You Might Not Know This About Yourself…But Your Therapist Does!

I’m BAAAAAAACCCK! Yay! And, it’s Season 6! This season, I am going to be letting the cat out of the bag, baby! Every week we will be going over one truth, one idea, one skill, one thing that this psychotherapist wishes everyone knew. Today, it’s all about that thing that you secretly (or openly) think is wrong with you and it might surely surprise you. Then, we will meditate with our third eye, throat and heart chakras to clear out all of the false stuff and thoughts that don’t serve us. It’s going to be a great season and I missed y’all so much!

In this episode we will learn:
~The number one thing I want you to know and live each day from now on and FOREVER
~How to live from a place of will and love rather than shame and fixing.
~Visual third eye, throat and heart chakra meditation

Love the show? Please review and rate Stress Therapy here: https://lovethepodcast.com/StressTherapy

Quotes: “Life is a journey to become who we already are…The way that we grow and change and become the holy and divine creation and creator that we already are is by overcoming obstacles…no one ever says, “oh that was so easy and I am forever changed by it.”
-Cheri Augustine Flake, LCSW

Interesting mentions: Shrinking: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15677150/

The Host for this podcast: Cheri Augustine Flake, LCSW
The Stress Therapist and Author
Twitter: @stresstherapy
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Website: https://thestresstherapist.com/
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Stay in touch with Cheri: https://thestresstherapist.com/contact/

Join Cheri Flake on her next retreat!
https://thestresstherapist.com/retreats/
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Want Cheri Flake to be your therapist? If you live in Georgia go here: https://thestresstherapist.com/contact/ to schedule a free 15 minute consultation

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Buy Cheri’s book: Honey Do To Honey DONE! A Simple System For A Productive And Happy Household With Absolutely No More Nagging! https://www.amazon.com/Honey-DONE-Productive-Household-Absolutely/dp/0997950919/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

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 to www.iLoveTherapy.com to find out about meditation retreats & yoga retreats.

 

00:00] Hey, beautiful people. How are you? I missed you. I’m back. It’s me, the stress therapist, back to give you some stress therapy. And this season, it’s season six. We’re going to talk all about the things that this therapist wants you to know and wishes that we could tell all of our clients and make big billboards all over the world that say these beautiful things that you need to know, starting today. I can’t wait to be with you. So relax, settle in, and listen up, because your stress therapy session is about.

[00:32] To begin right now.

[00:47] 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 distress therapist, Sherry Flake. Hey, beautiful people. Okay, so if you’re a new listener today, welcome. And you might want to know that I have been on a break for about a month and not really publishing any. I did publish a couple of my friends podcasts, which I hope was super fun for you, but I haven’t been around for about a month, and while.

[01:35] I was away, I was thinking about.

[01:37] What you guys might need the most. How can I serve you best? And I think it’s using my experience as a therapist, as a psychotherapist. For over 25 years in the Atlanta area, I’ve been doing it, and there are some things that I wish I could just say to my clients. Right, okay. So there’s this new show. I don’t know if it’s on Netflix or whatever. I only saw one episode, so I can’t really super get into all of it, but it’s called shrinking, I think. And it’s about this therapist who’s going through his own struggles and journey, and he just all of a sudden decides to go against all of his training and ethics and just say what he wants to say to his clients. And I thought, I can relate to that. Now there’s a lot of his journey that I cannot relate to, and it’s Netflix that’s supposed to be super dramatic. None of this stuff is ever boring. But I was thinking that I kind of get that. And there are these things that I want everyone to know. I want to make a big, huge billboard that says this. So when people go into therapy or they start going on the journey of discovery or change or wanting to be different or wanting to be more productive, wanting to be more attentive, wanting to be less depressed, wanting to be less anxious, whatever their agenda is in therapy, there are some things that a lot of people just aren’t ready to hear. But if you’re listening to this podcast, I think you are. And you’re not my client, so I can say whatever I want and I know that it’s not really going to hurt you because really, here, you can take it or leave it, right? I’m not your therapist, right? You can kind of take this or leave it or decide if you’re going to buy into it or not. We’re not going to be doing all this intensive work around it. But still, it’s the truth. And I just want you to know it. I want you to know it. And today we’re going to start with one of the biggest truths. I mean, this is absolutely, 100% true. I figured out that people were thinking this and living their lives according to this falsehood. And I noticed it most when I was working with teenagers. They’re the ones who are most verbal about this. And I just want you to know, and I want you to listen up and I want you to see this billboard in your head and I want you to know that this is true. I can guarantee no matter what is going on in your life, no matter what, you have endured trauma, whatever you are facing right now, I can tell you right now that there is nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you.

[04:23] Okay?

[04:24] And if you start from that place of knowing and with that beautiful truth, you can start to focus on becoming.

[04:34] Who you already are.

[04:36] Right? Life is a journey to become who you already are. Here’s the thing. You were made by the Holy Spirit, god, Buddha, Allah, Jesus, whatever you want to call it, the Source, the Divine, Mother Nature, susie, Patsy, Jimmy, whatever you call it with a capital I. You were made by that entity, that all knowing and loving and divine entity. And you’re already perfect exactly where you are now. You are on a journey to become who you already are. Now, you might have things you want to work on. You might have true psychological symptoms that you want to alleviate anxiety, depression, sadness. You might have had some trauma. You might be facing something right now in your present situation or in the future that you’re scared of or worried about your health. I get it. But regardless of what’s going on in.

[05:28] Your life, I absolutely guarantee there’s nothing wrong with you.

[05:34] And if you can bring yourself to this space of not being so focused on the things that you have to fix or repair or tell other people about even or talk about or ruminate, I mean, the more you talk about whatever you think is wrong with you, that symptom or idea or feeling or emotion or habit is going to get worse. It becomes ingrained in there when we constantly talk about what we consider our shortcomings to be instead. That’s why I’m always trying to get you to redirect that thinking, to move that thinking around to what you want, not what you don’t want. Because the way that we become who we already are is by overcoming obstacles. Frankly, have you ever heard anybody say, oh, my gosh, I just did the easiest thing in the whole world? It was so super simple, and I’m forever changed? Absolutely not. Right? That’s why these challenges and obstacles in our life are gifts, so we can get through them and move even closer to who we already are. A holy and divine creation and creator. That is what you are. And you may have this or that that you want to work on or get better, but those are not things that are wrong with you. Those are gifts that have been given.

[06:49] To you to work on, so you.

[06:51] Can become the person that you’re called to be. So you can be in alignment with your purpose and whatever that is. And if you can get your focus off of what is wrong with you because there’s nothing wrong with you, and put it on what you would like in your life, what you would like to change, how you would like to be, life changes so much faster. You reach your goals so much quicker. You’re in a better mood while you’re doing it, and it’s because you’re living a truth. There is nothing wrong with you. You’re amazing. I don’t even care who I’m talking to right now. I’m absolutely certain that you are amazing. And in facing the beautiful things about your beautiful self, you get to find out what those strengths are, and they might not be the same as everyone else’s and utilize those characteristics, the things that are going well to make yourself well, and this journey is yours to take. That running commentary of insults, and maybe right now, you’re like, this lady is crazy. She’s super annoying. Oh, my God, she’s so positive, I can’t take it or whatever. All I’m saying is I’m walking the walk. And I’m telling you it works. Because that running commentary of things that someone said to you when you were little or just, whatever’s going on, I like this, I don’t like that. This is what’s going on. This is bad. This is horrible. This is good. All this judgment, this constant Facebook feed running commentary of just voices in your head, that is not you. You’re the one listening to that. And so you get to decide if you’re going to listen to that or not. And often that voice in your head is what’s telling you that there’s something wrong with you, and I want to be the new voice in your head. There is nothing wrong with you. Great news. Nothing at all.

[08:48] So let’s meditate together because it’s been way too long. Find a space sitting up, allowing your spine to be relatively straight with your chin level to the ground. Allow your head to settle in. Allow all the muscles around your eyes and in your face and around your jaw and even around your ears to just find a place of stillness. Allow your neck to settle in, and your shoulders, your biceps and triceps and elbows, forearms, wrists and hands. And today bring your hands into a gyan mudra which is making the OK signal with your hand, with your first finger and thumb touching, making a circle and then allowing your palms to rest on your knees. Allow your heart center to settle and your belly and your guts and from the base of your skull all the way down your spine to your sacrum settle in your bottom, your thighs, your knees, your calves and shins and ankles and feet and all of your toes settle in. Today we’re going to do a breath meditation. Breathing in your nose, follow this beautiful breath to your throat. Notice how breath moves past your throat in and out. You may imagine this breath as a beautiful blue color coding this particular communication throat chakra with beautiful blue breath. Just watch it go in and out, in and out. Now follow the breath even further as this breath comes into your lovely heart chakra through this place of love filled to the top with bliss forgiveness, peace, unconditional love. So as the breath passes your throat, it comes down into your heart center. Maybe you see it turning the color green, lighting up your heart, chakra from breastplate to spine, from shoulder to shoulder. Begin to breathe in your nose, past your throat, chakra into your heart chakra and shooting out from your heart. So the breath comes in your nose, down your throat. And now imagine that your breath doesn’t come from your nose, really, that you’re able to actually breathe it through the space between your eyebrows, this place of wisdom and knowing, breathing in to that space past your throat, chakra into your heart chakra and shooting out of your beaming heart, your beaming chest filled with love. Breathe in through your third eye down and out of your heart center. I’m going to leave you with this visual meditation, this chakra meditation. Breathe in through your third eye, coming to your throat, coming to your heart and breathe out of your heart space. I’ll be back in a few minutes to guide you out. Allow your mind thy to fall away from your throat, from your heart, and just watch your breath as it finds its normal rhythm and space and place again in your body, remembering that we don’t really breathe anyway. We’re kind of being breathed. It’s being handled so you can watch it without changing it or manipulating it or taking it over. It goes great without any interference on our part. So take a moment here to just watch it how it is without direction, without judging take a long, slow, deep breath in your nose let it all go out of your mouth and take another long, slow, deep breath in your nose. Let it all go out of your mouth. Just noticing when you take control of your breath how different that is. One last breath in your nose cleansing and clearing and awakening and out of your mouth. And when you’re ready, you can open your beautiful eyes. Every night I still try to tuck in my kids. They’re eleven and 13, so it’s not always the easiest thing.

[24:29] I also make them meditate with me, so I do have an opportunity to be near them before they go to bed so I can tuck them in. And sometimes I get there and I’m.

[24:40] Late, but I still tuck them in.

[24:43] So they might be sleeping, but I.

[24:45] Still tuck them in. And every night I whisper in their ear, there is nothing wrong with you.

[24:52] You’re perfect just the way God made you.

[24:56] There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect just the way God made you. There is nothing wrong with you at all. You’re perfect just the way God made you. And then I kiss their beautiful faces that are really easy to fall back.

[25:16] In love with every evening when they’re sleeping.

[25:20] And I go to bed. There is nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect just the way God made you.

[25:28] I promise.

[25:29] And I hope that you will spread this word to someone that you love today.

[25:34] That you might say it to yourself a few times and you might need.

[25:37] To say it a lot before you believe it. But what ends up happening is it clears this space for you to speak your voice, for you to fill yourself up with love.

[25:49] Because if we’re focused on this thing that’s wrong with us, how are we.

[25:53] Supposed to fill up with love?

[25:54] How are we supposed to change if.

[25:56] We think we’re stuck like that, like.

[25:59] This, with this thing that’s going on? Or this thing that’s bugging me? Or this thing that’s wrong with me, or this thing I have to deal with, or this thing I have to overcome?

[26:07] Instead, we focus on all the ways.

[26:11] That you can become aligned with your true purpose, all the ways that you can change in the ways that you.

[26:17] Want to and feel good about it.

[26:20] Because as you know, the first rule in changing anything ever is to force yourself and to fake it if you have to, feeling really good about it. I love you. I am so glad to be back. It’s season six and we’re going to be talking about all the things that this therapist, not every therapist, but this therapist in particular, wants you to know. So you have the best life’s journey, becoming the best you that there is. Because there’s nothing wrong with you. And there’s a world wide open for you to become exactly who you already are. Have a lovely, lovely day. How y’all feeling after that stress therapy session? Good. Awesome. Check out the show notes to connect with me, the stress therapist, on social media, at the Stress Therapist on Instagram, and at stress therapy on Twitter. You can always go to Ilovetherapy.com to find out about meditation and yoga retreats and other offerings that I have there. If you live in Georgia and you’re ready to be one of my clients, go to my website to find out how you can sign up for a free face to face consultation with me. At the very least, jump on my mailers so you don’t stress or miss one thing. Until next time, have a lovely, lovely day.