , and when I need it most, I don’t have to worry about whether or not my insurance will cover me. I am grateful to live in a country with a police force that protects my safety and keeps the peace. [...]

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