welcome
I’m Gemma Stone, and I’m a Psychologist, Coach, Speaker, Guide, and a whole lotta other things.
I work with people who are ready to heal the past, love the present, and light up the future. I work with people who want to stop struggling and suffering and start fully living.
I fight for your happiness, health, and success by combining the science of psychology with the power of spirituality to create a personalized concoction of transformative tools and wisdom. Add a dash of unconditional love, compassion, and soul searching and you begin to get the essence of the work I do.
Think of me as your strategic-listening, freedom-fighting, happiness-finding, meaning-making, mind-reprogramming devotee. I’m the soul-sister who wants to join you on this crazy adventure called ‘life’.
Wanna work with me?
Great! First, choose whether you’d like to start with a Groundwork Session or a Pure Activation Session. If you’re ready to dive in right away you can book your appointment immediately with my online appointment booking program or give me a call {403-255-0898}.
People that really want to dive deep go for the Vacation Transformation. Or, if a full year of love, support, & therapy is more your thing check out the Diamond Tribe.
Questions? Let’s connect.
There’s work to be done. Time is of the essence.
Keep reading to check out my blog…think of it as a multimedia self-help book; it can’t replace help from a professional.
{gem of the present} clinging to the past & freedom in the present
We cling to the past. Grudges. Injuries. Blame. Shame. Wounds. They darken the present. It’s like an unending eclipse of the sun.
We think this can protect us from pain, but in reality, it prevents us from taking the risks to live fully.
To end the cycle, look inward & accept responsibility for what you find.
As children, we had to look to others to protect us, guide us and care for us. Regardless of if those needs were fulfilled when we were children, at some point, we have to grow up and become responsible for our own lives. If we do not, we will perpetually long for what was missing.
By searching for it in others, we can burden and break our adult relationships
The neediness of the child within can sabotage our relationships unless we fulfill those needs ourselves.
What are you looking for in others that you can provide for yourself?
making soulful change & ending suffering
When we do what the soul does not want us to do, we suffer. We try to escape the symptoms, but in truth, all that’s needed is genuine acceptance that we cannot escape the truth of our souls.
Although I work with people who suffer from psychopathology, I resist that word.
The definition is so … clinical.
I’ve chosen to align with the meaning of psychopathology rather than the definition of it. Psychopathology means “expressing the suffering of a soul”.
I see symptoms – depression, anxiety, self-sabotage – as the soul refusing the thoughts, choices & priorities that betray what it most wants.
Soul is the literal translation of the Greek word psyche {our essence}. It’s what gives our lives meaning beyond our physical bodies.
When we live our lives from the truth of our psyches, we experience peace, fulfillment & energy.
When we don’t tend to our psyches, we experience turmoil, emptiness & lethargy.
When we feed our souls, we are satisfied. We feel whole & complete.
When we deplete our souls, we feel hungry, forever grasping for more, desperately miserable. We awful-ize life and we try to fill the gaping hole with anything we can find – Ben & Jerry’s, Grey Goose, BDSM, Prada, Prozac. We are tempted & seduced by anything that may fill us, yet we continue to starve.
The symptoms are an {often painful} sign that it is time to recognize where we took a wrong turn and to get back on our true path.
In my own life, I now see that my suffering was the prerequisite for my consciousness. It was necessary so that I could come home to my Self.
The journey towards soulful truth is a noble & faithful calling.
What does your soul long for and how you can you sate it?
Love,
on anxiety & authentic growth
I’ve experienced a few transformative times in my life and have just edged through another one. I’m so freshly on the other side that sometimes I can still feel the discomfort of it.
During this most recent and particularly challenging transformation, I have spent many hours venturing within. And, I haven’t always been as courageous as I would have liked.
Too often my mantra was “If in fear, doubt, or overwhelm, administer chocolate.” It’s a 25-year-old defense that is reluctant to leave me.
Here’s what I learned during my most recent inner adventure:
I know that if I step into the more truthful version of my life, anxiety will be my travelling companion. And if I do not, then depression will be. Though I would prefer to have neither, I know that the anxiety will wane while the depression will not.
Moving into an unfamiliar world creates anxiety, as it should. I will be best served by learning how to tolerate anxiety and sit in uncertainty – rather than choosing the more comfortable path.
Anxiety has the potential to keep me on my growing edge, whereas depression will sedate me into stagnation.
There are the times when I question whether my desire for growth is selfish and self-indulgent. But there is a deep truth within me that knows it is my duty to myself, those in my life, and the world to show up as my best possible self and live my fullest, truest life.
Truth & love,
{gem of the present} stepping in the right direction
When I was watching my youngest learn to walk, I saw something beyond the steps he was taking.
When he would look at his destination – my arms or the chair he wanted to climb – he would make his way safely & successfully.
When he would look at his feet, some small distraction, or the upcoming obstacle, he would fall.
We are forever taking our first steps as we adventure through life.
When we lose focus on what matters or when we get distracted by the perceived obstacles, we inevitably stumble.
Recently, I found myself in an unfamiliar place, taking my first steps. The temptation to look down in order to find my way was enticing and I followed its pull.
I saw the obstacles & the hazards.
I felt fear and anxiety kick in and my heart started to close up.
In life, fear and love are always jockeying for position; the one that takes the lead is the one you choose to follow. Fear is the distraction that causes us to stumble. Love lights the way.
Antonio Machado said, “walker there is no path, the path is made by walking”.
What path are you walking?
Wouldn’t it be lovely to live in a world where we all naturally stepped in the direction of love?
You can gracefully step past the distractions and into a future larger & more truthful than the one your fear depicts.
I believe in you.
{gem of the present} on saying ‘yes’ when you want to say ‘no’
There was a time in my life when I said yes when I wanted to say no.
All. The. Time.
I was afraid of rejection, abandonment, judgment, conflict, disappointment. I desperately avoided the messiness of life {or thought I did}.
In order to do this I had to deny, repress, and numb parts of myself. I was well trained in the fine art of self-sacrifice.
I convinced myself I was simply passionate about life – a ‘yes’ woman.
Fast forward to today. With the help of wise friends, seasoned mentors, and loving family I now know myself. I now step into the messiness of life with less fear and more {self}love.
I know now that when I agree to anything my spirit doesn’t want, I suffer. And, so do the people that know me and love me.
I see now that the rewards of compliance come at a great risk – and it’s no longer one I am willing to take.
I see many people standing at this same crossroads – choose the path of being who ‘they’ want you to be, or choose the path of being who you want to be.
Being who you want to be may result in conflict with others. Being who they want you to be is conflict with yourself, which can lead to the most devastating consequences – an unlived, unauthentic, unfulfilled life.
As a recovering conflict avoider, I have come to understand that no matter what path I take there will be conflict.
If I choose the path of avoiding conflict with others, then I default to the path in which there is conflict with myself. And. If I choose the path that allows me to resolve the conflict with myself, then I default to the path where, eventually, there will be conflict with others.
The true self can weather the storm of conflict that comes as a natural part of living this adventure called life.
Be yourself.
Speak your truth with love.
Resist the urge to temper the truth and dampen your true self.
Practicing this doesn’t have to be catastrophic; it can be as simple as deciding what restaurant you want to go to or which movie you want to watch.
If you honor who you are, you will bump against people who want you to be something else. If you become what they want you to be, you will bump up against your true self, who will be annoyed by your lack of authenticity.
I humbly suggest that it’s preferable to live with the occasional discomfort that comes from being in conflict with others than with the suffering and resentment that comes from being in conflict with oneself.
Truth & love,
