
12 Therapeutic Skills that Help Break Toxic Cycles, Heal Your Health, and Learn to Thrive in 2025
At the end of a year, and the start of a new one, it’s common to find our health in some ruts and decide to change it, improve it. We may set out to quit a toxic habit, reduce junk food, set new goals, and find better motivation. Or maybe we start working out again, or more, or better….or harder!
This is the year! We tell ourselves with great conviction. I will finally develop better habits, self-discipline, lose weight, get stronger, look better, feel better, BE BETTER!
We rev up, dive in (or stick a toe in if that’s more your style) and one way or another, the hustle, or maybe just the desire to hustle begins. Again.
But life either creeps back in little by little, or comes charging at us like a freight train, hustling our tired asses off of that track faster than we could ever hustle to stay on.
Sound familiar? It certainly is to me.
I can't tell you how many hundreds of times I've started a version of this only to rebound back to even worse self-destructive behaviors and habits I wanted so desperately, to change. Even when I knew deep down how unhealthy they were and leading me to the same place as if I'd let the train hit me. Just at a much slower pace.
Of course, this begs the question: What causes these toxic cycles and how do we get out?
And if the prevailing hustle fitness model—eat healthier, quit smoking, exercise more, push harder, don't give up, but abandon everything that has helped you manage stress so far!
—continues to cycle back to a starting point that distances us further from health + with reduced energy, call me crazy, but I think we need a new kind of fitness.
Maybe one that requires ZERO hustle, to start.
I am not a doctor and these 12 Therapeutic Skills are not a cure all. But I can honestly say, I love who I am, exactly as I am in the process of becoming the healthiest, realist, human I can be. Quite the opposite direction of the self- abusing, people- pleasing perfectionist of my past. And this better path I consistently keep finding is in large part due to learning to rely on these skills first. I hope you find them helpful as well.
These 12 skills have been carefully curated from my life as a former CrossFit Coach, current Certified Trauma Informed Integrative Health & Wellbeing Coach, and student of my own transformative health and healing journey of 20+ years. They are a culmination of what I've learned (and continue to learn) based on the following guiding principle:
The most sustainable transformations in our lives arise from our ability to make fundamental shifts in our life operating system (LOS) made up of unconscious perceptions, belief systems, values, and attitudes, that feed faulty thought patterns and harmful behavior.
This takes a new kind of fitness, I've learned. One that brings the unconscious into the conscious.
Consistently observing and getting curious about my own behaviors, by looking deeper into the thoughts that bore them and the needs that motivate them, is how I'm always learning to identify the faulty wiring and employ self compassion to repair, restore and resurrect my true self and fullest life.
And I'm here to bear witness to how the most powerful life changes come from the tiniest drops of consistent effort towards repairing and healing. The 12 Therapeutic Skills are my tiny drops of consistent effort.
They are how I've learned to step out of the hustling (more toxic stress) and back into the little by precious little of the present, my inherent value as a human being, and to do the daily (and what has become downright delightful) work of loving and caring for all of me- body, mind, heart and soul- which is really just learning to be the boss of toxic stress and not let it be the boss of you.
Because why not?? Why not spend this one precious life we have crushing the past that keeps crushing us and heal instead of hurt? Why not give all you have to claim your life back from the passive- aggressive trauma boss within you who keeps bullying and abusing you into believing you are only worth a small, self pitying victim life?
Read on if you're curious about the 12 Therapeutic Skills. And keep an eye out each month for additional content at Your Cor Coach exploring the possible health benefits and ideas on how to practice and build on each skill.
I hope that through them, we can keep learning to better integrate the well-being of our whole body, mind, heart, and soul. And continue to find new ways to achieve greater healing, meaningful change, thriving health, and the renewal of lives overflowing with unconditional love for ourselves and each other.
12 Therapeutic Skills to Restore & Practice for Healing, Health and Thriving in 2025
Patience
Presence
3. Self Compassion
4. Self Respect & Self Worth
Emotional Regulation
Boundaries & Safety
Creativity
Communication
Relationships & Healthy Attachment
Forgiveness, Repair & Restoration
Receiving & Giving
Unconditional Love & Belonging
*Healthcare disclaimer: This information should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health provider regarding a medical condition. No clinician or practitioner-client relationship is created by information provided by Your Cor Coach or its use. Your Cor Coach nor any contributor to this web site, makes any representations, express or implied, with respect to the information provided herein or to its use.
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