This past week I was helping a client through something that comes up for a lot of us: getting stuck in self-critical spirals. Since this is such a common topic I come across, I thought I'd share it with you all: She came to me with trying to move past those intrusive thoughts that say things like "you're not enough, that person is never going to truly love you" or "you're going to be stuck forever." Here's what I shared with her. You don't get to choose the thoughts that pop into your mind. They come from past experiences, patterns, external triggers. But you do get to choose how you respond to them. Once you notice the thought, you have a choice. You can entertain it. Keep thinking it. Keep playing out all the ways it's true and where that leads. That path will take you somewhere anxious and heavy and maybe hopeless. Or you can redirect. Shift your focus. For her, because the thoughts were leaving her with sadness and this real feeling of heaviness, I suggested gratitude. Not as a bypass, but as a genuine redirect. Instead of letting the mind spiral into the negativity, walk back through your day and name the beautiful things. Actually feel grateful for them. When she was a little apprehensive, I reminded her that simply waking up is a gift, and asked her to walk me through her morning from there. You can also rewrite the thought directly. If the thought is "I'm not enough", rewrite it: "I am absolutely enough, and here's all the evidence that's true." Then fill it in. Now here's something to note: this sounds simple. In theory it is. But in practice it's hard. If it were easy, we'd all just shift out of these spirals. We don't. This is exactly why we practice mindfulness. It's what builds the muscle of awareness, so we can actually notice our thoughts instead of being consumed by them. So we have space to choose a different path. When we get stuck in the loop, we get stuck in our heads. We disconnect from our bodies, from our inner wisdom, from our truth. That's why this work matters. It takes us out of the mind and back into ourselves.

Hello lovelies! You might have noticed on the calendar that next week I am hosting a free workshop! It's called Slow Down + Reconnect and it's all about learning why we get stuck in our minds (overthinking, self criticism, etc) and how to slow down and reconnect to yourself. Most importantly we'll be learning a practices that you can take with you after the masterclass. It's completely free, if you'd like to register for it you can sign up here: https://slowdownmasterclass.lovable.app/ Hope to see you there! xx