Ilene Smith

06/29/2021

Did you know that a need for extreme control and lack of flexibility is a trauma response?

While many of us thrive in routine, there is a difference between routine and rigidity. How can you tell whether your routine is healthy or your nervous system is managing anxiety with rigid behavior?

Here are 4 questions that can help you identify patterns of rigidity in your life.

Interested in learning more? Take the full assessment in my book: https://ilenesmith.com/

06/22/2021

Embracing a healthy healing lifestyle can start with you. As things return to a new normal, the changes we see in our everyday lives can be a lot for many of us to adjust to.

But there are ways to make it easier to transition back into reconnecting with ourselves, others and the world around us.

I shared some tips to help you move forward with creating a healing lifestyle above. You can read more tips for building a sense of safety in our relationships and with ourselves in my book: https://ilenesmith.com/

06/19/2021

This past year has brought an unprecedented amount of loss and unpredictability for many of us. The loss of my father during the pandemic was something I could never have anticipated.

As I've moved through my grief, and as Father's Day nears, I am reminded of some tips I've found helpful to keep me grounded and connected in my grieving process.

I shared them in my latest piece with Thrive Global Community: http://ow.ly/w9Uo50Febqf

06/19/2021

This past year has brought an unprecedented amount of loss and unpredictability for many of us. The loss of my father during the pandemic was something I could never have anticipated.

As I've moved through my grief, and as Father's Day nears, I am reminded of some tips I've found helpful to keep me grounded and connected in my grieving process.

I shared them in my latest piece with Thrive Global Community:

I spent many years in therapy trying to resolve my fear of losing a parent. What I never could have anticipated was losing my dad during a pandemic. Loss during the pandemic took away many of the rituals and routines that gave us comfort and control over our grief. And while each culture and religio...

06/14/2021

Do you attend traditional talk therapy, but still feel anxious, depressed or "off"?

First, congratulations for taking the steps to healing! But if it's not working, it could be you are reliving your trauma over and over and not moving toward healing by releasing that trauma from your physical body.

There's a detailed explanation in my book of how to use talk therapy the best way to compliment whole-body healing: https://ilenesmith.com/

06/08/2021

When our nervous systems experience dysregulation, activation of different parts of the nervous system ensues. Unprocessed trauma can cause nervous system dysfunction through hyperarousal and hyperarousal.

Hyperarousal causes our nervous systems to feel overwhelmed by our emotions and unable to process the situations we find ourselves in. Hypoarousal causes our nervous system to withdraw our emotions. I shared some ways that this may manifest in my book ‘Moving Beyond Trauma’.

Take the assessment in the book today and gain a better understanding of how our nervous systems can cause us to process emotions differently in the face of trauma: https://ilenesmith.com/

06/07/2021

Feeling overwhelmed by expectations around returning to "normal"? Our senses play a major role in keeping our nervous systems going. So what happens when unprocessed trauma prevents us from grasping our senses or feeling connected to the world around us?

We can feel overwhelmed by sights, sounds and other senses known as hypersensitivity or we can experience hyposensitivity or a lack of awareness and connection to our environments and senses. At times we may even find ourselves experiencing both.

Click through to learn how hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity can present themselves in our lives and gain a better understanding of how our nervous systems experience our daily life patterns by taking the assessment of where you stand on the sensory scale in my book, ‘Moving Beyond Trauma’: https://ilenesmith.com/

04/24/2021

You don’t know how fearful you are until the fear starts lifting.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Anxiety, depression and a feeling of discomfort often stems from fear. The problem is we don’t even know that we are in fear. What we know is that something inside of us doesn’t feel right. Maybe be we feel disconnected or maybe we feel as though we are not living our fullest and best life.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Getting honest and facing our fears requires looking inside and facing our shadow side and inner critic.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Today, if you do nothing else, acknowledge who you are. Acknowledging where you are and offer yourself some love and kindness. Be gentle with yourself in the way you would be gentle to others.

03/26/2021

Ways to support your growth and well-being.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Read more and watch less Netflix ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Meditate instead of grabbing yours phone for a distraction.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Say no more often and be clear about your communication and expectations⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Connect with people who inspire you⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Be kind but don’t be a people pleaser ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Get enough rest. Rest breeds creativity ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Focus on you and not what others are doing or saying.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Don’t let your past control your present. Instead, learn from your mistakes.

01/11/2021

Happy Monday! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I spent some time this past weekend reflecting on the many conversations I shared with friends and clients since the beginning of the year.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I thought this was a good opportunity to remind us of some important ideas to enhance our lives and spiritual journey.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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1.Connection is about giving and receiving without judgement. The same space you hold for others is the space you need to hold for yourself.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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2.Focus on yourself and your needs. Focusing on what others are not providing for you only distracts you from creating your best life.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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3. A successful life is about shared experiences and building memories. Measuring success by your accomplishments is only a small part of your happiness.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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4. The greatest commitment you can make is to your happiness.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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5. While compromise is part of being in relationship, compromising yourself disconnects you from you.

12/18/2020

How do you define success?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Success is defined by the strength of our character, not by the size of our salary.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What and how you are experiencing and being in this very moment is more important than what you will accomplish in the future. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Success is about loving yourself, living with intention and showing up for the journey. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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The destination is less important than the path you walk to get there.