About Us

The Questions You Want to Ask

Am I Legit?

Fair question.

I have:

Two years of hypnotherapy training
Spent thousands of dollars on courses/books/methods (my family even staged an intervention)
Spent an obscene amount of time studying (we’re talking thousands of hours) across the plethora of “how to be a better you” topics
Eight years of testing what holds up when life is life-ing

I see my role similar to how people see their neighborhood bartender or their hairdresser. Willing to listen. Has enough distance from you and your situation to have a slightly wider perspective. And can dispense a bit of decent advice from time to time.

For full transparency, I don’t have a psychology or neuroscience degree and I’m not a licensed mental health professional which means I can’t diagnose conditions or dispense medication.

If that checks your “legit” box, awesome, happy to help.

If not, cool. No hard feelings.

Why Should You Listen to Me?

I can take brain chaos and turn it into something you can understand and work with. Clear concepts. Simple steps. Stuff you can try when you’re in whatever flavor of stress you happen to be dealing with at the moment.

I started doing this for myself. Over time, when I talked with friends, listened to what they were struggling with, and offered my thoughts on what they could do, it seemed to help them.

So I took the things I was doing and looked for the framework that helped me tame my horde of negative thought gremlins (and seriously, they could make even Genghis Khan jealous). That became the foundation for Rewrite the Filter and SPARK

Will This Work for You?

That depends on whether you like how I present things.

Everybody’s different. Different brains. Different histories. Different starting points.

What I’ve noticed is that when you strip the branding off self help content, everybody is saying the same things. The difference that matters to you is whether someone explains the concepts in a way that you can understand and actually use.

So the real question is:

Does the way I talk about stuff make sense to you?

And do the suggestions I make seem like something you want to do?

If yes, and you’re willing to be honest with yourself and willing to experiment a little, then absolutely – this can work for you.

If you’re not sure, check out my blog and social media content to get a better idea if you like what I’m saying.

What’s In It For You?

More calm. Less chaos. More awareness of what you’re doing. The ability to make calmer choices under pressure.

You’ll learn the basic steps that you can apply to most situations and create change.

If you practice this method of being aware of what you’re doing and redirecting toward what you would rather be doing, you get better at catching the unwanted thoughts or behaviors sooner. Over time, that means you can catch yourself before you have the regrettable outbursts.

Ultimately, it’s a better relationship with your brain, your thoughts, and your feelings. A point where all those parts feel heard without having to scream. You get to stop careening from crisis to crisis and have more calm to do the things you enjoy.

Best Fit

If you want:

Friendly support to help you figure out how to get along with your brain, your thoughts, and your feelings

I will do my best to support you while you experiment with this method.

A practical way to work with your brain under pressure

I’ve got you here. This is what helped me and may help you as well.

Sorry Doug,
This Ain’t a Fairy Tale

I am NOT:

A licensed therapist.
If you need therapy, diagnosis, or medication, please see a professional mental health professional.

Crisis support.
Call 988 (U.S. Suicide Hotline) or 911 for local emergency support.

24/7 support
I reply during business hours and replies can take 1-2 business days.

Someone to tell you how to live your life or has all the answers.
Dude, I’m still figuring out my own shit. You get to decide what’s right for you.

An easy button or magical thinking that makes change effortless.
I hate to break it to you, dude, but nobody has that. Change takes effort and can suck, but small effort does count.

What’s with the weird brain dude and raccoons?

Doug the Brain is a visual stand-in for your brain. His main job is to keep you safe.

Doug is also kind of lazy. He makes decisions based on what happened before, so he really likes things to stay the same. Familiar = “safe.” Even when familiar is miserable.

The problem is Doug isn’t great at telling the difference between:

a real threat (BEAR), and
a not-threat (a tree stump. an awkward email. a possibly weird tone in a text.)

So when something feels even slightly “uh-oh,” Doug pulls the fire alarm and starts screaming like you’re about to die.

The raccoons are your thought gremlins. Your stress habits. The stuff that shows up when Doug panics.

If you learn how to work with them, they can actually help. If you don’t, they go feral fast.

The point is to get Doug and the raccoons on your team.

Also: I’m visual, they help make concepts easier to understand, and they make me laugh, which also helps.

And come on. Who doesn’t like raccoons?

Do I Use AI?

Yes.

I use AI as tools to brainstorm, outline, and edit. It also helps me get admin done faster…usually lol.

If you chat with an AI helper, you’re still getting my ideas. The knowledge base is built from my writing and materials.

If you ever have issues with the AI helpers, ask and human me will step in. I do not, at this point, have a clone of myself…which is good because that would be creepy and I suspect the world would self destruct if there were two of me.

The tools I use include Openart.ai and Marbelism.

Human me shows up to all sessions. I also film all of my videos – so if you see something with me talking at you, it’s the human me – no AI generated clones here!

Meet the AI Team

Rachel Arden

Receptionist

The first friendly face (or voice) you meet. Rachel handles the public-facing inquiries and makes sure everyone feels heard before they even start their first session.

Eva Lumina

Executive Assistant

Eva’s the AI glue holding the operations together. She handle the details, scheduling, and the occasional “Batman slap” to keep me focused on the big picture.

Sonny Hale

Social Media Manager

Our visual storyteller. Sonny’s in charge of making sure our tools and tips look good on your feed.

Stan Sharp

Sales Associate

Stan helps people figure out which reset tool or session is the right fit without the high-pressure ick.

Penny Merritt

Blog Editor

Our resident wordsmith. Penny helps me edit my brain spew and turns it into no-BS articles you’ll actually want to read.

Linda Rowan

Legal Associate

Keeps us on the right side of the law. Linda handles the “not-so-fun” paperwork with a clear, direct style that even overthinkers can understand.

A Small Note on “Dude” and Cursing

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley during the birth of the Valley Girl phenomenon (the original gag me with a spoon era – I know, I’m ancient. It’s okay – that’s why I’ve had time to gather so much wisdom and a grey beard so I can send you on quests. Okay, maybe not the beard.)

But anyway, that means I say “totally” and “awesome” and “man” a lot. (I also do thumbs up which is meant as a positive acknowledgement. 😊👍)

It also means I use “dude” as a multipurpose, non-gendered word in the forms of a noun, adjective, verb, adverb. So don’t get your panties in a bunch when I say dude and I’m pointing to a girl or a dog or a bench.

Also, I curse. Not always. But sometimes when I get excited or a little heated, yeah, they just kind of…pop out. While I do use Doug the Brain and the Raccoons to illustrate points, my intended audience are, in fact, adults. (You don’t have to be “mature” or capable of “adulting” all the time, but I am assuming you’re not a child reading or watching my content.)

So, if you are more sensitive to that kind of language, maybe don’t watch my stuff. I joke with Paul whenever he throws out “lady” at me with the response “who are you calling a lady???” because, yeah, I’m a little rough around the edges.

Seriously dude, it’s not that big a deal.

Sharon’s Origin Story

In May 2018, I left a nearly 30-year abusive relationship.

I’m telling you this because I know what it looks like when your brain gets dark. When you’re functional on the outside, but inside you’re running on fumes and alarms. When you start thinking, maybe I should just stop existing.

I know what it looks like when your personality gets torn away over time. Not all at once, but in a thousand small pieces.

You stop choosing the music. You stop having preferences. You stop doing the things you love because it’s easier than the fight.

And you don’t notice what’s missing until you’re out. That’s when I realized I didn’t even know my favorite food. I had to figure out how to be a person again after being a shadow for so long.

When I left, I didn’t magically become calm. In fact, I was terrified. I had ten dollars in my pocket and a few clothes in my backpack. My nervous system thought everything was a bear trying to eat me.

The next chapter was messy. I had to rebuild family relationships. Relearn who I was. Earn back trust. Find my voice again.

I crafted who and what I wanted to be with a lot of experimenting. I tried a lot of different strategies and tools. (There was a lot of really ugly snot-dripping snort-snocking crying – I had a lot to process people.) It took some time.

I kept what helped me. I ditched the thought gremlins and expectations other people gave me – my ex, my parents, society. Over time, I learned how to notice when I went Chicken Little earlier. How to calm the alarm system without shaming myself for having one. How to make space for calmer choices under pressure.

That’s where Manta Mode came from.

It’s skills-based method for people who’ve seen some shit and want to stop careening from crisis to crisis.

You can do this. I got you.

– Sharon aka Zombie Kitty Rowr

(If you want more personal stories and opinions, I have a personal blog here.

Employees of the Month

Charles and Linus: the permanent Employees of the Month at Manta Mode. They are world class experts in the “Space” part of our method – mostly by making sure I actually take breaks, get outside, and remember that a sunspot nap may be the true secret to a happy life.

They’re always willing to lend a helping paw (and a lot of drool).

If you need more bulldog chill (Charles definitely is the King of Chill) or chaos (Linus aka Chaos Gremlin or Kaiju with all of his Muchness) follow them on Instagram here.