Changing the Unchangeable in Mental Health

What’s been right about you all along?

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I know first-hand how a mental health diagnosis can mean a life full of stigma and limitations.

You’re handed a set of future predictions based solely on your label.  Then you define yourself as such and start to create your life in line with it. In the process self-exploration ceases and your goals in life narrow to managing your illness.

If you’re lucky you’re told you can succeed in spite of what you have. I.e. develop more palatable behaviors, fit in and achieve stability.

Throughout treatment, we learn to distrust ourselves. After all, our thoughts and emotions were so inaccurate we needed medical intervention to right them.

And, the biggest pitfall of them all, we are told that it will never ever change. No matter what we do the elephant is staying in the room.

Our current mental health system sets us up to succeed at “normal” only to fail at evolving past the limitations that won us the label in the first place.

This is the biggest lie that we have bought.

And it keeps us from the rare opportunity to explore and utilize many of our gifts erroneously labeled as disorders.

What if being different weren’t wrong – it was just different?

 

And what if that very difference was the most usable and precious asset you had to create a life you love?

I changed what wasn’t changeable.

I discovered my own wisdom (disguised as illness) and my power to choose the life I wanted, moment by moment. And I did it in unexpected and out-of-the-box ways.

My early years of treatment consisted only of medication management and therapy. It was all fear-based, warning me of what was to come and talking circularly about my problems. I felt like I was stuck in a never-ending rabbit hole.

Despite this I did well for myself. I got a master’s degree. I excelled at a fast-paced job at one of the country’s top hospitals (where I eventually ran the department). I bought a car, then a house. From the outside, it looked perfect. Like I had finally suppressed my difference enough to succeed.

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But on the inside, it exhausted me. I was unfulfilled and riddled with self-judgment. I grew tired of hiding and felt there was more to life than stability. I started seeking alternative modalities to gain a sense of peace.

Lightning struck a few years later when I found a gem of a question that changed everything for me:

“What if there is nothing wrong with you?”

This question lit a fire in my belly that began to warm my heart in the most wonderful and seductive way. Hope, in its purest form, began to sprout.

From there my studies and implementation of self-awareness techniques deepened. I discovered that I’m a gifted empath who is keenly aware of others and my environment. My entire life changed when I reclaimed these ‘hidden’ gifts beyond my diagnosis.

I now work with high-functioning, elite individuals who have already succeeded in spite of their diagnosis.

 

They want more and hear the call of the next frontier.

Where…

Nothing is wrong with you – and never was.

There are no unchangeable roadblocks capping your potential.

Success at the usual is great but fulfillment through the extraordinary is better.

Life is textured by the full breadth of energies, possibilities and creations you always knew were possible.

Imagine if you could: 

Break the pattern.

Behaviors are just patterns so deeply ingrained that they become unconscious. And we have the ability to change the unconscious by becoming conscious.  Both self and environmental awareness lets us see how our behaviors are creating the outcomes in our lives. Moment by moment we build our knowledge base on how we interplay with the world around us, and how to tweak it to achieve our desired outcome.

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Use it all.

One of the biggest roadblocks with chronic conditions is bowing to or fighting the system. People go all in with the mainstream or flee to the alternative. This rigidity doesn’t serve you – it only feeds the fight or flight paradigm we live in. Instead, why don’t you play the edge? I followed my doctor’s guidance as well as sought out alternative perspectives. It was the unique mix of both that allowed my choices and creativity to expand. And ultimately, what un-locked one of my superpowers – to look normal while thinking wild (one of the most creative places to live from).

Embrace Your Difference.

Chronic conditions are based on the idea that if you function differently then you have limitations. Over the course of traditional treatment, we pull away from these differences by numbing out or masking them. We learn to succeed at “normal” only to end up feeling hollow.  You see, it’s our difference that makes us great – and without the acceptance and USE of it in our lives, we never reach our true potential. This work is deeply confronting but yields reward beyond your imagination.  Both in outward success and inner happiness.

Trust Yourself.

I know myself better than anyone else – regardless of their degree or expertise. So do you (whether you know it or not!) This is a challenge after a diagnosis as we’re taught not to trust ourselves or our perceptions. But what if nothing were ever wrong with you or your perception of the world? What do you know that no one else does? Can trusting that open up more choices in your life? In our work together this is the constant touch-point. I’m a guide, not a guru. You’ll be your own, as it was meant to be.

Can you change your unchangeable?

Since my multi-award-winning book, The Other Side of Bipolar, came out I’ve been asked if I’m a stand-alone case. If the kind of change I experienced isn’t available to everyone on mass. I say hell no to this.

We have strokes of brilliance and gifts that fall outside of the norm and therefore have been mis-labeled and gone un-tapped.  It takes exploring them from a different perspective where we question everything, judge nothing and challenge the narrative to un-lock our true potential.

As I walk my elite clients through this process, I have seen time and again that change is possible. Despite the chronic condition they have lived with for years.  Empowering them to explore their own unique way of doing it has been my greatest joy.

Are you curious to see what could change for you if given the guidance, support, and freedom to explore?

So am I. Click below to apply.

“Lauren is a wonder. When I began working with her, I wanted to rediscover my power.
What I experienced was my true self and my body. These two things, opened me to an
expanded awareness, which helped me to realize not only my true identity, but how I
can use this to create possibilities. Working with Lauren is a wondrous adventure, and a
gift that you give yourself.”

-Renee, Oregon

“I hadn’t realized that I was bored in communications because I wasn’t allowing myself
to show up as me. After working with Lauren personal and professional interactions are
more focused, creative and easy.”

-Susan, Toronto

“My writing is more liquid, the solid places that once stuck me and kept me from moving
forward are gone. The moment of pause and hesitation, the doubt is no longer a strong
distractor for me and my work feels lighter and more playful! Thank you so much!”

– Chrissy, Indiana

“Lauren has been instrumental in my healing from my anxiety disorder. Her practical
tools, different perspectives and use of her personal experience couple into the most
comprehensive ‘therapy’ I’ve ever had.”

– Mona, Beirut