The Art of Naming as a Life Hack for Resiliency
Summer Jean is most known for her transformational work with trauma, major life transitions, grief, and deep healing of long-term suffering. She is the owner of Agami Karma Therapy and the online transformation program, Ascend.
No one taught me this. I picked it up as life unfolded. A survival trick. A trade skill. A creative method for surviving and thriving.
It began in childhood, divorced parents, new houses, new schools, new friends. A constant rotation of “old life” to “new life.” When you're young, you ride the waves you're given. You don’t control the weather, you adapt. Like a fish doesn’t know the water it swims in, we rarely recognize the environments that shape us as kids.
As a parent, I passed these skills on to my children, guiding them through similar but uniquely challenging waves of post-divorce life. Later, as an Integrative Psychotherapist, I began teaching it to clients. And now, I want to teach it to you. Because this simple tool can restore your sense of power in the face of powerlessness, and that can change everything.
"Man is not disturbed by things, but by the view he takes of them." — Epictetus
Before we get to the skill. Let’s talk about the force behind it
Life doesn’t always go as we hope. Sometimes we’re dealt cards we’d never choose, and we’re left reacting to life rather than co-creating with life. When we feel powerless when life feels out of our control, it stirs up fear, shame, guilt, insecurity, and anxiety. These emotions aren’t just unpleasant; they can manifest as depression, addiction, chronic stress, or illness.
Feeling powerless is traumatic. Our biology is wired to avoid powerlessness, because to our nervous system, powerlessness = serious threat. Warning. Danger. Death.
And yet life happens. Again and again. Some people survive the chaos with grace, while others struggle, overwhelmed by it. The difference? Often, it comes down to the ability to reclaim inner power.
Not false power like perfectionism, control, numbing with alcohol, overachievement, or avoidance. These are just masks. Band-aids on a deeper wound.
I’m talking about personal power. The kind that comes from within, fueled by self-worth, confidence, self-love, and emotional clarity. The kind of force that can’t be taken from you because it comes with a disciplined mindset and ability to detach from external situations.
This life hack I'm about to share helps you reclaim that inner strength in small, steady ways.
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate." — Carl Jung
The skill is simple: Naming
The tool is simple; it’s a clever practice of naming what is and what was. When we give something a name, we shrink it from the unknown into the known. We begin to understand it, and understanding reduces fear. Naming allows our minds to wrap around what we’re experiencing so we can respond rather than react.
Start with hindsight. Look back at a difficult or transformative time and give it a name that captures its essence, its mood, tone, theme, or specific memory.
For me, many periods are named after the houses I lived in:
The duplex years. The Nye house. The mold house. The mouse house. The dungeon
Each name carries a whole chapter of emotion and experience. My kids and family know these names. If I say “The Platt House,” we all know the memories, the transitions, the joys, and challenges that we lived there. The Dungeon is my most controversial name as it implies darkness, torture, medieval coldness, and all things unpleasant. Although this was one of my favorite houses to live in, it was dark with very little natural sunlight. After many plants died in this lovely home, I began to call it "The Dungeon”, joking that if my plants were all dying because of a lack of sunlight, imagine what it is doing to my soul!
This is how we begin to process our lives, not by bypassing hard times, but by naming them. This skill becomes most valuable during transitions, such as grief, loss, moves, divorces, layoffs, births, endings, and beginnings.
"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." — Friedrich Nietzsche
From skill to art
Over time, this simple skill has the potential to become a creative expression, The Art of Naming. Through it, we develop the power of resiliency. Naming gives us space from what we’ve lived through or are living through, allowing us to observe it rather than drown in it.
Naming helps us detach, not in a cold way, but in a compassionate way. You can add humor, meaning, desire, all sorts of hidden innuendos with the names you choose. Each name inspires space, and with space comes clarity. And with clarity comes strength.
You begin to say:
"That was The Mourning Year."
"That was The Rebranding Season."
"That was my Becoming Era."
With each name, your nervous system breathes. You’re not lost in the chaos anymore. You see it for what it was, and from that place, you accept, grow, and heal. You move forward. You stop taking it so personally. You start living with presence and power again, not as caught up in the situation, event, time, or circumstance.
"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." — Marcus Aurelius
Why this matters
Naming doesn’t erase the hard stuff, but it transforms your relationship to it. It gives you language. It gives you something to identify. It gives you understanding. In a world where so much is uncertain, the ability to claim a little personal clarity can make all the difference.
This is a practice of resiliency. The bounce-back life dares you to take. The path back to yourself. Over time, your story unfolds in chapters, each appropriately titled. Live long enough, and these chapters will write themselves a great series dedicated to your soul's journey!
So go ahead. Start naming. Start reclaiming.
And pass it on.
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." — Wayne Dyer
Read more from Summer Jean
Summer Jean, Integrative Sound Psychotherapist
Summer Jean, owner of Agami Karma Therapy, is a seasoned Integrative Sound Psychotherapist and mother of four, dedicated to empowering others to heal. Combining Western Psychology and Eastern Philosophy, she helps clients overcome trauma, fears, and major life transitions with a deeper sense of Self. Helping those she works with to rewire unhealthy thinking patterns and break the habit of living out of balance. With over 20 years of experience and a distinguished speaking career in the medical, educational, and mental health fields, Summer’s work centers on ascending obstacles and fostering mind-body-soul balance. Passionate about Spirituality and the human experience, she inspires others to create purposeful, empowered, soul-driven lives.
