Here it is… my labour of love is finally ready!
So yes, I PASSED!! I passed my NeuroChange Practitioner exam – THREE MONTHS AGO.
It’s been about 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks since I completed the course. I was SO happy; I wanted to shout it out from the rooftops! I made a Facebook post when I received my certification, and I was incredibly grateful for the response and support – THANK YOU.
I was ready to rock. (Or so I thought…) I am officially certified; this is what I have been waiting for – let’s do this!!
Website! Branding! Newsletters! Workshops! Sessions!
So many ideas, so much to do. And that all takes time.
As I started to put my dreams into reality, with the help of an incredible team of support – well, I kept changing my mind on this and that. Days turned into weeks, and then the stress came in – oh, the stress! But I passed days ago now, weeks ago … OMG, NOW IT’S BEEN OVER A MONTH.
I neeeeeeed to get this moving.
One of my mentors asked me, ‘Why?’
Well, because I worked so hard! I have the website up and published, and nothing new is happening. I need to start practicing and beta testing. I need to move the needle forward!
“But you ARE.” She told me. Maybe not the way I had thought, but I was envisioning and crafting and molding and remolding – and you know what?
THANK GOODNESS.
If I had launched something in those first few days or weeks – I would have been way over my head. And I would have had to re-do SO much because things have evolved and shifted as I dove into – ok, what will this all look like.
With all that being said, I want to explain now and clarify precisely what my certification is and how I plan to be of service going forward.
What exactly is a NeuroChange Practitioner? We are Personal Development Professionals that use our knowledge of cognitive science and evidence-based tools in our practice to empower our clients to make real, meaningful, and lasting changes in their lives.
I was fascinated by the Neuro Change Method approach to personal growth because it’s based on solid cognitive science research. It has now been proven that the conscious mind and the subconscious mind do NOT work in isolation, but indeed are two facets of the mind that are integrated (they mutually influence each other) – brain and mind sciences have entered an incredible new era.
Advances in Neuroscience in the last few decades have proven that we are not hard-wired as once thought. We are actually soft-wired. In non-neuro lingo, this means when someone says, or you hear yourself saying: “that’s just the way I am,” – you can now, with 100 percent confidence, say, “NOT TRUE.” People can change – YOU can change. You can rewire your brain.
Would you like to understand how I KNOW you can do this, aside from all the scientific proof? Because I did it. I did some major rewiring. And it was hard. Thank goodness I had excellent guidance and an exceptional therapist, and also discovered the advancements in Neuroscience through the Neuro Change Method.
Remember that survey I shared with you in those first introductory Blogs? Question #4 was, “What do you value more when someone is sharing their thoughts and opinions on wellness?” Over 154 participants answered, and 109 (70%) chose Personal Experience (Professional Experience came in at 22%, and Academic Credentials was 6.5%).
Through my own personal journey over the last decade in self-development, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Holistic Coaching, a variety of Self Development Conferences including Tony Robbins, countless workshops and courses – including the most recent completion of my Certification as a NeuroChange practitioner – I was able to land and ground myself, lift myself out of old conditioned beliefs, shift my unconscious thoughts, and rise to a new vibration of peace, joy, and happiness that has been so incredibly freeing.
Now I am ready to share what I have learned to help others who are seriously committed to making real change in their lives.
After much thought about how I would like to proceed, I have decided I will be working one-on-one with clients. Although there is power in group session formats (and it’s more financially beneficial to the facilitator), the fact that I personally have had such a valuable experience feeling seen, heard, validated, and totally secure with the complete confidentiality that comes with such a relationship, I have chosen to develop a deeply personalized, private service. These individualized sessions will allow us to implement different elements that are specifically applicable depending on you and your unique circumstances.
There are three kinds of people I feel I can be of value to the most:
There was a time when I was so incredibly lost, in the depths of survival mode (Near-death experience, divorce, career crisis, just beyond being overwhelmed), what I would call ‘in the dark.’ I couldn’t see my way out; I needed help. I needed guidance and direction to land from floating in chaos. If you are in the dark and need a safe place to land, I would be honoured to help you find your grounding.
Then there was the season of ‘coming out of the darkness’ – scary, exciting, unknown, hard, unique, unsure. Oh, how I have been there. It can be even more challenging than just being in the dark; at least I knew it there – with all its overwhelm and insanity. But we are not meant to live in survival mode 24/7. I didn’t want to live like that anymore; I wanted more joy, more happiness, less stress, and more peace. Shifting out of that ‘default’ mode was HARD. Through the process, I realized I had been operating in survival mode since I was a child. It was a massive undertaking; it took time, involved developing new coping skills, was tough, and was the absolute best decision I have ever made. Committing to bettering myself made me a better mom, ex-wife, colleague, daughter, woman, and human – literally every facet of my life improved. If you are in a season of your life where you are ‘coming out of the darkness’, I would love to connect to see how I could support you in your transformative journey.
And lastly, this aspect of my own learning has been truly eye-opening and life-changing, ‘I see the light! Now what?’ This has been (and still is) the most challenging and rewarding season. I LOVE IT HERE. At first, it was brand new territory; I didn’t know where I was, what to do, how to live here – in this new light after I had been in that dark place. See, there is ‘coming out of the dark,’ a whole process in itself, and there is actually living in this new place. You don’t want to go back to that dark place, but sometimes we find ourselves back there. Why? Because even though we know, it’s not a good place for us, it FEELS safe; we know what to expect there, as unhealthy and unsafe as it may be. Does that make sense to you? And maybe you have pulled yourself out of that dark place before, possibly numerous times – which makes you feel worse about it all. If you resonate with this and are looking for support and guidance in a season like this, I can relate, listen, and help.
So, this is what I have been figuring out for the past few months since I passed and received my certification. Was ‘the plan’ to have this all done and posted on my website within the week after my exam – YES.
Was I frustrated that it wasn’t happening the way I wanted it to? YES.
Did some ‘life’ happen in the last few months? Yes.
Did some ‘default/dark place’ thinking creep in? Yes.
Did I slip back into that dark place? NO.
I have learned how to catch myself. I have learned to pause. I have rewired the neurons in my brain to not immediately panic.
I called in my reinforcements, I talked with my coach, and we made new plans.
I asked questions; I sat in it. What am I supposed to be learning here? What is the lesson?
I journaled, and I unpacked it. It took time.
Was I Zen throughout the past few months? Not at all. I had my moments. I am human, after all.
But wow, I handled it better than the ‘old Cheryl’ would have – that’s for sure! (I love catching myself going… wow, I dealt with that so well compared to how I would have years ago)
And I started to see that I simply would not have been able to share with you, with the clarity I have now, what I am offering here with Shift With Cheryl. This time, and this work, have been instrumental in developing how I can best serve you.
I also think it’s important to share all this with you because I certainly don’t consider myself ‘done’ in my personal growth journey. I am right alongside you, applying all I have learned and continue to learn in my seasons of life.
Personal Development is never fully achieved; it’s ongoing – we can choose to see that as a daunting, unending road, or the most beautiful opportunity.
I look forward to serving you; I will release more information shortly. In the interim, I invite you to message me if you have any questions at all; I am just a message away.
