Conversations with Michelle Sokol

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Sokol. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I didn’t have a role model to learn from so I had to learn to be my own. I seek inspiration from the world around me and I keep on keeping on. I have always been a sensitive person with a deep perspective and it is important to me to advocate and speak up for others who might not have the privilege of wisdom or education or voice or strength or whatever I might have been granted with that they have not, it is important to spread the gift of ability as far as we are able, blessings shared thusly will never ever run out. I’ve become a master problem solver from problem-solving not only my own problems–which I seem to be so good at finding– but also at helping others with the endless problems humanity seems to encounter quite generally. It is my personal mantra of believe that ‘Love in Action is Kindness, and to Always Be Kind’ because we truly never know what someone else is encountering from their perspective of living and so from breadth and depth of experience, I have learned to be a loud and proud public speaker and advocate for all beings who require sensitive mindfulness. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Some of the greatest struggles I have encountered have been invisible. I have had lifelong adventures and have always advocated and provided alongside a rocky road of mental illness and endeavors encountered in those arenas with close family members. I have had serious struggles in personal relationships. I have been victim to unjust encounters with organizations that have left me deeply traumatized and financially crippled. I have been subject to dysfunctional abuse for a lot longer than I would like to admit. I am more familiar with courtroom processes than your average citizen (considering I’ve never officially worked there) and I have ridden in the back of a police cruiser, justly and unjustly; I know what discrimination looks and feels like and as a person with a hidden disability I also know what it is to silently suffer. Life is rocky when you’re a gem. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a woman of many hats, a true renaissance type— my professional journeys began as a page at the library, shelving books; I found myself a Manager in a Video Game store for a short sting; in college, I taught myself how to sew and started an Etsy business selling baby legwarmers, boppy pillow covers, and cloth diapers. I’ve done secret shopping and surveys and grocery delivery and even modeling; but my heart was always as an Educator and Librarian and that was where my professional degrees took me. Then I fell deep into energy and bodywork training and I’ve been a professional Usui Reiki Master Teacher and Thai Massage practitioner for almost a decade alongside my logical skillset of educational research and program creation skills. I continued to curate my skills to the arenas of public administration and public speaking and advocacy and I haven’t quite found just the right fit for me yet but I keep rockin’ and rollin’ and shining bright; because inspiration and motivation and positive problem solving are always necessary and what do you really call it when you’re hitting the streets and helping people and beings in all the ways and you really just want to make beautiful art and spread joy? What job is that called, because that’s what I do, or at least I try to. Spreading positivity and brevity and being the invisible butter to smooth the world and interactions around us is what I am most proud of my ability to do. My clients don’t complain about my back and foot massages too! My Reiki clients know I am good at smoothing out invisible snaggles and anxieties also. 

I am unique in that I am highly sensitive and I see and sense invisible patterns in ways other people are not accustomed to. This ability to sense combined with my advanced degree of knowledge and continued learning on the subject give me a key advantage when I help other people with some of their most difficult quandaries at hand. I apply my tessellation theory of Trust, Respect, and Validation to solve any issue, internal or external, and it provides the simplest and sweetest form of emotional closure and communicative satisfaction. I suppose that’s my most unique creation is Tessellation Theory, which I bill as a new social mind construct theory to maximize sweetness and efficiency of communication. 

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
“Without risk, there cannot be any great reward” – Surely a quote by someone else I have taken many risks and I have also been willing to make great sacrifice in order to take those risks. There are other times those risks were taken because survival was the only choice and I didn’t have the privilege NOT TO take the risk. In either case, the exhilaration, the adrenaline, the rush, the fear, the anxiety, the depression, the euphoria; all those feelings are so real; yet so entirely necessary to the experience. The more accustomed I have become to taking risks; even calculated ones; the more I have learned to brace, embrace, and prepare for the emotional journey and also roller coaster of brain chemicals that it inspires. Some risks do not always have the intended consequence we desire. Some risks do not always come with an easy pathway forward. Some journeys, we would not willingly choose, if we truly knew the toils to come. But when we willingly step into a risk, even a risk that feels so seemingly tiny and insignificant and small, we willingly step into the power controls of our life and the ability to manifest and create and make a-new. When we willingly step into new opportunities we are saying YES to growth and YES to forward motion and YES to leaning into something new. Life is about more than just the same old; and risks can be scary when you aren’t used to making them. But research even shows, risk is what begets reward; and you cannot reap the benefits if you are too scared to even try. So, what are you waiting for? What’s the worst that could really happen? Can you plan for that? Sit with that as a possible reality for a moment? Okay, well then, what happens next? Start with a plan; because nothing ever goes according directly to our wishes; but the forward motion of a life that is being made is surely the only way to reap in the benefits of joy. Wonderment ahead if an open mind you are willing to keep! 

My risks in life have been many. Firewalking and sky diving and drag racing and natural birthing have been some of my favorites; but I also sometimes enjoy playing (and winning!) the lottery (well, when it happens). Or applying to a new job that makes you so nervous you want to throw up, that’s a good thing to do sometimes too, just for the sake of it! 

Contact Info:

• Email: michelle.sokol14@gmail.com
• Website: www.studiosokol.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solaria_bryte/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeyondLightandLove/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChZ3P9BnksBzb0M_yG2y3Pw

Image Credits
Jonathan Sokol
Adam Jaenke