👉🏽 Subscribe for thoughtful, bite-sized emails — from Liz Zhou, a neurodivergent therapist — on how to take care of your nervous system & understand your brain.
An honest answer to "how are you?" 🔥
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If someone were to ask you, “how are you, really?”… what would you honest answer be right now? So, my honest response to “how are you, really?” would not be a short answer — it’d be an answer that acknowledges all of my parts. We all have parts, working inside of our nervous systems, helping us to navigate life in whatever way makes sense. (If you have experienced Internal Family Systems therapy or “parts work,” this language will be familiar to you.) Parts might show up as emotions, sensations, images, thoughts, or a wave of energy. 🌿 Parts of you might numb out in response to overwhelming events. 🌿 Other parts of you might feel things intensely. 🌿 Some parts might hold rage, grief, sadness, or fear. 🌿 Other parts of you might feel hopeful & motivated. What I appreciate about parts language is that it acknowledges complexity. It reminds us that multiple experiences can be true at once. You can be hopeful & exhausted, grieving & angry, joyful & overwhelmed. One part doesn’t cancel out the other. They all exist in relationship to each other. The world is complex & multifaceted, and our inner parts reflect that. Every part of us is here for a reason (even if it’s not immediately obvious). 🔥 Deeply feeling parts keep us connected to our humanity. 🔥 Numbed-out parts protect our nervous systems from drowning in overwhelm. 🔥 Parts that hold rage may connect you to your sense of justice, your purpose, and your values. 🔥 Parts in grief may be a reminder to slow down, rest, and acknowledge what has been lost & what needs healing. 🔥 Hypervigilant parts point us to areas where we don’t feel safe, and show us what is needed in order to move toward safety (like connecting with community, or watching a Know Your Rights training — here’s one training & here’s another). Do you see how every part of us has something important to share (even if it’s not always easy to hear)? ❤️ Today, I invite you to be curious toward your parts, as you ask yourself, with genuine care, “how are you, really?” With care & solidarity, P.S. In case you missed last week’s email announcement: I’m starting a podcast, and it’s called Nervous System Care & Healing. 🎙️ The first few episodes will come out later this month. You can check out the 3-min trailer on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. I can’t wait to share more soon. P.P.S. If you're overwhelmed & burnt out, but too busy for weekly therapy, I am here to support you. I offer Nervous System Healing Intensives — three 90-minute sessions, using brain-body modalities (Brainspotting, IFS, EMDR) that go deeper than talk therapy & help you feel better, sooner.
Intensives are a type of short-term, accelerated therapy — for folks who prefer a hyper-focused approach to healing; who need longer than 50-min sessions to warm up & process deeply. Our three 90-minute sessions are scheduled across 1-2 weeks. 👉🏽 If you want to get an Intensive on the books, click here to book an intro call. P.P.P.S. Know someone who needs to hear this? Forward it along. New readers can subscribe HERE. I help highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults heal their nervous systems & connect with their authentic selves. 💗 Need a nervous system reset? —> Join me for a Calm Place meditation.
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Liz's Neurodivergent Letters
👉🏽 Subscribe for thoughtful, bite-sized emails — from Liz Zhou, a neurodivergent therapist — on how to take care of your nervous system & understand your brain.
How does your brain like to process information? By reading words on a page? Skimming a screen? Talking it out in a live conversation? Watching videos? Looking at images? 👀 Listening to podcasts? While moving your body, or while sitting still? Our brains process information in so many different ways — visually, auditorily, kinesthetically, verbally, non-verbally, sub-consciously, consciously… and more. 🎧 If you happen to be an auditory processor, you might enjoy this new resource that I’ve...
I recently joined a pottery class, as a way to unwind, be creative, meet new people, and learn a fun new skill. 🏺 2 weeks & 1 clay-splattered shirt later… and I want to share some (neurodivergent) observations. *** My art teacher uses a lot of verbal instructions – put your hand there, put your other hand here, position your body this way. The challenge? My brain struggles to process verbal instructions. I have a much easier time with slow, experiential, and visual learning. Whether your...
As highly sensitive & neurodivergent people, I think a lot of us are used to navigating complexities and holding dualities. For example: the complexity of masking to stay safe and unmasking to conserve energy, while learning who you are underneath the masks. The duality of experiencing deep joy and deep grief, sometimes within the same hour. Or the same breath. And the whiplash of shifting between these two states. The paradox of parts of you wanting connection, and parts of you wanting to be...