Not a “therapy” blog
Practice & Act
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I am not a therapist, even though clients liken me to one.
I understand why they do: being present for my clients and acting as a mirror and thought partner are both innate to me, and skills I’ve deliberately and extensively pursued.
Plus — grounding exercises, assessments, mindful techniques, journaling, guided meditations, visualizations, and creative play have always found their way into my life and work.
I’ve got a solid foundation and continuing education in using these tools to help people return inward to understand, access, and process the stories that are holding them back.
Every single one of my clients right now — from leaders in global organizations to entrepreneurs elevating their brand voice to visionaries strategizing their personal and professional way forward — is struggling with how to work, live, and enact change in the chaos of the news that’s getting dropped daily. (I’ve been sharing thoughts from this therapist, too)
It’s not that I’m opposed to additional schooling to become a therapist — I have two Master’s degrees, a graduate certificate, and extensive hours of coaching and education on human development and how we make meaningful progress — it’s more that I’m really enjoying the work I do right now: helping people rediscover their authentic selves, find their voice, and navigate their transitions and transformations.
And I do find the human psyche is fascinating. We all grow and develop in roughly the same ways, but our innate coding and experiences shape the people we become.
I believe self-work is for everybody, because it gives us structured time to become a more conscious witness to our own patterns — so we stop being run by them.
Without deliberate and daily practice, the day to day living stuff becomes more difficult than it needs to be.
We react emotionally, instead of experiencing our emotions before taking action.
We default to initial thoughts, and take them as truth before examining them.
We act from ego and attachment to an outcome, instead of allowing our actions to amplify things we value the most.
And, we judge ourselves for being human — which perpetuates whatever cycle that isn’t serving us all over again.
It is very human to believe that sudden realizations and “knowing what to do” will make us act differently.
But, real change comes in practicing the actions:
Scheduling the down time as a feature in your day, not an afterthought.
Journaling about and observing YOUR actions, not the actions of others.
Meditating, breathing, and moving to allow your nervous system to release its grip and regulate every day — even for just 30 minutes.
You may KNOW something beyond a shadow of a doubt, but if you don’t act on it and put it into practice — nothing changes.
The same is true with our country.
If you’re like me, right now you are feeling the weight of the news cycle (which, by the way, is designed in this way to overstimulate you so you feel helpless and stuck).
We can’t think our way out of it.
We can’t observe (or social media) our way out of it, either.
And while we may not be able to enact sweeping, instantaneous global change to fix the whole damn thing, we can PRACTICE and ACT from what we know.
When we begin to practice and act from a place of alignment and core values, we become more present and grounded in what we can impact instead of fearfully waiting for “the other shoe to drop” on what we can’t.
What do you value?
What change do you want to see?
What small actions can you take to start building that around you, right now, today?
Kindness, it turns out, is a change agent that interrupts our own patterns and helps us regain agency and trust ourselves — and it changes things for the better for others, too.
Better yet, it’s a PRACTICE that you can begin immediately to take action on what you’d like to see in the world.
Not sure where to start? Here are some things I’ve run across recently that resonated with me.
This Random Acts of Kindness link can be a great starter point for your own brainstorm. And this Build Your Community Up post is a keeper, too.
Let me know what you are putting into practice — I’d love to hear.
Pledging allegiance to humanity,
Michelle
P.S. If you feel called to practice and act and want a thoughtful partner to walk alongside you as a guide and co-creator, I’d love to help.
Find your communities. Act from inner knowing.
Want to work together?
Visionaries hire me to help them navigate the liminal points and be a thought partner, coach, and strategist for their lives and businesses.
Leaders hire me to amplify their brand voice, align strategies to values and goals, and work with their teams to facilitate growth and connection through engaging training, workshops, and speaker-led sessions.
Seek yourself. Be more you.
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How we practice is how we change. And how we change is how the world changes. Practice being more you.
