Nyambura Kihato, LPC

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, where host Brittany Luse and writers Jean Chen Ho and Tia Williams discuss what ... (Aug 29, `24)

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 accessibility in minority communities. Studies show... (Jul 17, `24)

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 bag with numbers written on it in blue ink. I’d seen a number ... (Jun 28, `24)

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 takes her mind back to these upsetting thoughts, they no longer feel as disturbing or... (May 31, `24)

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.  The book's position on the display shelf, its vibrant colors and that catchy... (Apr 30, `24)

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 way more than mine and much juicier. I must ask her what she's feeding them. We... (Mar 31, `24)

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, thereby negating, dismissing or distorting their... (Feb 29, `24)

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. My siblings and I, being city kids, would usually visit shags (slang for... (Jan 28, `24)

May our minds and hearts be one on this Thanksgiving Day as we give thanks for the life that we collectively share with our fellow inhabitants and all life forms on our planet earth.  ... (Nov 23, `23)

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 are grateful for today. That was your gratitude break. Felt good, didn’t... (Oct 31, `23)

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 your vocation intersect. I wanted to learn more, so ... (Sep 30, `23)

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 in different parts of the system add to an action, it is... (Aug 31, `23)

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 the show, many of them from her life experiences as a... (Jul 14, `23)

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 us like she’s done for millions of years.... (Jun 21, `23)

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... (May 16, `23)

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 the world. Follow one fork and there may not be a way to... (Apr 28, `23)

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 Jungian psychology: the shadow side of our personality.  My... (Mar 14, `23)

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 that as I read a passage that moves me, I find myself in reveries about how other... (Jan 29, `23)

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 sound of a baby crying across the aisle. (We just had lunch, jumped two... (Dec 23, `22)

 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 find relief? Does that cup of coffee leave you feeling... (Nov 15, `22)

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 how past memories shape our identity and ideas about who we ... (Sep 30, `22)

An upcoming lecture on the shadow of technology by Jungian analyst Doug Tyler, PhD, reminds me of a recent experience: One morning on my drive to work, I noticed my phone wasn't in its regular position on my dashboard. A dreadful panic gripped... (Aug 2, `22)

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 I taught for almost two decades and found teaching to be a deeply... (Jul 29, `22)

Have you ever awakened from a dream and wondered what it all meant? Was it just random brain activity, or could there be a valuable nugget to take away and use in real life? And then there’s recurring dreams and nightmares. You may notice similar... (Mar 29, `22)

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 down in pandemic mode and reeling from the aftermath of... (Feb 8, `22)

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 or teacher), who died at age 95. Through his... (Jan 22, `22)

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, home is where our psychological complexes are... (Dec 23, `21)

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 a poor character from danger, cheering... (Nov 7, `21)

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 in Hell and its Liberation, and shared insights from his book Trauma and... (Sep 30, `21)

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, I kept looking to see if there was a new season. When it didn't come, I just watched... (Jul 19, `21)

The enormous challenges of the past year, particularly the COVID-19 outbreak and racial justice protests, highlighted what people in minority communities have long known: that there is an urgent need for mental health services in our communities,... (Jul 15, `21)

Remember how these words enchanted you as a child? If you're lucky enough to still be connected with your inner child, they probably still do. Fairy tales inform, delight, guide, and inspire us. They come in various forms but are universal and... (Jul 9, `21)

The verdict has been passed. George Floyd’s killer has been found guilty of charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. It’s hardly been a year since we saw the horrific images of Floyd’s... (Apr 23, `21)

It got me thinking about one of my favorite books from high school, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, which is part one of the African Trilogy that includes Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease.... (Mar 17, `21)

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 nostalgic about our high school days and how we loved to belt out this phrase... (Feb 18, `21)

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 to go one way and the other the opposite way? Our languages express this dilemma in different ... (Feb 4, `21)

The Jung Society of Atlanta is honored to host a lecture on C. G. Jung's Black Books on January 31, by renowned Jungian scholar, Sonu Shamdasani, PhD, Professor of Jung History at the School of European Languages, Culture and Society (German) at... (Jan 11, `21)

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". Broadly speaking, psychological trauma happens when a person... (Nov 13, `20)

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 rise... (Oct 27, `20)

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 to call out impunity and demand accountability. ... (Jul 21, `20)

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, but to all decent humans everywhere. The outcry... (Jun 10, `20)

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 how conscious we are as we proceed, how we handle this opportunity to evolve.... (Apr 29, `20)

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 hours, delighting in every moment, unconcerned or unaware of the gaze of others.... (Apr 1, `20)

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 psychiatrist Carl Jung.... (Oct 10, `19)

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 is not just the only woman, she is the only person of color. Some of the people she... (Sep 2, `19)

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 insight, if we engage it consciously. Psychiatrist Carl Jung stated that it is... (Jul 12, `19)

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 never the same again. This can be the source of profound loneliness, where life feels... (Jan 12, `19)

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 lives with the discarded fragments scattered messily... (Dec 9, `14)