Nicole Hope Sylvester - Behavior Strategist & Stress Educator

08/20/2025

75 to 90% of doctor visits are stress related and that stress is often brought on by suppressed emotions (anger, anxiety, fear, resentment, frustration, sadness......) Solutions 👇

We need to feel to heal.

2 easy things you can do to release emotions:

1. Acknowledge the sensation of them in your body. Give them a color, a name, a location, a texture.... don't worry too much about the story behind them (that sometimes makes them last longer).

2. MOVE : dance, walk, run, shake, swing, sway, jump, move some furniture, you can even sleep. Essentially these emotions come with the release of chemicals in the body, many of which need to be used up to feel more relaxed.

Quick note: Our bodies were made to live outside, moving and carrying and twisting etc. So sitting still makes it hard for the body to work through the chemicals.

OK
You have got this. Feel to heal. Move to calm. Smile and lean towards gratitude. (👈Those are bonus techniques)

♻️🌈please share and let's all help each other enjoy life more and feel really good doing it.

07/12/2025

Offering a little breath of fresh air from the summer scramble at a Martinez Family event August 13th. 😁

Nicole Hope

Welcome to Downtown Martinez; Deep Roots, Bright Future!!!

A unique mix of retail, restaurants, wine bars, local craft breweries, live entertainment, several top notch health and beauty options & more!

05/23/2025

This is all it took to bring joy into my life this morning. It is that easy for us to share joy. 😁

So I invite you to stop your scroll and text one person you care about and send them a 🩵 or a Hi! or "Enjoy your day!" 🌷

It is the most simple gesture that can improve the mood of a single person and that ripple effect of vibrational happiness can travel the world.

Choose to be a change maker and bring a little sunshine, magic and love to the people... family, friends, the checkout guy... in your life. (Which is kinda anyone you encounter.)

Kindness and love heal.

And if you made it this far... Have an amazing day! You deserve it for just being you. Sending you good vibes, smiles and joy! ⭐️🤩💓

05/06/2025

🚀 Procrastination Is a Smoke Signal

Here’s what procrastination looks like for me:
– Getting weirdly passionate about reorganizing my apps

– Cleaning grout like it’s life or death

– Diving into niche research that has nothing to do with anything

– Talking about the thing more than doing the thing

– Imagining a better planner, or a different job, or honestly, a whole new nervous system

And here’s what it sounds like:
– “Why can’t I just do the thing?”

– “I should’ve started yesterday.”

– “Everyone keeps interrupting me.”

– “This shouldn’t be this hard.”

It’s spirally. Irritated. Loud.
And the task? Still there. Staring.
Judging. Unbothered.

For the longest time, I assumed this meant I was lazy. Or undisciplined. Or just… not built like other people.

But here’s what I’ve figured out:

Procrastination isn’t a flaw.
It’s an old reflex.
A body-based belief that once kept me safe.
Now it just keeps me stuck.

My system’s still running the same script.
It thinks starting is dangerous.

Not in the “fire” kind of way. But in the “you might get it wrong,” or “people might not like it,” or “if you succeed, you’ll have to keep going and never rest again” kind of way.

The nervous system doesn’t explain. It just reacts.

It hits the brakes and lets my brain write a thousand excuses.

So now, when I catch myself in the spiral, I don’t just try to push through.

I pause and ask:

– What’s the real threat here?

– What does this task mean to me?

– Do I feel exposed? Expected? Alone?

– What part of me still thinks this isn’t safe?

And then I try to do one thing:

Make it feel a little safer. Not easier. Not perfect.

Just… safer.

Because self-trust doesn’t always start with action.

Sometimes it starts with noticing the pattern—and getting curious about what your body’s still trying to protect you from.

🌀 Our bodies are essential to our output and our joy. It's a good idea for us to understand them better.

I work with professionals and small business to help regulate the nervous system for stress resilience, improved efficiency and sustainable change.

04/28/2025

When parents are stressed and overwhelmed, it’s almost impossible to prevent that energy from affecting their children.

It’s not about blame or shame. It’s simply how nervous systems work.

Children are incredibly sensitive to the emotional states of the adults around them — often picking up on stress even if nothing is said out loud.

This is why it’s essential for us, as adults, to take intentional steps to regulate our own nervous systems.

Regulation doesn't just mean "thinking positive."

It means using real, embodied tools and strategies to help our bodies move out of stress states and into calm, grounded presence.

When parents stay chronically dysregulated, it can lead to children becoming dysregulated too — showing up as emotional outbursts, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, sleep struggles, and even challenges in relationships.

The good news?

Because of neuroplasticity and the natural resilience of the nervous system, healing is always possible — for adults and for children.

Some powerful first steps include:

Breathwork and grounding exercises (daily practice, even for just 5 minutes)

Body-based movement like gentle stretching, yoga, or somatic exercises

Co-regulation activities — simply spending calm, connected time together, like quiet walks, reading, or music

Mindfulness and self-awareness to notice when stress is rising and intervene early

Professional support (coaching, therapy, or body-based practices) when needed

Regulating ourselves isn't just for our own well-being.

It’s one of the most powerful gifts we can offer the children in our lives — a stable, safe emotional foundation they can grow from.

We don’t have to be perfect.

We just have to be willing to practice.

04/22/2025

! 🌿🍀 Take a moment to really take it in! ✨️😁 .wellness

Fyi.. no filter

04/19/2025

Art calms the body and quiets the mind. Art heals. Anything that allows you to lose track of time and brings a smile to your face is a winner.

Zentangles, doodling or scribbling on earth...art is an amazing stress reliever. And it's not about the finished product... it's about the act of ARTING. ✨️🩵😁

04/19/2025

Magic was everywhere last night at my Mindful Movement & Self-care class .

Beautiful souls gathering to heal, move, groove and connect to their amazing selves. Healing, happiness and wellbeing is available for you too.

Join me for a future night of Bliss.
Hop on my email list for future events and weekly tips for stress relief, self-love and a better way of living. Dm or say me! In comments. ✨️💫🥳💙

-love

04/08/2025

Had to share this...
🤔 Are you positive you completely understand the point people are trying to make in conversation? (Like right now?)

You think you’re listening but....

your body is scanning.

Your brain is filtering.

Your history is interrupting.

When your nervous system is dysregulated, communication becomes survival—not connection.

✨ Quick aside:

A dysregulated nervous system is just a body that doesn’t feel safe—even when there’s no danger.

It’s like when the fire alarm goes off just because someone made toast.

You’re not in danger. But your system thinks you are.

So it shuts down, tunes out, or flares up—before your brain can even catch up.

Because here’s the truth:

You’re not just reacting to what’s happening now.

You’re experiencing life through your biology and your biography.

What do you actually hear in those moments?

The tone, not the words

The energy, not the meaning

The threat, not the nuance

The body language, not the intention

The intent that aligns with what you already believe to be true—about yourself, and about the world

We don’t hear what people are saying.

We hear what our nervous system and subconscios thinks they mean.

At work, at home, in life—this matters.

It’s the difference between:

Feedback and defensiveness

Trust and tension

High-performing and high-reacting

💡 Want to improve communication?

Start with safety.

Because no one listens well when their body is bracing for something else.

You don’t just listen with your ears.

You listen with your biology and your biography (history).

And the more regulated you are, the more accurately you’ll hear the people around you, which will make you a better leader, employee, parent, partner and friend.

👇 Ever realized your reaction wasn’t even to the actual words? If you have ever noticed you listening more with your eyes than your ears, share a "It happened to me." below.

We are all just human after all, not perfect, just experiencing and learning from life.

We do have the power to create change in how we show up in our lives though, feel safe in your body; change your life.

03/26/2025

When we listen to our emotions and get curious about what c they are trying to tell us we heal.

When we don't give them our attention they get stuck in the body accumulate over time turning into tension, persistent stress, pain, anxiety, rage, burnout, depression.

It is important to feel emotions when they arise and take action in relation to them. Sometimes that just means giving yourself a hug or going for a walk or shaking (literally) them off.

If you feel like you are a bucket of stress and emotions stay tuned for Part 2, How to process emotions and let them go.

It's a body based approach instead of a mind approach.

If you can't wait for part 2 check out my link in profile for a free download on Quick & Easy Stress Relief. It can help instantly. 😍