Philosophy
My privilege is to shine the light of awareness as you uncover your hidden brilliance. You already possess the wisdom to create happiness and fulfillment in your life. Joy is always at your fingertips, just waiting for you to access it. Somewhere along the way, you have forgotten to listen to your wisdom and gotten disconnected from your guiding inner compass. My intention is to help you learn to trust yourself again. We are all born with unique gifts and a purpose for being here. I can help you rediscover what makes you feel alive, grateful, and worthy of happiness.
Compassion and Acceptance
At the root of my practice is helping people become better friends with themselves and trust their innate goodness. Most people in our culture experience a profound lack of self-compassion, and are often unpracticed at the art of loving themselves. Constant self-criticism is crippling and blocks us from feeling the joy you long for. I encourage my clients to learn to accept and even love the parts of themselves about which they may feel ashamed. Often we add feelings of blame on top of our painful experiences, believing we "should" feel differently or be stronger. This additional judgment actually worsens the pain and blocks the healing process.
Self-compassion involves patience. Creating a new internal road map is not easy--you are rewiring your brain and creating new neural pathways. Change can only occur from a foundation of acceptance, and bullying yourself only leads to more resistance. Instead, transformation can be a friendly invitation to allow your gifts to spring forward. Once you unconditionally love yourself, you are free to make mistakes without judgment. Our personal development is not a straight line, but rather an upward spiral. It may seem like you are going backward, but each time you loop back around, you are equipped with greater skills, resilience, and self-knowledge.
Your Heart is Your Home
Life can be painful, and therapy helps change your relationship to your suffering. Even your darkest moments are an opportunity for growth and increased self-compassion. There is a peaceful place within that is untouched by external circumstances. Simply taking time to be with yourself helps build a home in your heart where you may always take refuge. Once connected to the limitless source of abundance, you can operate from a place that is congruent with your highest intentions.
Living with integrity involves aligning your beliefs, values, and deep intuition with your behavior. Fortunately, your bodies and emotions are the perfect barometer to keep you on track. If you pay close attention to your physical reactions, you can identify where you are stuck and what needs to be healed. Approaching your emotions with gentle curiosity loosens up your judgments, allowing for more open-hearted connection. Your intention then is to keep turning back towards yourself and course-correcting if you have strayed from your path.
Light and Dark
From experiencing my own depression, I know first-hand that suffering can be become a vehicle for awakening. Light and dark, joy and pain, excitement and disappointment all naturally exist to create balance. Instinctually, we seek to escape the painful feeling and put up walls, not realizing those walls actually trap the negative emotion inside. Allowing painful emotions to exist rather than judging, fighting, or numbing them takes practice. This continued surrender allows you to find peace even in chaos. As Jon Kabat-Zinn says, "You can't control the waves, but you can learn how to surf."
Striving to be cheerful at all times only creates further self-blame. I urge my clients to live from a place of authenticity, giving every corner of themselves loving attention. Each of us has a shadow side where we relegate parts of ourselves we deem unacceptable. There is also gold in your shadow parts, and with gentle awareness they can become portals to healing. Your most vulnerable parts are also the source of the greatest gifts, and pushing them away is missing out on the divine alchemy waiting to manifest through you.
Connection and Service
Humans are wired for connection. From the moment we are born, we require nurturing in order to thrive. Because of this ingrained need, feeling disconnected is devastating to your body and soul. It is easy to get caught in circular thought patterns, keeping you from fully experiencing the present moment. The constant tapes running through your mind create a myth of separation, blocking you from feeling the love that surrounds you. Difficult emotions instantly become less charged when you realize you are not alone in this human experience. Practicing empathy for yourself allows you to drop your quick judgments and assumptions of others.
One way to escape our self-consuming thoughts is to reach out in service to others. Holding this compassionate intention gives you renewed purpose and meaning in your life. You contribute most to the world when you allow others to experience who you really are. Taking off your protective mask creates an opening for whole-hearted connection. We were all given precious gifts meant to be offered back into contribution to others. Keeping these qualities hidden not only creates stagnation and sickness in our bodies, but also robs the world of your unique brilliance.
Life as a Teacher
Life is a series of lessons, and if you pay attention, we can see the divine in everything around you. Each experience, whether pleasurable or painful, is brought to you for your further awakening. Your psyche desperately wants to be cared for, and each new experience is an opportunity to love and accept yourself in new ways. From this lens, you can encounter your world with eyes wide open, trusting the universe is guiding you even during painful moments.
Welcoming your uncomfortable experiences as teachers takes practice. Reframing your suffering may not immediately take the pain away, but it does give it meaning. You can then reclaim your story, looking back on our narrative as empowering rather than as a victim of circumstance. So often we get stuck and forget that we do have the power to create the life we want, while we are really only limited by our imaginations and what we think we deserve. By fostering self-acceptance and getting to the root of what emotional roadblocks are holding you back, I encourage my clients take back the reigns of their lives.
Callings and Curiosity
Every day is a new opportunity to consciously create your life, and it is never too late to embrace what makes you happy. Just as an acorn longs to grow into a tree, we are all born with a code for our most fulfilling individuation. Each of us will find multiple callings throughout a lifetime, and the quickest way to find them is to follow your curiosity. If you track the activities that make you feel most alive, energetic, and joyful, you can't help but discover your callings.
When you are awake and receptive to the clues the universe is offering, you reclaim your childlike wonder and sense of possibility. Following these internal hunches not only leads to a happy life, but it also inspires others to discover what makes them light up. When you are living each day according to your heart's greatest desires, you resonate at a frequency that lifts others up and encourages them to do the same. We are all instruments in life's grand symphony, and each unique voice is needed to create perfect harmony.