The Power of Gentle Progress

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The Power of Gentle Progress

Nancy Williams-Foley • 3 April 2025

Why Small Steps Matter in Healing

In a world that celebrates big achievements and quick fixes, it’s easy to feel like healing should happen the same way - fast, linear, and obvious. But real growth, whether emotional or physical, rarely works like that. Healing happens in layers. In quiet shifts. In small, consistent steps that build over time.

If you’ve ever felt frustrated that your progress isn’t happening “fast enough,” this is for you.

Why We Expect Healing to Happen Quickly

We live in a culture that thrives on instant results. When something is broken, we fix it. When we set a goal, we expect to move steadily towards it. But healing - especially from stress, trauma, grief, or long-standing patterns, doesn’t follow a straight line.

In therapy and holistic treatments like acupuncture and EFT, I often hear people say:

“Why am I still feeling like this?”
“I’ve been working on this for a while—shouldn’t I be past it by now?”
“Why does this same feeling keep coming back?”

The truth is, healing isn’t about never struggling again. It’s about returning to yourself with more compassion, understanding, and self-awareness each time those struggles arise.

A Client’s Story: Finding Strength in Small Steps

Sarah came to therapy feeling stuck. She had been working on her anxiety for months, but whenever a stressful situation popped up, she felt like she was “back to square one.”

“I keep doing the work, but I still get anxious,” she said. “It feels like I haven’t made any progress.”

But as we gently explored her experience, something became clear.

Six months ago, anxiety kept her up all night. Now, she could calm herself enough to rest.

Three months ago, social situations felt impossible. Now, she could manage them—even if they still felt uncomfortable.

She wasn’t back at the beginning - she was meeting similar challenges with new tools, greater awareness, and more resilience than before.

“I guess I thought healing meant I’d never feel anxious again,” she reflected. “But now I see that I’m handling things differently. That’s progress, isn’t it?”

Yes. That’s exactly what progress looks like.

The Science of Small, Sustainable Progress

From a neurological perspective, healing happens through repetition and consistency. Each time you:

✔ Calm yourself after a stressful moment

✔ Challenge a negative thought instead of believing it

✔ Choose rest when you’re overwhelmed

✔ Speak to yourself with kindness instead of criticism

…you strengthen new neural pathways. Over time, these small changes become habits.

It’s not about fixing yourself overnight. It’s about creating new patterns, slowly and gently.

How to Embrace Gentle, Sustainable Progress

If you ever feel like you’re not “healing fast enough,” try to remember:

1. Progress Isn’t Always Visible

Like a seed growing beneath the soil, the most important changes often happen before anything is visible on the surface.

2. Celebrate the Small Wins

Your brain is wired to notice what’s going wrong, so take time to intentionally notice what’s going right. Even the tiniest shifts matter.

3. Release the Timeline

Healing doesn’t have a deadline. Some feelings might revisit you, but each time they do, you’ll meet them with more strength and self-awareness.

4. Small Steps Add Up

You don’t need to take huge leaps. Every gentle step forward is still a step forward.

Trust the Process

Healing isn’t about waking up one day and never struggling again. It’s about learning, adjusting, and growing - bit by bit. If you’re on this journey through therapy, acupuncture, or EFT remember:

Small steps lead to lasting change.

You’re doing better than you think. Keep going. 💛

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The Power of Clear Communication - with Others, and with Yourself

by Nancy Williams-Foley • 29 March 2025

Maybe you hold things in until they come out all at once. Maybe you soften your words to keep the peace and then feel invisible afterward. Or maybe you’ve been misunderstood so many times that saying nothing feels safer than speaking up. I want you to know - this can change. And it doesn't start with finding the perfect words for other people. It starts with how you speak to yourself. The Words You Use with Yourself Matter If the voice in your mind is often critical, doubting, or dismissive, it’s no wonder communication feels hard. When we constantly question ourselves internally, it’s difficult to express ourselves clearly on the outside. But the beautiful thing is - this is something you can gently reshape. Just like any other habit, communication - both outward and inward - is something we learn. And with practice, we can unlearn patterns that no longer serve us and replace them with ways of speaking and listening that feel kinder, more honest, and more grounded. What Happens When Communication Becomes Clearer When you begin to communicate with more clarity and honesty, something shifts. You feel more heard. More understood. And most importantly, more connected to yourself. Some of the things that often follow are: 🌿 Stronger relationships – Misunderstandings reduce, needs are expressed more openly, and connection deepens. 🌿 Emotional release – The pressure of holding everything in softens. 🌿 Greater self-trust – You start to feel more confident in your voice. 🌿 Inner calm – Your inner dialogue becomes gentler, less chaotic, and more supportive. Of course, we all have moments where communication doesn’t come easily. But when that becomes the norm, when you’re walking away from conversations feeling unheard, silencing yourself to avoid conflict, or replaying what you said over and over - it may be time to look at how you're speaking to yourself too. The Link Between Self-Talk and Speaking Up So often, the way we communicate with others mirrors how we communicate internally. If you’ve spent years: – Dismissing your feelings – Doubting your instincts – Silencing what you really want to say …it’s understandable that it feels hard to be open and clear with others. But here’s the truth: Your voice is not too much. Your feelings are not a burden. You deserve to take up space in conversations - both out loud and in your own mind. A Story of Change: Letting the Inner Voice Soften Let me tell you about someone I worked with - we’ll call her Sarah. Sarah grew up in a household where emotions weren’t openly discussed. She learned to keep quiet, to guess what others were feeling, and to avoid conflict at all costs. In her adult life, that turned into people-pleasing. She’d often say yes when she meant no, and when she did speak up, her inner critic would punish her for it. We started with her internal dialogue. She began noticing just how often she was talking herself down, second-guessing everything she felt. And together, we gently rewrote the script. Instead of: “I’m being dramatic,” she began to say: “ My feelings are valid.” Instead of: “I t’s easier to stay quiet,” she began to believe: “ My needs are allowed to matter.” Over time, this shift inside began to ripple outward. Sarah started setting soft boundaries, asking for what she needed, and speaking more honestly in her relationships. And the result? She began to feel seen. One day, she shared a story about finally telling a close friend how something had been making her feel. Her voice shook, but she stayed with it. And her friend really listened. That moment was a turning point. Not because the conversation was perfect, but because it was true . You Can Get There Too If communication feels tangled - if you find yourself walking away from conversations feeling unheard, or if your own mind feels like the loudest critic—I want to gently remind you: It doesn’t have to stay this way. You can learn to: 💛 Speak to yourself with kindness 💛 Pause and respond with clarity 💛 Honour your needs without guilt 💛 Trust your voice - because it matters If you're ready to change how you speak to others and how you speak to yourself, I'm here to support you. Whether it's through therapy, EFT, or simply creating space for self-awareness, this kind of healing is absolutely possible. 📍 Based in George Street, Edinburgh 💌 Book a consultation here if you’re ready to explore a gentler, clearer way to communicate, inside and out. You don’t need perfect words. You just need honesty, self-trust, and a little compassion. Your voice is worth hearing. Let’s help you use it.