About Us
Authenticity Associates has a reputation for bringing out the best in people. Authenticity Associates Coaching & Counseling Upon realizing their shared vision Dr. Hilary Stokes and Dr. Kim Ward founded Authenticity Associates, a counseling and coaching practice, bringing the synergistic power of mind, body and spirit to individuals and couples. They have worked as a team for over 15 years and believe strongly in the power of like-minded harmony. They are part of a pioneering effort combining the best of complementary and traditional approaches. Who We are Kimberly is passionate about supporting individuals on their journey of personal growth and transformation. She has a practical ...
Our Holistic Approach
Our mission is to empower people to achieve their authentic potential! What Does This Look Like? In order to achieve your full potential it’s vital to work with all of your resources - mind, body and spirit. This relationship is not often seen as important to personal and professional development. However, we believe it is essential to thriving on all levels of life. Specifically, we are talking about: Mind - Includes your clarity, emotional IQ, decisiveness, creativity and vision. Body - Includes your physical vitality, strength and stamina. Spirit - Includes the inspiration that propels people forward with passion and purpose. When one aspect of the trilogy is ...
Personal Growth Tools
Breathe Your Way to Health Guided Meditation CD Tap into your body’s natural ability to restore and replenish…and feel GREAT! Research shows that simple breathing exercises improve: Your Energy Level Your Mental and Emotional Outlook Your Immune and Cardiovascular Health Breathing is the most powerful tool you have for neutralizing stress and calming your body. Learn how to: Breathe properly using diaphragmatic breathing Induce your body’s inherent capacity to heal itself Reduce your heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension Reduce stress and anxiety Bonus breathing exercise! Includes a Step-by-Step Instruction Booklet. Whole Body Relaxation Guided Meditation CD Tune into your body’s messages …and feel EMPOWERED! Whole Body Relaxation guides you to practice a powerful breathing exercise while relaxing each ...
Achieve Your Authentic Potential
Who determines your authentic potential? Is there a test you can take? Do you learn it in school or from a book? Do your parents give it to you? Ultimately, no one decides your authentic potential but you. There is no test to pass. It is not what you have experienced in life but rather who you are as a result of what you have experienced. Only you can determine your potential in any given moment based on your beliefs, attitudes, emotional resilience and physical vitality. You Must Determine Your Own Worth In the end, your opinion of you is the one that matters most. ...
How to Master Your Emotions
You can’t just THINK your way through your FEELings! Do you ever feel like you are riding an emotional roller coaster? Sometimes you are up…sometimes you are down. When things are going well the skies are blue, the sun is shining and you feel great but when things aren’t going your way, the storm of emotions blow in. We call this ‘conditional’ management of your emotions.' Anytime you place your power in the hands of external conditions and events to determine how you feel, you intensify your emotional roller coaster ride and increase stress. How skillfully do you deal with your emotions? I distract myself ...
Higher Purpose of Relationships
Relationship Mirror Relationships constantly challenge and call you to create, express and experience higher aspects of yourself. This ultimately allows you to step into grander and grander visions of yourself. Given this perspective, without relationships you cannot completely fulfill your purpose in life, express your authentic potential or contribute to the world around you. Relationships are a powerful tool for personal growth as they provide a constant mirror reflecting your light and shadow. There is no other place where your buttons are pushed and you are thus stretched to grow and move beyond who you think you are then through the mirror of ...
Focus on What You Want to Get What You Want!
How does your brain process language? What happens if I say don’t think about a problem? Your brain doesn’t know how to do this. You have to think of something in order not to think about it. Do you spend more of your time focused on what you want or what you don’t want? People often tell us what not to do, thinking they are helping us, yet in actuality they are telling us to send our brain in the direction we don’t wish to go. You do the same to yourself by telling yourself what you don’t want to think about. ...
Neuroscience of Emotion
Neural Hijacking In the past it was believed that information from your senses was analyzed by the thinking brain (cortex) first. Now with new scientific findings we know your perceptions, go directly to the emotional brain (amygdala) without passing through the thinking, decision-making brain first. Daniel Goleman in his research and book on emotional intelligence sheds great light on this subject. He describes chronic stress and the subsequent feelings of loss of control and hopelessness as a ‘neural hijacking’ in which the emotional brain triggers emotional reactions before the thinking brain has any chance to pick up a signal or evaluate it. For ...
Transform Your Habits By Conditioning Your Brain
The Cause of Habits Do you find yourself repeating patterns year after year making the same New Years resolutions? What causes the phenomena of ‘habits’ or why you do what you do? Quite simply, your habits are a result of the natural conditioning of your brain. The repetition of your thoughts, feelings and actions form and strengthen your brains neural networks. Your Neural Networks These neural networks are similar to a roadmap leading you to your destination. The more you travel down a particular path the easier it is to remember your way so much so that it becomes second nature. This is ...
The Real Purpose of Emotion
Emotions Transform Life Emotions give texture, color and meaning to life. Emotions transform life from an objective series of events into a living breathing experience. To experience the full range of emotions, to cry, laugh, or feel happy infuses our existence with meaning and value. Energy in Motion The word emotion is derived from the Greek word ‘emotere’ which is translated to mean ‘energy in motion.' In itself, emotional energy is neutral. It is simply the experience of energy moving throughout your body. Emotions serve however, as the carrier waves for the entire spectrum of feelings. It is the feeling sensation, the physiological reaction ...
Steps to Achieving Your Authentic Potential
Achieving Your Potential is a Present Moment Experience Achieving your authentic potential lives in the present not the past or the future. Deepak Chopra says it best, “The past is history, the future is a mystery, and this moment is a gift. That is why this moment is called 'the present'." Besides when we get to the future it will just be experienced as another moment of NOW. This is it! This is our shining moment and since you don’t know if it will be the last make it your best. Achieving your authentic potential is not a destination. It is an ...
Conscious Communication 101
Listen to Be Heard How can we communicate better? This is one of the most common questions we are asked in our work with couples. Our clients often believe if only they could say it differently then they would be heard. Our answer to this… Being heard is more reflective of your ability to listen than of your ability to speak. Some would say this is why we have two ears and one mouth. Practicing your listening skills may be easier said than done if you have not initially tended to your own inner dialogue. By listening skills we mean tending ...
Achieving Your Target Goals Practice
Become an Observer Imagine you are an observer sitting on your own shoulder eaves-dropping on your thoughts and feelings. Take a moment to consider what you want to be, do and have in your life. Actively contemplate your goals and dreams? Now make a list of your thoughts, feelings and beliefs related to your target goals in these areas. Do you believe it is possible or likely you will live the life of your dreams? Do you believe you deserve to be, do and have anything? What is the general flavor of your internal conversation? Specifically notice and write down how much ...
Emotional Presence for Emotional Authenticity
Emotional Authenticity The first step in emotional authenticity is emotional presence because the present moment is the only place you have real power to shift your state. Much stress and emotional upset is caused by lamenting over the past and worrying about the future. Often what occurs when people slow down and become present is they begin to notice how they really feel. Perhaps this is one reason there is so much busyness in the world today. People seem to always have something to do or somewhere to be. They are constantly talking about feeling behind with too many things to ...
Observation is Creative
Observation is Creative How is it that people keep thinking about what they don’t want even when they’re highly motivated to create what they do want? It’s very simple. If you’re in a situation that you don’t want and you observe it or notice it then you’re thinking about it. That means you’re intending its persistent presence. For instance, let’s say you have a significant amount of debt and your goal is to create financial freedom. When you pay your monthly bills and notice your bank account balance does not reflect your desired financial freedom you’ve just observed the opposite of ...
What Is Your Purpose In Life?
The Journey of Life Each of us has an inherent purpose in life. Yet, research shows that less than 5 out of 100 people have even the slightest clue as to what that might be? Do you feel like you are fulfilling your purpose in life? Without a clear sense of purpose, we often become caught up in the form itself. We forget why we are doing something and our work becomes simply mechanical and uninspiring. More and more people today are asking the existential questions, What do I want to be when I grow up? Why am I here? What are ...
Meditation: A Powerful Relaxation Technique & Force For Change
Live in the Present Moment Technically speaking, there is nothing magical or mystical about meditation. Meditation is an increased concentration and awareness; a process to live in the present moment to produce and enjoy a tranquil state of mind. It is about paying attention, in the only time we have, the Now. Living in the present moment allows you to release regrets from the past and worries about the future. Meditation is the oldest recognized relaxation technique known. Mental, Emotional & Physical Stress As human beings we are visually oriented, whereby we take in over two-thirds of our sensory information through vision alone. The ...
Relationship Myths and Conscious Communication
Conscious Communication Conscious communication invites you to take responsibility for the fact that there is no objective reality. Everything you experience is filtered through the lens of your subjective perceptions. If you want to create conscious communication in your relationship you have to be willing to discern your interpretations from the facts (…there is what occurred and then there is your experience of what occurred). Unless you are skilled at bringing your full awareness to the present moment, your current experiences are connected to all of your past similar experiences. So really you are in relationship with all past relationships including ...
Relationship Fact: Love is a Conscious Choice
Love Drug Relationship FACT: Love is a conscious choice. In fact, love is a verb and it implies action. Being ‘attracted to’ someone is also a choice. Given that love alters your brain chemistry, we can understand how it may not feel as though love is a conscious choice. But trust us, if you want to create a thriving and passionate relationship with conscious communication, consider that love is a conscious choice you make in the present moment. Research shows that your brain chemistry is altered for up to 18 months after meeting someone that you develop strong feelings for. This love ...
Emotional Movement Technique
The Emotional Movement Technique is effective for relieving stress and increasing EQ. One of the benefits of this exercise is that it takes 2 minutes or less to complete. Think of an issue that you find stressful. Follow these steps and work with the biology and psychology of stress relief. Diaphragmatic Breathing Shift out of the neural hijacking of the emotional brain with diaphragmatic breathing. • Breathe so that when you inhale you feel your abdomen rise and when you exhale feel your abdomen gently contract. This is called diaphragmatic breathing. Allow this to be the rhythm of your breath. • Feel the complete ...
Achieving Your Authentic Potential
Relationship Myths and Conscious Communication
Conscious Communication Conscious communication invites you to take responsibility...
What Is Your Purpose In Life?
The Journey of Life Each of us has an inherent purpose in life. Yet, research shows...
Meditation: A Powerful Relaxation Technique & Force For Change
Live in the Present Moment Technically speaking, there is nothing magical or mystical...
Read More Posts From Achieving Your Authentic Potential
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Movement Technique
The Emotional Movement Technique is effective for relieving stress and increasing...
Relationship Fact: Love is a Conscious Choice
Love Drug Relationship FACT: Love is a conscious choice. In fact, love is a verb...
Emotional Presence for Emotional Authenticity
Emotional Authenticity The first step in emotional authenticity is emotional presence...
Read More Posts From Emotional Intelligence
Mastering Your Mind
Meditation: A Powerful Relaxation Technique & Force For Change
Live in the Present Moment Technically speaking, there is nothing magical or mystical about meditation. Meditation is an increased concentration and awareness; a process to live in the present moment to produce and enjoy a tranquil state of mind. It is about paying attention, in the only time we have, the Now. Living in the present moment allows you... [Read more of this review]
Observation is Creative
Observation is Creative How is it that people keep thinking about what they don’t want even when they’re highly motivated to create what they do want? It’s very simple. If you’re in a situation that you don’t want and you observe it or notice it then you’re thinking about it. That means you’re intending its persistent presence. For instance,... [Read more of this review]
Achieving Your Target Goals Practice
Become an Observer Imagine you are an observer sitting on your own shoulder eaves-dropping on your thoughts and feelings. Take a moment to consider what you want to be, do and have in your life. Actively contemplate your goals and dreams? Now make a list of your thoughts, feelings and beliefs related to your target goals in these areas. Do you believe... [Read more of this review]
Read More Posts From Mastering Your Mind