Discovering Joy, LLC

Discovering Joy, LLC I provide individual, family, and couples therapy.

11/26/2025

🌀 Community care is cute—until everyone’s spiraling at the same time. 😬
Sometimes it’s not that your friends don’t care. It’s that they’re carrying just as much as you are.

You vent, they vent, and suddenly you’re trauma-bonding instead of healing.
Community care is sacred — but it only works when we have the capacity to hold each other without losing ourselves in the process.

Therapy doesn’t replace community — it strengthens it.

Because when you learn to self-regulate, set boundaries, and see your own patterns… you stop adding to the collective chaos and start modeling calm.
Healing in community starts with healing within. 🌿

There’s no one way therapy looks in my office.
Some days, it’s sitting on furniture and deep conversation.
Other days, w...
11/19/2025

There’s no one way therapy looks in my office.
Some days, it’s sitting on furniture and deep conversation.

Other days, we’re following your eyes, talking to your parts, or meeting your inner child who still wants to be seen.

As a child of immigrants and a therapist who works with complex trauma, I know healing doesn’t happen in just one position or one approach.

Sometimes we sit.
Sometimes we breathe.
Sometimes we cry and laugh in the same minute.
And sometimes… we just let your nervous system lead the way.

Because therapy isn’t about performing “being okay” — it’s about creating safety in all the positions your body has learned to survive in.

🪞✨ Healing takes many forms. Sometimes it looks like sitting still. Sometimes it looks like remembering who you were before you learned to be so strong.

There’s a big difference between letting go and locking away.Letting go = processing, grieving, and allowing yourself to...
11/14/2025

There’s a big difference between letting go and locking away.

Letting go = processing, grieving, and allowing yourself to move forward.
Locking away = pretending you’re over it while your body’s like “Surprise, we’re crying in traffic again.” 🚗💧

When we tell ourselves to “just move on,” but skip the part where we actually feel our emotions, we don’t release them — we store them.

And those feelings eventually show up as irritability, overthinking, or exhaustion.

So next time you tell yourself to “let it go,” try:
🧘🏽‍♀️ Naming what you feel.
🫶🏽 Allowing yourself to grieve what didn’t go as planned.
🌿 Releasing the need to control the outcome.

Because real letting go isn’t cold detachment — it’s warm acceptance.

IFS in action: everyone gets a say, but Self makes the final call. ✨ (note: I am not the eldest daughter but have seen m...
11/10/2025

IFS in action: everyone gets a say, but Self makes the final call. ✨ (note: I am not the eldest daughter but have seen many clients who are the first born/eldest child who take on this role often)

It’s wild how automatic some of our responses can be — especially when they’ve been shaped by years of being the dependable one, the helper, the “strong” person in the family.

For many eldest daughters (and adult children of immigrants), saying no can feel like breaking an unspoken rule. The Manager parts learned early on that love and safety came from being reliable, responsible, and available.

And the Protector parts? They fear that setting boundaries might lead to rejection, conflict, or disconnection — things that once felt unsafe or unbearable. So even when our bodies are screaming “I’m tired,” those parts push through to keep us accepted.
That’s where Self steps in — the grounded, compassionate energy within us that can listen to all sides and still choose what’s right. Self doesn’t silence the parts; it leads with love and balance. 💛

So if you’re learning how to pause before saying yes… if you’re practicing rest, boundaries, or honesty — that’s IFS work in real time. You’re not being selfish. You’re learning how to lead your inner system with care. 🌿

IFS = Inner Family Systems… or as I like to call it, Inner LinkedIn.
We all have different “parts” with impressive résum...
11/05/2025

IFS = Inner Family Systems… or as I like to call it, Inner LinkedIn.
We all have different “parts” with impressive résumés — the overfunctioner, the avoider, the one who still cries about 5th-grade rejection.

Healing isn’t about firing them. It’s about letting your Self be the CEO again. 👑

🎃 Halloween Mental Health Reminder (Monsters, Inc. Edition) 👾In Monsters, Inc., everyone thought fear powered the world ...
10/31/2025

🎃 Halloween Mental Health Reminder (Monsters, Inc. Edition) 👾
In Monsters, Inc., everyone thought fear powered the world —
until they discovered something stronger: laughter.

That’s mental health in a nutshell.
For years, we were taught to power through with fear — fear of failing, disappointing others, not being enough.

But healing asks us to switch power sources.
✨ From fear → to curiosity.
✨ From shame → to compassion.
✨ From hypervigilance → to rest.
✨ From survival → to joy.

It’s okay if your nervous system still believes the old system keeps you safe — just like the monsters did. They had to unlearn too.
So this Halloween, when you see monsters everywhere, remember:
Sometimes the scariest thing isn’t the dark —
it’s learning to believe that lightness, laughter, and rest are safe. 💛

🧠 “Letting Go” — According to My PartsYou ever try to rest but it turns into a full-on internal family meeting? 😂Here’s ...
10/29/2025

🧠 “Letting Go” — According to My Parts

You ever try to rest but it turns into a full-on internal family meeting? 😂

Here’s how it usually goes for me:

Manager: “We can’t rest until everything’s under control — inbox cleared, goals achieved, house spotless, inner child healed, and that one awkward text from 2017 resolved.”

Firefighter: scrolling TikTok at 1am “This is self-care. I’m regulating.”

Exile: quietly whispering, “I just wanted a hug 😭.”

By the time I realize it, I’m overstimulated, under-rested, and wondering why I’m anxious when all I wanted was peace.

This is what happens when our nervous system still thinks safety = productivity. When “doing nothing” feels unsafe. When rest triggers the same alarm bells as failure or rejection.

But here’s the truth:
Every part has good intentions.
Your Manager is trying to protect you from chaos.
Your Firefighter just wants relief.
Your Exile longs for love and comfort.
They’re all doing their best with the roles they learned early on.

So if you catch yourself spiraling at bedtime — overthinking, overanalyzing, or doomscrolling — pause.
Check in with your parts.
Ask: “Who’s up right now?”
You might be surprised how quickly compassion softens the noise.

Because healing doesn’t always look peaceful — sometimes it looks like chaos with a good heart.

We grew up in homes where doing nothing meant you were doing something wrong.
If you were awake, you were either cleanin...
10/24/2025

We grew up in homes where doing nothing meant you were doing something wrong.
If you were awake, you were either cleaning, helping, or preparing for the next thing.
So now, as adults, rest feels… weird.

Our bodies finally slow down, but our minds whisper,
“Shouldn’t you be doing something?”

But here’s the truth:
You’re not lazy.
You’re unlearning survival.
You’re teaching your body that stillness doesn’t mean danger — it means safety. 🕊️
Rest isn’t rebellion. It’s reclamation.

💛 Save this for the next time guilt shows up when you’re trying to rest.

“Sayang Energy” runs deep in us.We’re taught to save, to preserve, to hold on —even when something’s already expired emo...
10/20/2025

“Sayang Energy” runs deep in us.
We’re taught to save, to preserve, to hold on —even when something’s already expired emotionally.

But healing asks us to compost, not hoard.
To turn old pain into wisdom, instead of letting it take up space.

It’s okay to let things go — even the ones that once felt sacred.

You’re not being wasteful.

You’re making room for new life to grow. 🌱

🏷️

💬When relationships shift or end, I’ve noticed how easy it is to fall into the P’s of trauma thinking:Personal — “It mus...
10/13/2025

💬When relationships shift or end, I’ve noticed how easy it is to fall into the P’s of trauma thinking:

Personal — “It must be my fault.”
Pervasive — “Maybe I’m just not good at relationships.”
Permanent — “It’ll always be this way.”

💭These thoughts come from a part of us trying to make sense of loss — trying to stay safe from being hurt again.

💭But healing brings in new P’s:

Predictability — rebuilding a sense of safety.
Power — remembering you still have choice.
Protection — honoring the parts that helped you survive.
Presence — noticing the moment you’re in, not the one you lost.
Perspective — realizing change doesn’t always mean rejection.

❤️‍🩹Healing doesn’t mean the pain disappears — it means you can hold it with compassion instead of shame. 🩵

🇵🇭 Filipino American History Month ReminderFor the past year, I’ve been educating therapists on how to better serve the ...
10/07/2025

🇵🇭 Filipino American History Month Reminder

For the past year, I’ve been educating therapists on how to better serve the Filipino population here in Las Vegas.

Filipinos make up the largest Asian ethnic group in Las Vegas—more than half of the Asian American population.

But to truly serve the community, we have to understand their story.Filipinos and Filipino Americans are shaped by our history, our values, and our deep sense of collective identity.

From being displayed as “savages” at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair to organizing the Delano Grape Strike that helped transform labor rights in America, our people have known both deep discrimination and incredible resilience.

We’ve long lived in-between — “forever foreigners” in America, yet sometimes “not Filipino enough” at home.

That’s why understanding Filipino history is so essential in mental health work. It helps providers become culturally sensitive and helps Filipinos themselves make sense of their identity, belonging, and mental well-being.

Before colonization, the Indigenous Tao lived in harmony with nature, rooted in equality, abundance, and community.
Those values still live within us — adaptable, flexible, and resourceful.

This month, let’s celebrate our history, honor our resilience, and continue the work of helping Filipinos embrace all parts of who they are — both Filipino and American.

✨ Representation and understanding matter.

I’m excited to be a speaker at the Silver State CE Summit on Nov 7–8, 2025! 🎉This virtual conference offers 6 sessions, ...
09/09/2025

I’m excited to be a speaker at the Silver State CE Summit on Nov 7–8, 2025! 🎉

This virtual conference offers 6 sessions, up to 12 CEUs (including up to 6 Cultural Competency CEUs). Most talks are recorded and available for replay, so you can earn both live and asynchronous credit—attend what you can live and complete the rest by 12/31/25.

Join me and a lineup of incredible presenters for two days of learning and connection. Register here https://nevada.ceus.xyz/?ac=9vlMhiy9

Address

9488 West Flamingo Road Ste 102
Las Vegas, NV
89147

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 7pm
Wednesday 10am - 7pm
Thursday 10am - 7pm

Telephone

+17029071606

Website

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