I Am the Problem and the Solution

This morning I woke up in a weird in‑between place. The place where everything is fine, and yet something is missing.

Which felt so odd to me given that I genuinely love what I do and where I am.

Honestly… I enjoy my clients and the work we do together. I’m super grateful for the members of The NeuroLab. I appreciate the opportunity to work with so many amazing students and all the chances I get to share my neuroscience geekiness. And yet, there was an “itchy” feeling. The best way to describe it… I wanted to crawl out of my skin because it suddenly felt too tight.

So, I did the only thing I know to do in times like these…

I Am the Problem

What most of you may not know is that I’m not just a self‑proclaimed neuroscience geek, I’m also an intuitive who has a love for oracle cards. (Like inspiring quotes, I collect them too.)

So, that’s what I did, I grabbed one of my favorite decks and asked a question as I shuffled. I wanted to know what was “the thing” that was going to help me take my work in this world to the next level.

Once I was done shuffling, I pulled three cards:

Self

Breakthrough

The Now

With those cards splayed out in front of me, the message suddenly became clear.

• Be hyper-vigilant with my self-care, because I can’t work from an empty tank.

• I need, need, need to stay in touch and in tune with my purpose. Not losing sight of it with the next shiny thing, framework, or someone else’s methodology.

• Be me, always and keep my work aligned with who I am, not who I think I’m supposed to be.

• Be open to insights that rock my world, because they’ll eventually rock other people’s world too. But, and this is important, be mindful of the timing when I share those insights. Which means being patient. (For those of you who know me well, you know patience hasn’t always been my bestie, especially when it comes to sharing something exciting.)

• And to do all of that, I have to stay right here. Not future‑gripping or past‑surfing. Right here, in the now… one minute at a time.

In essence, I’m the problem when it comes to taking things to the next level… and I’m also the solution. It was clear that knowing and understanding that was going to help me to level up and end the itch.

I could do that. I just had to figure out a way to remember the message. (I promise to share that in a moment…but first…)

We Interrupt Our Programming for Some Brain Stuff

When you’re being yourself, your nervous system gets a signal of “we’re safe.” Your threat‑detection system can turn the volume down, and your creative side of your brain can speak up.

Being here in the now gives your brain’s internal spotlight something clear to land on. Instead of scanning for every possible problem in the future, your attention system can narrow in on what’s right in front of you. That simple shift can change your body chemistry where your shoulders drop, your breath deepens, and the creative parts of your brain have more access to oxygen and energy.

Presence and self‑alignment aren’t fluffy ideas. They’re practical ways to calm a frazzled nervous system so you can think, create, and connect in a way that moves your ideas, goals, visions, business, and personal endeavors forward.

I Am the Solution

As I mentioned before I interrupted us with the geeky stuff... I just needed some way to remind myself of these three important components:

1.     To stay tuned in to me and my purpose,

2.    To stay open to those goose‑bump‑producing insights, and,

3.    To stay right here in the now.

As I was trying to come up with something, it hit me. I could fuse my two favorite quotes together because they embody the message in a pretty powerful way.

“Be a voice. Not an echo.” – Einstein

and

“They whispered to her, ‘You can’t withstand the storm.’ She whispered back, ‘I AM the storm.’” – Unknown

Those two became:

I’m the voice and the storm.

Voice = being me, aligned with my purpose

Storm = the breakthroughs that come when I’m present in the now.

That’s my reminder. My nervous system regulation cue. My business mantra. When I catch myself itching, shrinking, performing, or time‑traveling into the past or future, I will say…

I’m the voice and the storm.

Because at the end of the day, the thing that will stop that itch isn’t one more hack or blueprint. It’s my willingness to show up as me, in this moment. Period. Full stop.