Blog
Brain On Fire: Ideas Beyond Words
In an email to Allison Whitney in November 2020, Navigating Systems faculty member, Andrea Schara, described the first time she met Dr. Murray Bowen. The story sparked Allison’s creativity to highlight these ideas using other media.
If the Family Is An Emotional Unit, What Is It Up To?
In my coaching work I am fortunate to be able to listen to people who are willing to challenge the status quo in the family emotional unit. The effort to separate a self from the intensity with-in the nuclear and mutigenerational family unit is not for the faint of heart. Consider both how long psychology has taken to understand the family as a system. Then let us look at one person’s report on her effort to change herself.
The Unrecognized Impacts of Death, Part 3 - See Opportunity, Not Fear
What can we learn from stories of families faced with the death of an important family member? No matter how challenging, all families have something to teach as to how systems, under pressure, work.
The Unrecognized Impacts of Death, Part 2 - The Long-Term Effects of Death
Continuing the three-part blog series by Navigating Systems faculty member Andrea Schara, Part Two - The Long-Term Effects of Death, looks at the importance of recognizing and understanding the family relationship system and the forces operating within that system.
The Unrecognized Impact Of Death, Part 1 − What is an Emotional Shock Wave?
Last week marked a death toll of over 200,000 individuals who have died from COVID-19. This first installment of a three-part blog series by Navigating Systems faculty member Andrea Schara looks at understanding the family as an adapting system during a time of change, often brought about by the death of family members.
One of 101 Ways to Differentiate Self: Navigating Systems Summer course in action
From the Navigating Systems Summer Course, one participant’s first-hand report on the battle for differentiation of self in the age of COVID-19.
My Thoughts During this Time of Covid-19 - ideas to promote thinking by Andrea Schara
Humans at times seem to be nothing but history stuffed into a bag of bones. But hold on, we have some ability to understand the influence of the past and to consider the choices before us.[i] If we can perceive more of “reality,” then we can choose the high road instead of being hijacked by emotional cries to join the low road. Emotions are contagious. People can lose their identity in an emotional crowd.
Covid-19 Anxiety and Automatic Behavior
Both for leaders of the country and for each of us personally, this is a perilous, difficult, and confusing time. The future becomes harder to predict when we are faced with a threatening situation.
Families: A Revolution in Mental Health
Is there no protection from mental health issues? Seemingly it does not matter if you have a great deal of money or if you are successful in your profession. People fight, they worry, they criticize, they misinterpret, and blame each other.