Definitions to Support Your Process 

Ambiguity

Ambivalence

Authenticity
“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means: cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle; and nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe we are strong enough. Authenticity demands Wholehearted living and loving – even when it’s hard, even when we’re wrestling with the shame and fear of not being good enough, and especially when the joy is so intense that we’re afraid to let ourselves feel it.Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy and gratitude into our lives.”
—Dr. Brené Brown

Comparative Judgment
”Social comparison theory states that individuals determine their own social and personal worth based on how they stack up against others. People sometimes compare themselves to others as a way of fostering self-improvement, self-motivation, and a positive self-image. As a result, humans constantly evaluate themselves, and others, across domains such as attractiveness, wealth, intelligence, and success. However, many people make unreasonable comparisons to others who have achieved at unusually high levels, causing them a great deal of anxiety about their own progress in life. On most variables and traits, people are far more likely to compare "up" rather than "down," relative to their own standing; this is known as positional bias. The fascination with celebrity culture and the prevalence of carefully-manicured social-media feeds have only exacerbated concerns around social comparison, exposing people to endless potential comparisons, many of whom at least appear to be “perfect.”
—Psychology Today

Critical Voice (aka Super Ego)
”The Critical Inner Voice is the part of us that is turned against ourselves. It is the defended, negative side of our personality that is opposed to our ongoing development. The voice consists of the negative thoughts, beliefs and attitudes that oppose our best interests and diminish our self-esteem. It encourages and strongly influences self-defeating and self-destructive behavior. This hostile, judgmental advisor also warns us about other people, promoting angry and cynical attitudes toward others and creating a negative, pessimistic picture of the world.” To expand on this we can add that it’s the internalized standards and ideals we pick up from primary caregivers and society as a child and onward.”
—PsychAlive

Cultural Humility

Essential Self
The integration of our mental, physical and spiritual aspects in order to connect with the Divine within.
—Yogic concept

The Divine
”The notion of the Divine in yoga is closely related to the concepts of atman and brahman. Atman is the individual Self, Consciousness or soul, while brahman is the universal Consciousness, or Absolute Reality. Because both atman and brahman are infinite, they are ultimately the same thing. Through yoga, it is possible to connect with the Divine of the individual Self (atman) and to reach oneness with the universal Consciousness (brahman).”
—Yogapedia

Embodiment
“Embodiment is the practice of attending to your sensations. Awareness of your body serves as a guiding compass to help you feel more in charge of the course of your life. Somatic awareness provides a foundation for empathy, helps you make healthy decisions, and gives important feedback about your relationships with others. Embodiment in somatic psychology applies mindfulness and movement practices to awaken body awareness as a tool for healing. It is cultivated through reflective awareness of sensations in the present moment. Embodiment is an integration of three sensory feedback systems—exteroception, proprioception, and interoception.”
—Dr. Arielle Schwartz

Ego
”Put simply, the English word "ego" is the Latin word for “I.” Literally translated, ego means “I.” (If you were writing “I love you” in Latin, you’d write ego amo te). So, most terms that include “ego” involve processes or reactions in which I, me, or mine figure prominently. Consider egoism, the motive to act in one’s self-interest. Someone who is behaving egoistically is simply pursuing his or her own goals, as we all do. A motive is egoistic when it’s focused on what “I” want. People differ in the degree to which they can step outside their own perspective to see things from others’ viewpoints, but we’re all locked into our own egocentric viewpoint because there's no way for us to process information except from our personal frame of reference.”
—Psychology Today

Emotions
Watch this brief animated video that explore the science of our emotions.
”A complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral, and physiological elements, by which an individual attempts to deal with a personally significant matter or event. The specific quality of the emotion (e.g., fear, shame) is determined by the specific significance of the event. For example, if the significance involves threat, fear is likely to be generated; if the significance involves disapproval from another, shame is likely to be generated. Emotion typically involves feeling but differs from feeling in having an overt or implicit engagement with the world.”
—American Psychological Association (APA)

Emotions VS Feelings
”In everyday language we often use the terms interchangeably. This shows how closely connected emotions are with feelings. But for neuroscience, emotions are more or less the complex reactions the body has to certain stimuli. When we are afraid of something, our hearts begin to race, our mouths become dry, our skin turns pale and our muscles contract. This emotional reaction occurs automatically and unconsciously. Feelings occur after we become aware in our brain of such physical changes; only then do we experience the feeling of fear.”

Empathy
Watch this animated video with Dr. Brené Brown explaning the difference between empathy and sympathy.
The term “empathy” is used to describe a wide range of experiences. Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.Contemporary researchers often differentiate between two types of empathy: “Affective empathy” refers to the sensations and feelings we get in response to others’ emotions; this can include mirroring what that person is feeling, or just feeling stressed when we detect another’s fear or anxiety. “Cognitive empathy,” sometimes called “perspective taking,” refers to our ability to identify and understand other people’s emotions.
—Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Forgiveness
”The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive. Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace. Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us. We are bound with chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped. Until we can forgive the person who harmed us, that person will hold the keys to our happiness; that person will be our jailor. When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings. We become our own liberators. Forgiveness, in other words, is the best form of self-interest. This is true both spiritually and scientifically. We don’t forgive to help the other person. We don’t forgive for others. We forgive for ourselves.”
—Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu, from The Book of Forgiving,

Healing
“Coming to terms with the way things are.”
—Jon Kabat-Zinn

Impermanence

Internpersonal Neurobiology

Mindfulness
Watch this brief animated video about the concept of mindfulness.
”My working definition of mindfulness is the awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose in the present moment — non-judgmentally.  And the non-judgmental part is the kicker, because we’ve got ideas and opinions about virtually everything. Our consciousness is almost always colored by our likes and dislikes.  All highly conditioned, habitual behaviors really comes down to this: do I like it or not, do I want more or do I want to escape? That’s all going on below the surface of awareness and it runs our lives.”
—Jon Kabat-Zinn

Neuroplasticity
Read more about this neuroscience concept and scientific breakthrough that helps us understand how we can change.
”Ways the brain is altered by experience are a part of what is called the neuroplasticity of the brain.”
—Dr. Daniel J. Siegel

Phenomenology
”The discipline of phenomenology may be defined initially as the study of structures of experience, or consciousness. Literally, phenomenology is the study of “phenomena”: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience.”
—Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Purpose
In psychological terms, a consensus definition for purpose has emerged in the literature according to which purpose is a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once personally meaningful and at the same time leads to productive engagement with some aspect of the world beyond the self. Not all goals or personally meaningful experiences contribute to purpose, but in the intersection of goal orientation, personal meaningfulness, and a focus beyond the self, a distinct conception of purpose emerges.
—John Templeton Foundation

Resilience
”Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors. It means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences. Research has shown that resilience is ordinary, not extraordinary. Being resilient does not mean that a person doesn't experience difficulty or distress. Emotional pain and sadness are common in people who have suffered major adversity or trauma in their lives. In fact, the road to resilience is likely to involve considerable emotional distress. Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviors, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone.”
—American Psychological Association (APA)

Self-Awareness
”Being mindful of our identities and lived experiences and how they relate to those of other people.”
—Positive Psychology

Self-compassion

Shame
Watch this video of Oprah interviewing Dr. Brené Brown about the difference between shame and guilt.
A highly unpleasant self-conscious emotion arising from the sense of there being something dishonorable, immodest, or indecorous in one’s own conduct or circumstances. It is typically characterized by withdrawal from social intercourse—for example, by hiding or distracting the attention of another from one’s shameful action—which can have a profound effect on psychological adjustment and interpersonal relationships. Shame may motivate not only avoidant behavior but also defensive, retaliative anger. Psychological research consistently reports a relationship between proneness to shame and a host of psychological symptoms, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, subclinical sociopathy, and low self-esteem. Shame is also theorized to play a more positive adaptive function by regulating experiences of excessive and inappropriate interest and excitement and by diffusing potentially threatening social behavior.”
—American Psychological Association (APA), Dictionary of Psychology

Somatic
”The word somatic is derived from the Greek word “soma” which means living body. Somatic therapy studies the relationship between the mind and body. Somatic psychology confirms that the mind and body connection is deeply rooted.”
—Psych Central

Spirituality
”Spirituality is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion. Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning and purpose to our lives.”
—Dr. Brené Brown

Spiritual Bypassing
”Avoiding processing emotional pain, numbing out, deflecting personal responsibility, refusing to acknowledge personal failures, attempting to forgive others without dealing with personal hurt and expressing emotional pain, or spiritual narcissism and obsession.”
—Sweeney & Myers, 2005

Suffering/Attachment/Non-Attachment
”The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces -- suffering of a physical kind, or of a mental nature. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance.”
—PBS.org, “The Basics of Buddhism”

Trauma
”In general, trauma can be defined as a psychological, emotional response to an event or an experience that is deeply distressing or disturbing. When loosely applied, this trauma definition can refer to something upsetting, such as being involved in an accident, having an illness or injury, losing a loved one, or going through a divorce. However, it can also encompass the far extreme and include experiences that are severely damaging, such as rape or torture. Because events are viewed subjectively, this broad trauma definition is more of a guideline. Everyone processes a traumatic event differently because we all face them through the lens of prior experiences in our lives. For example: one person might be upset and fearful after going through a hurricane, but someone else might have lost family and barely escaped from a flooded home during Hurricane Katrina. In this case, a minor Category One hurricane may bring up traumatic flashbacks of their terrifying experience. Because trauma reactions fall across a wide spectrum, psychologists have developed categories as a way to differentiate between types of trauma. Among them are complex trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and developmental trauma disorder.”
—The Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders

Trauma Informed

Values
”Values are “fundamental attitudes guiding our mental processes and behavior” that “produce the belief that life is meaningful and serve as a measure of how meaningful one’s actions are, that is, consistent with that person’s value system.”
—Positive Psychology

Vulnerability”Vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. But vulnerability is not weakness; it's our most accurate measure of courage. The uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure we face every day are not optional. Our only choice is a question of engagement. Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose; the level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection…A lot of people believe that vulnerability is the center of dark and difficult emotions that we don’t want to feel; so they guard against it. The truth is that vulnerability is the center of all emotions…Vulnerability is also the birthplace of love, joy, belonging, trust, intimacy, creativity, and all of the good things. If we’re practicing a guarded heart life, we’re pushing away the things we’re most desperate for. We’re emotional beings, and to understand our emotions is going to require a bit of uncertainty and risk. This goes back to the reason for my work: wrapping language around universal experiences so we can have conversations about what it means to be human.”
—Dr. Brené Brown

Wholehearted Living
“Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough.”
—Dr. Brené Brown

Witnessing
”The witness is actually another level of consciousness. The witness coexists alongside your normal consciousness as another layer of awareness, as the part of you that is awakening. Humans have this unique ability to be in two states of consciousness at once. Witnessing yourself is like directing the beam of a flashlight back at itself. In any experience — sensory, emotional, or conceptual — there’s the experience, the sensory or emotional or thought data, and there’s your awareness of it. That’s the witness, the awareness, and you can cultivate that awareness in the garden of your being. The witness is your awareness of your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Witnessing is like waking up in the morning and then looking in the mirror and noticing yourself — not judging or criticizing, just neutrally observing the quality of being awake. That process of stepping back takes you out of being submerged in your experiences and thoughts and sensory input and into self-awareness.”
—Ram Dass

Yoga
”Yoga is a complete science of life that originated in India many thousands of years ago.  It is the oldest system of personal development in the world, encompassing in its scope, body, mind and spirit. The ancient yogis had a profound understanding of man’s essential nature and of what he needs to live in harmony with himself and his environment. They perceived the physical body as a vehicle, with the mind as the driver, the soul as man’s true identity, and action, emotion and intelligence as the three forces which pull the body-vehicle. In order to have an integral development, these three forces must be in balance. The underlying purpose of all the different aspects of the practice is to reunite the individual Self (the jiva) with the Absolute or pure consciousness (Brahman).  The word Yoga means literally “joining”. Union with this unchanging reality liberates the spirit from all sense of separation, freeing it from the illusion of time, space and causation.  It is only our ignorance, our inability to discriminate between the real and the unreal, which prevents us from realizing our true nature.”
—Sivananda Yoga