Narrating Hope

In this episode, Elizabeth encourages listeners to consider the season that they are in. Just as we do with literal seasons, name the season and consider what you need in order to walk through the season. For example, if in a season of grief, name and validate that for yourself, and then consider what you need to walk through that time.

Elizabeth encourages listeners to practice assertive communication by emphasizing the goodness of assertive communication and the letting go of passive and aggressive communication styles. Assertive communication has so many benefits for self-worth, for strengthening relationships, and for helping mitigate anxiety as it elevates having a voice and being able to speak into your own life. This is relevant for adults as well as older kids, teenagers, and young adults.

In this episode Elizabeth talks about all anxiety. First simply normalizing anxiety as a human emotion and encouraging listeners to notice and name when they are experiencing anxiety. Elizabeth then focuses on the strategy of considering anxiety as having a voice and beginning to pay attention to what anxiety is saying in your life. Sometimes anxiety is telling us to avoid things that are actually good and healthy for us because they are uncomfortable and scary, but by externalizing anxiety's voice, we reduce it's power in our lives.

Elizabeth encourages listeners to consider whether they have margin in their lives. Margin can be thought of as "breathing room" and is an essential part of well-being. Margin allows for rest and recovery and supports playfulness and delight. Elizabeth asks listeners to get reflective on whether they desire more margin in their lives and then work to cultivate it by saying no to extra things in order to cultivate more intentional margin.

Elizabeth shares about the overfunctioning dynamic and encourages listeners to get reflective on whether they are overfunctioning by paying attention to their focus on doing everything perfectly and whether resentment is building towards others. Overfunctioning is a pattern that can be changed by accepting your own limits, saying no, accepting good enough, and asking for help. Challenging the overfunctioning dynamic can help support moving towards more sustainable functioning and also impact overall dynamics of stress and anxiety.

In this episode, Elizabeth B. Burton highlights the significance of the counseling relationship as being key for counseling to be purposeful and meaningful. Elizabeth encourages reflection on how the relationship feels for you and paying attention to whether it's a good fit or not. Sometimes this can mean working through some things that come up for a person and other times it means reevaluating the relationship and working towards finding a better fit.

In this episode Elizabeth encourages reflection around where we have a scarcity mindset and how comparison often feeds a scarcity mindset. In noticing a scarcity narrative, we can then consider and name what we really long for and then press more authentically into true gratitude for what we do have.

Elizabeth highlights the importance of considering core beliefs and how these beliefs impact how you feel and experience boundaries. Many times boundaries are difficult for people, and instead of simply focusing on practicing boundaries, you can dig a little deeper and work to reframe core beliefs that may be influencing the challenges with setting boundaries.

In this episode Elizabeth encourages letting go of any unrealistic expectation for perfection, and instead, moving towards authenticity while still holding tight to what you value. Elizabeth encourages this awareness of rigid, precise, all or nothing thinking and the movement towards a softer way of being in the world that includes more breathing room and more being real.

Elizabeth shares about the concept of giving yourself a seat at the table which is all about having a solid sense of self-worth and value. Elizabeth reminds us that just because we have a thought, does not mean it is true. In fact, we can begin to challenge faulty, critical narratives about ourselves and reframe our thoughts in such a way that support having inherent worth and value just as we are.