Chögyam Trungpa's calligraphy "NO" - a transmission on the discipline of saying NO in a way that liberates rather than constricts. Created January 8, 1979, as a teaching tool for his students on distinguishing between clarity-rooted boundaries and ego-protective defense. On January 8, 1979, at the Kalapa Court in Boulder, Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa did something unexpected. He observed his students indulging in what had become comfortable, self-justifying narrat

In our previous articles, we explored what fear is really about - how it's information trying to tell you something needs attention - and when fear becomes chronic - how your nervous system can get stuck in protection mode. But there's another way fear expresses itself: as a phobia. A specific, intense, often seemingly irrational fear that triggers an immediate, overwhelming response. Phobias aren't random. They're your nervous system's response to overload. What Makes a Ph

You keep feeling afraid. You've tried positive thinking, breathing exercises, distraction, avoidance. Nothing makes it go away. The fear keeps returning, sometimes stronger than before. Here's why: you're not listening to what it's trying to tell you. Fear isn't a malfunction. It's not proof that something is wrong with you. Fear is communication from your nervous system about something that needs your attention. Fear Is Information, Not a Problem The issue isn't that you fee

You've read Part 1: What Fear Is Really About  and you understand that fear is information, a call to action trying to tell you something. But what happens when fear stops working that way? When it's no longer occasional information but constant background noise? What happens when fear becomes chronic? The Shift from Signal to Static Healthy fear arises, delivers its message, and resolves when you respond. You feel afraid. You assess the situation. You take action. The fear s

Do you feel surrounded by people yet completely unseen? Do you scroll through social media for hours but feel emptier afterward? Are you going through the motions of connection without ever truly feeling met? This is loneliness. And it's not proof that something is wrong with you. It's your nervous system's way of saying you've been cut off from the field that sustains you. What Loneliness Is Actually Signaling At the nervous system level, loneliness is a state of unmet reson

Do you wake up already feeling behind? Are your shoulders tight before you even sit up? Do you move through the day managing one demand after another, never quite catching up? By evening, are you exhausted yet wired, unable to truly relax even when you finally have time? This is what chronic stress feels like. And if it goes on long enough, it becomes something else entirely. It becomes burnout. What Stress Is Actually Telling You The most important thing to understand about

We've been talking about feelings as signals, information from your internal system trying to guide you toward what you need. But what happens when you don't listen to those signals? What happens when the feeling shows up and instead of responding to it, you just make it stop? That's where the "Feel Bad & Distract Cycle" begins. This pattern, first described by Calvin Banyan, describes one of the most common ways people get stuck in their emotional lives. It's simple on the s

The Truth You've Been Missing About Your Emotions We've been taught to fear uncomfortable feelings. Anxiety means something is wrong with us. Anger makes us "difficult." Sadness is weakness. So we spend enormous energy trying to not feel what we feel. But what if I told you that uncomfortable feelings don't mean something is wrong with you ? What if they mean your inner system is working exactly as it should? From a hypnotherapy and holistic mental health perspective, all fee

When You Can't Tell If You're Coming or Going There's a particular exhaustion that comes with cycling between anxiety and depression. Maybe you recognize the pattern: periods where you're wound tight with worry, your mind racing through worst-case scenarios, your body tense and ready for disaster. Then, seemingly without warning, the energy drains away completely. The anxiety fades but what replaces it feels worse. A flatness. A heaviness. An inability to care about anything

The Story You May Not Remember Writing There's something you carry with you every day that shapes how you see yourself, interpret other people's actions, respond to challenges, and what feels possible in your life. You probably aren't even aware of it most of the time. It operates quietly in the background, influencing your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours before you consciously realize what's happening. These are your beliefs. The foundational stories about yourself, other

When the Label Doesn't Tell the Whole Story A Toronto parent recently told me something that stuck with me: "When I got my ADHD diagnosis I felt relieved. Finally, an explanation. But then I watched them write the prescription, and I thought... is this really it? Am I just going to medicate my way through this?" That question sits at the heart of a much larger conversation happening across Ontario, across Canada, and really across the Western world right now. ADHD diagnoses h

When Your Warning System Won't Turn Off There's a moment many people describe when they realize their anxiety isn't just happening to  them anymore. It's become part of how they move through the world. The racing thoughts before sleep. The tightness in your chest during ordinary conversations. The constant scanning for what might go wrong next. You might recognize this pattern. Maybe you've been told it's "just stress" or that you need to "learn to relax." Perhaps you've trie

The Myth That's Keeping You From Help "I don't think I can be hypnotized." I hear this almost weekly. Someone sits across from me, genuinely interested in hypnotherapy for anxiety, chronic pain, or breaking unwanted patterns, but convinced they're one of those people who "just can't be hypnotized." Maybe a hypnotherapist told you this after a failed "suggestibility test." Maybe you tried a stage hypnosis show and nothing happened. Maybe you've just heard that only certain peo

When Pain Becomes Your Unwelcome Companion Mark sits in his Leslieville apartment, staring at the bottle of pills on his kitchen counter. Three years ago, after a car accident left him with chronic back pain, these little white tablets felt like salvation. Now? He takes more than he'd like to admit, sleeps poorly anyway, and still wakes up each morning feeling like his body is fighting against him. He's not alone. Across Toronto and Canada, millions of people live with chroni

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When Dreams Turn Into Dust Jenny Slate thought joining SNL at 28 would be like kissing a young pharaoh and becoming his bride. Instead, she got a mummified corpse who "coughed his dust down into my throat." After getting fired, the humiliation poisoned her standup and made her feel like she would never get on stage again. She felt like "the dying antelope" - and that everyone wanted her gone because she reminded them they could fail too. The "Weird Dude" Solution Long story s

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