Navigating the complexities of relationships and communication can feel like a tightrope walk - balancing empathy with personal boundaries, all while staying true to ourselves. In this episode, we'll confront the fear of being seen as mean when declining unhealthy conversations and reveal the roots of codependency that stem from such situations. The conversation will go into untouched territories of self-shame and inner rejection. With compassion and understanding, we'll help you navigate tricky conversations and teach you how to support others without taking on their emotional baggage. We'll introduce you to pendulation and its crucial role in maintaining a healthy balance between self-protection and connection to our nervous system. Finally, with a strong focus on authenticity and self-respect, we'll explore the path to self-growth and the power of taking small steps to catalyze change. 

Show notes:
[2:23] How do you get to your heart when someone's asking for empathy and you just don't feel it? 
[4:47] What might be blocking empathy?
[6:21] How to help a sister in changing her sister's behavior and regulating their nervous system
[17:59] How to stop co-regulating
[21:54] How to the muscle of boundaries and self-regulation
[23:40] How to build a new relationship with our inner child
[28:50] How can my limitations not be harmful to other people?
[33:56] What does it mean to have conversations from the heart?
[38:33]  Needing to feel safe and connect with others without losing ourselves
[42:21] What are some strategies to shift from critical, negative, self-shaming thoughts into self-compassionate words that land? 
[44:26] How to translate judgment into compassion
[49:28] At what point is self-protection holding us back?
[51:44] Outro

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