Cindi DuBois, LCSW, LADC

08/24/2026

More fun with caricatures!

08/23/2026

CHARLIE’S THERAPY CORNER
Episode 6

We live in a culture that often treats rest like a reward.

Finish the work.
Take care of everyone else.
Get through the list.
Be productive enough.

Then you can rest.

But rest isn’t something we have to earn by exhausting ourselves first.

Sometimes slowing down is exactly what allows our minds and bodies to recover. Sometimes the most compassionate thing we can do is notice that we’re tired and respond to that need—without turning it into another thing we have to justify.

Charlie, of course, has never once questioned whether he has accomplished enough today to deserve a nap.

Perhaps he knows something we don’t. 🐾❤️

Rest is a need, not a reward.

08/23/2026

08/21/2026

MAKING ROOM: An ACT Series 🌿
Episode 1 — You Don’t Have to Believe Everything Your Mind Tells You

Your mind talks to you all day long.

I’m going to mess this up.
They’re probably upset with me.
I should be handling this better.
I’m not good enough.
Something bad is going to happen.

And when a thought shows up often enough—or loudly enough—it can begin to feel like a fact.

But a thought is not automatically a fact.

One of the skills we use in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is called cognitive defusion. It means learning to notice our thoughts without automatically becoming tangled up in them.

Try this:

Instead of:

“I’m not good enough.”

Try:

“I’m having the thought that I’m not good enough.”

It may seem like a tiny change.

But that little bit of distance reminds us:

This is a thought my mind is producing. I can notice it without allowing it to decide who I am or what I do next.

The goal isn’t to force the thought away or replace every negative thought with a positive one.

It’s learning that you can have a thought without having to believe it, fight with it, or obey it.

Sometimes the most powerful response to an unhelpful thought is simply:

“I notice my mind is telling me that story again.”

Then ask yourself:

What do I want to do next—even with that thought here?

That’s where psychological flexibility begins. 🌿

Cindi DuBois, LCSW, LADC
Psychotherapist
Compassionate support for healing, growth, and meaningful change.

08/21/2026

Hi friends, Charlie here. 🐾💙

I need to talk about something a little harder today.

Sometimes one of us has to leave before our humans are ready.

And when that happens, the house can suddenly feel very different.

The bed is empty.
The food bowl is gone.
There are no little paws following you from room to room.

And somehow, the quiet can feel enormous.

Humans sometimes wonder if they’re grieving “too much” because it was a pet.

Charlie would like to clear something up:

We were never “just pets.”

We were part of your routines.
We were there for ordinary Tuesdays and terrible days.
We knew when you were sad before you said a word.
We celebrated when you came home like you were the most important person in the world.

Because to us, you were.

So when that relationship ends, of course it hurts.

Grief doesn’t measure love by species.

If you miss the sound of their paws…
if you still look toward the place where they used to sleep…
if you cry when you find one of their toys…

you don’t need to rush yourself through it.

You’re grieving someone you loved.

And Charlie thinks love like that deserves to be remembered. 🐾

Charlie’s takeaway:
The size of your grief is not a sign that you are grieving wrong. It is evidence that something mattered deeply.

Until next time,
Charlie 🐾💙
Chief Emotional Support Dachshund