Transformational Coaching
Hope is such a pretty word isn’t it?
Or how about “I wish…”
But what’s missing when we say something such as, “I hope…?”
Watch this video to learn why HOPE isn’t such a pretty word when used in the wrong context:
If you loved this video, join me over on Facebook for even more content!
To the other side of your hope,
Susan
Oftentimes in our life we wonder what went wrong to be in a “barren” cycle of our life. But what if there was a gift through it all?
Watch this recent live as I share this one question you can ask yourself to begin creating more space in your life during this crucial season in your life.
In wellness,
Susan
Depending on how long you’ve been experiencing adrenal fatigue, you probably know by know that “adrenal fatigue” is a syndrome that is not recognized by conventional medicine, which means you’re working with a naturopatic doctor or other alternative health care practitioner at the time of this writing.
Well, it doesn’t stop there. There’s more research that indicates while the symptoms that collectively fall under “adrenal fatigue” are real, the treatment of our adrenals isn’t truly targeting the root cause.
What few are now starting to call this is HPA Axis Dysregulation. The HPA Axis is known to be the body’s central stress response system. And for some people, when our body, and it’s hormonal response, is no longer able to habituate to the chronic stressor, symptoms of “adrenal fatigue” begin to emerge until we treat the root cause
Essentially – cortisol disturbance.
So, is adrenal fatigue REAL? HELL YES.
Should it be CALLED adrenal fatigue? I’ll leave that to the medical experts.
What I do know is that the collective symptoms that are now under the naming convention – adrenal fatigue – is absolutely real and debilitating.
Thankfully, there IS a way to peace and finding joy while in recovery.
It wasn’t until I realized my thoughts were causing me more stress than what was actually happening in my life that I was able to regain control.
It’s a hard concept to grasp at first but when you do, you’ll begin to realize just how IN CONTROL you are of your life 100% of the time.
So, adrenal fatigue? It’s real – at least the collective symptoms of adrenal fatigue.
I hear you. I see you. I feel you.
How do I know? Because I was right there with you my friend.
Let me know how I can help.
In wellness,
Susan
Just remember, it’s not that stress, worry or fear is bad, it’s how you perceive these to affect your life that is causing suffering.
What is it trying to tell you and can you accept and acknowledge the purpose lovingly so that you can further disengage the suffering caused in your mind?
Every small discomfort and trigger is a gift from the Universe. It is Life trying to further evolve you and ready you for your next big adventure.
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Alexandre Chambon on Unsplash
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
~Oscar Wilde
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Anthony Ginsbrook on Unsplash
If we understood that there are peaks and there are valleys, and that life is never always perfect, then we can simply allow the “bad” things to play it’s course throughout our lives.
Oftentimes, we suffer through the “bad” times because we assume life shouldn’t be so hard or that our current unhappiness is wrong.
But really, life is 50/50. If we can accept the fact that there will be good days and there will be bad days, it lessens our grip on the control we think we have over outside circumstances.
Further, it allows us to grow the inner peace we always have control over no matter what is going on outside of us.
Life is 50/50. How will you handle the 50 that makes you uncomfortable?
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Kees Streefkerk on Unsplash
With adrenal fatigue I mentioned that true, rapid healing came with letting go; with accepting the situation and beginning to notice all the joy that was present in my life. Another way to put it, to surrender to life and say aloud, “You know what? I don’t even care anymore. I’m going to live life with this and make the most of it anyway.”
Ironically, the moment I did that I started to heal. Or maybe… I began to see my life the way it already was – full of magic.
Recently I became reacquainted of this very principle and realized, whether it’s adrenal fatigue or any other situation that is causing immense discomfort in your life, this very act of surrendering is the very key to introducing rapid healing into your life.
No matter what you are going through, for one second, one breath, remember there are other things happening aside from whatever it is you spend 90% of your day thinking about and wishing could be different.
In that one breath you begin to notice the stillness. The joy. The little moments. The birds. The trees swaying with the rhythm of the wind. You begin to notice life is much MORE than that one thing we so wish to change. And that life was always filled with this magic – we were just too busy with our discomfort to notice.
When we take that moment and begin to notice life outside of the discomfort, we begin to allow for space. This space will prove to be your best friend because you realize the more you give into this space, the more freedom you have from the stickiness of just how real that discomfort it.
Now what I just implied can be interpreted as, “the discomfort isn’t real”, but what I’m trying to say is oftentimes, it is our thought or relationship to the discomfort that is causing the MOST pain.
Funny how our brains operate isn’t it? This is why I believe mindfulness and coaching is so important. Sanity is everything!
So, what does that one breath represent to you? What do you notice when you step back and notice the little things?
Here’s to more space and a better relationship with our discomfort.
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash
Oftentimes our immediate reaction to something uncomfortable is to get as far as away as we can. However, what we don’t realize is what we avoid doesn’t dissolve, it stays exactly where it is until we come across it again or rather, it appears in a different shape or form so that we may learn the lesson.
What if instead we approached the discomfort with a knowing instead? Perhaps we may not know the answer or the why in the beginning, but what if we approached our deeper self with a wink and an, “ah- this is supposed to happen isn’t it?“.
What if there was an reason for what is happening? Whether it’s the current astrological conditions or physiological patterns of your body (i.e., hormones anyone?) there could be a billion reasons as to why you are feeling the way you’re feeling! And the conclusion shouldn’t be, “what’s wrong with me?!”.
Hindsight is everything and if you’re anything like me, you’ll quickly realize there was a reason for every little thing you may have questioned.
So why not greet the discomfort with a thank you from your future self?
Here’s to trusting the flow and giving our best to each and every moment.
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Lisa Verena Pape on Unsplash
Joyful
Let a joyful noise
Fill this place
Let love rain down
And cover us with grace
Let the light come down
Let us sing and dance
Sing in praise
Sing out loud
Sing for our souls
Dance in the street
Cause we need to let
A little joy rain down
Let it rain over the world
Until we can’t stop dancing
Until we can’t stop singing
Until we can’t stop rejoicing
Allow a little joy into your heart
You will be surprised how far it just might go~Ahmad Cox
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash
I’ve debated for as long as my writings have submerged whether or not I wanted to divulge this part of my life. Not because it’s personal, but because the “cure” didn’t come in the form of a person or special herbal supplement. The cure was actually something so simple yet required a miracle mindset to achieve.
Let me start from the beginning.
For as long as I could remember I had debilitating PMS symptoms. From intense cravings, bloating up to 5-7 pounds in water weight, irritability, intense emotions, and this was the clincher for me – depression.
Like clockwork every 2 weeks I would dread the 14 day mark where these symptoms would arrive and drive me crazy until the 3rd day into my menstrual cycle. I began tracking every period so that I can brace myself and prepare for the 2 weeks out of every month (that’s 6 months of the year by the way) where I would need to mentally strap myself in for the ride.
Researching cures was a part time job. During every break and bedtime reading it was reading the latest scientific research on which herbal supplement, exercise, hormone treatment might possibly be the cure for me. I was searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… and the Unicorn.
Birth control pills were out of the question. I tried it once and cried for no reason in public and it wasn’t until my mother asked if I made any changes to my supplement regimen that I realized it was the pill that wasn’t working for me.
What truly helped was getting in tune with my body. The first time I ever realized this was when I went gluten free after having done an elimination diet when I first started Crossfit. Going gluten free was a game changer. No longer did I have the debilitating cramps that kept me popping ibuprofen and staying in bed! However, this was short lived as I still encountered many of the other symptoms that equally drove me crazy.
Fast forward several years I remember being curled up in a ball and fervently praying to God, the Universe, anyone that would listen. I prayed that I be at peace… for my mind was driving me insane.
Just thinking about the next 14 days was driving me crazy. You see, I was perpetually in a state of being a slave to the thought. A puppet to the PMS gods.
I prayed out of desperation because none of my strategies were working and I didn’t have any more cards up my sleeve to even consider.
I prayed to see things differently. Ultimately, I just prayed for peace. I remember distinctly saying, “I don’t even care if I continue on with these symptoms, I just need the peace.”
In complete and utter surrender I fell asleep and the next morning I decided to walk 4 miles to city center instead of taking the bus. In that moment I realized I was in a different state. I remember to this day that if even an inkling of a PMS related thought (or any negative thought for that matter) crossed my mind I just decided, “Nope, not going to think about that right now.” and I moved on.
And fast forward another few years later – still NO PMS SYMPTOMS. None, nada, zilch, nothing.
I remember in all my 20s saying to God, “If you cure me of this I swear I’ll write a blog post about what happened.”. So here I am fulfilling my promise.
And I can almost hear the disappointment because I of all people very well know by no means is this a sexy cure all. I know first hand how desperately satisfying and exciting it is to have someone say, “I tried X product with X person and my disease is completely gone! I am loving life now!”.
But I need to be completely honest of my own experience – it was what worked for me.
If someone would have told me this story in my early 20s I would have rolled my eyes and said, “Yea, lucky you but that isn’t going to work for me.”.
You see, we are playing a movie in our minds eye all the time and what we see is a mere reflection of what we think. We can be at peace right away, symptoms or not, because it isn’t the PMS that is causing us our suffering it is our thought about it.
I just simply changed my thought.
We have become so accustomed to believing our thought is fact when really it’s just a thought. It takes a mental meta-model to truly see the nuances but it can be done. Why do you think mindfulness has made it so big? It’s achieving the same goal of separating thought from fact.
And I get it. It’s not the sexiest cure; but I also understand it’s individual timing. It’s trusting the journey in where you are. It’s the willingness to see things differently and sometimes that willingness only appears when you are so desperate.
Truly this was the moment where I experienced a miracle. I mean, if someone told me I wouldn’t have anymore PMS symptoms the next day I don’t know if I would have believed it.
Again, this was the moment I realized just how powerful our brains truly are.
Were the symptoms real? Of course. But it makes me question (and thus launched me deep into the research of the brain) and why I became an Integrative Life Coach, just how much of the symptoms were caused by the power of my own thoughts vs. my body?
I’ll say it again, through years of my own research I have come to learn that thoughts cause emotions, not the other way around. HOW we look at life, our very own perspective and belief systems, are the very basis of how we will experience life!
This is the true work of personal power. Understanding our very own foundation allows us to become the strong pillars we so desperately seek in our lives.
So whether it is PMS or some other patterned thought/behavior – just recognize that there is possibility in making your experience of the situation completely different.
On that note, I bow deeply to anyone reading this post going through PMS or any other similar situation… your strength, courage, and determination does not go unnoticed.
In deep wellness,
Susan
Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash