Our authentic selves and our inner child are intertwined within us and form a powerful role in the subconscious part of our minds.

If you have been distanced from your authentic self or inner child, the wounds you carry may be deep but it is important to know that you can do the healing work to find your way home.

The deeper work of healing your inner child.

We all have an inner child.

As children, we have core needs  to be seen, to be heard, and to have the space to be and authentically express ourselves. If, as children, our needs were not met, we can be wounded and then grow to carry that wounding within ourselves. Much of the work that we do to heal our inner child is to heal the wounding that occurred as a result of unmet needs. However, the inner child is within us and calls to be recognized whether our childhood needs are met or unmet. The inner child has positive attributes as well as difficult attributes which call to be explored.

Inner child work involves...

Dennis had just graduated with a degree in marketing and was looking for a job. One day he received an alert on his LinkedIn page that an up and coming toy company was looking to hire a Director of Social Media. Dennis became excited and immediately started researching the company online.  He thought the position would be perfect for him. Dennis loved and was fascinated by the toy industry. As a child, he made his own toys. Even now, Dennis can't resist walking through every toy store he passes. Dennis pulled up his resume. As he began his updates, his excitement dwindled and fizzled out. Dennis recognized the critical voice in his head telling him that he didn't have the right experience and wasn't qualified for the position. He imagined the hiring team looking at his resume and thinking it was a joke. Dennis convinced himself that he would never be hired and that applying would be a waste of time and another disappointment to recover from. . Dennis did not get the...

If we have been badly disappointed by people or circumstances in the past, we may resist forming and following through to realize our dreams.  Minimizing our goals can feel like minimizing change or future disappointment, when in reality it gives us a false sense of control over our circumstances.

That we will all experience disappointment is a fact life. That we all have purpose and potential is also a fact of life.

Inhale...take a deep cleansing breath...exhale any and all resistance....now....What do you wish for?

Make sure your wish is something that you can actually fulfill but will also find challenging.

WRITE DOWN YOUR WISH

Your wish can originate from any area of your life: professional, family, personal, relational, spiritual, health, or emotional. Don't judge just write.

Review what you have written.

ARTICULATE YOUR WISH IN 6 WORDS OR LESS

How can you articulate your wish in 6 words or less?

Write your wish down in your six or less word format. 

Say...

Rich and Amy had been married 8 years and experienced both joy and heartache together. Amy shared that the couple's ratio of joy to heartache had changed drastically, with joy diminishing considerably, if not entirely. 

"I don't know how long it has been since I felt like I love Rich; I know that sounds terrible but I feel like I am really starting to hate him. He's my husband and the father of my children and I don't want to feel this way but I can't help it."

As Amy shared more, I heard she had resentment over Rich's controlling behavior.

It had been just over two years since the couple had their second child and picked up and moved to Phoenix from Pittsburgh. Just two years ago Amy she and Rich had a life filled with hope for what their new life in a completely different world out west would be.

Once settled into their new home, the couple decided to have a third child. The timing was good for an addition to the family because Amy was to be taking a year or two off of work...

Attachment Styles:

the way we perceive and respond to intimacy in relationships.

Attachment styles were first described in the psychological theory known as Attachment Theory.

What is Attachment Theory?

Attachment theory was formulated by the psychoanalyst John Bowlby.

Infant Attachment is a psychological term that refers to the emotional bond that emerges during the first year of life between an infant and one or a few significant adult caregivers.

The emotional bond between the infant and their primary caretaker contributes to the infant forming a feeling of security or trust in themselves.

Attachment by the infant is secure or insecure.

When an infant has a secure attachment  with their caregiver, the child seeks to be close to that person when they feel tense or anxious. When an infant has an insecure relationship with their primary caretaker, feeling tense or anxious leads to them avoiding the caretaker or experiencing conflict between approaching and avoiding their...

Therapeutic Coaching

It takes courage to take another look at the things we have stowed away. It takes imagination to see that a second look could lead to peace and wholeness.

Somewhere inside we know that material hidden safely outside of our conscious awareness can exert a tangible effect on our lives and well-being. So we consider whether we should rethink our protective strategies and dive in for the sake of our hearts and our souls. You don't have to dive in alone. In therapeutic coaching, a trusted guide brings you safely to the beginning of your journey and remains by your side.

The places where you feel most stuck hold something precious and powerful. You may encounter a glimpse of something longed for and even more potent because it’s so tightly packed away and protected.

When I work with clients, I  hold unrelenting curiosity on their behalf for the remarkable changes that might be possible for them and help them envision a future in which they create lives of...

Did you grow up believing that anger is wrong?

Maybe your parents told you, "we don’t do anger in this house.” Maybe expressing that you were upset led to orders to calm down, stop being so dramatic or to cheer up. Or maybe you were ignored whenever you were acting in a way that suggested you were unhappy or frustrated. Maybe it is your partner who responds toward you in this way today.

Whether it’s explicitly stated or implied, inhibiting anger prevents us from having a healthy relationship with our emotions.

Growing up in an environment where certain emotions were not welcome limits our willingness to authentically experience all of our emotions. It creates feelings of shame that cause us to miss essential messages from our minds and bodies. 

It is critical to cultivate an understanding within yourself that all feelings are okay. There’s nothing wrong with worry, jealousy, or anger. To the contrary, the ability to experience all of our emotions is a...

Attention and Intention:

2 Powerful & Extremely Potent Elements for Personal Transformation

INTENTION
Mind-body therapies and practices employ two complimentary processes: top-down processes and bottom-up processes.

Top-down processes begin in the mind and include honing one's attention and setting of one's intention.

Research has shown that regulating attention and setting an intention contribute to decreased psychological stress.

Regulating attention and setting an intention also impacts body systems, hypothalamus-pituitary axis and sympathetic nervous system activity, which modulate immune function and inflammation. Top-down processes are starting with the mind to influence well-being in both body and mind.

Bottom-up processes begin in the body. Bottom-up processes include breathing techniques and movement practices, which influence the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and nervous systems, hypothalamus-pituitary axis and sympathetic nervous system activity, which create...

 What is Courageous Authenticity?

Courageous authenticity is:

• Outwardly expressing your true self;
• Having the courage to speak and be true to what is true for you in your heart without altering or betraying yourself in order to please another;
• Daring to share your uniqueness with the world.
•  Courageous authenticity involves alignment between our hearts and our brains.

Courageous authenticity begins with the relationship we have with ourselves and then moves outward into our relationships with others.

 How can I apply courageous authenticity to my life?

Think of an experience you have had either with a person (with a partner, friend, roommate, family member, neighbor, co worker, etc.) or in an area of your life where you wanted to be authentic, but you were not true to your authentic self.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What am I afraid would happen if I shared my true self with this person?

2. How will not sharing my true self with this person make me feel?

3....

Looking-Glass Self Theory

The looking glass self theory suggests that we evaluate ourselves based on how we believe others see us and feel and act accordingly.  

The theory suggests we develop our self-concept in social settings by observing the way others perceive us. Social interaction acts like a type of mirror .

The theory details evaluating ourselves based upon how others see us in 3 steps:

1. When we are in a social situation, we imagine how we appear to others.
2. We imagine the way others in the social situation see us and how they are judging us.
3. We develop feelings and responses to the perceived judgments.

 We observe the other's posture, their words, whether or not they make eye contact,their level of attention toward us, and their body language in order to determine who we are in another person's eyes.

It is in our human nature to strive for alignment between our internal and external worlds. This is where the theory becomes controversial or the exercise of...