Changing Thought Patterns
Common distortions in our thought patterns:
Limiting Beliefs
Negativity-Bias
Catastrophizing
Black-White Thinking
Emotional Thinking
What can counseling do:
Identify and revise faulty thought loops i
Outcome:
Reduce anxious thoughts, improve emotional state, increase confidence, improve communication in relationships.
Background:
The first layer of healing and growth comes from identifying habituated thought process. The way we think is the can be discovered through the way we talk and express ourselves. Through conversation, we can detect the hidden and faulty assumptions that had been planted in our mind through intentional education, misinformation or childhood wounds. By making them conscious and finding new ways to view different actions or events in life, we will be liberated from the shackles we had constructed for ourselves without knowing.
Do you feel you deserve more but can’t seem to ask for it? You know you should speak up, you know you deserve to be promoted, heard and paid more, but can’t seem find way to express it! How can you go for higher goals if you do not believe in yourself? You can remove the blocks that keep you silent, build the confidence to ask for more.You can find out what has trapped you and shaped your self-defeating beliefs.
Emotional Regulation
Common Emotional Challenges
Anxious Energy; Depressive Feelings; Constantly Stressed
Unstable Temperament; Cycling Moods
What can counseling do:
Identify Emotional Triggers
Managing our emotions more efficiently
Communicate our emotions clearly
Learn healthy ways to release
Outcome:
Experience relief and peace within ourselves
Having more mental energy to do things we want
Have more capacity to enjoy life and relationships
Background:
Emotions are like the weather of the energy in our body. It is perfectly natural and healthy to have ups and downs, like there is rain and clouds in nature. By learning to identify and communicate emotions(sadness, anger, fear, nervousness, etc.), we can build healthy ways to prevent explosive moments, release daily buildup systematically and ask for support when needed. By having an attuned awareness about our emotions, we are not being “overly sensitive” as some toxic culture might make us believe, but rather we are being strategic about how we use up the energy in our body. There is a finite amount of energy in anyone’s body, just as there are a finite amount of CPU power in a computer. In taking care of the internal weather, we will create an environment we can be more efficient with work and calm with relationships.
Do you feel overwhelmed at work? Do you feel unable to control your temper? And even though you accomplished so much but you can’t seem to feel joy inside? It can be different when you know how to connect and channel your emotional energy wisely.
Somatic Awareness
Common Somatic Signals of Distress
Shortness of Breath
Tension in the Chest
Knot in the stomach
Tightness in the shoulders
Fists that want to tighten
What can counseling do?
Attune to your body’s signals
Build ways to provide release
Develop tolerance for sensations
Detect the nervous system’s stuck points
Outcome:
Awareness of your body
Ability to prevent major stress buildup
Use information from body to heal emotional blockage
Retrieve unresolved memories to process
Background
Our body’s nervous system and neutral networks hold the ultimate key to our sense of safety and confidence. The sensations we experience hold important clues to what we can’t understand through language or capture through emotions alone. It is hard knowing how to talk to our body, especially when a large part of our mind’s job is to protect us from feeling the discomfort of the body. We can practice through mindfulness and guided attunement to connect with our body, just as exercise can help us stretch and build stronger muscles.
You can remove barrier to your relationship and individual success. By having a better relationship with our body, you can set better boundaries, leave space for your individual success and be there for your loved one in a way that does not exhaust you. The hard times you have been through, such as poverty, immigration, divorce or illness, have all left marks in your nervous system, making it stuck in survival mode. You can learn to undo those patterns and thrive in different life’s circumstances.
You deserve to be in a truly supportive environment and healthy relationships. It all starts by having that with your own body.
Testimonials
I want to feel heard and want to believe in myself as a capable person. But I haven’t had it for many years. and I stopped believing it is possible. With Cecilia I finally feel safe to grow. –Josie W.
It is very useful to be coached by Cecilia. I like that she challenges me sometimes. I didn’t want someone just to pamper me. I want to feel better but also learn things. –Xu Z.
Cecilia’s understanding of cross cultural issues really help my partner and I see each other’s perspectives better. So often there is no better or worse, it is just differences that we had to learn to navigate around. — Linda & Brett.