Today I’m pleased to welcome a podcast guest who has become one of my favourite voices on social media, sharing her wisdom on the concept of self-healing. Dr Nicole Le Pera is a clinical psychologist who felt frustrated by the limitations of traditional psychotherapy and was drawn towards a mind, body and spirit approach. She believes that we’re each responsible for our thoughts, behaviours and reactions – and therefore we have the power within us to heal ourselves from past trauma.

Describing herself as The Holistic Psychologist, Nicole says it’s her mission to help you ‘consciously create a new version of yourself’. Her millions of followers on Instagram and YouTube love her clear and insightful posts which identify patterns, beliefs and behaviours we might want to change. Nicole’s latest book is How To Meet Your Self: The Workbook For Self-Discovery. As it sounds, it’s a practical guide to finding out who you really are, the patterns of belief you might be stuck in, and how to overcome them.

We begin by talking about the fact that many of us feel ‘stuck’ in our lives. We’re stressed, anxious, perhaps our work or relationships aren’t going well. It can feel like something’s missing or broken, but we’re not sure what and so we blame ourselves or our circumstances. But Nicole explains that what’s really going on here is that most of what we think, feel and do is a reflection of our past conditioning. We’re stuck in patterns formed in childhood that no longer serve us – or reflect who we really are.

For many of us, it’s our relationships with our partners or children that can help us to finally observe these patterns. Or sometimes, she says, we need to reach rock bottom before we can start the journey of recognition and self-healing. We talk about how exactly to recognise those experiences from childhood that might have shaped your core beliefs. We look at how these beliefs can manifest throughout life in physical stress responses and hard-to-break habits, through to self-sabotaging, destructive behaviours that can leave us feeling deeply unhappy or unwell.

And we discuss Nicole’s definition of emotional maturity as the realisation that your core beliefs aren’t fact – you can override and change them.

This is a very thought-provoking conversation, which I think will get you looking back at your childhood and reflecting on how it might have shaped who you are today. I hope you enjoy listening.

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Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/318

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.