Skip to main content

Maria Connolly, LPC Facebook Facebook Facebook

Category: Fearless Mindset

Rather than thinking fear is an unpleasant emotion that signals danger, learn ways to cultivate a fearless mind so that when you feel fear you can embrace it as an opportunity to become fully aware of your surroundings and connect with you inner power to handle it.

Don’t Let Fear Stop You from Fully Enjoying a Rich and Satisfying Life

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Dream Big - Start Small, Fearless Mindset.

Fear is information, not instruction.Fear is a part of being human. It can protect us and help us pay attention to what matters. Or it can become a powerful force that keeps us from moving toward the life we want.

Think about someone you consider fearless. Maybe she speaks confidently in front of a room full of people, travels somewhere unfamiliar, starts a new business, leaves a relationship that isn't healthy, or allows herself to be vulnerable with the people she loves. The thing is…she has fears, too. The difference is she’s embraced the advice, “Don’t let fear stop you”. She’s learned that feeling afraid doesn't necessarily mean “stop”.

Continue reading

How Failure Leads to Success When You Know this Olympic Secret

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Dream Big - Start Small, EMERGE Method, Fearless Mindset, Life Skills.

Learn how to reframe your view of failure and attain greater success in everything you do, by identifying and imitating the mindset of Olympic athletes.

Are you drawn to the Olympics? There’s something captivating about watching an athlete stand at the starting line after years of training, setbacks, injuries, and near misses. We see the medal moment. We rarely see the quiet failures that shaped it. Yet, these winners have learned to live the mindset that every failure leads to success. How can we tap into this same Olympic secret?

We know how failure feels in our bodies. It’s a heavyhearted feeling that makes us sink, shrink, and pull in. It’s sweaty palms, nauseous stomach, and heat that radiates from our core to our face. Too often, we relive the embarrassment and discouragement over and over again. Therefore, many people try to avoid failure at all costs.

Continue reading

Feeling Unsafe In a Troubled World? Reclaim Your Safety Through Your Body

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Dream Big - Start Small, Fearless Mindset, Somatic Embodiment.

One of the most important distinctions we can make when we're feeling unsafe is between legitimate, body-based responses to danger and anxiety loops fed by continuous exposure to threat-based information.Sometimes, we can’t help feeling unsafe because of the uncertainty and instability of the world around us. Not just uncertain or uncomfortable, but destabilizing in a way that seeps into our nervous system. Headlines feel relentless. Social feeds amplify outrage and fear. Conversations are charged. The future feels fragile. And even when you step away from the news, the tension lingers in your body. I feel my body tensing as I write these words!

Continue reading

Live Life to the Fullest: It Starts With Your Approach

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Dream Big - Start Small, Fearless Mindset, Life Skills, Mindfulness.

Learn how to approach life so you get the most from it, with the best results and the least amount of cost – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual – to you

When you live life to the fullest, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing more. It’s an attitude or mindset that influences how you view and approach what’s already in front of you.

Your approach to life has been shaped by many influences. Genetics, upbringing, culture, beliefs, values, and lived experiences all quietly inform how you respond to opportunities, challenges, and change. 

However, there’s both an upside and a downside to this: Over time, this approach becomes so familiar that it can feel like who you are, rather than something you’re choosing.

Continue reading

Unlock the Power and Magic of Emotional Attunement in Your Relationships

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Dream Big - Start Small, Emotional Intelligence, Fearless Mindset.

Life is sweet when you feel emotional attunement in your relationships at home and work, yet many feel distant, so if you could use more, use these five tips to fine-tune your emotional attunement.

Have you ever tried to talk with a stone-faced person, showing no facial reaction at all to what you were saying? It didn’t take long before you began faltering for words, losing your train of thought, and finding it hard to carry on, did it? Why is that? Because when there’s no emotional attunement, no empathy, we don’t feel connected, understood, or valued. We need to feel like people are getting what we’re saying.

Emotional attunement takes more than looking at someone or hearing their words. It means using all of our senses to understand what they’re feeling so much that we feel it too. It takes being able to sense, interpret, and respond to someone so that they don't feel alone any longer. Our eyes become moist with tears when they hurt or beam with happiness to mirror their joy. We lean in and touch their arm with a gesture of compassion. We reflect back to them their emotions with words such as, “That must have been so frustrating!”  

Continue reading

Let's get started with 30 free minutes

I invite you to learn more about me and my coaching and counseling services. Please contact me to schedule an “It starts with you!” 30-minute complimentary consultation with me, in-person, by phone or via video consultation, so we can explore our partnership.

SCHEDULE

How to Step Forward to a Future You've Created

Discover how to replace your old, self-limiting map with a new map full of possibilities for the future

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE INTRO TO STEPPING FORWARD TODAY!