Beyond the Mirror: Working on the Inside
In this episode, the Stress Therapist explores the importance of focusing on our inner well-being as much as our outer appearance. The episode highlights how our egos often prioritize external traits, but true fulfillment and peace come from cultivating a healthy inner self. The discussion also touches on the benefits of practices like yoga and meditation in promoting both inner and outer wellness.
~Inner vs. Outer Work: The importance of balancing efforts to improve external appearance with nurturing your internal well-being.
~Ego and Judgment: Understanding how our egos influence our perceptions and how we can manage judgment to grow
~Mindfulness Practices: The power of meditation and yoga in enhancing emotional resilience, health, and overall happiness.
~Meditation Music byhttp://sonicyogi.com
http://sonicyogi.comhttp://sonicyogi.com
https://open.spotify.com/track/7lpLx4vtoQusvoqidRY6vN?si=0db8efd9082c40eb
https://open.spotify.com/track/0Qotx90teY3iZ00PgUCwty?si=44a1c18c52e24e1f
Listen to Sonic Yogi on:Â https://open.spotify.com/artist/2xJT8mRbrqa7rTY6d4y5Fq?si=q2YYpPSzQOmu4R8-W4jkpw
 https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sonic-yogi/722350162
https://amazon.com/music/player/artists/B00FQMVVIC/sonic-yogi?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_Y5q68A8LSQQGzl01PQC7Uaw6c
https://youtu.be/p2jtMEkdh6g?si=rVq-Q8o85mI75S4_
INTERESTING MENTIONS:
The personal anecdote about a high school experience and the realization about appearance versus essence
A powerful text from a listener showing the positive impact of meditation on their life.
https://www.heartwood-retreats.com : location for Cheri’s Georgia Mountain Retreatshttps://www.jekyllisland.com: Location for Cheri’s seaside retreat
The Host for this podcast:
Cheri Augustine Flake, LCSW The Stress Therapist and Author
Join Cheri Flake on her Next Meditation And Yoga Retreat!
https://thestresstherapist.com/retreats/
orÂ
https://thestresstherapist.com/beach-retreats/
Love the show? Please rate and review us!
Send some love bucks to the show:Paypal: cheri@thestresstherapist.comVenmo: @cheri-flakeThank you!
https://thestresstherapist.com/contact/ and be a part of the Stress Therapy Community!
Twitter: @stresstherapy Instagram: @thestresstherapist https://www.facebook.com/cheriaugustineflake https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheri-augustine-flake-719b044 https://thestresstherapist.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/thestresstherapistÂ
Join Cheri Flake on herhttps://thestresstherapist.com/retreats/Â Â https://thestresstherapist.com/retreats/ in the gorgeous Georgia Mountains and walk away with a new, solid daily meditation practice with benefits that last a lifetime!ORhttps://thestresstherapist.com/beach-retreats/ on Jekyll Island seaside right off the coast of Georgia.
Want Cheri Flake to be your therapist? If you live in Georgia gohttps://thestresstherapist.com/contact/ to schedule a free 15 minute consultation
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15903117.Cheri_Augustine_Flake
https://www.amazon.com/Honey-DONE-Productive-Household-Absolutely/dp/0997950919/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8: Honey Do To Honey DONE! A Simple System For A Productive And Happy Household With Absolutely No More Nagging!
A word from your host, Cheri Flake, LCSW: Feeling good after our Stress Therapy session? Awesome. Check out the show notes to connect with me, The Stress Therapist on social media or go tohttp://www.ilovetherapy.com/ to find out about meditation classes & meditation and yoga retreats.TRANSCRIPT:Stress Therapist: Hey, beautiful people, what’s up? I’m so happy to be with you. Today. We’re going to talk about what can we do to make ourselves well on the inside. Like, we do so many things to make sure that we’re looking good and that we’re feeling good on the outside.But what about the inside? Isn’t that the one that really counts? So relax and settle in and listen up, because your stress therapy session is about to begin right now.Hey, beautiful people. It’s time for some stress therapy. A podcast about how to meditate and get better at stress. For people living in the real world. Finally, a place to Park.My 25 plus years of experience of working as a psychotherapist in the mental health field. And now your host, me, the stress therapist, Sherry Flake.Hey, beautiful people, how are you? Today we’re going to talk a little bit about working on your outside versus working on your inside, which may actually be more important. But our ego is always tricking us into thinking that the outside side is more important or the most important thing when I’m not so sure that’s true.Right. I remember one time I was in high school, and I’ll never forget this. This guy, like, really put me in my place, man. I was pretty devastated. Here I am, you know, a thousand years later, talking about it, but I was coming into a classroom and the teacher said,how long does it take you to get ready for school?And I don’t remember what my answer was. An hour, 45 minutes, whatever. I was in high school. I had a lot of hair. A lot of hair. There was. There was a lot of hair involved.Okay, it was the 80s.I think I said like an hour or something. I don’t remember what I said. But he said,is that how long it takes you to get ready for school, or is that how long it takes you to look the way you want to look for school?What? Okay. Besides showing how very unsophisticated and naive I was when I was in high school, because this was such a poignant point for me, I never even remotely considered it.I think it’s something that we need to visit. I think we spend a lot of time working on our outsides. You know, we have to make sure that our hair is pink.And, you know, today I’m wearing my cheap chick T shirt. You know, let everybody know that I went to Cheap Trick and I love them, and I went to the concert.It was amazing. And what does that say about me? Right? That’s what our egos are so obsessed with, like,who am I? Like, am I a woman? Am I more feminine? Am I a mother, a daughter, a sister? You know, and I’m also like a mom and I’m a friend, and I’m also all these different roles, and we kind of tweak our personality as we sort of fit into our personal reality.And that’s how we shape our egos. That’s what our egos are. It’s who we are. And our ego is obsessed with how we’re being perceived by other people. And I was at this cocktail party once with my husband, and I arrived late.I met him there late, you know, with this other couple at this table. And I walked up and apologized for being late. And the woman of this couple said, don’t worry, because I don’t ever judge.I never judge people. And I was like, whatever. I’m judging you right now.That’s not. That’s not true. Because it’s not. I mean, come on. I mean, there’s a part of our brain that is reserved for judgment. It’s so we don’t do anything stupid.It’s so we don’t trust that person again. It’s so we don’t walk down an alley that looks like that again. If we were robbed the last time we went down, it.I mean, it’s for safety precautions, but. And yeah, the system doesn’t always work because you might not trust someone who looks like someone that you didn’t trust before, and they’re two different people and who cares?And it’s not the same thing or whatever, but we’re supposed to fit into a tribe of sorts. We’re supposed to want to be accepted by a group so we can fit in.Because I think our primitive minds kind of know that we. We just can’t do this all by ourselves. We need one another. And so that judgment is there. It’s just there.Now, I do think it’s lovely if you can, like Malcolm Gladwell, that. That **** out, you know, and like, notice when you’re judging and you can change it. Absolutely. I mean, awareness is key, however,to think that you’re never going to be judging or that’s a goal. I just don’t know how practical that is. I think instead, when you notice that your ego identity is judging something, that you jump in and that you’re able to notice that and change it, you know, just like anything else.But I was really judging her for that anyway. We’ve all been tricked by someone’s outsides anyway. They don’t really tell the whole story on the inside. I don’t know about you, but I keep falling for.My sister would never do this either. She is so intellectually savvy. As far as this goes, I have a friend who’s friends with my friends. I don’t know her that well, but every time I see her, because she is beautiful.She is like the quintessential, like, what an American woman is supposed to look like. And the skinny and the beautiful and the skin and the hair and all the things and the body and the clothes and the.Everything. I mean, she’s just, she’s drop dead gorgeous. There’s no doubt about it. It’s not even a judgment. Like, she really is beautiful. And so I always erroneously think she’s going to be nice to me.And she, she’s not. She’sÂ
