Your Authentic Self: The Only Way to Win at Life
In this heartfelt and humor-filled episode, The Stress Therapist dives deep into the concept of living as your authentic self. Through personal stories, client examples, and some unexpected Bachelor commentary, she explores what it really means to be yourself, why it matters for your happiness and connection with others, and how being fake can actually block you from true love and belonging. The episode closes with a meditation on the sacred sound Om, guiding listeners into stillness and self-acceptance.
~Authenticity is magnetic. When you show up as your real self—quirks, passions, weirdness and all—you attract the right people and create true connection.
~Faking it is exhausting and unsustainable. Pretending to be someone you’re not might win temporary approval, but it never leads to lasting love or fulfillment.
~Your gifts are part of your karmic path. Embracing your interests and natural tendencies is not only freeing but also aligned with your purpose.
~Meditation Music byhttp://sonicyogi.com
https://open.spotify.com/track/7lpLx4vtoQusvoqidRY6vN?si=0db8efd9082c40ebhttps://open.spotify.com/track/0Qotx90teY3iZ00PgUCwty?si=44a1c18c52e24e1f
Listen to Sonic Yogi on: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2xJT8mRbrqa7rTY6d4y5Fq?si=q2YYpPSzQOmu4R8-W4jkpw https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sonic-yogi/722350162https://amazon.com/music/player/artists/B00FQMVVIC/sonic-yogi?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_Y5q68A8LSQQGzl01PQC7Uaw6chttps://youtu.be/p2jtMEkdh6g?si=rVq-Q8o85mI75S4_
INTERESTING MENTIONS:
Shout-out to Jackie (her sister-in-law) for the Bachelor franchise t-shirt and for taking her to a Bachelor Live event.
The Bachelor (current season with Grant) – used to explore themes of love, hope, and being chosen.
Client story about pretending to like fishing to connect—a metaphor for the struggle with authenticity.
Jen the Animal Lover – a sweet story of someone unapologetically themselves (catios, pet mouse surgery, pool ladders for critters!).
Violet (her daughter) – praised for her early wisdom in not forcing friendships and understanding mutual dislike doesn’t need to be dramatic.
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/or https://thestresstherapist.com/beach-retreats/
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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:Hey, beautiful people today, we’re going to talk about why absolutely nothing matters at all for any reason. And if you live to be 30, you probably have 20 or 50 reasons to commit suicide. Really. But, , that’s why everything matters. Everything you do matters who you decide you’re going to be matters. It all matters so much.So relax. And settle in and listen up because your stress therapy session is about to begin right now.Hey, beautiful people. I’m the stress therapist and it’s time for some stress therapy.Yes. I teach people how to get better at stress. Stop procrastinating, stay motivated while we work on healthy habits, like meditation and happy living. So expect stress tips, lots of ways on how to get meditation into your life for real. And for good, a little bit of science, a little bit of woo and [00:01:00] a big sense of humor.You deserve this. Believe me. It’s free. So relax and settle in and listen up because your stress therapy session is about to begin right now.epi-6-who-cares-who-ya-gonna-be_1_07-30-2024_185207: Hey, beautiful people. What’s up? Okay. So today it’s super rainy and that’s why my hair looks terrible. Who cares? Who really cares? Cares in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter?And I think sometimes we use this in ways that, doesn’t help at all. And sometimes we use this expression or this idea in ways that help a lot. Like if you tell me when I have a hangnail that, you [00:02:00] know, someone else doesn’t have a finger. I don’t think that necessarily helps. That never makes me feel better.It’s kind of like when people say, Yeah. Do you ever hear people say this, if it makes you feel any better, and then they launch into a story where they were, you know, more down and out than you are right now. Now, I don’t know about you, but that never makes me feel better. Why would someone else’s misfortune make me feel better?But anyway, I digress, baby. I do, because here’s the thing. It doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, what goes down in your life. So that means That it all matters. What am I talking about? First of all, pick up the book, 4, 000 weeks this guy is a New York times writer who was writing this productivity column and had this epiphany that Emptying out his email, which never works by the way, because as soon as you clear the decks, it’s all right back there again in like five minutes.Right. So it’s never really done. [00:03:00] And that we’re all spending all kinds of times trying to get things done for what, for who? Like, so our worth is connected to our productivity. Hell no, no way, man. That is lame as it could be. And he’s thinking. You know, all the books say I shouldn’t let my baby fall asleep on my chest because it could affect her ability to sleep later.What have you ever had a baby fall asleep on your chest? It’s amazing. Why are we listening to what other people tell us is important to accomplish, do or be in our lives for one second? I mean, I was watching the Olympics the other day with my family, and of course the only thing I want to watch is gymnastics because I was super into gymnastics when I was little and I’m sitting there with my daughter and my husband of almost 20 years, almost 20 years.I know. Can you believe that this November? 20 years, baby. And I say, yeah, because I was so into gymnastics and they’re like, when were you into gymnastics? And I’m like, [00:04:00] And they’re like, yeah, we never knew that you were into gymnastics. I’m like, are you kidding me? I mean, I was amazing. Okay. Level of difficulty.It’s no Simone Biles. I get it. But I was still like getting like 8. 2 on the beam. I once got, , I think I got like, I placed somewhere on vault in the state. I mean, I was killing it, but I had to make a decision. Was I going to be like a coral airhead, which is my friend, me and Megan Lariola used to call us.Coral airheads that were really into theater and really into choir. Or was I going to go the gymnastics route and I had to choose one, right? But it came very naturally to me. I absolutely loved it. It was super duper fun. I’m super short.But again, who cares? Who cares? Because then I called my mom and said, can you believe that? My husband and my daughter don’t even know that I was into gymnastics and she’s like, what gymnastics? I didn’t know you were into gymnastics. And I’m like, what I did for like two years. Then I hear my dad in the background say something like, yeah, I was at all your meets, like laughing and [00:05:00] joking around as if I’m making it up.My point is people, my point is for two years, I was super into the sport and no one remembers nobody. Okay. It didn’t make one difference except to me. It made a difference to me, and that’s where the difference is. It’s for you. In a couple of generations, I’m sorry, but no one’s probably going to know you even walked on this earth.So who are you going to be rather than see this as an excuse to be depressed and down? See it as an oppo
