Dr Yasmine Saad: Unveiling the Hidden Wisdom Behind Your Thoughts and Emotions – My Inner Message Approach™️
In this interview, we speak with Dr. Yasmine Saad, a renowned psychologist and peak performance coach. Dr. Saad is the founder of Madison Park Psychological Services, a boutique practice that specializes in helping individuals overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Dr. Saad is also the creator of the Inner Message Approach™, a unique method for understanding and interpreting thoughts and emotions.
In the interview, Dr. Saad discusses the inspiration behind the Inner Message Approach™, how it helps individuals unlock their true potential, and how she uses it to help her clients overcome challenges and achieve their goals. She also shares her insights on the role of mindset in achieving success and fulfilment in life.
Can you share with us the inspiration behind developing the Inner Message Approach™?
Drawing from my 15 years of experience as a psychologist, I noticed that people typically respond to negative thoughts in four ways: accepting them without question, disregarding them, letting them fade away, or replacing them with positive ones. Most patients, while curious about the origin of these thoughts, primarily desire to eliminate them.
Many people wished these thoughts would simply disappear without understanding their purpose.
The realization that our thoughts are filled with hidden insights into our inclinations, aspirations, and self-protective mechanisms, our instincts, desires, aspirations, self-protective mechanisms, and general mental patterns influenced me profoundly. Witnessing the transformative impact on individuals who accessed the wisdom their thoughts carried was an incredibly inspiring experience. This was the driving force behind developing the Inner Message Approach™. My aim was to alter the way people interact with their thoughts and feelings, to enable them to access the hidden wisdom within.
How does it help individuals unlock their true potential?
Every thought and emotion we experience carries a unique blueprint of ourselves in this particular moment. They reveal the desired destination we’re heading towards, shed light on the trajectory we’re on, pinpoint the obstacles we’re grappling with, and hint at potential strategies to transcend them for a more effortless journey. This implies that if people can decipher their thoughts and emotions, they essentially possess a comprehensive roadmap that delineates the most efficient path to the life they aspire for.
Let’s take an illustrative example. Suppose a person frequently thinks, “I am not good enough.” This indicates that they hold some concept, however vague, of what being “good enough” means and they recognise an existing discrepancy. Such a thought is imbued with intention: it could be a call to action prompting self-improvement, or perhaps a sanctuary from mounting expectations. However, using the negative as a motivation source could have the counterproductive effect of dampening, rather than fuelling, their drive. Similarly, taking refuge doesn’t alleviate the weight of expectations, which remains a challenge to their current approach.
By interpreting this thought, we unveil the desired outcome, the chosen method to achieve it, and the hurdles impeding progress. Now, the path to a smoother journey is clearly visible: recognise the propensity to rely on negativity as a motivator or shelter, foster alternative means of self-encouragement, and assess what is required to reach this ‘land of adequacy’ or liberation from expectations.
Through this deeper understanding and interpretation of thoughts, people can chart a more effective route toward their life ambitions, thereby unlocking the barriers constraining their potential. The key to all this? It was concealed within their thoughts all along. This underscores the core essence and benefits of the Inner Message Approach™.
As a renowned peak performance coach for impact-driven leaders, what strategies do you employ to help your clients overcome challenges and achieve their goals?
I employ a specific approach to guide my clients towards overcoming hurdles and realising their goals. This involves using my Inner Message Approach™ along with my unique Uncover, Connect, and Untangle (UCU) methodology. The main goal is to help my clients understand the essence of who they are, identify what internally needs adjusting, and facilitate those changes so they can attain their goals.
The cornerstone of my approach is the understanding that our beliefs, whether we are aware of them or not, significantly shape our reality.
The first step of my UCU method is to uncover these deeply ingrained, often unconscious, beliefs. This can be achieved either by examining the challenges they’re facing to infer their beliefs or by delving into their beliefs directly and noting their impact on their current situation. Once these beliefs are brought to light, we can connect them to the reality they’ve created.
Once we’ve uncovered and established this connection, we progress to untangling the valency of these beliefs. Beliefs are born from experiences, education, and even transgenerational influences. Each of these sources can have both positive and negative aspects. Hence, we examine why our client has ascribed a positive or negative connotation to their experiences and beliefs. This understanding allows us to reframe these interpretations and balance out the negative and positive aspects, thereby freeing them from limiting beliefs. Through this last step, we would also have discovered our leader’s core values and the essence of what defines them.
For instance, consider a driven leader who has a negative perception of money, possibly because conflicts around money were common during their upbringing. As a result, they’ve developed a belief, whether conscious or unconscious, that money negatively impacts relationships. This is an example of uncovering a belief and connecting it to their reality.
The untangling stage involves realising that their focus on the negative aspects of money might have pushed the leader to be more mindful of the role of money in relationships. Now we’re tapping into a core aspect of the leader’s identity – their desire to prevent money from damaging relationships. The next step is to find a solution that allows our leader to have financial success without compromising their relationships. By respecting this core value and untangling the previous belief, we facilitate a deeper understanding of their core values and essence. This approach doesn’t just help them achieve their goals but also enables them to get in touch with their core values and the essence of their true self, which will deem useful in other areas of their life.
You have been featured in major press outlets like Newsweek, Forbes, and BBC. How has this media exposure contributed to your work as a psychologist and personal development expert?
Being featured in media outlets has allowed me to share my years of accumulated wisdom with a larger audience. This exposure has helped me in my mission to assist more people in freeing themselves from negativity, leveraging the wisdom embedded within their thoughts and emotions to live their desired lives.
Could you tell us about your experience as a speaker, sharing stages with self-development leaders such as Deepak Chopra and Les Brown? How has this exposure influenced your approach to helping individuals?
Having the privilege to engage with leaders in the field of self-development has been a deeply enlightening experience. These exchanges didn’t just highlight their distinct perspectives but also crystallised my own unique approach. Interacting with these prominent figures sheds light on the uniqueness of our respective methods. The contrasting perspectives help in refining my own, while their methods and mine often complement and enhance each other. Thus, such exchanges of ideas have proven to be incredibly enriching.
As the founder of Madison Park Psychological Services, how do you ensure that your team of top psychologists provides tailored care to multicultural clients? What measures do you take to address the diverse needs of your clients?
At Madison Park Psychological Services, we are deeply committed to addressing the unique needs of our multicultural clientele. We operate on a bedrock principle of personalised care, ensuring that each client’s individual needs are met in a culturally sensitive manner. Recognising that each individual’s journey is unique, we follow a specific process to ensure their specific needs are effectively addressed.
Every client first consults with a psychologist who, using the Inner Message Approach™, identifies their individual needs, potential obstacles, and the best therapeutic strategy. We also consider the therapeutic approaches and therapist personalities that would best suit the client. Within this free consultation, the psychologist then matches the client with the most fitting professional from our diverse team.
Our staff represents a rich tapestry of cultural backgrounds and sensitivities. They’re selected through a stringent process, ensuring we employ only the top 5% of psychologists in our field. Each member undergoes training led by me and other senior psychologists, ensuring consistent quality of care across the board.
The diversity within our team is not just in ethnicity but in expertise as well. This dynamic environment promotes a culture of cultural humility alongside expertise, allowing our team to learn from each other. Each psychologist brings a unique field of expertise to the table, further allowing us to pair clients with the best-fit professional to address their needs.
To cater to our clients’ diverse needs, we do more than just understand them and match them with the right expert. We view our clients holistically, and we’re open to supplementing therapy with various modalities from Eastern or Western medicine, as needed. Depending on the individual, this might include acupuncture, Qigong, medication, and more. This comprehensive, personalised approach is how we ensure that Madison Park Psychological Services provides tailored holistic care for our multicultural clients.
With your extensive background in psychology and personal development, what role do you believe mindset plays in achieving success and fulfilment in life?
There’s a widely accepted understanding in both the fields of psychology and self-development that certain mindsets tend to be more conducive to success. The “fixed” and “growth” mindsets are often juxtaposed, with literature demonstrating that those who adopt a growth mindset—believing in their ability to evolve and enhance their skills—are more likely to lead successful lives.
However, the prevailing trend doesn’t just promote the adoption of a growth mindset but also a positive one. While these are certainly beneficial, I advocate for understanding our mindset before adopting a positive growth mindset. Rather than hurriedly adopting a new mindset, it’s valuable to delve into the intricacies of our current mindset with its purpose and how it operates. This understanding provides us with vital information about ourselves, and it’s precisely this aspect that I felt was overlooked in conventional psychology and self-development practices.
This perceived gap inspired me to create the Inner Message Approach™. This methodology serves as an effective addition to any therapeutic or coaching method, focusing first on understanding the person’s current mindset before facilitating any changes.
Our mindset is based on our thoughts. Since these thoughts each serve a unique purpose and intention, it would be unwise to hastily discard them in favour of a new mindset. Rather, we need to decipher the wisdom our thoughts hold for us. They serve as our personal gateway to self-understanding. Though we should not take our thoughts at face value, they still contain valuable information.
Once we decode this information, we gain a valuable shortcut to understanding what internal adjustments we need to make—while still remaining true to our authentic selves—in order to manifest our desired life outcomes.
As a licensed clinical psychologist, you have worked in different settings such as academia and healthcare. How have these experiences shaped your understanding of human behaviour and influenced your approach to therapy?
My experiences working in varied environments such as academia and healthcare have greatly influenced my perspective on human behaviour and my therapeutic approach. Each setting has allowed me to tap into different aspects of myself, thus enriching my understanding of personal growth and transformation.
My academic journey revealed the teacher within me, nurturing a love for sharing and mentoring. The healthcare setting, on the other hand, unearthed my innate healer, and my group practice built on these 2 aspects and honed my abilities to manage and navigate business intricacies. Through these experiences, I’ve come to understand that life’s varied situations can shed light upon the multifaceted essence of who we truly are, just as a flower is composed of numerous distinct petals.
This realization prompted me to adopt a similar perspective towards my clients. Rather than focusing solely on their struggles, I’ve learned to view their life experiences as unique opportunities for self-discovery and growth. Each life event, no matter how challenging, brings forth elements of their inner self that can be refined and polished, much like a diamond.
When I engage with a client, I strive to understand the lessons and growth opportunities their current life situation presents to them. I guide them towards the internal adjustments they need to make in order to truly thrive. This perspective underscores my therapeutic approach, emphasising the belief that every experience, even the seemingly adverse ones, is an opportunity to cultivate and reveal the brightest version of ourselves.
What advice do you have for individuals who are struggling to break free from negative patterns and emotions? How can they start their journey towards personal transformation?
First, embrace the idea that your thoughts and emotions are coded messages so create a little distance between you and them so you can think about them.
If you find this challenging, it’s likely because you have an emotional build-up that needs to be released. Identify the primary emotion you’re experiencing and release it.
If it’s frustration, you might try shouting into a pillow, in your car or in the shower. If you’re more creatively inclined, splatter paint on a canvas to express your feelings. Or, if you find solace in writing, jot down your frustrations on a piece of paper and then burn it as a symbol of release. If it’s sadness you’re grappling with, let yourself cry during a melancholy movie. If you need to lighten your mood, watching a comedy, a stand-up routine or a funny movie will help.
Once you’ve allowed this emotional release, you’ll be in a better place to analyse your thoughts and emotions objectively.
Ask yourself: what actions are these feelings pushing me towards or away from? This introspection will help you understand what you are pursuing and what you are evading. Now, can you identify the benefits and issues in both your pursuit/evasion?
You’ll start to see that these negative thoughts or emotions aren’t random or meaningless; they serve a specific function and contain clues about your personal blueprint. Once you identify the purpose they serve, they lose their emotional grip on you.
You’ll understand that they’re there to reveal something about you. Armed with this insight, you can then readjust yourself. By doing so, you’ll navigate towards your goals more efficiently, transforming what might’ve been a bumpy ride into a smoother, more enjoyable journey.
Being recognised as a top psychologist in New York by various organisations, what do you believe sets you apart and contributes to your success in the field of psychology?
Being well-versed in diverse therapy types, along with understanding the intricate connections between the body and mind, helps me understand patients through multiple perspectives. This holistic approach allows for a thorough understanding of their situations in a shorter span of time, thereby making treatments more effective while ensuring longer-lasting results.
Incorporating both Western and Eastern healing modalities gives me a rich toolkit to tap into a person’s unique experiences. This broad-ranging approach ensures that clients often feel truly acknowledged and understood within the first few minutes of our consultation, as affirmed by the 200+ online reviews I’ve received over the years.
I’m firmly convinced that it’s possible to deliver efficient and enduring care in a significantly condensed timeframe. To that end, I continually strive to innovate and improve my techniques, which has largely contributed to my present achievements.
There are three core qualities that have steered me towards my current success:
- An innate desire to relieve pain in others while understanding its function
- Finding better ways to help others and refine my skills
- A deep interest in expanding my awareness and that of others for the purpose of inner peace
Looking ahead, what are your future goals and aspirations in terms of making a positive impact in the field of psychology and personal development?
I frequently ponder how I can maximise my impact, and my answer is: if 1 million people heard what I told this one person, 1 million lives could be changed in an instant. Can you imagine the impact?
I aspire to share my knowledge with millions, helping them improve their lives instantaneously. Currently, I’m exploring various platforms, including a podcast and a weekly TV segment, alongside my speaking engagements and social media activities. Moreover, I’m planning to launch The Inner Message Institute to extend my teachings to other psychologists, coaches, and counsellors, aiming for a more profound, holistic, and lasting impact on people’s lives. Therefore, I will engage in any format or platform that helps me reach this goal of impacting millions in an instant.
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Dr. Yasmine Saad | NYC Psychologist (dryasminesaad.com)
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