Resource Yo' Self — June Edition
Monthly resources, books, tools and updates from Taylor King Therapy
When you can't make it to the spa… this is a place to come each month for supportive resources, books, apps, and updates from the Taylor King Therapy world — all to help you resource yo' self.
🌿 A little check-in from me
Hey Friends,
Something shifted for me recently.
After finding myself in increasing agitation, I heard a deep, inner, bone-tired enough. I found myself saying it out loud:
“I’m sick of trying so hard all the F(bombing) time”
Tired of trying to be the perfect business owner. Partner. Student. Therapist. Human. Always on top of it, doing all the things right, ticking off the achievement list, keep on keeping on, striving for perfect, as if doing so could finally prove I’m enough.
This is a pattern I know well. One I slip back into so subtly I almost don’t notice — again and again. And yet, when I finally met it again this time, I felt gratitude. Relief.
Relief to recognise this part of me. Relief to know it needs some holding. And bloody relief to be taking my foot off the accelerator - to literally go and smell the fresh air, take myself for the extra walk, read my fiction book, and reintegrate into the broader world we call Life.
My experience left me to sit with this paradox — one I see with the people I work with too — and I’ll leave it with you today to ponder:
The act of striving for our worth and loveability is, in itself, fuelled by the belief: ‘I am not enough.’ The love and enoughness we constantly reach for is only really found when we have the courage to stop reaching.
I even made a playlist on spotify about this experience - ‘The Love is already here’.
In what ways might you have internalised the voice of modern culture, the schooling system, or your family of origin as your own?
“Do more. Be more. Achieve more. And then you’ll be okay. Then you’ll be enough.”
It’s truly a practice, but a very worthwhile one, learning to become the wise, compassionate adult who comes in and lovingly says to those parts of us:
“You don’t need to do this anymore. How can I help you slow down and find some ease? How do I support you to be with this underlying pain? Let me hold you and remind you that you are enough?”
🌿 Resource of the Month
For those of you who identify as anxious, or anxiety-prone, who feel moments of overwhelm, or are just looking for some guided tools — the Anxiety Toolkit is a website offering free, evidence-based support. It has a range of tools, from 2 to 30 minutes, specifically designed for anxiety to help you reconnect with yourself and the present moment.
I personally like using the 4-7-8 Technique (in ‘Guided Breathing) throughout the day as a way to reconnect with myself and the present and like how they’ve put together the ‘5-4-3-2-1 Grounding’ tool to support ‘come down’ from heightened overwhelm.
It’s all in one place, on one screen so it’s easy to use and avoids the endless searching scroll hole. And, if you like the science and context, it includes this for each tool too (but isn’t necessary at all to use them).
A gentle caveat I want to flag:
Anxiety tools work best when you’ve just boarded the rollercoaster to help you step off, not when you’re already upside down at 100km/h. Once you’re fully in anxiety, i.e. a full fight or flight response, there’s often no graceful way through it, you mostly just have to ride it out as best you can.
I share this to dissolve any shame around “the tools aren’t working” or “I’m doing them wrong, I’m broken” etc. The tools aren’t meant to stop the ride once it’s in full motion.
Which leads to a worthwhile question I’d like to offer: what are your early signs that anxiety is building? A tightness in the body? Certain thoughts starting to loop? A shift in behaviour? The earlier you can notice, the more useful these tools become.
In the longer term, I’m even more of a fan of building a relationship with anxiety, so it becomes more like a welcome (if occasionally annoying) guest at the dinner table, rather than feeling like a scary, threatening asshole who knocks the door down.
🌿 App Recommendation
Insight Timer is my absolute favourite meditation app - which has a free tier and paid option.
It has 280k+ guided meditations and every flavour of practice you can imagine. Sound healings, guided visualisations, Zen Buddhist talks, Christian talks, story time, Yoga Nidra, muscle relaxation, plain timers with ambient backgrounds and so on and on and on.
I have the paid version (for offline downloads and extra content), but I used the free account for a long time and it’s more than enough to start.
Given it has an enormous library, I’d recommend building yourself a few playlists in advance. When you actually need to meditate, the last thing you want is to spend ten, twenty, thirty minutes scrolling.
Two of my favourites on Insight Timer are Sonic Yogi for sound baths, and Tara Brach for meditations and talks.
🌿 Community Clinic
Week of 15–19 June | AUD$50 / 50 mins
If you or someone you know is needing a little extra support, I have community clinic sessions available in a couple of weeks at a lower rate than my usual sessions. If cost has been a barrier, or if you want to see if we’re a good fit working together, this is a great way to get extra support or try out therapy!
→ You can book with me here
→ And learn more about our clinic here
🌿 Watch this space
I’m so excited to be releasing a free Parts Work workbook and mapping tool very soon.
Parts Work is the practice of turning toward your parts with curiosity and compassion — rather than the usual instinct to fight, fix, or suppress them. Especially the parts that cause the most friction: people-pleasing parts, inner critic parts, anxious parts, avoidant parts, and the ones that feel most self-destructive.
Parts work has been one of the most transformative, deep and ongoing practices on my own healing journey, one that has opened possibilities I didn’t know were available to me. It’s also work I feel deeply privileged to guide clients through, watching them build a relationship with themselves that is more compassionate, spacious and authentic.
Inside the workbook you’ll find journal prompts and a body map to help you get to know your inner landscape. Something you can return to again and again as your inner exploration deepens.
🌿 1:1 Sessions
And if you’ve been sitting with something for a while and wondering whether therapy might be supportive, I do have availability for 1:1 sessions through June.
I’ve been really loving working with people who are doing the brave, tender work of transforming deep patterns and working with developmental trauma — things like anxiety, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and tricky relationship dynamics. I also feel genuinely privileged to journey with people navigating grief, overwhelm, and am inviting in clients working with addiction and recovery.
If any of that sounds like you, please reach out!
→ And learn more about my work here
That’s all from me.
As always, please reply if anything landed, if you’d like to see more or less of something, or if you just want to say hi.
Take care,
Taylor
(taylorkingtherapy.com)