by Sabrina Walters | Dec 27, 2021 | Motivation
It’s that time right between Christmas and New Years. How are you feeling? Has the grinch syndrome caught you yet? The holidays are a magical time, but I think we can all agree: they’re also stressful. Some extra grouch can come out in any of us if we...
by Sabrina Walters | Dec 17, 2021 | Family
It’s the holiday season, and it’s tempting for all of us to focus on one thing: gifts. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a rare few of us who are focused on gifts we’re hoping to receive! No — we’re all usually dwelling on the ones we want to give. And while that can be a...
by Sabrina Walters | Dec 9, 2021 | Couples
Here at Core Values, there’s a phrase we tend to return to: Are you turning towards your partner? What does that mean, exactly? Well, it can mean a lot of things. Turning towards your partner means going back inside after you’ve stormed out. It means, even when you...
by Sabrina Walters | Nov 26, 2021 | Couples, Relationships
Fondness and admiration are two of the most important aspects to protect your relationship — and honestly, this doesn’t just apply to romance. For any family member, friend, or even colleague, developing fondness and admiration can build all kinds of trust...
by Sabrina Walters | Nov 19, 2021 | Communication, Conflict
I’ve recently discovered that the author of the Five Love Languages has written a book called The Five Languages of Apology. If you’re familiar with the love languages, you know how helpful it is to understand that we all appreciate different types of...
by Sabrina Walters | Nov 12, 2021 | Communication, Conflict
It’s easy to think that those tiny white lies we tell, or even just small omissions, don’t actually hurt your relationship in the long run. Many people, in fact, ascribe to this belief. Personally? I highly disagree. (You’re shocked, I know!) Let me...
by Sabrina Walters | Nov 5, 2021 | Family, Parenting
As Marriage & Family Therapists, we work with a lot of blended families. Often, we notice there is a lot of support out there for the moms in these situations — step moms and moms in stepfamilies. But rarely is there valuable resources to support step...
by Sabrina Walters | Oct 29, 2021 | Couples, Family
The power of rituals can be more powerful than you know. Think of the times you’ve been most stressed, perhaps in grief or in an overwhelming family moment. Sometimes, we freeze; we simply don’t know what to do with ourselves. We return, then, to whatever...
by Sabrina Walters | Oct 22, 2021 | Health, Motivation
It’s that time of year again…summer has officially slipped away to leave room for golden leaves, crisp mornings, and pumpkin spice everything. Autumn is upon us, and personally, I am thrilled. There’s something so magical about watching the seasons change, and...
by Sabrina Walters | Sep 17, 2021 | Couples, Relationships
Did you know that there is one element of all relationships that, if it’s gone, the Gottman’s research shows it’s time to pull the plug on the relationship? And it’s not some of the things you might expect. It’s not sex, it’s not...
by Sabrina Walters | Sep 3, 2021 | Core Values, Core Values Couples
You may have noticed that in these posts, we often reference something called the CVI: the Core Values Index. The CVI is the first human assessment that measure the innate, unchanging nature in each of us. It has the highest testability of any ‘personality test’ there...
by Sabrina Walters | Aug 27, 2021 | Couples, Intimacy, Marriage, Relationships
You know that we are big fans of the Gottmans here at Core Values Counseling. Sabrina is a certified Gottman therapist, and she’s even a trainer, helping other counselors get that same certification. So we love keeping up on all the great tools the Gottmans come out...
by Sabrina Walters | Aug 20, 2021 | Communication, Couples, Intimacy
What are some unique ways you love to spend time with your partner? Eric and I love long road trips. Just getting in the car and driving to a far-off destination, with nothing but long, scenic highway stretches between us and a new adventure. Those long stretches...
by Sabrina Walters | Aug 20, 2021 | Health, Relationships
We think of play and playfulness as something only for children, but experts consistently agree: play is essential for adults’ physical health, mental aptitude, relational closeness, and overall sense of well-being. Which means play is a powerful thing, an...
by Sabrina Walters | Jul 29, 2021 | Core Values Couples, Couples, Relationships
Recently my team of counselors all went through the Gottman Level 3 training; for some of us, it was a revisiting of topics we’d covered before, and for some it was totally new. But even though I’d done this training before, something new stood out to me (it always...
by Sabrina Walters | Jul 20, 2021 | Counseling, Health
Photo by Tonik on Unsplash This past year has been a test of all of our mental health. What with a pandemic, wild fires, many personal losses, social unrest, political divides, and now record high temperatures…well, if you were immune to anxiety before this...
by Sabrina Walters | Jul 13, 2021 | Brain research, Counseling, Spiritual
Have you ever found yourself in a train station when nobody is there? How about an empty parking lot at night? Or the back stairwell in your office building that no one really uses? Do you ever notice how these spaces have a feeling of strangeness to them?...
by Sabrina Walters | Jul 6, 2021 | Core Values Couples, Couples, Relationships
With the passing of another Independence Day, I can’t help but be reminded of something the Gottmans teach. That might seem a strange connection to you — after all, what exactly does independence have to do with healthy relationships? Excellent question....
by Sabrina Walters | Jul 5, 2021 | Counseling, EMDR
Four of our six therapists over at Core Values Counseling have recently been trained in a mode of therapy called EMDR. EMDR stands for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,” and it’s used in therapy to help process trauma. It’s quite...
by Sabrina Walters | Apr 20, 2021 | Couples
We all are exhausted from the pandemic and the varying emotions we have experienced in the past year — but that’s exactly why harnessing your emotional intelligence has never been more important. We’re all feeling stretched thin, so expecting others to know what you...
