Category Archives: Uncategorized

21Nov 2012

Why Gratitude?

This week we hopefully can take the time to think about what we are grateful for. As I was thinking about my list, I was thinking about the importance of practicing gratitude all year. There are so many benefits of doing so! I wanted to share 10 with you.

1. It forces you to think about something positive

2. You will be focusing on more positive, thus you will feel more happy in general.

3. If people who are grateful tend to be more happy, they will attract more people to them socially. People generally want to be around happy, positive people :) (unless they are miserable and misery loves company :( )

4. Being grateful increases your energy.
Think about how you feel when you think about depressed things all day. Think about how you feel when you focus on positive things all day.

5. Thinking of what we have been given keeps us humble.

6. Being grateful forces us to reflect inward and look inside ourselves.

7. Thinking of what we are thankful for helps remind us of what’s important.
If you practice this daily, I doubt you will say “I am thankful for my sports car” everyday. But I bet your family and friends will be on the list daily.

8. Being grateful boosts your health.
The more grateful we are, the less stress we feel. The less stress we feel, the better our immune system. The better our immune system, the more we are fighting off illness and disease.

9. Practicing a life of gratitude keeps you more at peace. It creates more optimism and hope. When you focus on be grateful, you remind yourself of the good, which can lead to feeling hopeful and peaceful.

10. Having a life of gratitude keeps us connected to our Faith.
Even in hard times, we can know God is up to something and knows exactly what we need, and is providing that for us.

Here are 2 quick things you can do everyday to practice a life of Gratitude:

>>When my son cannot sleep, I tell him to count everything he is grateful for. That way he can fall asleep thinking of all the good in his life, rather than the stress of not sleeping (This works like a charm!)

>>I’m sure you’ve heard it but I’ll say it again because it deserves repeating- keep a gratitude journal. Write down 5 things everyday you are grateful for.

I want to tell you that Imagine Hope and it’s readers, followers, and clients are among my things I am grateful for everyday. I love what I do and the people I work with and for. Thank you for being a part of our community. May God richly bless you this Thanksgiving!

Written by Natalie Chandler

Natalie Chandler, MA, LMHC is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Natalie enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, and couples counseling.  We also specialize in family counseling, child, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville

27Sep 2012

Trust With All Your Heart

This was a post I wrote for Northview Church a couple of months ago. Many of my friends and family enjoyed it so I thought I would share it with you. I hope you enjoy it and can grow from it, too.

We were so excited to hear the heartbeat of our unborn child. It was our 2nd, and the excitement that filled our hearts couldn’t of been more exhilarating that day. I had felt the yuck of pregnancy before so I confidently walked into the doctor’s office. I knew for sure, even though it was early, I was definitely pregnant!

As we got reaquainted with my OB, we laughed and caught up nonchalantly as we prepared for hearing the heartbeat. Not a care in the world at that moment. You can imagine the awkwardness as the room became very quiet. The Dr., who had just been laughing seconds ago, was not speaking. Something was wrong! We were in shock when he told us that the heart beat wasn’t strong. He used words like “cautiously optimistic”. After all, the baby was only 7 weeks old. It’s hard to tell if our child was a little behind or slowly losing life.

At first I panicked. Who wouldn’t? But as we drove home, I suddenly realized, I had nothing to worry about. I’m a Christian. God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). For the good- that means it will work out for what I think is good, right?

I had been raised in a Christian home and knew I just needed to trust Him harder and pray a lot and all would be well.

We did. We trusted Him. I prayed really hard. Then…. I let it go! I honestly didn’t think about it a lot, other than when I prayed for our baby. I just KNEW we were trusting Him so it would be fine.

2 weeks later, you can imagine our devastation when they told us there was no heartbeat and our baby had not made it! It felt surreal. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. And if I am honest, I felt like God had abandoned me. How could I have possibly trusted any more than I did? How could I have prayed any harder than I had prayed? I even told people- especially non-believers- that I just trusted God and knew he would take care of our baby. I thought this would show them how He works! See- become a Christian and you will get your heart’s desires! Not so much.

I had a lot to learn. And God used this painful time to teach me about trust. I learned that trust isn’t about believing we will get what we want. It’s about knowing that things will still happen to us that aren’t fair. Things that hurt really bad, and that don’t make any sense. But trust is knowing that God will give us the strength to make it and hold us dearly during these times. It’s knowing and trusting that He will take care of us and comfort us. THAT is what trust is.

Bad things happen to good people. I know this for sure. But God will be there to comfort us, give us strength, and love us so graciously. We will look back one day and say, “I know that was God that got me thru that because I couldn’t have made it on my own.”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5 NIV)

I memorized this verse in Sunday School when I was kid. Now I have truly learned what this verse means. My life and view have completely shifted. I no longer pray for what I think I want or need. I pray for God’s will and the ability to have the strength to deal with His will-no matter what.

So trust is not necessarily believing things will go the way we want or think they should go but knowing that God will take care of us and supply our every need.

Difficult for sure yet comforting. Isn’t it?

Written by Natalie Chandler

Natalie Chandler, MA, LMHC is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Natalie enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, and couples counseling.  We also specialize in family counseling, child, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville.

18Jul 2012

The Healing Has Begun

People say to me at least on a weekly basis, “I don’t know how you do what you do every day. How do you listen to so much pain?”

I have to admit, at times it is not easy and I know I am not doing it thru my own strength but with God’s help. I never question if this is one of my purposes in life. I know it is my calling and I love it.

Besides that strength, what keeps me going is when a client or couple really has a break-through and you can see the healing truly begin. Those moments are priceless and I wouldn’t trade them for an uneventful, easy, laid back job- EVER!

Matthew West wrote a beautiful song that I want to share with you. The lyrics are as beautiful as the music, so if you have a chance, give it a listen on itunes. It will inspire you to begin your healing or make you cry if you have already experienced what he describes.

“The Healing Has Begun”
by Matthew West | from the album The Story Of Your Life

You have carried the weight of your secret for way too long
Thinking if there is a place called forgiveness you don’t belong
Oh, but freedom can never be found behind those walls
So just let ‘em fall
Just let ‘em fall

Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun

How long has it been since you’ve felt anything but shame
Child, lift up your eyes cause mercy remembers your name
And those tears you’ve been holding back
Let ‘em fall like rain
Cause today is the day
Yeah today is the day

Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Yeah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Just lift your eyes
Lay it down
What once was lost
Has now been found
Oh, oh

There’s a world full of people dying from broken hearts
Holding on to their guilt thinking they fell too far
So don’t be afraid to show them your beautiful scars
Cause they’re the proof
Yeah, you’re the proof

Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun
I believe
Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun
Oh, the healing has begun

Thank you for reading and have a great week! Let the healing begin…

Written by Natalie Chandler

Natalie Chandler, MA, LMHC is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Natalie enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, and couples counseling.  We also specialize in family counseling, child, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville

20Jun 2012

Learning to Manage Feelings

Feelings…..

We all have them. We like them, we hate them. We welcome them, we push them away. Good, bad. Happy, sad…. Feelings.

Our problem isn’t our feelings. It’s how we manage them. They are part of life- no way around it. We were created with feelings. Our feelings tell us something is up.

Happiness tells us things are well. We are enjoying life or a circumstance.

Sadness tells us we have lost something or someone. Or other unfortunate events have influenced our feelings.

Anger lets us know something doesn’t feel right- we are hurt, scared, or frustrated. We need to deal with those painful feelings.

Feelings are within us, meant to be listened to.

So why do we try to fight them away? So much of our energy goes in making them disappear. I wonder if we just learned to manage them, instead of them controlling us- I wonder if we would feel different. We could acknowledge them, feel them as they come and then let them go (repeat cycle as necessary). Then we would have more energy to do what we are in control of to change our circumstances (when this is possible- sometimes it’s not).

I wonder if our negative feelings would not be as strong if we didn’t fight so hard.

With anger- accepting that it is natural and discover what is underneath to manage it.

Sadness- allow ourselves the permission to grieve a loss or feel disappointed.

Happiness- living in the moment, savoring every morsel of it- and purposely working to create more.

I want to encourage you to not run from your feelings or use up too much energy to change them (when you can’t).

Recognize
Accept
Feel
Do something to change it (if you can).

This is managing them rather than letting them control you.

Thank you for reading and have a great day.

Written by Natalie Chandler

Natalie Chandler, MA, LMHC is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Natalie enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, and couples counseling.  We also specialize in family counseling, child, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville

16May 2012

No blog this week ;)

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful week. I am heading to a Mother’s Day tea at my son’s school. I couldn’t be more excited! I just love stuff like this. He has already begged me not to cry…great! Set me up for failure right away! I’ll do my best.

Typically, this is the time I use to do my writing. I’m not seeing another block I can do it this week, so I’m going to let this go for the week. However, many of you have expressed your interest in my more faith-based blogs. I thought I would direct you to one I wrote this week for Northview Church. It’s at the following link:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Northview+church+carmel+blog&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

You’ll have to scroll down a bit. It posted yesterday but they write several in a day. It’s called “If only”. I hope you are able to grab a tidbit of info from it.

For everyone else, I will look forward to seeing you next week. Thanks again for all your time you spend reading and responding. It makes writing so much fun and rewarding. Have a blessed week!

Natalie Chandler, MA, LMHC is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Natalie enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, and couples counseling.  We also specialize in family counseling, child, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville