👉🏽 Subscribe for thoughtful, bite-sized emails — from Liz Zhou, a neurodivergent therapist — on how to take care of your nervous system & understand your brain.
May this season bring you exactly what you need 🌱
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This weekend marked the solstice - a transition across seasons, the longest day of light in the northern hemisphere & the longest night in the southern hemisphere. 🕯️ To me, these types of transitions feel important to celebrate & acknowledge – whether through the simple lighting of a candle, a moment of connection with nature, or a gathering with loved ones. This time of year reminds me of other types of transitions as well - endings, new beginnings, goodbyes, and hellos. Several years ago, I signed up to foster kittens through my local animal rescue. We (my partner & I) got to foster several adorable kittens, caring for them until they reached an adoptable age & weight, and sometimes nursing them back to full health after they’d had a rough start to life. Inevitably, several weeks after we would meet & bond with our adorable foster kittens, we would have to transition them to their next home – that is, return them to the animal rescue org, so they could be placed with these forever homes. Sometimes, when I share about this experience with people, they ask me, “is it hard to say goodbye to the kittens?” 💔 My honest answer? Yes and no. Yes, it was hard to say goodbye, because I cherished my time with these kittens & they brought so much joy and delight to the home. But also no, because I knew that they would be going to a home where they would be loved & cared for. My role in their life was as a bridge & transition space, but not necessarily as a forever home. I was in their life for a season - and then they got to transition to their next chapter. Once they left, we would have space to welcome the next foster kittens. Transitions - like the solstice; like goodbyes & hellos - remind me how precious life is. Each season of life plays a role in shaping who we are & how we relate to the world. May this season bring you exactly what you need. With care, P.S. Know someone who needs to hear this? Forward it along. New readers can subscribe here. P.P.S. If you’re interested in working together, I’d love to support you. 🌻 For folks who are overwhelmed & burnt out, but too busy for weekly therapy, 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. 👉🏽 If you want to get an Intensive on the books, click here to book an intro call. 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. |
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.
What does it mean to be human? Years ago, I watched an episode of Black Mirror (a science fiction show) that made me sit with this question in a new way. The episode is called San Junipero. Here’s the premise: 🌊 San Junipero is a town on the beach, where people play, dance, meet with friends & lovers, and live their best lives. The only catch? San Junipero doesn’t actually exist in the physical world. It’s a simulated, digital reality. The people who hang out in San Junipero are: living...
A couple newsletters ago, I mentioned that I recently moved to Oregon. (You can read that newsletter here if you missed it!) Since then, I’ve been observing & connecting with the nature around me - which is the land of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla; Clackamas; Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. (Which I learned through this helpful & important website.) A few things catch my attention when I meander through the forest in my backyard. 🦋 the...
Recently, I brought my newly adopted dogs, Toto and Didi, to their first vet appointment. Since they’re anxious beings, still adjusting to the rhythms of our home, I wanted to find a vet that would treat them with the care & patience that they need. That’s how I ended up at a “fear-free” vet clinic, which emphasizes “stress-free visits that put your pet at ease.” The way the vet interacted with our dogs reminded me what it means to take care of the nervous system - whether animal or human....