Katie has several questions about listening to her heart rather than her head. How does one do that? Is it even something we can do? She also says she starts to sense freedom from her habits, but then she “clams up”. She wonders if this response is due to being in an unsafe environment in The post EP257: Guidance versus conditioning, trauma and habits, and practices versus intuition: Questions from a listener. appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I hear some variation on this question a lot. If I’m feeling discomfort and I know an untrue thought is behind it, why lean into that discomfort? The discomfort reveals that something untrue is being identified with. So why lean into that discomfort if it’s rooted in a lie?When someone asks a version of this question The post EP256: Why ‘lean into what arises’ when the thoughts behind those feelings aren’t true? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Aneta Mruz was diagnosed with OCD shortly after her son was born, about 6 years ago. As difficult and terrifying as it was at the time, she says OCD healed her and she’d go through it all over again for what it’s given her.  OCD forced Aneta to re-examine everything she thought she was and The post EP254: “OCD healed me” appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Maya wrote to me about the suffering she’s in over, what she calls, her “physical imperfections”. She’s seen so much about life beyond thought and it’s brought her a lot of peace, but this feels different. Maya’s skin discoloration is making her life very small. She doesn’t date, she stays physically covered up, and she hasn’t The post EP253: A listener question about physical imperfections  appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I was asked to share the story of how my binge eating/bulimia habit ended as a contribution to an upcoming book. The book will be a collection of stories of diagnosed mental health issues that came to an end as people explored the sorts of things we explore here. So, this episode is my telling of The post EP252: How my habit ended appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

The idea that each of us has a specific life purpose that’s our job to figure out…and that we’ll be endlessly happy and fulfilled when we discover it, and empty and lacking until then…is an idea I’ve seen create more suffering than most. Matt Cooksey helps people see this in a fresh way. He frees The post EP251: When you know you’re here for more: A bigger view of purpose and what’s in the way with Matt Cooksey appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Being “hard on yourself” is only possible when some very simple, near universal misunderstandings are in place. One, that you’re responsible for what you think, feel, and do. Two, that what you think, feel, and do means something about you. These are basically the same thing, both rooted in the illusion that there is a The post EP250: How to stop being so hard on yourself appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Giacomo is unsure what he wants to do for a career and where to place his attention. He has many passions but says he has a hard time choosing which to pursue. As we explore what his mind is telling him about all of these passions and what it means to choose one, he begins to The post EP249: A coaching session on choosing which passions to pursue appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I’ve come to love a familiar feeling of dread that visits many mornings. How this feeling is experienced has changed quite a bit over the years.  Initially, I found a lot of benefit in curiously inquiring into the thought behind the feeling. Was there one? I’d explore who this feeling was about and who it The post EP248: Feeling is not in your body appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Have you noticed this story? It’s a sometimes obvious, sometimes incredibly subtle storyline that is present anytime suffering is present. Often, the story is not noticeable but the physical and emotional resistance of “this shouldn’t be happening” is felt. That story has nothing at all to do with life. It has zero to do with truth The post EP246: Noticing the story that says everything would be better if this wasn’t happening appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.