About
Let’s face it; we are not supposed to go it alone!
We are wired for relationship.
We want to belong.
We need each other.
We long to be glad to be together.
We desire to live in JOY.
“Joy is relational; it cannot be experienced alone.” - Jim Wilder
If we were born into families where we did not feel seen, safe, and secure, then we were raised in a “low-joy” environment and most likely failed to learn the skills necessary to engage in joyful connection with those we love.
Some of us learned defense mechanisms in order to survive.
We learned to hide our true selves.
We learned how to be invisible.
We lost our voices.
We survived but failed to thrive.
Surviving requires a strong set of defense mechanisms.
Thriving necessitates a solid set of relational brain skills.
Training your brain in these missing skills will enhance your well-being and enable you to experience healthy connection and closeness to others.
Just like hiking a mountain can be glorious and grueling, engaging in the therapeutic process can be sacred and sucky! What we know about climbing mountains is that we are surrounded by nature and beauty, but oftentimes the climbing involves pain—we may be required to push ourselves beyond what we believe we are capable of.
The therapy process is similar. What we know about therapy is that we are delving into the sacred beauty of unveiling all that has kept us from knowing our true hearts. Anytime we focus on our need for well-being, especially mental health, we are engaging in a very sacred process. We are saying, “I’m important enough to this work. I’m important enough to know myself deeply and explore all that has prevented me from becoming the person I was created to be.”
At the same time, we are saying, “I’m willing to do the sucky work that’s necessary to honor my TRUE and sacred self.”
In our everyday lives, we get caught up in fear-based relationships and anxiety-driven organizations—situations where we can easily lose sight of our well-being and forget who we are! Our bodies begin to send us clues that we are anxious, that we are stressed out, that we are overwhelmed. We become so accustomed to dismissing our body’s signals that we forget it’s important to acknowledge just how sacred our lives are. We forget that we are worth the time and energy to cultivate self-love and practice self-care.
The ultimate reward is in knowing that with some help, we can push through the sucky part of the process in order to live in the holy, sacred place of who we were created to be!
