For me, my main struggles with my own story have come from a deep-rooted negative self-image and a need to not be wrong. These feel so big for me, almost as if it's impossible to let them go. I felt these both very young and spent a good portion of my life holding onto them and reinforcing them (as this was what was modeled for me). Trying to let go of them feels extremely difficult and sometimes "fake." In order to try and break these patterned story lines, I have started to acknowledge what I'm feeling inside when they get activated and instead of clinging to the facade they create, I try to talk more honestly about what is actually going on inside.

William James famously said, "What we attend to becomes our life." But it isn’t just what we pay attention to—it’s how we pay attention. What enters your conscious mind primes your subconscious to look for more of the same. If work is your sole focus, your brain becomes a 24/7 work scanner. You’ll process every event, conversation, and moment through a job-centric lens. The catch? The mood you bring matters just as much as the focus itself. If you approach work with stress, hypervigilance, or a victim mindset, your subconscious accepts that as the default filter. Suddenly, you aren't just seeing more work—you're seeing more unfairness, feeling more underappreciated, and staying constantly on edge. It’s not enough to manage your attention—you have to manage the attitude behind it. What’s one thought pattern or lens you’re trying to shift in your own life right now? Drop it in the comments below.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learning-to-author-your-life-a-free-7-day-emotional-fluency-workshop-tickets-1994801468892

Sometimes, we don't have to do anything. We can just let the feeling be there and let it run its course. Sometimes, doing nothing but observing allows us to be fully present in a moment without needing to fix, solve or escape it. Sitting with a feeling, with an emotion opens an opportunity to meet ourselves exactly where we are, as we are...

What does it mean to sit with something? We here this often; I'm guilty of saying it... But what does it mean to sit with our feelings, a worry, a grief etc.? For me, when I say I need to sit with something, I mean I need to connect to what is present (physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally). I'm not looking to analyze or interpret or solve something. I'm just interested in connecting to what is there and letting it wash over me. When I do this, I give what's happening the space to subside, like a wave that builds and then crashes. This connection to what is present for me gets me out of the "what if" hurricane in my mind that whips up a lot of tension, agitation and stress. What does sitting with something mean to you and how has it unfolded for you?