Fill out the contact form be to book an appointment, register for a workshop, ask me a question, or anything else!
As always, feel free to call or email me as well.
PHONE 1.855.EMPATHY or 1.855.367.2849
EMAIL marina [at] shamelessheart [dot] com
Gainesville, FL
1 (855) EMPATHY
Life and communication coaching for women.
We didn’t make this stuff up.
The inner voices that rattle us daily –”Didn’t accomplish enough.” “Not outspoken enough.” “Not beautiful enough.” “Not smart enough.” “Not powerful enough.”– we didn’t make this stuff up.
The epidemic of shame that shapes our world, our culture, our daily lives, our experience of the world… creating a sense of isolation and chronic “not enough-ness” — we inherited this stuff.
Read MoreOne of the dangers of taking on a practice with a name like “Nonviolent Communication” is that we may start to run an inner soundtrack that sounds something like, “You’re supposed to be nice, Marina … all the time… to everybody…” dictators, mosquitoes, and scowling meter maids alike. ”Be nice, don’t get mad, keep it in, and everybody will be fine.” “Nonviolent” can thus be heard as an order to “shut up,” to censor, to hide.
Read MoreI have sworn up and down in life that I would never title a blog "X number of Steps to Whatever," because I have always wanted to honor the complexity of life, and all the human emotions of irritation, frustration, stuckness, doubt, etc. that arise in the course of our everyday lives.
When I see other "X Steps to Blah Blah" articles, I ignore them, because I assume that the author is pretending to be super-human, will never admit to peeing in the shower, much less the challenges that come with being a human who struggles around desires for acceptance, belonging, connection, self-expression, etc.
When, if ever, is shamelessness a form of self-deceit?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been an advocate of shamelessness.
It showed up in smaller ways at first: an insistence on wearing brightly colored mis-matched socks all through elementary school, followed by a dogged determination to start a paper recycling program in my high school, despite the groans and rolling eyes of my teachers, who preferred not to be bothered. My favorite T-shirt read, “Why be normal?” – a motto that I follow to this day...
Read More“I feel unsafe.”
“I’m needing trust.”
Ever find yourself saying these words? In my experience, needs for “safety” and “trust,” particularly when expressed without any specific requests, are often dead-ends — needs that secretly contain judgments of the other as “unsafe” or “untrustworthy,” and that don’t lend themselves to the sense of connection and compassion that we are ultimately wanting.
These are big needs, important needs, no doubt.
But what if the experience of being safe and feeling trust is an inside job? What if we get these needs met because we choose them?
Read More