Nyambura Kihato

As we were getting ready to usher in spring in the northern hemisphere, yet another devastating war was breaking on the other side of the globe. The death toll of the war… Read article…

Most therapists will tell you that grief is a frequent visitor on their couches and in their virtual rooms. If we are lucky enough to live a long life, we will have… Read article…

On Christmas morning, I looked out to see a possum just outside our back door. It was behaving strangely, walking too close to the house, back and forth in the dead leaves.… Read article…

I was listening to a reflection today at the conclusion of the Ten Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, where the concept of awe in both the religious and… Read article…

Probably because I consume a lot of Eastern philosophy on YouTube, it has been feeding me talks from some of my favorite Zen teachers, like Alan Watts – I even found ad-free… Read article…

Lately, fear and uncertainty seem to be the order of the day. Rising conflicts and wars, protests and political turmoil spreading across the globe. So much unnecessary chaos and suffering. It seems… Read article…

Have you planted a tree lately? Watered, hugged or climbed one? Today, April 25 is Arbor Day, when we celebrate trees, green growing things and the promise of new life, new beginnings,… Read article…

The United Nations International Day of Happiness passed last week on March 20th without much fanfare. The first day of spring in the northern hemisphere on the same day got more recognition.… Read article…

My favorite thing about February are daffodils. Just as the dreariness of winter starts to get to you, the daffodils burst onto the winterscape, hopeful and bright and oblivious to the cold… Read article…

The month of January is named after Janus, who in ancient Roman mythology was the god of transitions, doorways, passages, frames, beginnings and endings. He is depicted as having two heads, each… Read article…

The holidays are here, but do you feel that your mood and energy don’t match the festive cheer? That the pressure and overwhelm are too much? You may find yourself ignoring your… Read article…

Whatever our differences and divisions as a nation, we all heaved a collective sigh last week when the intense and emotional election season finally ended. One thing we can all agree on:… Read article…

“The fact that everything didn’t go precisely to plan was precisely the plan.” These were Albus Dumbledore’s words to his companions at the end of their plot to thwart the wizard Gellert… Read article…

I reached a point where I had to mentally shift gears with a singular goal in mind: escape. That’s when I came across an  episode from the podcast It’s Been a Minute,… Read article…

July is minority mental health awareness month.  We celebrate the gains in mental health awareness while acknowledging that we still have a long way to go to improve mental health equity and… Read article…

On a flight from Nairobi to Frankfurt heading back to Atlanta earlier this week, I sat next to a middle aged man carrying a large white IOM (International Organization for Migration) tote… Read article…

A woman is walking in a park. As she walks, various thoughts – some of them upsetting – pop in and out of her mind. Later on, she notices that when she… Read article…

On a visit to my neighborhood public library, I came across Gretchen Rubin’s book Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into The World.… Read article…

I know it’s spring by the bursts of purple outside my window. The irises are here. My neighbor has the same kind of irises, though my envious eye notes that hers are… Read article…

We don’t get to hear enough about the incredible innovations of people of color; their stories, brilliance and legacy are often obscured through the telling of history by those who oppressed them,… Read article…

My travels over the holidays took me to the Mt Kenya area, where my parents were born and raised, and where my grandparents held huge family gatherings when I was a child.… Read article…

May our minds and hearts be one on this Thanksgiving Day as we give thanks for the life that we collectively share with all life forms on our planet earth.   Read article…

How about a quick break? It’ll only take a minute. Pause what you’re doing and have a good stretch. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes and think of five things you… Read article…

I’ve been coming across the Japanese word ikigai lately, mostly from personal development coaches describing how your life can be more fulfilling when you do what you love, when your passion and… Read article…

When I’m in a synergistic system, every small action I perform is critical to the functioning of the whole system. My input matters, and so does everyone else’s. So when other actors… Read article…

A couple of weeks ago, This American Life podcast producer Bim Adewunmi hosted an episode called The Show of Delights. I love the fun insights and interesting cultural perspectives Bim brings to… Read article…

I’m struck by the simple luxury of getting to savor the first moments of the day before being overtaken by all its events, to enjoy the sounds of Mother Nature stirring, sustaining… Read article…

I’m pleased to share that I have obtained my EMDR certification through EMDRIA, the international association that accredits EMDR therapists. An EMDR Certified Therapist has engaged in at least 20 hours of… Read article…

Every now and then, life presents you with a fork in the road, representing opportunities to explore, take risks, maybe develop a useful life skill and learn something new about yourself and… Read article…

I’ve been rereading Jungian analyst Robert Johnson’s Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche. It’s a little gem of a book that explores a much loved topic in… Read article…

The idea of a group of people sitting together to share their experience of a book delights me. As I prepare to host my first book club gathering next month, I notice… Read article…

Holiday travel for me brings with it some weird feelings of disorientation. I wake up 30,000 feet in the air to the smell of coffee being served by flight attendants and the… Read article…

 Do you sometimes feel so overstimulated by your environment – bright lights, strong smells, loud noises – that you have to retreat to a quiet place or wear noise canceling headphones to… Read article…

How much would you risk to retrieve your lost memories if they felt important to you? The movies I’ve been watching lately happen to have themes revolving around this question. They explore… Read article…

Around me lately, the talk has been about winding down the summer fun and getting students ready for a new school year (can you believe that August is already upon us?) Although… Read article…

February 2021 was a blur. We had just witnessed the swearing in of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harrison, and the beautiful poetry of Amanda Gordon. All this while hunkering… Read article…

Today our human family grieves as we reflect with deep gratitude on the extraordinary life, legacy, and gifts of beloved Buddhist monk and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh (known affectionately as Thay… Read article…

Sometimes home is the place where we remember some of our earliest feelings of love, safety, friendship, and belonging; a foundation upon which our lives and personalities are built. At other times,… Read article…

You cannot sit still when a master African storyteller is telling a tale, nor should you. You’re moving with with drumbeats, joining in the call-and-response songs, shouting out magic incantations to release… Read article…

I attended my first lecture by Jungian analyst Dr Donald Kalsched almost a decade ago, when he did a weekend workshop on trauma at the Jung Society of Atlanta titled The Soul… Read article…

Here’s how much of a fiend for the HBO series In Treatment I am: I watched the entire series when the show first aired about a decade ago. Then every few months,… Read article…

On an online chat with my former schoolmates a couple of days ago, we talked about our high school motto “servire est regnare”, Latin for “to serve is to reign”. We waxed… Read article…

Ever been in a situation where you had to make a choice between one thing or another, but for the life of you, you couldn’t decide – one part of you wanted… Read article…

The word trauma gets thrown around a lot these days. As a trauma therapist, many people come to me “to do trauma work” or “to process past traumas” or “for trauma recovery/healing”.… Read article…

I love the word “transcendent” and all its derivations, like transcendentalist, transcendental meditation, and the psychological concept of the transcendent function. The International Cambridge Dictionary defines transcend as “to go beyond or… Read article…

What does it mean to be an ally in the struggle for racial justice? Allies speak out when they witness injustice, wherever it may show up. They use their voices and actions… Read article…

The events of the past few weeks, particularly the sickening, cold-blooded murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in broad daylight, was devastating not only to Black communities in America,… Read article…

And nobody knows how it will all play out in the end. Do we emerge in paradise or in hell? Only time will tell. Yet this question can best be answered by… Read article…

With practice, we can relearn the enjoyment of solitude. We were good at it as kids. We may remember this from our own childhood or from watching a child play alone for… Read article…

This is a common misconception about introverts – that we are shy, antisocial, and unfriendly. These erroneous ideas have tainted the definition of “introversion” from the way it was originally proposed by… Read article…

I once heard Oprah talk about how she deals with being a successful Black business woman in a white man’s world. She said she often walks into a meeting to find she… Read article…

Everybody has a shadow. While the shadow part of our personality can do much damage, this doesn’t mean it is evil. In fact, it can be a source of much creativity and… Read article…

It seems that once you accept the call to adventure (or it is thrust upon you), you can never go back: you know too much, you have seen too much, you are… Read article…

In a sense, I think we are all a bit like Voldemort. We split our souls—unconsciously, by not accepting all parts of ourselves—then conceal these “soul pieces” and continue to live our… Read article…