Episode 5 Now Streaming! 13 Reasons Why & Instant Insights with Suzelle Marques, LPC (Part 2)

Whew! I know that its been a little while, but we are finally back here on the Intuitive Insight Podcast!

There was so much to talk about last time that we had to do a Part 2!

Please join me, Timmy E. for Episode 5 of the Intuitive Insight Podcast where we will be continuing our interview with Suzelle Marques, LPC of Mindful Counseling. We conclude our discussion of the controversial Netflix Series, "13 Reasons Why" from a clinical and personal perspective. Part 1 certainly had some interesting insight from Suzelle, and click below to here more about what she has to say in Part 2! Plus, Suzelle also participated in our fun segment with all of our guests, "Instant Insight". See what she has to say about many things from counseling, music, and even her favorite place!

If you enjoy the Intuitive Insight Podcast feel free to submit a comment, e-mail us, check us out on social media, or subscribe to our YouTube Channel where you can also check out our previous episodes (Episode 1 - Intro, Episode 2 - Depression, Episode 3 - Anxiety, Episode 4 - Suzelle Marques & 13 Reasons Why: Part 1) and be mindful of upcoming content as well!  

Interview on Guro Mike's Bayani Warrior Podcast now streaming

My very good friend Guro Mike Pana's always been pushing himself to the limit. Whether it be his training, his marriage, being a parent, being a teacher, an instructor, an entrepreneur, and many other facets of his life. Now he surges forward with his own Bayani Warrior Podcast! Join him as he talks about what it means to Live a Warrior/Bayani Lifestyle and learn to unlock that Bayan Lifestyle in your own life! 

 

I am lucky enough to be one of Guro Mike's guests on his Podcast as we discuss about how to live a Warrior/Bayani Lifestyle beyond just the training and further into understanding and being aware of the insight within ourselves and our lives.

Check out this episode of Bayani Warrior Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and via their YouTube Channel!

Episode 3 Now Streaming!

Join me Timmy E. for Episode 3 of the Intuitive Insight Podcast where we will be discussing Anxiety and its various affects on our lives. We will also role out our new segment based from your questions and experiences called the Intuitive Insight Mailbag!

If you enjoy the Intuitive Insight Podcast feel free to subscribe to our YouTube Channel where you can also check out our previous episodes (Episode 1 - Intro, Episode 2 - Depression) and be mindful of upcoming content as well! Intuitive Insight Media is also excited to be working on a video series and video content that will be premiering soon!

Episode 2 Now Streaming!

Join me Timmy E. for the next episode of the Intuitive Insight Podcast where we will be discussing different types of depression and how to deal.  

If you enjoy the Intuitive Insight Podcast feel free to subscribe to our YouTube Channel where you can also check out Episode 1 and be mindful of upcoming content as well.

Intuitive Insight Podcast Episode 2 back on 4/19. Check out my guest spot on the Bayani Warrior Podcast

Intuitive Insight Podcast Episode 2 back on 4/19. Check out my guest spot on the Bayani Warrior Podcast

Podcast Episode 2 on 4/19, Will be a guest on Bayani Warrior Podcast this week! 

 

Episode 1 of the Intuitive Insight Podcast is now streaming!

Please click on the link below to listen to the podcast.

 http://intuitiveinsightcounseling.com/podcast/

Thank you so much for your patience and enjoy the first episode. We shall continue to bring regular content as much as possible here on Intuitive Insight Media. 

Guest on Guro Mike's Bayani Warrior Podcast

I am honored to be a guest for Guro Mike Pana's Bayani Warrior Podcast! Check out www.bayaniwarrior.com to check him out and for more details of when this episode will be available.



 

As always, check out www.intuitiveinsightmedia.com as final preparations are being made to launch Intuitive Insight Media!

Intuitive Insight Media to come soon

What if there was a place where you can get clips, videos, tips, strategies, and discussion about mental health, counseling, psychology, and the pursuit of a well-balanced life with a touch of intuition and insight?

 

Soon there will be as I shall be launching Intuitive Insight Media to continue our mission to make the world Strong on Its Own, but More Powerful Together.

 

Check back with us periodically for more updates on Intuitive Insight Media.

 

You can check out what we're working on at www.intuitiveinsightmedia.com and click the "Media" page at the top. 

Intuitive Insight #4 - No Day But Today

Recently had a chance to watch the movie adaptation of "Rent" (IMO a really great production and modern interpretation of La boheme) a few days ago and couldn't help resonating and being inspired by the "Life Support" Creedo of the support group. 

There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss

No Other Road 
No Other Way
No Day But Today

When listening to it, it redirected me to look at not the past, nor the future, but to focus on the present utilizing the "One Day At A Time, One Moment At A Time" mindset.

There are times that we can be preoccupied with our history (past) or our mystery (future) that we sometimes forget about Today.

Share Your Insight below and follow me @EdquilagLPC to find more helpful nuggets of #intuitiveinsight

 

Intuitive Insight #3 – Types of “Mistakes”

So I was thinking about the different types of “mistakes” people make based on observations and discussion and here the three I notice the most.

Three Types of Mistakes

– Stemming from Missed Opportunities

– Negative Results due decisions made without considering the whole picture (Kind of like based on the options presented to me, I thought this was the best decision while not exactly in the best frame of mind)

– Negative Decisions made on Purpose (Having full understanding of the situation and making a decision that is least beneficial)

Overall, my take on mistakes are that they are part of experiential learning which spawn quotes such as: “never make the same mistake twice” “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”

Any insights? Discuss it here as well as post your thoughts on the types of "mistakes" we make. 

Follow Me on Twitter @EdquilagLPC to find more helpful nuggets of Intuitive Insight!

Intuitive Insight #2 – Affirmations

There can always be times when we doubt our abilities, our motivations, and ourselves. Often these acute times of low self-esteem are in correspondence or reaction to negative emotions brought on by difficult, unexpected, or negative events that are triggers to our homeostasis. 

An Affirmation is a method that promotes to balance our low self-esteem, negative attitudes, etc. by being able to say the complete opposite of these negative emotions or thoughts.

For example, I feel depressed because I have no plans for the weekend. A positive affirmation to combat this statement would be: I am excited and social. I am excited and social. I am excited and social. 

Affirmations are best said in front of a mirror to provide a reflection of what the current emotion is and should be recited with the type of emotion that is desired. In this way, it allows for us to get a clear reflection of what we look like in the negative emotion state we are currently in and gives a sense of the our desired positive emotional state.

By balancing the negative emotion with a positive affirmation, it allows us to be open to changing our current predicament. After saying the Affirmation three to five times, it can give rise to thoughts and ideas to pursue our desired emotion and goals. Perhaps the individual would now be looking to see if any friends, family, acquaintances are available for a last minute get-together. Perhaps, the could look into engaging in an activity that he/she enjoys participating in. Perhaps, the individual could be brave and try a new activity and meet new people. At the very least, the individual would try to ensure that they would have plans with others the following weekend.

Ultimately, utilizing Affirmations allows us to be honest with our emotions and allows to process what triggered the acute negative emotion. But as with many aspects of mental health wellness and awareness, it requires us to be honest with ourselves, how we are feeling, what is causing it, and lastly, how can we can make changes to our situation.

Don’t forget to Share Your Insight below and Follow Me on Twitter @EdquilagLPC to find more helpful nuggets of Intuitive Insight!

INTUITIVE INSIGHT #1 - New Year, Fresh Start via SMARTGoals

Originally Posted on 12/30/14


3……2……1……. Happy New Year! With a New Year comes new possibilities, new goals, and (you guessed it) new resolutions. Ah the New Year’s Resolution, many will make them often for self-improvement reasons such as eating healthier, losing weight, getting a new job, starting/finishing school, starting a new hobby, getting more organized, etc. etc. Some shall succeed on theirs, some shall give up on theirs, but the most important aspect is that ALL will strive hard to work on these resolutions. According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology based out of the University of Scranton (2014), the success rate of individuals who achieve their New Year’s Resolutions is at 8%. The maintenance of resolutions decrease dramatically as the months go by (75% through the first week & only 46% through 6 months). As a result, 38% of individuals polled don’t make New Year’s Resolutions at all.

However, the difficult part of a New Year’s Resolution is that it can often be vague and directionless. With a lack of direction often come feelings of frustration and abandonment of the New Year’s Resolution due to lack of progress. But is the lack of progress really due to lack of effort, or is it due to lack of direction? Professors Peter Herman & Janet Polivy of the University of Toronto (2009) reports identifying what they call “False Hope Syndrome” due to the fact that many New Year’s Resolutions are “ambitious, but unrealistic”. Herman and his colleagues move on to say that many “try to accomplish things more quickly than realistically possible and underestimate the difficulty of the task.” These findings are echoed by many experts throughout the health and wellness fields. Bottom line is that we often overestimate our personal expectations and underestimate the difficulty and complexity of our Resolutions. In a sense, we bite off way more than we are able to chew.

Does this mean that New Year’s Resolutions aren’t worth it? Not at all. In fact, Ray Williams (Founder of Success IQ University and Certified Mentor) and many others note that the key to successfully achieving your New Year’s Resolution is to simplify your resolution and take smaller steps. It is also important to note that when trying to create New Year’s Resolutions it is also about rewiring the brain to be able to accept and focus on the proper steps to achieve these resolutions. This is where the SMARTGoal Tool can be very helpful.

A few notes on the SMARTGoal Tool. It was originally utilized in the business world as a Project Management Technique by George T. Doran in Management Review, 1981. The tool was then found to have great appeal to other professions such as in the Counseling profession. In my particular experience, the SMARTGoal Tool was borrowed and repurposed from my clinical training as a Licensed Counselor when looking to create counseling treatment plans for individuals that I had worked with. When I was able to create a successful treatment plan that the individual could follow for themselves with the right amount of help and counseling, the individual would complete their treatment. I would often urge them to continue utilizing these SMARTGoals in the treatment plan even after their work with me. In later follow-ups there were fewer instances of negative mental health incidents in those that continued to utilize the SMARTGoals. When New Year’s hit a few years ago in 2012, I decided to try and repurpose the SMARTGoal Tool from the clinical counseling realm to my personal life. It has since changed my perception of completing personal goals.

In its core the SMARTGoal Tool is an acronym that stands for:

S – Specific: Make the goal as precise as possible

M – Measurable: Make the goal as numerical as possible so it can be assessed 

A – Achievable: Make sure the goal can be done in achievable methods

R – Realistic: Make sure the goal is not underestimated

T – Time Sensitive: Give the goal an estimated time of completion

 

Let us take the SMARTGoal Tool to a common New Year’s Resolution, losing weight. The statement of “losing weight” itself is quite complex. Some of the questions that can range are: How much weight do you want to lose? What is/are the method(s) that you want to lose weight? By when do you want to lose the weight? What are your reasons for wanting to lose weight? Argh, gives me a headache just thinking about the complexities. But as difficult and time-consuming these questions can be, they are ones that can help provide perspective and specify the goals and reasons for “losing weight”.

Here is the SMARTGoal Tool at work:

S – Specific: Lose weight through decrease of water weight and body fat content

M – Measurable: Lose 20lbs based on above criteria

A – Achievable: Lose weight through the methods of exercise; Change to all-natural diet; Decrease caloric intake

R – Realistic: Lose weight by exercising 3 days per week for at least 1 hour; Replace at least 1 meal per day with all natural/organic foods; list caloric intake via downloaded calorie tracker application (e.g. MyFitnessPal, MyPlate Calorie Tracker, Lose It!)

T – Time Sensitive: Lose the rate of 5lbs per month for at least 4 months

The SMARTGoal Tool has transformed the New Year’s Resolution of “losing weight” into a series of simplified, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-sensitive steps that breakdown the complexities of “losing weight”. Of course it is to the discretion of the individual as to the method of achieving their goal as not everyone may have these suggestions available to them. However, the SMARTGoal Tool can be utilized to fit many situations.

One of my personal resolutions is “Become a Better Cook” in 2015. Once again, a very vague and complex resolution that can be directionless. I look at this monumental task and start to wonder where to begin. Therefore, I will put my resolution through the SMARTGoal Tool.

S – Specific: Learn to cook new recipes of fish, poultry, beef/pork, and vegetables

M – Measurable: Learn to cook 12 recipes (4 fish, 4 poultry, 4 beef/pork, 4 vegetables)

A – Achievable: Look for recipes through multiple digital sources (websites, apps, magazines, TV, etc.); Create a list of additional ingredients to purchase for each recipe during routine grocery/market trips

R – Realistic: Learn to cook 1 recipe per month by researching desired recipe (fish, poultry, beef/pork, vegetable) through 3 digital sources; Create additional grocery list that is focused on new recipe ingredients

T – Time-Sensitive: Try 1 new recipe per month and after learning, practice each recipe at least once each month

Now that I have implemented the SMARTGoal Tool into my personal New Year’s Resolution (Become a Better Cook), it became more achievable and simple. This is not to say that I will master all of these 12 new recipes (as I am still learning), but it will make me a better cook in the simple fact that I would know at least 12 new recipes by the end of 2015. And of course, the more often one utilizes their skills, the more effective they become.

So when making New Year’s Resolutions, try to remember that they can often be vague, directionless, and underestimated. That doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be done, just that it could be simplified using the SMARTGoal Tool to help breakdown the often large and vague resolution to specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-sensitive actions and activities that provide a place to start and a clear direction moving forward. It is likely that there may be a few roadblocks along the way (because that is life), but let’s try not to forget that these roadblocks are just more ways to learn from our adversities. Lastly, resolutions don’t just have to be made at the New Year. If the resolution as been achieved, it does not stop there. It hopefully becomes part of your routine. Then one may be able to focus on new resolutions and goals and the SMARTGoal Tool can continue to be helpful moving forward.

Have fun, stay safe, and have a Happy & Healthy New Year!

Don’t forget to Share Your Insight below and Follow Me on Twitter @EdquilagLAC to find more helpful nuggets of Intuitive Insight!