Jillian Pawlowski is a trauma informed certified transformation coach. She specializes in radical self-love, metacognition, consciousness, and the unification of mind and body to help people transform the way they experience themselves and life. Her expertise provides a safe space for clients to grow towards expansive self-love and self-actualization. Her passion for personal and professional growth is the foundation for her calling: to make the world a kinder, more loving place.
Introduce us to who you are.
Jillian Pawlowski: Hi! I’m Jillian Pawlowski, the lead coach in Empowered Educator. I help educators reclaim their inner agency, evolve their identity, and lead lives that reflect who they truly are, empowered from the inside out. My work blends neuroscience, metacognition, and deep inner transformation. I’ve led programs, workshops, group and private coaching experiences helping people shift from sticky patterns towards unlocking their vitality and potential. I am also a life-long lover of personal growth, and I’m on a mission to make the world a kinder, more loving place.
You specialize in radical self-love: what does that look like in practice, and why is it so crucial for personal transformation?
Jillian Pawlowski: Radical self-love is as complex as it is simple, and as challenging as it is rewarding. Everyone’s self-love practice will look different. For example, let’s start with fully accepting yourself exactly as you are in all of your strengths, flaws, successes, & shortcomings; believing that you are always enough and worthy of love. Radical self-love in practice looks like celebrating your wins (big & small), forgiving yourself when you make a mistake, and giving yourself grace when you fail. It looks like empowering self-talk, cheering yourself on, and being your own bestie! And, sometimes radical self-love looks like setting boundaries or making aligned choices (exercising, going to bed early, or eating well) even when you don’t feel like it. Radical self-love is the spoon full of sugar that helps the medicine go down. You’re already enough. You don’t need to be fixed. When we embody and radiate self-love, we create a positive ripple effect in the world and we can show up so much better for ourselves and our communities.
Your work bridges the mind and body. How do you guide clients to unify the two, especially when trauma has caused a disconnection?
Jillian Pawlowski: At their own pace, willingness, and readiness, of course! We first co-create an agreement of intention; designing the relationship with consent, confidentiality, and safety being paramount. The next step is the awareness that the mind and body are connected. It is partly informational as I teach clients about the nervous system and how the mind develops and functions. It becomes transformational as I coach them to identify their individual stress responses, adaptive behaviors, subconscious beliefs, and trauma responses. The client gets to decide what changes they want to make, what outcomes they seek, and what pace feels acceptable. A large part of our work together is practicing various nervous system regulation techniques, stress relief strategies, and somatic practices to support them as they rebuild the connection between their mind and body. Another part of the work we do together is reprogramming subconscious beliefs to be more aligned with where they want to go, rather than limited by the experiences they’ve had in the past. Over time, clients learn how to manage stress, create a felt-sense of safety from within, reprogram their beliefs, respond (instead of react), and become better stewards of their mind and body connection.
How can becoming aware of one’s thoughts shift someone’s entire life experience?
Jillian Pawlowski: It goes like this: your thinking affects your feelings, your feelings affect your behaviors, and your behaviors affect your outcomes. You can’t shift what you’re not aware of, so becoming aware of your thoughts is the first step. Start observing your thoughts, and listen to your inner dialogue throughout the day. As you observe, remember that you don’t have to accept the first thought that comes to your mind. Thoughts are not facts. They’re options. As you observe your thoughts you can start to choose them and direct them. Your perception of something is how you interpret and experience something, and it is largely influenced by your thoughts. Your perception shapes your experience and it gets to be created by you! Our brains actively shape our perception based on what we’re paying attention to and we do have a say in that! Where you are placing your focus and attention and directing your thoughts is a powerful choice. You will see more of what you look for, so think empowering thoughts!
What does it mean to truly become your fullest self, and how does someone know they’re on the right path?
Jillian Pawlowski: You always are your fullest self. Similarly to the notion that “everyone is always doing their best”, whether their best is living up to their own, or anybody else’s standards is irrelevant. This relates to my response about radical self-love earlier: You already are your fullest self, you always were, and you always will be no matter where on the scale of your own standards you happen to be today. Now, to truly live up to your own standards depends on your desires. What do you value? What do you desire? What excites you and lights you up? Follow that, express that, share that, be that. It takes courage and overcoming your own perceived limitations, but it’s worth it. Learn to trust that you’re always on the right path. You can’t mess this up. Trial and error is a gift because you learn. Even if you were to take a perceivably “wrong” course of action, there were likely some lessons or experiences there that you needed to grow. So even then, you are on the “right” path.
You mention consciousness as part of your method. How do you help clients shift from autopilot into a more conscious, intentional way of living?
Jillian Pawlowski: Reminders and structures help. One easy way to do this is setting an alarm on your phone or adding checkpoints into your daily schedule to interrupt the autopilot, pause, and become aware. When it’s time to pause it is an opportunity to bring awareness to the body, emotions, thoughts, and who you are being in that moment. Just notice, get curious. Take it a step further, place your hand on your heart and enjoy some deep breaths. A structure is a physical reminder, like a certain piece of jewelry to wear, a sticky note strategically placed, or anything you can add to your daily life to remind you that you are practicing and cultivating an elevated state of awareness.
Your mission is to create a kinder, more loving world. How does your work contribute to this?
Jillian Pawlowski: The foundation of the work I do is personal and internal. One of the many gifts of doing this internal work is that you make yourself more fertile ground for affecting those around you in new ways. In Empowered Educator we say, “Organizations don’t change until the people within them change.” The choice of you doing your own internal work, elevating your frequency, shifting your consciousness, healing, growing, and expanding what’s possible for you, heals, grows and expands what’s possible for others. Our students, kids, friends, and colleagues are watching! And they can learn a lot from who we are being, rather than what we are saying or even doing. You matter. You make an impact whether you realize it or not. The work I do with my clients ripples out into their life – sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes in magnificent ways, but it is always the gift that keeps on giving.
Where can our readers find you and learn more about your work?
Jillian Pawlowski: I’d love to connect. For educators, including anyone who works with students or within a school system, you can reach me directly at jillian@empowerededucator.com or explore our offerings at empowerededucator.com!
