for years i felt misunderstood and constantly seeking someone who could reflect back who i was because i couldn't see it myself.

i looked for completion in romantic partners, then friends, asking them to make me feel whole. but the real issue wasn't that they didn't understand me. it was that i didn't understand myself.

this musing is about the difference between understanding and acceptance, what we actually need from relationships, and how learning to see myself whole changed everything.

maybe you're seeking completion in your relationships, too.

maybe you're asking others to see you before you've learned to see yourself.

maybe you're confusing understanding with acceptance and wondering why you still feel unseen.

then this episode is for you ❤︎⁠

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work with me: if you're ready to see the patterns you're too close to notice, book a mirror session here

join the community: subscribe on substack for more essays on embodiment, perfectionism, and returning to yourself

i went from scrolling through instagram first thing in the morning to building a rigid multi-step routine—and both were perfectionism, just in different forms. this is a story about worthiness wounds, performing for others vs. performing for yourself, and what it took to finally choose rhythm over rigidity.

maybe your routine feels like it's suffocating you, too.

maybe you're performing for others, or yourself, and don't even realize it.

maybe you're trying to control one thing while ignoring the root.

work with me: if you're ready to see the patterns you're too close to notice, book a mirror session here

join the community: subscribe to a healing dose on substack for more essays on embodiment, perfectionism, and returning to yourself → a healing dose

our rhythms are about returning.

they’re not another thing for us to perform for others.

creating your own rhythm when you strip away the aesthetic of perfection from its view is about finding what works for you, and not what everyone else states worked for them.

it’s about what grounds you.

what stabilizes you.

what brings you back to center.

if you find yourself unable to see the answer because your perfectionism has you stuck in “it has to look a certain way, or it doesn’t count”, this is exactly the work i do in a mirror session.

this is a 60-minute container of being completely seen, where i serve as your sacred mirror, reflecting back the patterns and blocks you’re too close to see yourself and helping you identify the micro-choices that build the bridge between what you know and who you want to be.

book a mirror session here

When I recorded Episode 13, I was tired— really tired. I showed up anyway, proud that I followed through, but listening back, I could hear something else in my voice. It was my own battle cry, calling me to slow down.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reflecting on what that episode revealed. I needed space. I needed recovery. It revealed that I was creating from a shaky foundation, caught up in the rhythm of go-go-go, unable to receive the messages trying to come through.

In this season finale, I share:

- What 13 straight weeks of creating taught me about my energy and my limits

- How I know it’s time to let something end

- Why endings are never just endings but invitations to begin again

- The bittersweet gratitude of closing a chapter

- What’s stirring for Season 2

Season 1 has been about putting myself out there, trusting the process, and proving to myself that I could do this. Now, it’s time to let this version end so a new one can begin.

Press play and join me in this honest reflection on the beauty of endings, the courage it takes to pause, and the unfolding that happens when we trust what’s next.

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Subscribe for weekly devotion drops:

Substack → ahealingdose.substack.com

Let’s connect:

Website → ahealingdose.com

Personal Musings → @thetransformationdoula

A devotional deep dive on the sacred art of waiting, trusting, and unfolding with grace.

Welcome back to A Healing Dose. This month, we enter the slow, sacred space of patience, not as passivity, but as practice. As something we choose. As faith in motion.

In this raw and honest episode, Michelle reflects on what it means to stay devoted in the midst of overwhelm, exhaustion, and uncertainty. She explores how patience is a radical act of trust in a world obsessed with urgency and how we can treat it not as an end, but a comma. A breath. A to be continued…

Through the lens of her own astrology (Aries rising and Saturn in Capricorn), Michelle shares the personal tension between impulse and discipline, fire and earth, and what it means to integrate those energies in service of a long, meaningful life path.

You’ll hear reflections on:

- The spiritual weight of not feeling like it and still showing up

- Why devotion is not about performance, but presence

- How patience is a way we show our faith in the unfolding

- Co-creating with The Divine and allowing time for synchronicity to unfold

- Nature as a reminder that beauty takes time

- What it means to ask for what you need and notice how it arrives

This month’s invitation is simple but powerful:

Treat patience like a comma, not a period.

Ask for what you need and then notice how The Divine responds.

Take This Dose Deeper:

Leave a comment on Substack:

- What are you asking for this month?

- What signs are beginning to show up?

When we share our reflections, we remember that none of us are walking alone.

Subscribe for weekly devotion drops:

Substack → ahealingdose.substack.com

Let’s connect:

Website → ahealingdose.com

Personal Musings → @thetransformationdoula

These codes aren’t just affirmations.

They’re anchors.

They’re reminders.

They’re invitations to return.

In this closing ritual for the month of solitude, we enter the quiet with the intention of softening the noise and speaking truth into our bodies. These activation codes are here to meet you in the in-between, to be a balm in the moments you forget who you are, and to serve as energetic companions on the journey of becoming.

Let them move through you.

Let them echo in your bones.

Let them remind you that you never walk alone.

Inside this episode:

- A reflection on the purpose of activation codes in seasons of doubt or inner sabotage

- Spoken affirmations to support your solitude and self-trust

- A closing blessing to anchor into your becoming

Activation Codes from this episode:

I enjoy my own company.

Stillness reveals the truth my mind forgets.

I release the need for certainty. I reclaim my trust in the divine.

I honor the whispers within me.

I choose solitude not to escape, but to return.

I create the life I desire by living it now.

I listen inward before I reach outward.

I trust the quiet guidance of my body.

My devotion doesn’t need an audience to be real.

I am becoming the person I envision, one intentional choice at a time.

This month’s devotion: Solitude

Episode 009: Solitude is a Devotional Practice — Our opening deep dive

Episode 010: A Journey Into Sacred Solitude — A guided visualization to discover your inner sanctuary

Episode 011: Journaling into Your Solitude — Reflective prompts to explore your relationship with solitude

→ Episode 012: Activation Codes for Sacred Solitude — Spoken words to carry you home to yourself

Each episode builds on the next.

Return anytime you need to reconnect.

Subscribe for weekly devotion drops:

Substack → ahealingdose.substack.com

Personal Musings → @thetransformationdoula

Website → ahealingdose.com

What if your solitude didn’t have to look a certain way?

What if it could be a living blueprint for the life you’re calling in?

In this episode of A Healing Dose, we move slowly through a reflective journaling ritual centered around the sacred practice of solitude. With a soft opening story about freedom, sacred Sundays, and the desire to explore more deeply, this episode invites you to rethink how you relate to being alone and how to let your solitude nourish your becoming.

These prompts aren’t about striving for clarity or forcing insights. They’re about listening and letting your solitude become a place where truth can rise gently to the surface.

Inside this episode:

- A story about reclaiming sacred time and breaking the “someday” cycle

- Reflections on what freedom, exploration, and solitude can really look like

- 5 journaling prompts to deepen your connection with your inner world

- A closing reminder to trust the timing of your own unfolding

Journaling Prompts from this episode:

- Where in your life are you craving solitude?

- What does your ideal day of sacred solitude look and feel like?

- What beliefs or stories have shaped your relationship with being alone?

- In what ways could solitude become a sanctuary rather than an escape?

- What small, intentional choice could you make this week to create space for solitude?

This month’s devotion: Solitude

Episode 009: Solitude is a Devotional Practice — Our opening deep dive

Episode 010: A Journey Into Sacred Solitude — A guided visualization to discover your inner sanctuary

→ Episode 011: Journaling as a Portal — Reflective prompts to explore your relationship with solitude

Each episode builds on the next. Return anytime you need to reconnect.

Subscribe for weekly devotion drops:

Substack → ahealingdose.substack.com

Personal Musings → @thetransformationdoula

Website → ahealingdose.com

A Journey into Sacred Solitude

A visualization to create and enter your inner sanctuary

This episode is a gentle invitation to return to yourself.

Inside this guided practice, you’ll be led through a visualization to your own sacred solitude space—a sanctuary within where you are held, supported, and deeply connected to your truth.

This is your space to release the noise, the pressure, and the expectations of the outside world.

This is your space to listen.

This is your space to simply be.

If you’ve been feeling overstimulated, emotionally scattered, or in need of quiet, this practice is for you.

Let it meet you wherever you are.

Let it remind you that solitude is always available, and you can return to your inner sanctuary whenever you need.

Inside this episode:

- Breathwork and a grounding body scan to settle into presence

- A guided visualization to arrive at your personal solitude sanctuary

- A space to release pressure and reconnect with your inner self

- A gentle closing and invitation to return, again and again

This month’s devotion: Solitude

Episode 009: Solitude is a Devotional Practice — A deep dive into how solitude supports your clarity, creativity, and realignment

→ Episode 010: A Journey into Sacred Solitude — A guided visualization to create and enter your inner sanctuary

(Coming soon) — Journaling prompts to deepen your solitude practice

(Coming soon) — Activation codes to anchor the energy of sacred stillness

Return to any of these episodes whenever you need to reconnect with yourself.

Subscribe for weekly devotion drops:

Substack → ahealingdose.substack.com

Let’s connect:

Personal Musings → @thetransformationdoula

Website → ahealingdose.com