Marilyn Devonish overcame suicidal depression to become a certified coach and therapist, and has 21 years’ experience working in the trauma field. “Continual bad news almost tipped me over the edge,” she says.
Devonish is another proponent of taking a moment to breathe. “If you don’t oxygenate your brain, it will shut down to some extent, and that often means you are – quite literally – not thinking straight.”
She believes activating the brain to move beyond bad news and toward a solution or positive response is key. “Sometimes that next step is to just sit with it and feel whatever you’re feeling,” she explains. “But if you tell your brain what you want, it will do what it can to help you. Out of the blue you’ll come up with one of those aha moments.”
Image: Laurenz Kleinheider
