Grace & Grit Podcast

Dr. Sarah Sarkis is a psychologist, writer, and performance consultant with a private practice in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her integrated approach is big on science, low on bullshit, empowering her clients to achieve long term change and growth through an eclectic blend of psychology, neurobiology, and functional medicine. In this interview, we touch on so many points relevant to modern-day mental health...

In this second episode of the "Modern Day Mental Health Theme", I introduce 3 simple steps to to help you immediately improve your mental state. Clear physical and lifestyle clutter Pause to notice & name your what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Choose to feel with intention. These are strategies I have used for years to help my clients unpack their stress and more consistently honor...

While we are facing a tremendous amount of physical health challenges in our culture today, mental health is the most pressing issue of our time. Our ability to prevent, heal and manage modern-day health challenges is heavily influenced by the state of a person's mind. If you are serious about cultivating deep health for yourself, you would benefit tremendously by focusing as much attention on you...

Progress is not linear. (Read that again!) You will make mistakes. You will revert to behaviors that don't serve you from time to time. You will "test the waters" to the point of unraveling some of your good work. In other words, you will find yourself "misaligned" along the path to change. It happens. It is part of the process. Being misaligned is where we learn and are presented with the opportu...

There are 4 primary practices that I teach all of my clients to ensure that they make progress towards their goals. Self-Awareness Organization Follow Through Realignment These 4 practices can be applied to any area of your life to supercharge it. If you are looking for ways to supercharge your life in any way, do not miss this episode! You can listen here:  https://graceandgrit.com/podcast-165/ A...

Last week on the podcast we talked about the difference between using discipline as punishment vs an act of love. And this week, I am teaching you 5 ways to apply more self-discipline in your life in a way that feels simple, kind and even joy-filled. If you struggle to show up for yourself consistently, and you know that developing more self-discipline would help you do just that… do not miss this...

In my opinion, there are two ways you can think about discipline, and how you choose to think about it has everything to do with your ability to use it to move your life to higher ground. What do you make discipline mean?   What could you make it mean? Do you want it to be a form of punishment or a form of devotion? Do you want it to mean restriction or freedom? Do you consider it a "have to" or a...

This week's episode on the Grace & Grit Podcast is the final installment of the Self-Leadership (and why it matters to your health) theme, and I am talking about the two final pillars: self-compassion & self-discipline (aka Grace & Grit). We need BOTH grace (self-compassion) and grit (self-discipline) to live a healthy, joyous life. The hard part is embracing the quality that doesn't come as natur...

We have covered a lot of ground on the Grace & Grit Podcast this month in regards to Self-Leadership and why it matters to your health. In the first two episodes (159 & 161) I talked about  the importance of developing self-respect, and why self-awareness is so essential to self-development . You may have self-respect, you may have self-awareness, you may have a game plan for developing the parts...

This month on the podcast we are talking about what means to be self-directed along your health journey and the 6 pillars that make-up powerful self-leadership. Last week we did a deep dive into the most foundational pillar, which is self-respect and on this episode, I talk about self-awareness and self-development. Plus I dish out some tips for improving both of these areas with more ease and gra...

Some health coaches heavily focus on nutrition, others on fitness, and others on mindfulness. While the work that I do as a coach addresses all of these things in depth,  the thing I am MOST passionate about teaching clients is self-leadership, because, without it, nothing else will stick for very long . In this episode of the Grace & Grit Podcast, I introduce what I believe to be  the 6 pillars o...

Everywhere you turn it seems there is a new diet or exercise program being marketed to you, but  how often do you see the wellness industry pushing the importance of sleep ? Sleep is the linchpin to your health , according to Matthew Walker Ph. D., who wrote the awesome book, Why We Sleep. Matthew Walker is Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Fou...

It is fundamentally impossible to create a state of deep health without adequate recovery and I will forever be reminding my listeners, my clients and my community that the answers to improving health are often not found in doing more but doing less. In a culture that glorifies hustle, it can be really difficult to slow down and grant yourself adequate permission to rest and recover, which can dra...

Have you ever heard of Breast Implant Illness? If not, you are not alone. I had not heard of it either until few friends of mine publically announced their intention to have "explant" surgery after they started to suffer from inexplicable health challenges over the past few years. One such friend is Michelle Rycroft, a dedicated health coach and personal trainer who I have had the pleasure of know...

In this episode, I interview a very dear friend of mine, Joana Meneses, who has built an amazing retreat business in her homeland of Portugal (in the Azores Islands, to be more specific). I went to visit her last year for some much-needed restoration myself and,  not only was I restored, I was deeply touched and inspired  by the place and the people that she introduced me to. Since the entire mont...

Negotiating recovery is a very real habit that many women have adopted in their life that has some pretty steep consequences. Protecting time in your schedule to allow your mind, body, and soul to recover should not be "optional", you should treat it as "mandatory" if you want to feel strong, resilient and proactive. In this episode of the Grace & Grit Podcast, I share some of my thoughts on why m...

If you are creating any kind of meaningful change in your life, you will most certainly be confronted with resistance…many, many times. And when feel resistance, you can hand over the car keys, which will get you nowhere (because resistance wants you to stay exactly where you are). Or… You can  use the fact that you are in the arena with resistance as an opportunity to flex your resilience muscle...

I am so honored to have Steph Gaudreau back on the Grace & Grit Podcast to expand the conversation around " Embracing Resistance ", which is the theme on the podcast this month. I have watched Steph's business and message spread like wildfire over the past few years, and I know that the growth she has experienced has not come without a fair share of challenges. In this episode, Steph graciously sh...

Resistance is how we fortify our muscle, our bone, and even our brain tissue. Learning how to embrace resistance is also how we learn to expand our lives. Resistance, both emotional and physical, can literally forge us into more capable and resilient human beings IF we are willing to lean into it rather than making a habit of retreating from it. In this episode, I have the honor of interviewing st...

In order to improve your life, one thing is for certain, you are going to have to do some things differently than you have in the past, which will feel challenging. And, where there is challenge, there is resistance. What if you could use resistance to enhance your life rather than deplete it? What if you see resistance as something that lights the way, rather than something that prevents you from...

In this final episode of the theme " Ready, Set, Grow " on the Grace & Grit Podcast, I talk about a few of the  biggest obstacles standing in the way of women showing up for themselves  to "do the work" required to improve their health story. I also provide some suggestions for how to conquer each one. These are the specific obstacles I address: Not believing that it is possible to improve health....

I am a big believer that deep health is born out of the willingness to get to know yourself better; understanding why you do things that don't really serve you and why you don't do things that are in line with what you say you want for your life. To improve your health, you must be willing to ask yourself some hard questions and honor the answers that you uncover. Today's episode introduces questi...

Change is challenging, to say the least. Which is why a lot of people fail to improve their life to the degree that they want to. Most people are living over scheduled lives, barely keeping their head above water and, therefore, reacting to the world around them with old behaviors that are seared into their brain. Reaction is rooted in habit  (things you have practiced for years), so if you want t...

I love to read and there are a handful of authors that have greatly influenced the work that I do as a health coach. So, today on the Grace & Grit Podcast I share with you a few of the lesson I have reaped from some of my favorite books over the past several years. They are all heavily based on how change actually happens and what it really takes to create sustainable change. If you could use a li...

I have been helping women rewrite their health stories now for over 20 years, and I have learned a few things along the way about what it really takes to create sustainable change. It has nothing to do with the latest diet craze (or any diet for that matter). It has nothing to do with superfoods or exercise protocols. What it takes to create sustainable change has everything to do with how you are...