Cultivating joy

Blog post by Britt McKinney, RMCHI

This is the third post in our series exploring Yalom’s “ultimate concerns.”  If this is the first one you’re reading, here’s what you need to know: we can identify things about who we are by considering the meaning we ascribe to death, freedom, isolation, and meaningless in our lives.

Reading that for the first time may be intimidating, so don’t hesitate to earmark this post and read the ones that led up to this section of the discussion.

This post is the one promised last time to explore cultivating joy, which is a catchy way to say that we have the ability to create positivity in our lives. These are 4 tools you can use to increase your agency in enjoying life more fully.


1: When we discuss the concept of death, it gives us an opportunity to consider what it fe ...

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Being well in COVID-19

Blog post by Brittney McKinney, RMCHI

Continuing our exploration of who we are, we’ll consider the same topics from Irvin D. Yalom, MD--but this time, as they relate to our wellness.

Remember Yalom’s 4  “ultimate concerns”: death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness? Here’s the questions related to each topic to ask when considering our wellness.

1: Death
Am I being active? How am I sleeping? What am I eating?

2: Freedom
Do I choose constructive perspectives? Can I cultivate joy? Am I caring for my spirit?

3: Isolation
Am I helping others?

4: Meaninglessness
Do I have social support to help me live my best life? Am I working on coping skills with my therapist?

Cultivating joy is, by far, the coolest f ...

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Being you in COVID-19

Blog post by Brittney McKinney, RMHCI

It’s easy to feel pressure to survive the pandemic a certain way. Here are tools focused on your mental health that let us take a look at ourselves while we are surviving these unprecedented circumstances.

Irvin D. Yalom, MD has 4 concepts that he suggested we think about when examining our lives: death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness. He called them “ultimate concerns” and here are some core questions to consider:

1:  Death
What pressures am I putting on myself to live my life perfectly?

2:  Freedom
I choose my attitude, so what can that teach me about my personal responsibilities?

3:  Isolation
What have I learned about myself that I can share with the people that matte ...

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