Feelings Unjumbled

Too good not to share 💖

CHANGE THE WAY YOU SEE

I don’t have crow’s feet,
I have happy happy memories of laughing with friends until the tears flowed.

I don’t have frown lines,
I have the marks of my frustration and confusion, which I battled through, smiling in the end.

I am not going grey,
I have shimmering highlights of wisdom, dashed throughout my silver hair.

I don’t have scars,
I have symbols of the strength I was able to find, when life got tough.

I don’t have stretch marks,
I have the marks of growth and the marks of motherhood. My womanly evolution.

I am not fat,
I bear the evidence of a life filled with abundance, blessings and good times.

I am not just forgetful,
I have a mind so full of stories, memories and moments there is scarce room to hold much else.

I am not old,
I am blessed, with a life of great length, something not everyone can say.

Don’t change the way you look my friend,
change the way you see,

change the way you see.

Donna Ashworth
From ‘to the women’
UK: https://amzn.eu/d/0hbQP2wd
US: https://a.co/d/2FaN5Ey

❤️ Art by the FABULOUS Lisa Aisato ❤️

The word ‘vakkar’ means beautiful 🤩

Many years ago a therapist asked me what I was feeling, and the only thing I could say was "anxious".

Life has become so much more colourful since I tuned in to how varied my inner life really is!

Comment COLOUR to be kept in the loop when new offers drop

I love this message! 💖

Before my son's diagnosis of course I knew about neurodivergence. Well, I knew about the stereotypical presentations of Autism. And I knew about being easily distracted and being hyperactive. And I, in my ignorance, would have said 'yes, I know about neuro divergence.

I was a qualified teacher. I am embarrassed to say neurodivergence did not appear on my syllabus. I had not a single minutes training. I was only ever given the information a child was, or some vague educational or behavioural goal. So of course I knew about neurodivergence, right?

And the diagnosis? Well, that was presented to me in its pathologized terms and deficit based language. Surely now I knew about neurodivergence?

No. I knew nothing. I still I knew nothing at all.

But the research and reading and listening to neurodivergents, and trying to understand my own brain better and have insight into how my son functions? Now I do understand. And I am still learning. Everyday.

So what do I wish? I wish that messages about what neurodivergence really is went beyond the neurodivergent community, so that there weren't people like me wandering around in ignorance. So that a system that let me down and also meant there were countless children I let down too is changed. So that this cycle of misunderstanding can be broken for future generations.

I wish that this understanding of neurodivergence were not a faceless, pathologized list of problems as the first information we run into, but the lived experience of actually neurodivergent people communicated in their own way. That's what I want these doodles to really be about. Thank you to those who read, follow, comment and share ❤️🌈

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I've been looking for a word to describe the life-changing practice I've built over the last few years. When I came across self-attunement it fit perfectly!

I define self-attunement as the practice of:
- paying attention to your inner world,
- believing what you find there,
- interpreting your feelings in the context of your life, and
- taking aligned action.

I've massively struggled with all of these in the past. Which one would you most like to get better at?

I can't wait for this webinar with

I'm getting better at setting boundaries, but as a historically very passive - try and do what I think everyone else wants - kind of person it's still tricky.

So excited to hear more about the floordrobe concept and upskill!

I couldn't get all the feelings and complexity into a wheel in a way that was intuitive to navigate, so after a little wobble yesterday I'm working on the next iteration of this tool. Cup of tea and cat on hand for support! ☕🐈

Comment FEELINGS if you'd like to be kept up to date with where I take this.

Edit: I'm so excited to see how much interest there is in this 😁.

I have enough testers for now, but I'm brewing a few different ideas based around this. Comment "yes!" if you're interested and I'll keep you in the loop 💖

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I need testers for my new feelings wheel! Comment "ME" if you're interested.

I'm creating the feelings wheel I wish I'd had 5 years ago - before I knew I was autistic and when I was just starting to learn how to identify and process my emotions.

I bought an emotions wheel to help me identify what was going on for me. But several years later I realised how much of what I was feeling wasn't really an emotion at all, but actually neurological experiences like over-stimulation or hypervigilance.

So I'm putting together a new wheel that combines physical, emotional and neurological experiences - to help my neurodivergent clients practice figuring out what's really going on for them.

Drop a "ME" in the comments if you'd be willing to test it for free in exchange for honest feedback.