Stress Therapy with Cheri Flake: Meditation & Stress Relief for Real Life

Hey beautiful people! What if you didn't have to lure anything into this moment — no worry, no anxiety, no "hurry up and get to the next thing" — and what if the good stuff started showing up on its own? In this mini meditation episode, I talk about taking custody of your own consciousness, getting out of the hurry-up cycle, and learning to just sit in right now. There's only one Now, baby, and it's right here. Stick around for the little guided meditation at the end. In this episode:
The "hurry up" trap — how we rush through every single moment to get to the next one, only to rush through that one too
Wherever you go, there you are: why nothing actually happens in the past or the future, only right now
Eckhart Tolle's simplest doorway into the present — just ask yourself, "Am I still breathing?"
Puppies versus politics — choosing what you let into your moment, being for peace instead of against war
Bliss blips: those little unprovoked blips of bliss that show up for no reason at all, and why they're tied straight to your meditation practice
A short guided meditation using a soft drishti, an environmental scan, and the Om Shanti mantra
Mentions and shoutouts:
Joe Dispenza and the retreat that stuck with me
Wherever You Go, There You Are (I'm pretty sure that's Jon Kabat-Zinn)
Eckhart Tolle, Yogananda, Dan Siegel's "flip your lid," and Mother Teresa's "I won't march against war, but I'll march for peace"
The Vedas on life as a show we get to watch
September retreat at ilovetherapy.com with Sonic Yogi and an amazing Atlanta cellist joining us
If you've ever had a bliss blip, I want to hear about it — email me at cheri@thestresstherapist.com (it's Cheri with a C — wasn't my idea). And come meditate with us at ilovetherapy.com. Connect with me @thestresstherapist on Instagram and @stresstherapy on Twitter. Georgia residents — book a free consultation at thestresstherapist.com. Produced and edited by Owen Flake

Graduation season is here, and Cheri has a message for every new grad that she wishes she'd heard at 22 instead of figuring out the hard way: nobody is coming to save you. Not your parents, not your therapist, not the perfect partner, not your followers. And once you really get that, it's not depressing — it's the most freeing thing in the world. In this quickie episode, Cheri unpacks what it actually looks like to show up for yourself. She talks about why obsessing over how you look to attract the "right" person is a losing game (spoiler: all the dudes look the same after 60 anyway), why disappointment is almost always a sign you were outsourcing your wellbeing, and how taking 100% responsibility for your life is where the magic actually starts. She also gets into the social media trap — how scrolling through someone else's feed means you're paying attention to their agenda instead of your own — and makes the case for being the master and commander of your own attention. You don't have to record your life. You don't have to report on it. The quietest lives can be the richest ones. The episode wraps with a short seated meditation on letting thoughts come and go without judgment, plus a homework assignment: next time you're standing in line at the grocery store or waiting at the dentist, leave the phone in your pocket. Just stand there. Notice what you're thinking. That's it. It used to be normal. We've lost it. Time to get it back. A few things Cheri wants you to walk away with:
You are the person you've been waiting for. Be her. Be him.
Pick the kindest partner. Looks fade, kindness compounds.
Walk away from people who aren't bringing out your best — no animosity, no diagnosis, just go.
Disappointment = you were relying on something outside yourself. Take that as data.
Sitting and doing nothing is not lazy. It's a skill, and it's becoming a rare one.
Connect with Cheri: Instagram: @thestresstherapist Twitter: @stresstherapy Retreats and offerings: ilovetherapy.com Georgia residents — book a free consultation at thestresstherapist.com Produced and edited by Owen Flake.

Hey beautiful people! It's Maycember — that wild stretch of end-of-school-year chaos and springtime new beginnings. Instead of piling more onto your plate, I'm sharing a few tiny cognitive tweaks that can shift everything, plus a quick moment of stillness to get you through. I also open up about a recent scary diagnosis and why I'm refusing to own it. Rare but possible, baby. In this episode:
Why you should never "own" a diagnosis (mental or physical) — the language we use shapes our identity and our healing
Three cognitive flips that change everything: "I have to" becomes "I get to," "what if" becomes "even if," and the quiet magic of "wouldn't it be nice if…"
A 16-second bliss break you can do anywhere — shoutout to my friend Davidji for this one
Mentions and shoutouts:
Catch Stress Therapy the show on New Reality TV (Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV)
Huge congrats to the Chamblee High School varsity tennis team heading to state finals
Stanford is studying energy healers and their effect on cancer cells — science is catching up to the woo woo
September 23–27 retreat with a sale running this week at ilovetherapy.com
If you spot a "Rare But Possible" t-shirt out there, please send it my way
Connect with me @thestresstherapist on Instagram and @stresstherapy on Twitter. Georgia residents — book a free consultation at ilovetherapy.com.

Produced and edited by Owen Flake

Hey, beautiful people. Let's talk about intuition — that knowing in your gut that you can't quite explain but you absolutely cannot ignore. In this episode, I'm sharing the full story of how I spent months smelling smoke before my office actually caught fire, predicted the flood that came after, and what all of that taught me about trusting the voice inside that doesn't speak in words. We're getting into why meditation is the single best thing you can do to sharpen your intuition, how to tell the difference between ego noise and real guidance, and why "listen to the listener" is the most important thing anyone's ever said to me at a silent retreat. Plus we do a beautiful guided meditation together — heart center breathing up through the third eye — to help you connect with that wise, divine, knowing part of yourself. Because you already know everything you need to know. You just have to get quiet enough to hear it. 🧘‍♀️ 💡 3 Key TakeawaysIntuition isn't reserved for psychics or special people — it's in all of us. Meditation is what turns up the volume. The more you sit, the more available your wise self becomes.
If the voice you're hearing is mean, identity-based, or ego-driven ("you're a bad person"), that's not intuition — that's your ego throwing a fit. Real intuition tends to arrive quietly, from nowhere, and it doesn't attack you.
Nobody ever says "I shouldn't have listened to my gut." That alone tells you everything you need to know about how valuable this is.
🔥 Episode HighlightsThe full fire premonition story — six months of smelling smoke, middle-of-the-night office checks, a husband who thought I was losing it, and the call from State Farm that proved I wasn't
My six-year-old telling the police her mommy knew the office would burn down (great for the insurance claim, thanks kid)
Predicting the flood days later — and pulling out every piece of paper and fabric just in time
Why the Waze vs. your gut dilemma is the most relatable intuition test there is
A psychiatrist who couldn't wrap his head around acupressure — and how far we've come since then with mind-body-soul connection
The monk at a silent retreat who said "listen to the listener" and completely rewired my brain
A guided heart center to third eye breathing meditation
📣 Mentions & References🧠 "Listen to the Listener" — the teaching from a silent retreat that changed everything about how I understand intuition
🧘 Heart Center to Third Eye Meditation — a breathing visualization connecting your heart space to your place of knowing
💆 Somatic Work — body-based healing and why you can't throw a stick at the internet without hitting that word right now
🏥 Chinese Medicine / Acupressure — thousands of years of wisdom we chose to ignore, and we're finally catching up
👦 My son's take on therapy — "You think everything affects your mental" — yeah buddy, because it does
✅ Try This WeekNext time you get a gut feeling — even a small one, like which way to turn — follow it. Then write it down. Start tracking when your intuition shows up and what it's telling you.
Sit for 10 minutes a day this week. Just breathe. The more still you get, the louder that inner voice becomes.
Ask yourself: is this thought ego or intuition? If it's attacking your identity, it's ego. If it arrived from nowhere and feels calm but certain, pay attention.
🏡 Hang With Me🧘 Retreats — ilovetherapy.com, click on Retreats. Meditation, yoga, and people who get it.
💌 thestresstherapist.com — therapy, retreats, and all the things
📲 @thestresstherapist on Instagram | @stresstherapy on Twitter
🎙️ Produced and edited by Owen Flake.

I've been broke. Sharing-a-can-of-tuna-with-my-cat broke. So I'm not coming at this from some high horse — I've been in it. But here's what I've learned since then: most of the time, we're not actually broke. We just feel broke. And that feeling? It's running the whole show. In this episode I'm talking about how your energy and your frequency around money shape what comes to you, what a craps table in Vegas taught me about choosing the right vibe, and a stat about income that might genuinely change the way you carry yourself today. We're also doing a guided meditation together calling on Lakshmi, the goddess of abundance — because sometimes you just need to sit still and remember what you already have. 💸 💡 3 Key TakeawaysIf you make $34K a year, you're in the top 20% of wealth globally. At $70K, top 10%. You're not broke — you're just comparing yourself to the wrong people.
How you spend your money carries energy. Handing over your card with resentment sends one signal. Handing it over with gratitude for everyone that transaction touches sends a very different one.
Gratitude isn't just a journaling trend — it's the frequency of "thank you, I already have it." Wayne Dyer picked up pennies with that energy. There's a reason it works.
🎲 Episode HighlightsThe tuna-and-cat days and what it actually feels like to be stuck in a broke mindset
Why I always win at craps in Vegas (and why my friends hand me a twenty every time I go)
The elevator story — and why strangers have been telling me their secrets for as long as I can remember
Losing a reading bet to my daughter and ending up in Nantucket because of Elin Hilderbrand
A guided meditation through four memories — luck, wealth, happiness, and peace
📣 Mentions & References🙏 Om Maha Lakshmi — the mantra in today's closing meditation, calling on the goddess of abundance
📚 Joe Dispenza — Supernatural, You Are the Placebo (skip the first book, it's dense)
📚 Byron Katie (thework.com) — questioning the thoughts that keep you feeling stuck
🙏 Wayne Dyer — found abundance in aluminum cans and gratitude in pennies. A masterclass in frequency.
📖 Elin Hilderbrand — Nantucket novels and the reason I lost a bet to my kid
🐱 Loopy (RIP) — 22 years, 12 moves, one shared can of tuna. The best.
✅ Try This WeekCarry a $100 bill and just notice how it shifts your thinking when you see something you want
Write down 5 things you're grateful for — morning or night. When you're reaching for stuff like your favorite chapstick, that's when it's really working.
Next time you pay for something, take a second to appreciate everyone that transaction supports
🏡 Hang With Me🧘 Retreats — ilovetherapy.com, click on Retreats. Beach, mountains, meditation, good people.
📺 TV — newreality.com or Cox Cable's Your View TV
💌 thestresstherapist.com
📲 @thestresstherapist on Instagram | @stresstherapy on Twitter
🎙️ Produced and edited by Owen Flake.