In this raw, honest, and deeply courageous episode, we explore addiction, generational trauma, shame, recovery, and what it truly means to reclaim your life without abandoning the complexity of your story.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Jennifer Chase — life coach, addict in recovery, childhood sexual abuse survivor, daughter of an alcoholic, and mother of a recovering addict. Jennifer's work is rooted in lived experience and a profound understanding of how unprocessed pain moves through family systems across generations. She helps individuals, families, and loved ones impacted by addiction move out of survival mode and into grounded self-leadership.

Jennifer's story begins before she ever took a substance. Raised in a home where addiction ran four generations deep on both sides of her family, she watched her parents and grandparents struggle and swore it would never be her. Then, at 29, she was diagnosed with a hemorrhaging brain tumor and given twelve hours to live. The surgery left her with chronic pain — and a prescription for opiates that would change the course of everything.

What followed was fifteen years of addiction, a marriage held together by enabling and silence, and the devastating discovery that she had inadvertently become her own son's drug dealer. It took losing almost everything — and finally speaking her truth out loud in a treatment facility — for Jennifer to understand that substance was never the problem. It was the solution to the problem.

Today, eight and a half years sober, she is one of the most important voices in this conversation.

In this episode, Jennifer shares:

🧬 How addiction ran four generations deep on both sides of her family — and why she thought she'd be the one to break it

💊 The brain tumor diagnosis at 29 that introduced her to opiates and began a fifteen year journey into addiction

😶 Why she carried her childhood sexual abuse in silence for decades — and the moment she finally said it out loud

👦 The heartbreaking discovery that she had inadvertently become her son's drug dealer — and what that night felt like

💃 The waltz and the tango — her powerful metaphor for how families unknowingly contribute to the addiction dynamic

🔗 Why substance is never the problem — it is the solution to the problem

🧱 What boundaries actually are — and why you must only set ones you can hold 100% of the time

👨‍👩‍👧 What families and loved ones of addicts need to hear about enabling, shame, and finding their people

🧶 The real work of recovery — untangling the generational knots that made substance feel necessary in the first place

✨ Why shame thrives in silence — and what happens the moment you speak your truth out loud

Jennifer also reflects on the narratives she had to let go of, the long road of rebuilding trust with her family, and why connection — not willpower — is the true cure.

Her message is clear: addiction is not a life sentence. It is a detour that, with intentional redirection, can lead you to your truest self.

A fierce, compassionate, and unflinching conversation about addiction, family systems, generational trauma, and the daily courage it takes to choose recovery.

Follow Jennifer Chase

🌐 Website: www.riseaddictionllc.com

📱 Instagram & Facebook: Rise Addiction Life Coaching

About Your Host

Kelly Buckley is a trauma life coach, speaker, and the heart behind Broken Beautiful Me — a podcast dedicated to stories of hope, gratitude, and resilience.

🌐 https://www.kellybuckley.com

In this deeply moving episode, we explore grief, radical acceptance, the courage to rebuild identity, and what it truly means to find purpose on the path you never planned.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Laura Bratton — author, speaker, coach, and founder of UB Global. Diagnosed with a progressive eye disease at just nine years old, Laura spent her teenage years navigating the devastating emotional reality of losing her sight entirely — going from legally blind to completely blind between ninth and twelfth grade, with no timeline, no formal diagnosis, and no roadmap.

What looked like the end of the life she had imagined became, over time, the foundation for an extraordinary one. Laura went on to graduate from Arizona State University with a BA in Psychology, and became the first blind student to receive a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. She is the author of Harnessing Courage and dedicates her life to coaching and speaking for people navigating grief, loss, and radical life change.

Her message is not about overcoming blindness. It is about the universal human experience of rebuilding yourself from pieces — and discovering that those pieces hold more strength than you ever knew.

In this episode, Laura shares:

🪟 What it was like to lose her sight gradually as a teenager with no timeline and no answers

💔 Why the hardest part wasn't learning new skills — it was believing she was still worthy

🧠 The three steps she used to rebuild confidence and that she now teaches others

🤝 Why receiving support isn't weakness — and why she specifically uses the word trust

😡 The difference between validating sadness and validating anger — and why anger is the harder one

📖 How writing Harnessing Courage was simultaneously healing and deeply painful

🙏 Why gratitude is her anchor — and what real, grounded gratitude actually looks like

🐕 The profound grief of losing her guide dogs — and how they were literally her eyes

✨ The moment she chose courage — sitting alone on a bed in San Francisco, 18 years old, 3,000 miles from home

🌱 Why purpose is rarely found on the path you planned — but on the one you're forced to walk

Kelly also shares beautifully personal reflections on her own grief journey — including the day she was grateful simply for making it to the mailbox without breaking down.

Her message is clear: you are worthy even in all the pieces.

A tender, honest, and quietly powerful conversation about loss, identity, courage, and the daily choice to keep going.

🎁 Free Resource from Laura — Harnessing Courage Available at: https://laurabratton.com

Follow Laura Bratton

🌐 Website: https://laurabratton.com 📚 Book: Harnessing Courage — available at laurabratton.com 🎤 Speaking & Coaching: https://laurabratton.com

About Your Host

Kelly Buckley is a trauma life coach, speaker, and the heart behind Broken Beautiful Me — a podcast dedicated to stories of hope, gratitude, and resilience.

🌐 https://www.kellybuckley.com

In this profound and eye-opening episode, we explore the neuroscience of stress and trauma, what it really means to heal, and why your nervous system holds the key to everything.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Stanley Georgetown University professor, US Army veteran, international bestselling author, and creator of the groundbreaking resilience training program Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT). Her book Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive During Stress and Recovery from Trauma has become an essential guide for anyone navigating the lasting effects of stress, trauma, and burnout.

Liz's path to this work was deeply personal. After serving as a US Army Intelligence officer through multiple deployments including a harrowing experience in Bosnia where she stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. She found herself in her late twenties battling PTSD, depression, chronic health conditions, and eventually losing her eyesight. What looked like a breakdown was, in truth, a body that had finally run out of road.

Out of that experience came decades of research, a science-backed resilience training program tested with thousands of soldiers and Marines, and a mission to help everyday people understand what is actually happening in their minds and bodies and what to do about it.

In this episode, Liz shares:

🧠 Why trauma is never in the event — it's in how your mind and body meet it

🪟 What the "window of tolerance" is and why widening it changes everything

😮‍💨 The hidden danger of breathwork for trauma survivors and what to do instead

📓 How to use journaling the right way to support nervous system discharge

⏱️ Why a wave of emotion is neurobiologically never longer than 90 seconds

💀 The real cost of "suck it up and drive on" in high performance environments

🫀 How grief and PTSD overlap and why the bereaved community deserves this science

🔁 Why the survival brain not the thinking brain is the key to healing

🌍 How systemic trauma, racism and inequality are narrowing our collective window

💡 What gives Liz hope about where humanity is headed

Kelly also shares her own deeply personal experience of loss and what it felt like to hit a moment where she had no plan B — a moment of raw honesty that anchors this entire conversation in the human experience.

A conversation that is equal parts science and soul and one that could genuinely change the way you understand yourself.

🎁 Free Gift from Liz: 5-Minute Survival Brain Exercise

Join her mailing list at: https://elizabeth-stanley.com

Follow Elizabeth Stanley

🌐 Website: https://elizabeth-stanley.com

📚 Book: Widen the Window — available everywhere books are sold

🎓 MMFT Online Course (8 weeks, lifetime access): https://elizabeth-stanley.com

🆓 Free access for teachers, medical workers, first responders & military: https://elizabeth-stanley.com

About Your Host

Kelly Buckley is a trauma life coach, speaker, and the heart behind Broken Beautiful Me — a podcast dedicated to stories of hope, gratitude, and resilience.

🌐 https://www.kellybuckley.com

In this expansive and soul-stirring episode, we explore feminine awakening, generational healing, the trance of unworthiness, and what it truly means to come home to yourself.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Monica Rodgers, widely known as the Revelation Woman, a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, Sacred Feminine Rites of Passage Practitioner, Medicine Woman, Truth-Teller, Soul-Diver, Light-worker, Alchemist, and the visionary founder of The Revelation Project. Monica's work centers on feminine embodiment, personal awakening, and the radical unlearning of societal conditioning that has kept women small, silent, and disconnected from their deepest truth.

Monica's story begins in an uber-Catholic household, her mother a former nun, where the unspoken rules of the "pretty, pleasing, polite, and performative" feminine were absorbed long before she had words for them. She followed the prescribed path, becoming a serial entrepreneur, landing in the New York Times Magazine, appearing on the Today Show, climbing every rung of the ladder she'd been told to climb.

And then she reached the top and realized she was standing on a garbage heap.

What followed was a complete unraveling, a divorce, the loss of her business, a health crisis, and nine months in bed. What looked like breakdown was, in fact, the beginning of something profound: her own revelation project, her descent into the heroine's journey, and the slow, sacred reclamation of her true self.

In this episode, Monica shares:

🔥 How a rigidly religious upbringing planted the seeds of her "trance of unworthiness"

💥 The moment she realized she'd climbed to the top of the wrong ladder

🌑 What a dark night of the soul really looks like — and why it can be the greatest gift of your life

🧭 The difference between the hero's journey and the heroine's journey

🪞 The "four P's" — pretty, pleasing, polite, and performative — and how they keep women trapped

🌿 The journey of Unbecoming: shedding who you were told to be to remember who you truly are

🩸 The wounded maiden archetype and how generational patterns live in our bodies

👯 The sisterhood wound and what genuine women's circles can heal

😡 Why rage isn't a problem to manage but a righteous fire that leads to radiance

🧬 Breaking generational agreements — for seven generations forward and back

🕊️ The Sophia Century and the Bahá'í prophecy of the bird of humanity

🧠 Why women are literally wired to be oracles

Her message is clear: becoming is the journey home to yourself. It's about shedding the roles and stories that never belonged to you, so you can remember who you truly are.

This episode is a powerful reminder that your awakening isn't a moment. It's a movement. And it begins within.

A soul-expanding conversation about feminine awakening, ancestral healing, sisterhood, and the radical courage it takes to live your own revelation.

🎁 Free Gift from Monica — The Women's Bill of Rights

Download it at: https://jointherevelation.com

Follow Monica Rodgers

🌐 Website: https://jointherevelation.com/about

🎙️ The Revelation Project Podcast: 180+ episodes at jointherevelation.com

📞 Book a Free Chemistry Call: https://jointherevelation.com

About Your Host

Kelly Buckley is a trauma life coach, speaker, and the heart behind Broken Beautiful Me — a podcast dedicated to stories of hope, gratitude, and resilience.

🌐 https://www.kellybuckley.com

In this deeply moving episode, we explore trauma, healing, resilience, and the courage it takes to reclaim your voice after years of silence.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Andrea Leeb, a writer and advocate living in Venice Beach, California, and author of Such a Pretty Picture: A Memoir. Andrea's work has appeared in literary journals including Litro Magazine, Potomac Review, Text Power Telling, and HerStry, and she serves on the Advisory Board for the UCLA Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House, supporting survivors of sexual assault.

Andrea's story begins with a painful truth. As a young child, she endured years of sexual abuse perpetrated by her father. Like many survivors, she carried the weight of secrecy and confusion for decades, trying to move forward while burying the past.

On the outside, Andrea built a successful life — working as both a registered nurse and an attorney and earning degrees from Georgetown University, Cardozo School of Law, and the Bennington Writing Seminars.

But trauma has a way of resurfacing when it remains unspoken.

Years later, during the Me Too movement, Andrea realized something powerful: when survivors share their stories, it gives others permission to speak. That realization inspired her to write Such a Pretty Picture, a memoir that explores the complexity of trauma, the long journey toward healing, and the courage it takes to break the silence.

In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, Andrea shares how confronting the past can be painful — but also freeing.

In this episode, Andrea shares:

• 💔 The impact of childhood sexual abuse and the silence that often surrounds it

• ✨ How the Me Too movement helped inspire her to share her story

• 🧠 The long-term emotional effects of trauma

• 🤝 Why asking for help can be one of the strongest acts of resilience

• 🌱 The reality that healing is rarely linear

• 💬 The importance of believing survivors and creating space for truth

• 📖 How writing a memoir became part of her healing process

• 🤍 Turning personal pain into advocacy and support for others

Andrea also reflects on the emotional complexity of family relationships, the difficulty of confronting painful truths, and the power of storytelling to help others feel less alone.

Her message is clear: healing begins when silence ends.

This episode is a powerful reminder that speaking your truth can transform pain into connection, understanding, and purpose.

A courageous and compassionate conversation about trauma, healing, advocacy, and reclaiming your voice.

Follow Andrea Leeb

Website: https://andrealeebauthor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrealeeb

Book – Such a Pretty Picture: A Memoir

https://www.amazon.com/Such-Pretty-Picture-Memoir-Andrea-Leeb/dp/1647425840

In this powerful and inspiring episode, we explore fear, resilience, motherhood, illness, and the radical courage it takes to start saying yes to life even when uncertainty feels overwhelming.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Asha Mevlana, a two-time breast cancer survivor, professional violinist with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, motivational speaker, and author of To Hell With No: Adventures in Finally Saying Yes.

Asha's life changed dramatically when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 24 years old. Faced with the fragility of life far earlier than expected, she made a decision that would reshape everything: she created a "fear list" — a list of the things that scared her most — and began saying yes to them one by one.

Skydiving. Silent meditation retreats. Touring the world as a professional musician. Building a life filled with experiences instead of limitations.

But life had another challenge waiting.

Twenty-five years later, while raising her young son, Asha faced breast cancer again. This time the stakes felt different. The question was no longer simply how to live bravely — but how to redefine strength while being a mother, navigating fear, and learning how to stay present for the life unfolding right in front of her.

In this deeply moving conversation, Asha shares how resilience is not about pretending to be fearless, but about allowing courage and vulnerability to coexist.

In this episode, Asha shares:

• 🎻 How a breast cancer diagnosis at 24 became the catalyst for a life of bold choices

• ✨ The "fear list" practice that pushed her to say yes to the unknown

• 🧠 Why fear often disguises the very experiences that lead to growth

• 💔 Facing cancer again decades later — this time as a mother

• 🤍 How motherhood changed her relationship with courage and vulnerability

• 🌍 Life as a touring violinist with Trans-Siberian Orchestra

• 🌱 Why resilience isn't about toughness, but about presence

• 🔥 How saying yes to life can transform even the darkest chapters into purpose

Asha also reflects on how surviving cancer twice reshaped her priorities and her perspective on success, reminding us that the most meaningful moments in life are rarely the ones we plan.

Her story is not just about survival.

It is about choosing possibility, even when fear whispers louder.

This episode is a powerful reminder that courage does not mean the absence of fear — it means refusing to let fear decide the limits of your life.

A heartfelt and inspiring conversation about illness, resilience, motherhood, creativity, and the extraordinary power of saying yes to life.

⸻

Follow Asha Mevlana

Website:

https://www.ashamevlana.com

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ashamevlana

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ashamevlana

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashamevlana

Book – To Hell With No: Adventures in Finally Saying Yes

https://www.amazon.com/Hell-With-No-Adventures-Finally/dp/1647424984

In this deeply courageous and honest episode, we explore sibling loss, unspoken grief, epic choices, and the life-altering decision to move from chaos to intention.

In this powerful conversation, Kelly sits down with Zander Sprague, bestselling author, licensed professional clinical counselor, TV host, and acclaimed motivational speaker. Zander's life changed forever on December 9th, 1996 — the day his 30-year-old sister, Lucy, died unexpectedly.

At just 28 years old, Zander found himself navigating a kind of grief that often goes unseen. While parents are supported in the loss of a child, sibling grief is frequently overlooked, minimized, or misunderstood. Not one person asked him how he was doing. And in that silence, he began to question whether his loss even mattered.

It did.

Through years of personal healing and professional work, Zander transformed his pain into purpose. Today, he helps others understand that broken moments are not the end of the story — they are the foundation upon which strength, clarity, and intentional living are built.

In this deeply moving episode, Zander shares:

• 🤍 Why sibling grief is real, significant, and often invisible

• 💔 What it feels like when no one asks how you are doing

• 🧠 Why siblings often do not grieve openly in front of parents

• 📖 The inspiration behind his books Making Lemonade and Why Don't They Cry?

• 🔄 How grief reshapes identity at a young age

• 🎯 What it means to make "epic choices" that create an epic life

• 🌊 Why pain can either harden you or transform you — and how to choose

• 🕊️ The courage it takes to reclaim your narrative after devastating loss

Zander also speaks about the broader nature of grief — not just the loss of a loved one, but the grief of life changes, transitions, and chapters ending before we are ready. He reminds us that grief is not weakness. It is love with nowhere to go.

This conversation is honest, vulnerable, and filled with practical wisdom for anyone who has experienced loss and wondered how to move forward without leaving part of themselves behind.

A compassionate and powerful episode about sibling loss, resilience, intentional living, and the epic courage it takes to choose your life again.

Follow Zander Sprague

Website:

https://zandersprague.com

Books:

Making Lemonade: Choosing a Positive Pathway After Losing Your Sibling

https://www.amazon.com/Making-Lemonade-Choosing-Positive-Pathway/dp/0989017701

Why Don't They Cry? Understanding Your Living Child's Grief

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-They-Cry-Understanding/dp/0989017728

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/zandersprague

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/zandersprague

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zandersprague

In this deeply reflective and powerful episode, Kelly sits down with psychologist, grief expert, and author Dr. Mekel Harris for a conversation about loss, leadership, faith, parenting, and the quiet courage it takes to keep your heart open after it has been shattered.

Dr. Harris never expected grief to become her life's work. But after losing her mother to stage four pancreatic cancer in just 30 days, and later losing her father during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she found herself face to face with the raw reality of loss — personally and professionally.

What she discovered was not just heartbreak, but transformation.

Today, Dr. Harris is a licensed psychologist and CEO of Harris Psychological Services, LLC. She is also co-founder of Bloomwell Partners, a consulting firm equipping organizations to lead with grief-informed care. Through private practice, global speaking engagements, and corporate training, she helps individuals and leaders navigate grief not as a weakness — but as part of our shared humanity.

In this intimate conversation, Dr. Harris shares:

• 🤍 Why grief is not a problem to solve but a companion to learn

• 🌊 What it means to truly "companion" someone in their pain

• 🧠 How children experience grief differently at each developmental stage

• 🏢 Why workplaces must move beyond three days of compassionate leave

• 🌍 The hidden grief of divorce, layoffs, identity shifts, and life transitions

• 🕊️ The profound impact of losing both parents — including during COVID isolation

• 🙏 How faith transformed her grief from knowing about God to knowing God

• 🌿 Why gratitude and grief can coexist — even when it feels impossible

• 💛 The power of self-compassion in a culture obsessed with productivity

• 🐢 Why leaders must learn to move from "lion mode" to "turtle mode" — reflection before reaction

One of the most moving moments in this episode comes when Dr. Harris describes lying on a hotel floor after her mother's death — reaching for her phone to call someone, anyone — and realizing no one answered. In that silence, she experienced something she can only describe as an overwhelming presence.

That moment changed everything.

This episode is about more than grief. It is about courage. It is about staying open. It is about allowing pain to become a teacher instead of something to outrun.

A profound and compassionate conversation about grief, faith, leadership, parenting, resilience, and the wisdom that comes from keeping your heart open.

⸻

About Dr. Mekel Harris

Mekel Harris, Ph.D., NCSP, PMH-C, CAGCS received a B.A. in Psychology from Baylor University, M.A. in Psychology from Houston Baptist University, and a Ph.D. in Clinical/School Psychology from University of Houston. She completed her pre-doctoral internship and two-year post-doctoral fellowship at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Dr. Harris has served in higher education, community-based and hospital-based mental health programs. She currently works in private practice as a licensed psychologist and CEO of Harris Psychological Services, LLC, offering mental health support across the lifespan.

She is also co-founder of Bloomwell Partners, LLC, a consulting firm that equips organizations to provide grief-informed leadership and care in the workplace.

Dr. Harris has presented at over 30 domestic and international conferences and has been interviewed globally on topics including grief, trauma, leadership, and community mental health.

⸻

Follow Dr. Mekel Harris

Website:

https://www.harrispsychologicalservices.com/

Bloomwell Partners:

https://www.growwithbloomwell.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/drmekel/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/DrMekel/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mekel-harris-phd-ncsp-pmh-c-cagcs-629138104/

Book – Relaxing Into the Pain: My Journey Into Grief and Beyond (Amazon):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2QXGZ8V

In this deeply honest and empowering episode, we explore identity, trauma, finding belonging in the wild, and the courage it takes to redefine what a "full life" looks like after the world tells you it's not possible.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Antoinette Lee Toscano, an outdoor industry influencer, writer, speaker, and founder of the American Adventure Sports Club nonprofit. Antoinette is a former IT executive turned adventure sports advocate, whose journey from traumatic injury and anxiety to radical freedom in the outdoors shows us that healing doesn't always look like rest — sometimes it looks like waking up in the middle of a river, choosing life again and again.

After a devastating rappelling accident left her with a traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, PTSD, and nearly immobile, Antoinette didn't just survive — she reimagined what life could mean. Instead of waiting for a "normal" she decided to create a New Normal Big Life — a life filled with rivers, snow, wilderness, and a community for people who felt priced out, rejected, or unseen in outdoor spaces. 

In this heartfelt and expansive conversation, Antoinette and Kelly explore how the outdoors became more than adventure — it became a path to freedom, identity, community, and deep human belonging.

In this episode, Antoinette shares:

• 🌲 How a life-threatening injury became the catalyst for intentional living

• 🌀 Why creating a "new normal" wasn't about escape, but reclamation

• 🧗‍♀️ The power of the outdoors to heal nervous systems and transform self-belief

• 💪 How she built community, accessible adventure, and broke barriers in outdoor recreation

• 📖 Why storytelling and writing helped her reclaim agency over her own narrative

• 🛶 The importance of inclusivity — for people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and people who've been priced out of outdoor spaces

• 🌊 What water, rivers, and moving wilderness taught her about resilience and joy

• 🤍 How freedom becomes your compass when suffering is no longer the central story

Antoinette also reflects on how helping others create their own Big Life through her nonprofit, her writing, and her outdoor media has become the heart of her purpose — not because she fixed her pain, but because she leaned into it and let it expand her empathy, courage, and leadership.

This is a grounded, courageous, and deeply human episode about redefining normal, living with intention, and building a life that feels truly alive.

⸻

Follow Antoinette Lee Toscano

Website & Blog – New Normal Big Life - https://nnbl.blog/ 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/antoinetteleetoscano/ 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/antoinettelee.toscano

WhitewaterTV / AdventureTV - https://xotv.me/channels/359-whitewatertv 

Paddling Magazine Contributor Page - https://paddlingmag.com/author/antoinette-lee-toscano/ 

Diversify Whitewater (Co-Founded Project) - https://diversifywhitewater.org/

American Adventure Sports Club (Nonprofit) - https://nnbl.blog/american-adventure-sports-club/ 

Book Feature – Women and Water (Antoinette's story contributor)

Available wherever books are sold (search "Women and Water She Explores") 

In this deeply intimate and soul-opening episode, we explore grief, self-trust, journaling, and the quiet courage it takes to return to yourself after unimaginable loss.

In this profoundly moving conversation, Kelly sits down with Marie Cruz, a coach, speaker, and retreat facilitator whose life has been shaped by resilience, reinvention, and radical self-honesty. Marie's story is not one of bypassing pain, but of learning how to sit with it, listen to it, and allow it to transform her from the inside out.

Raised in poverty in rural Louisiana, Marie became a young single mother and later built a successful corporate career. But her life shifted forever after the sudden loss of her mother, followed by the devastating loss of her son just two years later. What followed was not a search for answers outside herself, but a return inward.

Through years of journaling, spiritual inquiry, and deep emotional work, Marie developed what would become her signature process, The Nautilus Way, a guided journaling and self-inquiry method that helps women uncover truth, heal trauma, and reconnect with their essence.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Marie and Kelly speak openly about grief that rearranges everything, the loneliness of loss, and the power of creating spaces where women no longer have to protect others from their pain.

In this episode, Marie shares:

• 🌿 How grief reshapes identity and simplifies what truly matters

• 💔 Why losing a child changes the nervous system, the soul, and the way we see the world

• 📖 How journaling became a sacred portal for healing and self-connection

• 🌀 The four stages of her journaling process: reveal, review, rewrite, and rewire

• 🤍 Why women struggle to love themselves and how self-abandonment is learned early

• ✨ How intuition and inner guidance emerge when we stop silencing ourselves

• 🕊️ Why healing is layered and why we never "arrive" at the end

• 🌊 The power of women-only spaces, especially for bereaved mothers, to exhale fully

Marie also speaks candidly about her women's retreats, her work with grieving mothers, and why holding space without fixing is often the most powerful form of healing. She reflects on the courage it takes to trust inner wisdom, to stop editing ourselves, and to choose self-love even when it feels unfamiliar.

This is not a conversation about getting over grief.

It is about learning how to live alongside it with grace, truth, and presence.

A compassionate, grounding, and deeply human episode about loss, journaling, intuition, and the beauty that can emerge when we honor the cracks instead of hiding them.

Follow Marie Cruz

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/marieeurecrews

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mariecrewsempowers

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@empowermentandgriefguide

Book – Even When She Rose (Amazon):

https://a.co/d/dayGabK