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Authentic Self Austin, Austin, TX (2026)

05/17/2022

Enough said.

Words of

03/04/2022

Everyone deserves compassion in their sorrow, remember that you are included in “everyone” and try not to discount your own feelings.

Your sorrows are just as valid as anyones. We don’t deny our happiness because others may be even happier, try not to deny your sorrow because others may have it worse.

On the other hand, try not to carry the sorrow of the world. It is beautiful to lean into your compassion for the people that are losing their homes and safety but also important not to live there, try to move toward all that you do have in this moment for a while. Perhaps its safety, quiet, sunshine, food in the fridge, a pet you can snuggle, legs you can walk on, lungs that can breathe in clean air.

If donating feels helpful, do it, if crying feels helpful, do it, if screaming feels helpful, do it, but do it all with compassion for your lovely self.

01/29/2022

Practice the skill of paying attention to what is going on inside you. The more we acknowledge our inner worlds the better. Its amazing what can happen, it can relieve tension, even pain, and cue us into what we are needing which builds inner connection and trust. What we give space to feel often shifts rather quickly, just keep following the shifts and noticing whatever arises.

It can be pretty fascinating to follow our beautiful inner complexities.

01/27/2022

Feelings, emotional and physical, are simply information our body and mind are sending us. All they ask of us it to tune in to them, acknowledge they are there and feel them. It sounds so simple but this is literally happening all day every day and how often are you noticing?

If we stop noticing long enough what once may have been a subtle whisper can start to become a scream. Tuning in will bring the calm and clarity you are looking for. This is a skill that can be learned, even if we have spent a lifetime learning how to tune out.

10/10/2020

Today is World Mental Health Day.

Today is about championing the importance of mental health and reducing the stigmas around struggling with mental illness.

Mental heal is just as important as physical health, so why is it so normal to go to a doctor when we feel physically off but not a therapist when we feel mentally off? This has to change because as human beings we all need support around our mental wellness. You are NOT ALONE if you are struggling, and you deserve care.

Did you know that 1 in 5 adults in the US experience mental illness in a given year?! Statistically less than 50 percent receive help or mental health services. Globally, 300 MILLION people suffer from depression and 260 million live with anxiety disorders. And I imagine if these statistics were up to date today they would be significantly higher.

From my vantage point it is far more abnormal to NOT be struggling to maintain mental health right now. We are living in a way very foreign to most of us during this global pandemic, we cannot leave our houses without more to think and worry about, we can’t easily connect, touch, celebrate, mourn, or simply be with each other without a lot more planning and precaution, if at all. This is all so much more stress and fear than we are used to. So if you are struggling, I see you, you are not alone, and you are responding so normally to an absolutely abnormal world. I hope you can let stigma be damned and reach out to a mental health professional if you need help.

10/09/2020

Healing is about what we experience in the present, but the past informs that in really profound ways.

Healing often includes doing so around how we understand our past, name our histories, and frame the time in which we live. All of which shape the present reality we individually experience. Getting a little existential here. We of course share commonalities with our individual experiences of the present, but the way you look at/experience the world when you walk out your front door looks a little different than your neighbor, friend, or partner. But we are all capable of healing, and get to be creators of our present realities, not simply destined to live in the one created by our past. That, to me, is such a relief.

10/07/2020

How to feel your feelings.

I often use feelings and emotions synonymously, but they can also describe two different things. An emotion is a physiological experience (or state of awareness) that gives you information about the world (and yourself), and a feeling is your conscious awareness of the emotion itself.

So it starts with the awareness that you are feeling something, going into bodily sensations can help you decipher what exactly it is you are feeling. While allowing your feelings to be felt it can be helpful to ask a few questions like what would this feeling communicate to me if it could, or what is it trying to teach me about what I need, want, or value? If we can become conscious of these things - then we may be able to meet our needs/desires. We also gain clarity about who we are, whats important to us, and what we value. Feelings are our friends and can be very wise teachers.

always has my favorite info graphics.

10/06/2020

Connecting to our emotions is connecting to our core self, our authentic self, our inherent worthiness.

But who among us has not had our emotions invalidated, minimized, or ignored? And in turn felt unworthy?

How often do you invalidate, minimize, or ignore your own emotions?

Lets flip the script and start communicating our worthiness to ourselves and each other by validating, accepting, and connecting to ours and others emotional experiences!

10/02/2020

Allowing our emotions space to be felt is SO important.

If you have been in relationships where it was not acceptable or safe to feel/express emotions this disconnection may have been necessary for your survival, and how glad I am that you are here today because of that! Though I wonder if that learned ability to disconnect from your emotional experience may still have lingered, long past when it was necessary for survival? Trauma can do that, you are not alone.

Unlearning old ways of coping and survival can be tough, even when you are in safe, happy situations and relationships. But it is totally possible.

Even if this is not the case for you, being connected to our emotional experiences isn’t always easy. It is a vulnerable thing to admit we are affected deeply by the world and the people around us, but that is the beautiful truth that makes you human, that allows you to feel compassion, empathy, and love. But in all our years of education we are rarely taught how to feel our feelings and why its so important. I hope you choose to learn, I hope you can honor your emotions with curiosity in place of judgment, and I hope you are courageous enough to reach out for help when you can’t on your own.

10/01/2020

What happens when you notice an emotion surfacing?

I can certainly relate to this diagram by about that feeling when your feelings have feelings. Yall, emotions can be complicated.

So much of our healing work is about unlearning, and then learning how to give ourselves a whole heck of a lot more compassion. Next time your feelings start to have feelings try to be aware of it and name it. Example: “I am noticing a feeling of sadness and wondering why I am not strong enough to be unaffected right now - hold on, I am judging myself pretty harshly for having an emotional response, maybe its ok to allow myself to feel sad.’

Awareness is the first step, and not always an easy one, but we have to name it to tame it! The second step is simply allowing the feeling to be felt. The ability to replace judgment with compassion first takes the ability to be aware that there is judgment taking place, this often happens unconsciously.

You got this.

09/28/2020

Do you honor how you feel? Are you aware of what you feel? If your answer is no or I don’t know, that is so ok, you are not alone in this, but it is important to learn.

Our society doesn’t exactly champion this sentiment, it often champions the opposite, dishonoring what you feel in the name of productivity, keeping the status quo, or simply because of others sheer discomfort at feeling their own emotions. We are often taught some emotions are bad or unacceptable and others better than others, but emotions are neither good nor bad, they are neutral by design and all are equally important. And can you guess what feelings entire roles are? Simply to be felt.

This does take acknowledging that they are there and allowing them to remain as they are without creating a story around them, or judging ourselves for feeling them. When we can do so, emotions are one of our most important guides, they help us to know ourselves, our hearts, our needs, our relationships. Not tapping into this important internal information can get us into all kinds of sticky situations that may have been easily avoided if only we felt our feelings.

A big part of changing our relationships to ourselves may very well include changing our relationships to our emotions. Try honoring the next time sadness pricks your eyes, or anger makes your jaw clench, accept that they are present, allow them to remain, and ask them what they need to teach you about yourself, about what you value, what you need, what you don’t.

You are already whole, already full of so much wisdom that it is always ready and waiting to guide you whenever you are ready to honor how you truly feel.

09/26/2020

Let it be.

‘Let it go’ to me feels like a judgment, like someone saying what you are feeling/experiencing right now is something I don’t want to deal with. It almost feels like a call to deny what you are experiencing, to suppress emotions in the name of another’s comfort. What feels so much more loving is ‘let it be.’ That to me says what you are experiencing and feeling is ok, try not to judge it, to create a story around it, to pick it apart. Simply accept reality for what it is it, allow your feelings and experiences to happen as it does, in the present moment, without judgment.

Let it be.

Authentic Self Austin

05/17/2022

03/04/2022

01/29/2022

01/27/2022

10/10/2020

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