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Being in therapy is vulnerable. Finally, you are fleshing out the parts of you that you didn’t want anyone else to see, and you feel exposed. You feel safer when you build walls when you don’t share parts of yourself or let anyone else in. Eventually, you are left feeling alone and stuck on the thought that no one truly understands you. Avoiding vulnerability is like avoiding doing your dishes–if you let it go for too long, it will pile up and become worse and worse to deal with.

Letting yourself be known is a beautiful thing! Don’t let your fear of yourself get in the way of you seeking help. Instead, let vulnerability and all that comes with it be your superpower. The positivity that comes from vulnerability can be like a group of superheroes that guide and watch over you.

Most of the negative feelings surrounding the idea of vulnerability that our minds create is the fear of what other people will think of you. This is a battle that can be fought by one of your superheroes, Fearless Man! Instead of letting fear disempower him, Fearless Man lets his fears empower him instead! You can be scared of emotional exposure without letting your scary thoughts stop you from taking action. Instead, let it invigorate you and help you grow.

Another superhero that can help you let vulnerability be your superpower is Inner Self Master. The Inner Self Master is one who has, (you guessed it!) mastered the inner self! They aren’t afraid to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. One of the wonderful things about therapy is that you learn to become more self-aware and in control of your darker inner self. The Inner Self Master knows that they aren’t a victim of their circumstances, and they also know that despite anything that’s broken them down in life, it is their responsibility to heal and build themselves back up.

The final superhero that you should embody to let vulnerability be your superpower is Mega-Poised. Mega-Poised is amazing because she knows who she is and isn’t ashamed of it. She is willing to accept both the light and dark within her, share her highest highs and lowest lows, and baring her flaws and weaknesses to the world so that they no longer have any power over her.

This is how you fight the heaviness that wants to overthrow you. The battle between you and your weaknesses can be won by you accepting that they are apart of you and embracing them so that they can no longer hurt you. This is what you should be trying to embody every day, even if your pains seem too heavy to face.

Embrace your vulnerability and set up a consultation with one of our lovely practitioners today. Contact us, and we will determine a great fit therapist for your specific needs.

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.

Let’s face it—we all may not have been the best listeners lately, especially when we are so consumed with what’s going on in our own world. This can stem from an inability to listen, or perhaps it alludes to something deeper–an unwillingness to listen.  Instead of listening, we are so stuck on what we think we know rather than what is being presented to us. We want to get our piece in, and we think we know what the other person is going to say before they even say it. This is not a good look! This leaves people feeling misunderstood and embarrassed for sharing parts of themselves, and it makes you look ignorant and arrogant. To prevent this, we have a list of ways you can be a better listener in 2020 before your shadow side comes in and does damage to your relationships.

• Connect to your breath. When you connect to your own breathing, you become more mindful and in touch with yourself. Through breathwork, you connect with yourself on a deeper level, find more clarity, and are then able to be fully present when listening to others. This will help you become free of your ego and your own personal agenda.

• Think about different perspectives. If your mind is on one track, that is a sign that you’re not being a very good listener. It is also self-absorbed to only validate your own point of view. A good way to combat this is to examine all sides of the coin, and fully empathize with the people around you. This helps you connect with the speaker on a deeper level, because you are seeing the circumstance from their point of view and understanding them in a way you would not be able to do had you only been open to your own perspective.

• Do your research. If someone is talking about a subject that you aren’t educated on, don’t speak on it before doing your own research. Spouting ignorance is not being a good listener, it is just talking to hear yourself speak. 

• Listen to learn. When you are engaging in a conversation, ask yourself What am I learning from this person? How did they feel about our conversation? What has this new perspective shown me?

• Don’t jump to conclusions. This means not being too quick to know everything. If you jump to conclusions, you aren’t fully listening, you are just projecting your own experiences onto the situation. Instead of doing this, take a step back and call upon your higher self to help you become curious rather than presumptuous. 

Becoming a better listener in this challenging time will improve your relationships with others immensely. We are social creatures who crave meaningful connections and the feeling of being understood by others. Do your part and create a world where we are more thoughtful, empathetic, and compassionate towards the people we interact with. 

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.

Have you been interested in starting art therapy, but feel reluctant because you don’t know what a session is like? It’s not as nerve-wracking as you think, and you don’t have to have any art experience prior to start art therapy, just a willingness to try and the knowledge that creativity and expression are your birthrights.

One of my favorite things about art therapy is that there are no rules, there are no restrictions; it’s all about what’s in your heart. Everything that you create is valid each and every time. If you still feel unsure, let’s put your mind at ease and walk you through what a usual art therapy experience looks like.

An art therapy session usually starts with you and your therapist talking about whatever is on your mind, or you might feel more inclined to get straight to making art and talking through it. It is a unique process and entirely up to how you are feeling that day. In most sessions with your therapist, there is a combination of talking and art-making. Some sessions, however, might involve more talking than art-making and vice versa.

Depending on your needs or preferences, you could choose to collage, paint, draw, or sculpt your feelings. You usually start with creating a visual image of your emotions, but you might find that you want to add movement, song, poetry, etc. to your image. The art that you create then becomes the object that your experiences are projected onto. What is happening internally is able to be materialized and looked at from a perspective outside of yourself. This gives expression to that which cannot be spoken.

Once you move through your emotions through the art-making process, you might then journal about the feelings that come up for you as you’re examining your art. Here you would ask, and listen to your image, rather than look or critique.

From there, you would give each element in your image a voice. Create an “I” statement for your image, beginning with “I am,” or another sentence beginning with “I” as you feel fit. At this point, you can also give your image a title if it feels necessary. This process can also be done out loud with your therapist, depending on your preference. You might feel more inclined to start sharing and talking about your art and the experiences associated with it right away.

Your therapist is there to help you and guide you, but you know yourself better than anyone else, and must follow what feels right for you. Art therapy gives you a safe space for absolute freedom and expression. Going through this process with a therapist is incredibly important because they can give you the insight and tools that you lack on your own. Without them, your thoughts and feelings are trapped in your head, sometimes with no rhyme or reason. They can rule your life if you aren’t paying attention.

Art therapy is a healthy way to release the bad feelings that accompany the shadow side and to find new and healthy ways to move forward. It is not always easy, but hope, persistence, and optimism will pull you through.

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.

Did you know that you have a unique purpose in this world? There is no one quite like you! Love is your birthright, and you deserve to experience it from within. Actively practicing self-love and compassion can be difficult most days, especially when our minds are weighed down by self-criticism and the desire to find wholeness in other people. Push past these limiting beliefs that you have imposed on yourself, and get in touch with the real you! If you have been wanting to start your self-love journey, but aren’t sure where to start, here are some ways to practice self-love:

Say affirmations aloud while looking at yourself in the mirror.

This will help you learn to accept yourself. An affirmation that you should be saying over and over to yourself every single day is “I love and accept myself.” This will help you reprogram your mind, which has been so used to associating negative thoughts with your appearance or personality. Having a negative self-image only makes your life harder! Replacing those pessimistic thoughts with positive affirmations will help you attract the love you want to receive. Looking at yourself in the mirror while doing this is useful because you can get a clearer picture of the resistance you may have and think critically about the ways you can combat this resistance.

Respect yourself.

Respecting yourself means setting enough boundaries so that other people don’t mess with you, but not so many that you are unable to be flexible or let anyone in. Finding balance with this can be tricky. Let the people around you know your limits and what you are and are not comfortable with. Enforcing boundaries can be difficult at first, especially if you don’t fully know yourself, what you want, or your worth. However, getting to know who you are and what you want is important if you want to be happily in love with yourself.

Mindfully eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Nourishing your body is a great way to show yourself love. Taking care of your basic needs can feel like a stretch when you’re going through a tough mental health spell, but it can make a huge difference. If it feels like a huge effort to feed yourself make that be the one thing you put effort into that day. You will find that just mindfully eating will make a huge difference in your state of mind. Without fuel, your body has nothing to go off of. Your body then responds by resorting to starvation mode, which activates your flight-or-fight response. Not eating anything gives you a poor foundation and makes it harder for you to process life. Process life with ease by practicing mindful eating. For more information, check out this video that goes more in-depth about eating mindfully!

Stop procrastinating.

Procrastination only hurts you in the long run, and not doing what needs to get done will make you judge yourself harshly, which leads to a spiral you may not be able to get out of. The repercussions of judgment are not pretty. Do not procrastinate what your future self will thank you for. There is a balance you must find between productivity and relaxation, and if you lean too far on either side, you may be harming your highest self. Treat yourself kindly and with care.

Meet your own needs.

You don’t need to isolate yourself or feel like you are alone in this world, but you do have to have the ability to meet your own needs. Looking for happiness in others is unreliable. Finding this happiness within yourself takes a lot of soul searching. This process involves being really honest with yourself and getting to know who you really are, on a much deeper level. Then, when you feel sad, lonely, or uncertain, you will be able to comfort and reassure yourself. Take responsibility for yourself rather than blaming others so you can find the solution within yourself instead of waiting on other people to fix you. Creating your own internal source of happiness will help you meet your own needs.

Do your inner work.

Don’t avoid yourself. Doing your inner work seems silly at first, especially if you don’t believe in yourself or value yourself enough to get better. Once you start doing the work, however, you start to see just how valuable you are and how important your purpose here is. Everyone has a purpose, and you can’t fulfill that purpose unless you explore both the light and the dark that lives inside you. You can journal, read articles and self-help books, listen to self-help podcasts, etc, but you may find there comes a point that you need extra assistance unraveling all that has made you the person you are. It helps to have a professional therapist guide you through it.

Our team of experienced arts-based therapists will guide you towards accessing your unique creative wisdom and unlocking your true potential. You can return to your birthright of imagination, strength, purpose, and meaningful connection. You can find inner stillness while actively responding to your daily responsibilities. Through our work together, you will discover that it is possible to embrace a fresh perspective and recharge your life and relationships.
We do this through processes aimed at integration – integration of your brain, body, self and relationships. Integration means living an undivided life, where profession and purpose are aligned. It also means paying attention to neglected parts of yourself which allows you to be a more authentic and effective leader. We draw from many schools of learning, including psychology, neuroscience, the creative and expressive arts therapies, and Eastern philosophies. We are expert guides, well-versed in the bumpy terrain of personal and professional expansion. We guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised with the process…and the results!

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.

Keeping up with writing in a gratitude journal is beneficial for your health. Our brain naturally holds on to negativity, but keeping a gratitude journal helps balance that negativity out. Writing out what you are grateful for rather than just thinking about it also has a greater emotional affect. Additionally, It gives your subconscious mind a chance to rewire toxic thinking patterns. By doing this, you will attract more positivity in your life and feel more secure and happy with what you have. It’s not about listing every major thing you are thankful for, but about appreciating the little things and falling in love with the world around you. Interested in starting a gratitude journal of your own? Here are some tips on how to get started:

1. Set aside a time each week for writing.

You must commit to writing in your gratitude journal in order to fully benefit from it. However, this does not mean you have to write in your journal every day. The purpose of keeping a gratitude journal is to really feel how thankful you are for the things in your life, and over-doing it by writing every day would turn it into another monotonous task that you become numb to.

2. Make a writing ritual. 

Creating a ritual for writing in your gratitude journal will make the experience that much more enjoyable for your mind, body, and spirit. Get into the right headspace before you sit down to write all the things you are thankful for. You can do this by lighting a candle or some incense, sitting down in a comfortable position and doing a short meditation to clear your mind, and saying a little prayer or whatever you feel comfortable with before getting started.

3. Go in-depth.

Instead of going through a list of things you know you should be thankful for, it is much more effective to sit down and go deeper with it. Be specific and dive in rather than making a long, superficial list of things you don’t actually connect with. It’s about quality over quantity.

4. Get personal.

It is much more impactful to think of people who you are deeply grateful for rather than the things you are grateful for. That’s not to say you can’t be incredibly thankful for the space you live in or the material things you’ve acquired in your life, but make sure you put a personalized, emotional twist to it. Focus on the “who” more than the “what” and you will find more success.

5. Be specific.

In my experience, being more specific with my gratitude journal is more effective. It’s not enough to just say “I’m thankful for my partner” but “I’m thankful for my partner because they go out of their way to make sure my needs are met.” In doing this, you will shine more light on the postive ways the people in your life impact you on a personal level.

Once you get into the right mindset and stick to a routine, writing in your gratitude journal will be second nature.

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

  Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people. 

Sometimes, it can be hard to remember the joyful parts of your life. You may feel lost, hopeless, or like you have no purpose. It is important to remember that these feelings are only temporary. You can invite joy back into your life if you consciously make that choice and stick to it. Here are five ways you can invite joy back into your life:

Have a self-care routine
Something that makes us feel better is having a solid routine that you stick by every day. This self-care routine should involve what you need to do for yourself and not necessarily what you want to do. Yes, having a self-care routine may involve doing a facemask, taking a bath, singing your favorite songs at the top of your lungs, but it also means doing the hard, inner work and creating a comfortable space for healing and growth. Self-care is about giving to yourself and making sure your own cup is full before you try to fill someone else’s.

Embrace your inner child.
Visualize your child self and connect with that version of yourself. We can get so caught up in the heaviness and seriousness of day to day life, that we forget to let go and be childlike. What are some things that you used to enjoy when you were a kid? What songs did you listen to? What shows and movies did you watch? What books did you read? Go back and revisit your child-like wonder!

Keep a gratitude journal.

Have a journal reserved for writing only the things you are thankful for. This will help you take stock of what you do have rather than spending time thinking about what your life is lacking. It can be something as small as “I am grateful I have a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head.” Or, you can get more personal and emphasize what people you are grateful for.

Take a daily walk
Taking a walk every day and being fully present on that walk is a wonderful way to feel more in touch with yourself and your surroundings. Being present outdoors will help you find joy because nature is a reminder of how beautiful the world around you is.

Get grounded
Oftentimes, we are so stuck in our head that we forget to ground ourselves. This causes us to overthink, which causes more pain in the long run. In order to get out of your head and into your body, you first take a deep breath and plant your feet firmly on the ground. Do this until you feel centered and one with your body.

I invite each of you to invite joy back into your life. Make it a point to find joy in each and every day, even if life feels bleak and hopeless. In doing this, you will notice the world around you change and start working with you rather than against you.

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.

Self-doubt is a troublesome voice that holds you back. It prevents you from going after your dreams and holds you back from reaching your true potential. Instead of listening to the anxious, worried voice that keeps us from progressing, we must learn to listen to our highest selves. Here are five steps you can take to stop doubting yourself:

Stop overthinking- When those judgemental thoughts start to bubble up to the surface, do not let them linger. They do not serve you. You must recognize that your brain does not hold space for judgemental, self-doubting thoughts. Instead of letting these thoughts get out of control to the point where it paralyzes you, stop them. Question where they are coming from, analyze that thought pattern, and learn to separate yourself from that pattern. Replace those judgemental thoughts with positive, nice thoughts. Let go of ‘should’ thinking, and replace your evaluations with neutral language, or with descriptions of what is. This helps you stick to the facts and not overthink the situation.

Trust your gut- Trust yourself and your innate wisdom and intuition. We all have access to this wisdom, but sometimes we don’t hear it. Sometimes we mistake those loud, anxious thoughts for our intuition. These thoughts, while at times may protect us, usually hold us back. Silence that loud, worried voice by taking a few deep breaths, closing your eyes, and visualizing your happy place. This will help you hear your intuition, which is the calmer and wiser voice deep within you.

Write down a list of your past accomplishments. Whenever I start doubting myself, it’s usually because I am insecure and have forgotten all the amazing things that I have accomplished in the past. Even if they are seemingly small, they are still an achievement worthy of celebration. If you are ever stuck in a rut, doubting yourself, or not thinking you are good enough to do what you want to do, try making a list of everything, big and small, that you have already accomplished. Bonus points if you remember things that you have achieved that you never thought you would. There are always going to be moments where we feel like we aren’t good enough to achieve something. The trick to pushing past it is stepping outside of your comfort zone and proving yourself wrong again and again.

Fake it until you make it. Instead of falling victim to the thought pattern that tells you that you aren’t good enough, act as if you are. Fake that confidence and self-assurance, and act as if you have what you want already. If you pretend you are successful, intelligent, and self-assured, eventually you will have no choice but to push past your self-doubt and become all of these things.

Start a self-love ritual. Incorporating time into your life to take care of yourself is the most important thing you can do for yourself. The more you focus on spending time loving yourself, the less you will doubt yourself. Take five to ten minutes before bed and dedicate that time to pampering yourself. Start by repeating this mantra from Louise Hay to yourself: “I love and approve of myself. I am safe in this world.” Telling yourself over and over again that you love and approve of yourself will reprogram your subconscious mind, which more than likely has been programmed to tell you that you are worthless and ugly. Replace those hateful thoughts with loving ones. Additionally, get in touch with your body and all the magical things it can do for you by doing five yoga poses a day. This will teach you how strong and amazing your body really is, and will make you realize how incredible it is to be just as you are, as cheesy as it may seem.

If you liked this article, check out our article from last week, Art Therapy Activities for September.

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.

We nourish our bodies with food and water. We can take care of our brain just the same with art therapy. Art therapy is a wonderful tool for those in recovery for PTSD, eating disorders, Alzheimer’s, depression, and anxiety, and is a great alternative for talk therapy. Here are five reasons why art therapy is good for your brain:

It helps you access your right brain.
When you attend talk therapy, talking adds to a separation between your feelings and thoughts. With art therapy, you can use art to move freely into the right brain. This eliminates the need to analyze your feelings and allows you to feel them more deeply. Being able to access the right brain and removing the need to define what you feel contributes to more self-awareness.

Art therapy stimulates the brain and brings back memories.
When making art, different memories are brought to the surface. For example, drawing a picture of your childhood home might bring up several different memories that occurred at that home, giving you access to childhood memories you never knew you had, or only had a vague idea of. Looking at pictures and artwork have the ability to take you back in time, and creating these images yourself is no different. In fact, drawing or painting it is even more powerful because they are your own memories and experiences flooding back into your consciousness.

Making art lowers stress.
Creating art lowers cortisol levels in the brain. It also puts your mind in a meditative state, allowing you to relax and find your flow. Once your mind has relaxed, you then have the ability to access, untangle, and even relieve the pain of a traumatic experience.

Art-making creates a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
Studies have shown that blood flow increases towards the reward centers when we are making art. When doing art therapeutically, you will find that you feel way more productive than usual because your brain is able to access different parts. Making art also helps flex the imagination muscle in your brain, allowing you to then imagine a newer, greater, and more hopeful future.

Creating art helps you be fully in the present moment.
Fully submerging yourself in your artwork stimulates a different part of your brain. Time starts to slip away, and the present is the only thing that matters as you pay attention to, for example, the way the paint smells, the sound of the palette knife scraping as you mix colors, and the way the paintbrush feels as you make a stroke. All those little details that go into making art force you to be mindful. With that, your brain is able to fully explore different thoughts and feelings in a non-threatening way and journey into the “unknown.”

Art therapy greatly contributes to your brain’s health. Having a creative outlet helps you tap into your thoughts, feelings, and emotions and really get a sense of who you are, what you want, and how your past impacts your present and future. The combination of making the art, feeling it and talking about it allows you to move past your hardships and go through life with more hope and certainty.

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.

Feeling alone and mentally stuck? We have put together a list of resources that have helped make us feel like better people this month. Hopefully, the wisdom shared with you here makes you feel like a better person, as well!

Give It A Rest with Danielle Bayard Jackson- As women, we benefit from connecting with other women on a deeper level and growing meaningful relationships. “Give it a rest” with Danielle Bayard Jackson, a friendship coach and expert who educates women about “tough-love-truth-telling” friendship. Danielle shows you how to have those hard conversations with your friends that bring you closer together. She also shows women how to deepen their friendships with one another by moving past their deep-rooted insecurities. Grab your copy of her book, Give It A Rest here and check out her podcast here.

Shortcuts to Zen with Jen- Many of us often feel we are too busy to practice mindfulness. Shortcuts to Zen with Jen solves that problem by giving you ways you can incorporate mindfulness in your every day busy lives. These five-minute videos cover various topics, like engaging the senses, mindful walking, and mindful conversing. They are a wonderful way to feel productive and connected with the self without feeling like you need to dedicate a large portion of your day to it. The result is more peace, more joy, more harmony. Try it and see! Jen would love to hear your feedback. Remember to subscribe to her on youtube so that you are notified whenever she puts out a new video.

Be Your Best Self with Jamie Molnar- Jamie’s “Be Your Best Self” podcast has been making us better people this month. This is a wonderfully beneficial health and wellness podcast focused on mind-body-spirit living for the modern woman. With a special guest featured on each episode, various topics are explored, such as toxic relationships, making peace with stress, overcoming diet culture, and more! This podcast series is a valuable source of information for anyone who is interested in bettering themselves and finding ways to cope and heal beyond the surface level. If you are feeling like you are stuck in a mental loop and need some insight, this podcast will help you in more ways than you could ask for. Our founder, Dayna Wood, is featured on this episode here. She talks about using creativity and expressive arts to heal your emotional wounds and access your subconscious world. Check it out!

We hope you will use these resources to better yourself this month!

*Sign Up for our free 9 Essential Ingredients To Court Your Creativity PDF. Learn nine crucial skills you can implement RIGHT NOW to increase your creativity by stepping back into your right brain! Click here to sign up.

Alli is our office manager and writer who is passionate about connecting people through words. Alli studied English at Arizona State University, just recently moved to St. Pete and is enjoying paradise. Her interests include painting, history, and learning about other people.