Seattle Wellness Coach Archives

Never Doubt The Human Experience

A month or two ago I had a dream.

And while I don’t remember the dream itself the message was loud and clear.

“Never doubt the human experience”

When we are in the thick of things we want to resist what we are experiencing, but how can we argue against reality?

Once we accept and acknowledge that our experience is all we have in our life we can then lean into the parts of our experience that is trying to tell us something.

What is there to learn?

What is my life trying to tell me?

How can I transform this into something good?

So…

No matter what you are going through,

Never doubt the human experience. YOUR human experience.

Lean in. Trust. Have faith.

The answer lies within.

Always.

In wellness,

Susan

Seattle Burnout and Adrenal Fatigue Coach

Hot Letters: Getting Your Anger Out The Safe Way

Ever sent an angry text or email to someone and instantly regretted it? Or maybe the regret wasn’t instant but you still felt crummy?

Chances are you said a few things that might not have been stated so eloquently let alone matter to you 3 months from now.

Why in the world do we do that?!

Anger is one of those emotions that does not serve. It’s an emotion that needs to be processed with love so that you can begin to see clearly again.

Once you’ve gained conscious awareness that you are in an angry state, I like to recommend the process of Abraham Lincoln called Hot Letters.

Good ol’ Abe Lincoln wrote letters to whom he was angry at and wrote until he had nothing else left to say. He would then keep these letters in a safe place. Yes, that’s right, he never sent them.

Because here’s the thing, when in history did anger ever lead us to peace?

The next time you feel angry write it all out. Address the person, thing, or event; call names; say whatever you need to say and let it all out until you start to repeat yourself.

And trust me. Don’t send it. Your future self will thank you.

And then, instead of keeping it in a safe place why not burn it or rip it up into tiny pieces?

The very act of physically watching your thoughts get thrown away actually helps to release your thoughts from your brain.

Anger happens. It’s a human emotion. But don’t let it get the best of you.

Love yourself a little more during this time…

Stay calm and write the letters.

In wellness,

Susan

Learn The Biggest Mistake You Make When Trying To Get Rid Of Stress!

Before I start going into the biggest mistake we make when trying to get rid of stress, I wanted to take a moment and make one thing clear: stress is a part of life; some stress is even healthy for you.

But so often what happens is that we make stress mean something other than it is.

You see, as humans we have been given the power of free will. The power to choose our thoughts. And we get to choose between positive, negative, and neutral. So when things happen in our life we choose to make things much more stressful than they actually are.

For most, this is a hard concept to grasp because what we think we are reacting to is just the fact of life, but what we are ACTUALLY responding to is a thought about what is happening.

(I know, this stuff can get confusing but I promise it’s simple)

Here’s the biggest mistake we make when it comes to getting rid of stress.

The very act of getting rid of it is the mistake. By getting rid of it you are creating resistance and giving stress more power. By thinking there is a need to “get rid of it” you are presupposing there is something wrong to begin with.

What if peace comes first after you acknowledge you are at peace with the situation?

What if, by recognizing things are just happening because they are happening you stop resisting the moment?

What if, by allowing yourself in a non-judgmental way to feel whatever it is you are feeling, you are actually speeding up the process toward peace?

You see, stress is ultimately what we make it. When we are stressed, it allows us the opportunity to inquire within and ask, what is actually stressful here? Because when we really dig deep and ask ourselves, “so what?”, we will often find there is fear to be found and THAT is the real work we must tend to.

So the next time you feel stress creeping up around the corner, ask yourself, “so what?” and see what unfolds for you.

In wellness,

Susan

Why Mindset Is The Key To Feeling Better With Adrenal Fatigue

In my practice I particularly enjoy working with clients who are experiencing adrenal fatigue or other auto-immune related illness. Why? Because I’ve been there myself. I understand what it took to full recovery and wish I knew the tools and thought management techniques I know now. Regardless, I am incredibly thankful to share what I know today.

What I notice happening a lot with people experiencing adrenal fatigue (or other related illness) is a three part phase:

Despair/Breakdown
Determination/Identify Protocol
Maintenance or Plateau

The first phase is clear for anyone who suddenly understands the depth of their situation. It’s a time where you begin to question everything in your life and analyze what lifestyle patterns may have caused adrenal fatigue in the first place. Bottom line: give yourself a good cry. Don’t judge yourself for why you got here or panic about how you can change things. Let it be and give yourself compassion.

The second phase is a re-birth of sorts. You begin to track down some of the best doctors who can help you identify a path to recovery. It’s a time to learn more healthy lifestyle habits to incorporate and if there’s one piece of advice I give to anyone going through this now it’s this: don’t get overwhelmed about the plethora of information out there, this is the opposite of recovery. Trust the information will flow to you; trust the timing and don’t rush it.

The third phase is what I wanted to emphasize in today’s blog post. You see, how you manage your brain will be the KEY to whether or not you can mindfully continue through to maintenance phase or it will be the point it which you plateau completely or retreat back to phase one.

You have to understand that one of the biggest root causes for adrenal fatigue is stress, and stress can only come from one place – our minds.

If we can’t manage our minds to begin with, we will have a much longer time recovering from adrenal fatigue. This is why understanding how your brain works and whether or not it is serving you will be key to achieving peace.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to understand whether or not you need to evaluate your current thought process:

Do you often feel rushed, anxious, angry, or worried throughout the day?
Is there a set of thoughts and/or problem you repeat over and over again in a given day?
Do you feel overwhelmed by a thought and/or problem to the point where it starts to cause physical stress?
No matter how much you apply will power, do you find yourself using food, drinking, working out, or the internet to avoid/buffer in order to feel better?

If you answered yes to any of the above, chances are you would benefit from understanding why your brain works the way that it does, and how making tweaks to your own internal process can help provide more peace, joy, and personal power into your life.

You see in a nutshell, when you understand your brain and why you have certain thoughts you start to uncover limiting beliefs, habituated thought and behavioral patterns. With this recognition you can now do the work to understand your individual mental model that has been driving your actions until now.

After all, if you’re doing all the work to live a healthier, more mindful lifestyle why not work on the one thing that can help you manage stress to begin with?

Because the good news is it’s completely possible to optimize your very own internal world and THAT, is priceless.

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

The One Thing You Can Do To Make Your Wildest Dreams Come True

“It’s wild. It’s crazy. That can’t be…”

And yet you’re curious. “Can it be? Is it really that simple?”

That was my process years ago when I started to write out my wildest dreams. Yes, I wrote it out.

And I didn’t just write simple one sentence statements. No, I wrote out pages worth of what it would feel like, what it would look like, what the air would feel like on my skin, what my eyes would see as if I were living that moment I wanted. I wrote out every single thing I wanted to feel, hear, and sense in every way.

So guess what happened? Things started shifting.

I started to believe, and in that belief I started to act.

Remember, what you THINK you feel, and what you FEEL leads to inspired action.

I slowly started to see things come to life. I started to sense, “this is starting to happen.”.

And it’s not to say things will happen exactly the way you wrote it, but it can be even better than your wildest dreams.

So what is your wildest dreams? Have you given yourself time lately to really dream? If constraints flew out the window, what would you REALLY want for yourself?

I know there will be objections. The scoffs, the excuses of, “but I don’t have time to dream.”

But why not give it a shot? If all it takes is 30 minutes of your life to write out your wildest dreams, why not see if it will really happen? Aren’t you the least bit curious?

Put your powerful, creative brain to work and see just what happens once you plant the seed.

In magical wellness,

Susan

Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash

Is Adrenal Fatigue REAL?

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.

This is what I tell my clients (adrenal fatigue or not) all day long. You need to pull out the ROOTS (your mis-managed thoughts) in order to FEEL BETTER. Because our thoughts create our feelings, never what’s happening.

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

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Revisiting Adrenal Fatigue

If you’re new to the blog, welcome! This is a space where I freely share articles, tips, and words of inspiration related to up-leveling our lives from stuck patterns and old behaviors that don’t necessarily serve us anymore. As an Integrative Life Coach I use mental meta-models to change habituated patterns that no longer serve. In today’s blog post, we re-visit a debilitating illness that is a growing issue among many stressed out individuals – adrenal fatigue. As someone who’s experienced deep adrenal fatigue here are my best tips for a healthy recovery.

What is Adrenal Fatigue and Tips to Manage It

Do you ever find yourself so exhausted you are unable to follow through on your daily activities with the same energy you used to have? Or perhaps you find yourself feeling blue, anxious, and unable to sleep for long periods of time. Maybe you’re reaching for another cup of coffee when really, historically you only needed one? And worse yet, you notice yourself gaining a bit of weight but sugary sweets or salty foods are the only thing that give you a boost?

Depending on the prolonged presence of these symptoms in your life, they could be early warning signs of adrenal fatigue. (Note: while there can be many other auto-immune illnesses that can cause these symptoms please follow up with your primary doctor if symptoms persist to identify the root cause and a path to recovery)

In a nutshell, adrenal fatigue, or what few are now starting to call HPA Axis Dysregulation, is the inability to adapt to the chronic stressor appropriately, which then has a cascading effect of dysregulating other hormones in the body such as DHEA (a parent hormone). Adrenal fatigue can either make you extremely lethargic due to low energy or extremely “wired but tired”. Other symptoms include:

Weight gain or loss
Depression
Anxiety
PTSD symptoms
Insomnia
Brain fog
Inability to find words quickly
Hypoglycemia
Hair loss
Digestion issues
And more.

So what does cause this hormonal dysregulation? One word: STRESS.

Believe it or not, the body doesn’t know the difference between emotional, mental, or physical stress. Dutifully, the body receives a signal and starts to produce cortisol under any circumstance that requires it. Got a work deadline? Produce cortisol. Working out too much and not fueling properly? Produce cortisol. Going through a major life transition? Produce cortisol. Traveling too much and not giving your body enough rest? Produce cortisol.

What can worsen adrenal fatigue is, depending on how many stressors and how long major stress has been prevalent in your life, in order to produce the necessary hormones to actually DO the job, your brilliant body will often take from other hormones such as DHEA, pregnenalone, testosterone, etc. in order to survive, often leaving you imbalanced even further.

It’s no wonder our bodies are so tired. It can’t seem to keep up! What’s likely made it even worse in this day and age is how we are continuously bombarded by a never ending barrage of notifications from our phones. We are on constant alert.

Which is why we must take care of our body, mind, and heart all the more. If you’ve noticed yourself feeling any of the above symptoms for a prolonged period of time, adrenal fatigue or not, here are some all-around key tips in preventing and/or managing YOUR health and body.

Find good practitioners who can champion for your health
- Depending on the area of focus you need in your life, it’s always a great idea to be surrounded by a holistic set of practitioners in various fields who can help manage your recovery. Whether it’s:
  - Naturopathic care
  - Nutritionist
  - Acupuncture
  - Body work
  - Therapist/Coach

Get deep
- Find ways to get deep. This can be any way in which you find time for yourself and have time for introspection. Most of our day is spent planning mode, preventing mode, or taking care of others. Spending some time to take care of your physical and mental health is the best investment you can make. Here are some ways you can start making an investment:
  - Yoga – Most of you reading this blog post understand very well how yoga’s ancient practice and philosophy help to calm the central nervous system by way of asana, discipline of the mind, and meditation to name a few.
  - Meditation – Taking time to notice without judgement the thought, patterns of thought, and the voices in our head is a great way to better understand how your inner world operates. Meditation provides a way to understand and transform our mind.
  - Read good books – There’s nothing better than winding down from a hard day’s work to a good book that instills deep wisdom and truths. Not only do you benefit from the golden nuggets within each page, you give your body and mind a way to relax the central nervous system and prime yourself for bed.

Tone down technology
- Circadian rythm – Learning to rise and set with the true nature of your own body’s rythm is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Our bodies are hard wired to be in tune with mother nature. What does that mean? That means when the sun rises so should we, and when the sun sets so should we. But how does this work when our bodies aren’t able to due to cortisol disregulation? One day at a time… each morning when you wake up step outside your house or open a window and allow your skin to soak up the sun’s rays for at least 5-10 minutes. This will help your body to become more in sync with the natural rythms of nature. And with that said…
- Dim the lights – When it comes to winding down at night try not to have all your electronics on in the evening. Rather, turn everything off and light a candle or turn on a small lamp. Again, this will help send a signal to your body that it’s time to wind down.
- Get off the socials – Ever had that moment in the car where you were cruising along the highway and suddenly the person next to you turns off the radio and it’s eerily quiet? And the funny thing is you never realized the radio was on in the first place? That’s how it feels when you go on a social media fast. Suddenly you realize just how much space you have to just be. Take a time out an hour before bed and give yourself the gift of spending time with your own mind.
- Put your phone on airplane mode – You know that saying, “nothing good ever happens after midnight?” Well, let’s adjust that to 9pm. Each night at around 9pm put your phone on airplane mode. This will help ease the anxiety of constantly looking out for notifications and will allow you to truly focus on any night time rituals you might have such as meditation, taking a bath, or reading.
Have fun!
- Spend time in nature – As humans on this earth we are primal beings and nothing can bring us quite to our senses the way nature can. Get out to a park, touch a tree, say hello to the flowers, and don’t be afraid of the bees! Feel the earth energy and if possible, put your bare feet in the rich soil of this earth. There is a deep exchange of energy here that is incredibly healing.
- Connect with your family and friends – Having adrenal fatigue was brought to you by stress and unfortunately trying to recover can be stressful in itself which actually won’t help you to recover – go figure. Instead, focus on your family and friends. Take advantage of this slowness and build deeper relationships with those around you. Get in tune with building a deep and rich community around you. Sometimes, taking the focus off of you and pouring the love into others can be the perfect remedy.
- Let go of the fact that you are “recovering” – Often times our best intention to speed up recovery can be a stressor in itself, and when we focus on “recovery” we end up reinforcing a belief that we’re not OK as is. Acknowledge and accept, apply compassion, and be kind to yourself.
- Deploy gratitude and kindess – While being in any hard situation isn’t easy, we always have gratitude to turn toward. Focus on turning your energy toward everything that is going right for you in this moment. Shower someone with gratitude, buy the person behind you coffee, find a meaningful place to volunteer, or simply give someone a compliment and watch them smile! You have many gifts and ways to make an impact in the world – deploy gratitude and kindess.
Manage your thoughts
- Once you have the basics down and have a pretty good handle on your new routine, now is a great time to move toward one of the biggest root causes of adrenal fatigue – thoughts.
- Why is it that one person can excited about public speaking while another gets incredibly anxious? After all, it’s the same adrenaline pumping through our body, right? Well, it all comes down to the thought; two different thoughts causing two different experiences. Go figure!
- How we think about something (or someone) and how we choose to give meaning to a thought is everything.
- We grow up with certain beliefs that drive our everyday actions, but what is a belief? A belief is just a thought we repeat over and over again until we believe it.
- What beliefs do you have that have brought you to where you are today?
- Doing the thought work to truly understand the driver behind your actions, goals, or even inaction is the best gift you can give yourself. Because once you understand what core beliefs (or limiting beliefs) are, you get to decide whether or not it’s working for YOU.
- Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help get started:
  - What goals do I have but can’t seem to make any progress on? Why?
  - What are some thoughts I have but don’t necessarily like? Why do I choose to believe them?
  - What beliefs help to center me? Motivate me? Give truth to me?

And there you have it. If you made it this far, congratulations! You now have a few more tips to help optimize your mind and body. Adrenal fatigue, general fatigue, illness… whatever the case may be, know that you are more than the circumstance – always.

In wellness,

Susan

Please note, this blog post is meant to be for informational purposes only. The evolving nature of science and medicine point to the over treatment of the adrenals itself and not the cause of the “fight or flight” activities that result in overstimulation in the first place. Finding a good practitioner who can champion for your mental & physical health will be a key contributor in your recovery.

Susan is a Life Coach based in Seattle, WA. Her main focus is to coach people build a strong emotional container so that we can experience the fullness of life coming from a place of deep confidence. Susan also coaches clients looking to heal adrenal fatigue by using a mental meta-model aimed at breaking down old mental patterns and behaviors so that we can finally tap into our own personal power.

Photo by elizabeth lies on Unsplash

Change Starts With You

No matter how much knowledge we have accumulated there will never be a “right” time than now. Start stepping toward your dream life now.

Do the change. No one else will do it for you.

Because who better to do it than you?

In wellness,

Susan

Perceptual Intelligence

“Why bother keeping that potentially incorrect perception of the event when you can make something good come of it?”

~Brian Boxer Wachler, MD

Most of what I do is to build better Thought Management for clients so that they can begin to see their realities are nothing but what they perceive them to be. And THAT is power; to know that YOU are the one in control and not any one or any thing else.

Let me put this into context for you.

If you went on a 5 day trek in the jungle and had to drink water out of a small, dirty tank, and ration your water “just in case”, how might you perceive water when you return to your home where fresh, clean water is available 24/7?

Here’s one that you’ll get right away, how is it that when you don’t think you can do anymore of your workout, when the right song or when someone cute passes by you suddenly have a bolt of energy?

You decided to change your perception. And guess what? YOU ARE THE PERCEIVER which means you are the DIRECTOR of your own thoughts!

Doesn’t that offer so much power to you right away? To know it is your right to think whatever you wish and that the feelings and actions that follow are a direct result of what you think?

I get a spark of inspiration every time I realize this truth because it shows me just how in control I am of everything that happens.

Think of something you’re unsatisfied with and take yourself to the thought that preceded the feeling. What did you say to yourself that made you upset, anxious, or worried? What better thought or question can you ask yourself to get you a better feeling?

The power is in your hands always. Don’t let it go to waste.

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Friday Focus – 6/22/18 {The One Word That Indicates You Have A Limiting Belief}

We’ve all been there before, limiting beliefs and all, because we’re only human, right? But you know what? Whether we like it or not, it’s in our evolution to break free from old patterns and continue to grow – it’s how we’re wired.

I get it, oftentimes it can be hard to separate truth from illusion. Sometimes we’re so deep in the thick of things it REALLY DOES seems as if we’re incapable of going after what we want.

I’m here to tell you it IS possible, but first, we need to identify when those limiting beliefs start to creep into our thoughts and penetrate our lives.

A very effective and easy way to identify a limiting belief is by catching one word:

BUT

Yeah…BUT

Do you already see the ways in which the words that follow “but” can seem so true, yet doesn’t serve you? Here are a few examples:

…but I’m just not wired that way
…but s/he was born with those gifts, I wasn’t
…yeah, but it won’t work for me
…but my body type won’t let me lose these last 5 pounds
…but I’m too old to start something new

Honestly, the list can go on and on!

The good news is you have a mindful way of catching yourself, and as you do, make sure you aren’t judging the thought or yourself. The point isn’t to replace the “but” thought with another negative, judgmental thought!

Words are strong, watch what you say in passing.

Now is the time more than ever to deeply inquire with curiosity and compassion at what the root of your limiting belief is. Notice how your limiting beliefs hold you back from what you truly want out of life.

Remember, thoughts create action but if you have a limiting thought you can’t rely on a miracle to get you what you truly desire.

If it’s too hard to go the 180 from a limiting belief to a positive belief, try going to a neutral belief.

For example, if your limiting belief is, “I can’t stand my body”, and your positive belief statement is, “I love my body”, but you don’t find yourself completely believing it, try focusing on, “I have a body”.

The more you practice the neutral, bridging the thought the more you create capacity in your brain for better, positive thoughts that actually get you the results you want.

We all have limiting beliefs but they are truly a gift in disguise, because they point us toward what we really want.

In wellness,

Susan

“Never doubt the human experience”

The very act of getting rid of it is the mistake. By getting rid of it you are creating resistance and giving stress more power. By thinking there is a need to “get rid of it” you are presupposing there is something wrong to begin with.

You have to understand that one of the biggest root causes for adrenal fatigue is stress, and stress can only come from one place – our minds.

This is what I tell my clients (adrenal fatigue or not) all day long. You need to pull out the ROOTS (your mis-managed thoughts) in order to FEEL BETTER. Because our thoughts create our feelings, never what’s happening.

Never miss an announcement!

So what does cause this hormonal dysregulation? One word: STRESS.

Never miss an announcement!

Never miss an announcement!

You decided to change your perception. And guess what? YOU ARE THE PERCEIVER which means you are the DIRECTOR of your own thoughts!

Never miss an announcement!

If it’s too hard to go the 180 from a limiting belief to a positive belief, try going to a neutral belief.

Never Miss an Announcement!