Clarity in Small Acts of Self-Care with Janine Gutierrez

In this episode of Moment to Moment (Day 13), Coach Pia is joined by award-winning actress and fashion muse Janine Gutierrez. The conversation centers on finding clarity through intentional self-care—moving beyond surface-level routines to establish habits that truly ground and anchor the soul.

Key Takeaways:

• Establishing Non-Negotiables: Janine defines self-care as identifying the “non-negotiables” in your life—those practices that, if removed, would make you feel like a different person. For her, these include physical activity like working out to maintain mental strength [11:17], as well as advocating for herself and her beliefs [10:03].

• The Power of Advocacy: Reflecting on her 20s, Janine admits she often suppressed her inner voice and gut feelings to please others, which left her feeling “bad and constricted” [09:03]. She has since learned that advocating for herself and the causes she believes in is a vital form of self-care. She looks up to icons like Jane Fonda, who use their platform to shine a light on important social issues [06:54].

• Healing Through Therapy and Journaling: Janine shares that therapy and journaling have been transformative tools for her. She recalls reaching a point of extreme stress in her 20s that manifested physically as alopecia. These practices helped her realize that self-care is not just about resting the body, but about making herself her own “safe home” [22:48].

• The Legacy of Nurturing: Janine discusses the deep influence of her mother (Lotlot de Leon) and her late yaya (nanny). Her mother taught her to “take care of the people who take care of you” [35:50]. Janine’s yaya provided a high standard of love and respect, teaching her early on that any relationship involving disrespect is not a place for her [33:42].

• Small Acts, Big Shifts: Coach Pia introduces the MICK framework—Motivation, Inspiration, Cheer, and Kindness—as a guide for returning to personal clarity. She notes that self-care isn’t a checklist of tasks but a deliberate choice to build a friendship with your inner self, which results in becoming “steadier, softer, and clearer” [37:16].

• Advice to Her Younger Self: If she could speak to her 20-year-old self, Janine would tell her to believe in herself and follow her gut more. She emphasizes that building this internal trust is like a muscle that needs regular exercise [38:57].

Coach Pia’s Principle: The journey to clarity is found through gentle, intentional rhythms rather than pressure. As Coach Pia often says: “Clarity isn’t something you find; it’s something you come home to.”