Ali Harris Therapy & Co

20/12/2025

The attempt to avoid painful feelings is understandable but also counter-productive. All feelings must be felt and processed if you’re to feel better in the long run. Whether you try to pretend your difficult emotions aren’t there, or you attempt to overlay them or distract from them with substances like alcohol, drugs or dopamine, in the end there’s no escape.

You’ve got to FEEL it to HEAL it - it’s counter-intuitive, I know, to embrace discomfort and pain instead of push it away but it’s absolutely true - ‘the feeling you’re trying to avoid is often the one that has the most to teach you.’

Art: Mansi Jikadara B

19/12/2025

Some things might be a little… out of reach this Christmas - maybe you’re not able to buy all the things you’d love to; perhaps you’re not going to be able to share the holidays with the people you’d prefer to be with; it’s possible that you won’t receive the kind of thoughtful, beautifully wrapped gifts that you take such pains to give to others, and it may be that despite having a glorious vision for what Christmas should look, smell, feel and taste like… you don’t have the time, the energy, the money and/or the physical capacity to pull it off.

That sucks.
Really.
It does.
And I’m sorry.
I wish you could have all the things that you want and need.
You deserve them.

Sometimes you can extend your ‘reach’ and manage these situations by asking for help from friends & family…

BUT sometimes that’s not an option or it won’t really help.

Other times, there’s nothing to be done but give yourself a hug, let things slide, allow all your feelings, carve out little pockets of Christmas joy where you can, and accept that part of your Christmas is dealing with a side plate of grief for Christmases you can’t have now, or maybe never had, and might never get to experience.

Move through this festive period gently.
Minister to your joys and disappointments tenderly.

Sometimes you’ll feel merry and bright.
And sometimes you’ll feel bl**dy sh*te.
And that’s ok xx

Art found via

18/12/2025

💖 Lots of love to you all this Christmas xx

Sending love to…
those who don’t feel excited about the holidays.
Those who are tired of being strong.
Those going through big challenges this year.
Those taking things one day at a time.
Those who feel stuck but haven’t stopped trying.
Those spending the holidays alone.

This season can feel heavy in ways that are hard to explain.
Not everyone feels joyful.
Not everyone feels grateful.
And not everyone has the energy to pretend they’re okay.

If you’re moving slowly, that’s still movement.
If you’re resting, that’s still progress.
If you’re just getting through the day, that is more than enough.

You don’t need to have it all figured out.
You don’t need to feel festive to be worthy of love.
And you don’t need to be strong every moment to be brave.

Let this be a reminder that you are not alone in how you feel.
That many hearts are navigating this season softly, carefully, honestly.
And that simply being here, still trying, still hoping
is already something to be proud of.

Sending love to you,
especially if this spoke to your heart. 🤍🥰

18/12/2025

Christmas traditions don’t have to be set in stone. They don’t ALL have to be kept. I mean, by all means preserve the ones you love - those that fill you up and nurture you, body & soul. But those that don’t - the ones that sap your energy, drain your patience or your pocket or even your will to live - you can TOTALLY dispense with those. Perhaps the new Christmas tradition can be rooted in self-care - a festive gift to yourself xx

Art: Stacie Swift

17/12/2025

There will ALWAYS be people who disagree with you - who will judge you, and who may even attempt to invalidate your feelings, your needs, your values, your decisions etc. In the face of these disagreements you may well feel pressure to relinquish your stance in order to preserve the peace - in order not to ‘cause conflict’ or in order to not be seen as a ‘bad person.’ I would venture that anyone who requires you to agree with them in order to remain peaceful, or for you to be ‘worthy’ in their eyes is the one initiating potential conflict. And I would invite you to consider whether a relationship that requires you to to abandon your own principles or disown your own emotions is worth preserving.

Of course, it’s always good to examine and re-examine your actions and ideas. Sometimes other people help you to notice a flaw in your logic - to recognise a blind spot in your reasoning, and that’s useful. But if after conducting an internal audit you still feel the same, maybe don’t back down?

You don’t need to get drawn into loud, angry or insulting defences of your position - you can decline to change your mind without being unkind or uncouth, if you wish.

And you don’t need to feel bad for not people-pleasing - it’s not selfish to reject judgement, gaslighting, manipulation or outright unpleasantness…it’s perfectly reasonable, in fact.

People-pleasing can feel like a jail cell.
Declining to engage in that stuff can feel like liberation.

Which is why ‘I wish you indifference to the judgement of others, so that you can be free.”

Art: As Above Astro

16/12/2025

Sometimes it’s not that deep - the reasons for your feelings are clear as day, and you’ve nothing left to do but validate them, sit with them and take care of yourself until any negative effects lessen. Sometimes there are no tips, tricks or hacks. The only way forward is to treat yourself gently and accept every emotion that arises as valid (but not necessarily true.)

Art: There's Good in Store

15/12/2025

You don’t have to go ‘all out’ for Christmas. There’s no need to be continuously ‘merry and bright’; it’s ok if your Christmas comes with a side of ‘sad’ that slows you down, a generous portion of overwhelm that dulls your sparkle, or a dollop of apathy that drains your Christmas spirit - it’s fine if you can’t quite jingle ALL the way - jingle at manageable intervals, where possible, and take it easy in between. Or just hang up your jingles this year and go in for something more relaxing. Like a nap. Let the reason for the season be cosyness, connection, rest & relaxation - let’s push back (gently,) on notion of Christmas as being rooted in stress and consumption.

Could that work?

Art: Cottage Whimsy

14/12/2025

“You don’t get to bypass your anger and your rage, and call yourself peaceful in your avoidance.
Your ability to feel anger or rage is not an accident.
On the contrary, it is a great gift.

Rage is an intelligent fire.
It is infused with its own magic, and born of love.
And we need this intelligent fire to unfreeze ourselves from the glaciers of time.

Rage is not innately ugly.
That which summons it, usually is.
The platitude Love is all there is does not also recognize that if this is so, then all things must be born of the One Love.
So how do they become so distorted and painful on their ways down from eternity to the nitty-gritty human experience?

Rage is not hate.
Hate emerges from rage not recognized, responsibility not taken, the projection of blame for one’s own suffering onto others who are not to blame.

Rage places responsibility where it belongs.
Rage recognizes what our part is in our suffering.
Rage also recognizes when we are carrying the responsibility that belongs with someone else.
Rage refuses to carry the inappropriate burden of the choices made by others.
Rage fights back for a change that creates balance and justice.
Rage is not the great punisher, but the equalizer and the liberator.

If you do not walk through the fires of your rage, or you do not admit that rage lives within you, you cannot find the dancing prayer that opens the gates of The Wildness.
You will have too many holes burned into your vessel. If you cannot hold it, you cannot experience it, and it will not free you, so you may not enter.

You will attempt to howl at the moon in all her glory, and your breath will escape from the hole in the back of your neck, or on the right side of your chest or out of your belly.
You will wail and remember that your rage cannot be nearly as terrible as is life as a piece of swiss cheese.

Without your intelligent fire, parts of you will remain cold and isolated, separate from the hearth and home at the core of your being.
They are there because you thought they were compromising your survival.
But you can see now, can't you, that without them survival is as good as it gets, and you want to thrive?

So find that rage, that intelligent fire, and call your children home.
Release them from the bindings of blame and shame that is not theirs.
Thank them.
Welcome them.
Feed them.
Light up the night sky.
Become whole, and let your rage be cleansed of guilt and shame, so it is given back its holy shine.

Rage can protect the innocent.
Defrost the frozen, traumatized parts of your experience.
Defend the sacred, the wild, and the natural.
Rage can inform peace, but it won't bring us all the way.
No, for that you need everything you are.
But without your rage, you won't be able to retrieve yourself and become whole enough to tind out.

Your journey is epic.
You are a miracle.
The Wildness is howling for your return.
Bring your rage with you."

Words: Alison Nappi
Art: Tom Sullivan

13/12/2025

This goes out to you if you’re struggling
If you’re feeling crushed under the weight of:
- Grief
- Multitudinous responsibilities
- Impossible situations
- Scary transitions
- Depressing realities
- Anxiety-provoking circumstances
- Abusive people

The good news is that whatever you’re dealing with will NOT last forever.
This too SHALL pass.
But it might sting like a motherf*cker
And take it’s sweet time about it too
So hold on
And remember
It WILL pass
You can do this xx

Image: FUL Candles

12/12/2025

“This is for everyone who tries.
Who tries to learn, tries to grow, tries to respond kindly and wisely, tries to recognize their own issues instead of blaming everyone else.
This is for everyone who tries to be their best even when they’re not feeling their best.
I see you. I appreciate you.
And I hope you know you make the world a better place, just by being you …”

Words: Lori Deschene
Art: Christian Schloe Digital Artwork

11/12/2025

Everyone you meet DOES have something to teach you, and those lessons can be wonderful, life-affirming, and beautiful AND unfortunately, many of the most important ones convey DEEPLY unpleasant but necessary truths:

- Loving someone harder doesn’t make them love you back.

- Takers don’t have limits but eventually they’ll introduce you to yours.

- Change is possible but the only person you can change by design is yourself - and that’s a job of work!

- People show you who they are but you’ll never see if you refuse to look, listen and LEARN.

- People-pleasing is self-betrayal.

These are a few of the hard lessons I’ve learned over time - sometimes quickly - but mainly slowly, after repeatedly NOT understanding what was going on (or refusing to believe it.)

What’s the most useful lesson someone has taught you?

Art:

10/12/2025

Therapy is designed to put you in touch with your own needs, feelings, desires and capabilities so that you can create & live a happy, satisfying life that aligns with your personal goals & values. It’s all there, what you need to do that - there inside you, like seeds waiting to be planted, watered and receive sunlight. All that is needed is safe space in which you can be heard, accepted, validated, empathised with, warmly met and gently encouraged.

And then BOOM!
You begin to blossom.

Everything you need to learn to manage this life’s ups and downs lies, foetal inside you, ready to grow, develop and be born, to buoy you up and on to whatever it is you want to make of your life.

All that is in you, right now, like a garden under snow, quietly waiting for spring to come ###

Art: