Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Understanding our needs, especially the need for safety, can be challenging. So in today’s episode, I am talking with Jake Ernst about the personal and social experiences of our needs, safety, and more.

Jake is a therapist, writer, educator, and content creator. He's the Clinical Director of Straight Up Health, a mental health clinic for young people and their families. He's also the host of his own podcast called This Isn't Therapy.

Together, we have a deeply insightful and honest conversation about what’s happening in our brains as we move through our lives every day.

Tune in to hear us also discuss:

• Mapping our brains as it relates to various levels of needs
• The myth that everything needs to be solved
• The hard work of clarifying what’s true from the past and what’s true in the present
• The eight routes to safety
• Balancing the competing needs of safety and stretch
• The things we will always carry with us
• The system-strengthening power of breath work

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Hang out with Jake:

• Visit Jake’s Website
• Follow Jake @mswjake on Instagram
• Listen to the This Isn’t Therapy Podcast
• Join Lately.
• Learn More About Straight Up Health

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

What are the things we do to feel safe that ultimately don’t serve our true selves?

Today, I'm sharing my 2023 intention: It is safe to be who & how I am. And I’m reflecting on how often I’ve weaponized my competence to make myself indispensable to others. As well as how doing that disavows my own worth and reinforces the idea that I can make myself “safe” by earning my way into relationships.

Tune in to hear more about...

• Weaponized incompetence & the things we pretend we can’t do
• Weaponized competence & the many ways we wield our strengths to earn social capital
• The illusion of earning “safety” by being good
• The experience that forced me to receive without giving
• How our competence robs us of levity & joy
• The “shoulds” that came up in my book writing process
• Releasing our fear that we’re not good enough as we are
• Learning to feel safe enough, even amidst discomfort

Links:

• Preorder my book Needy & claim your delicious bonuses

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Living in step with what our bodies are trying to tell us can be a difficult thing to learn. How do we trust the feelings in our body? And how can we practice tracking those sensations and be present with the language our body is speaking?

Today, I’m joined by writer and Somatic Experiencing practitioner, Molly Caro May. Together, we discuss how to tune in to ourselves, so we can commit to the things that excite us most and leave the things that don’t behind.

Molly is the author of two books, teacher, and the holder of space for 13 plus years. She has facilitated personal story workshops for more than hundreds of people across the globe. She is trained in somatic experiencing and focuses on where language and voice and the animal body meet each other. Her mission is to democratize expression and explore in good company the healing alchemy between story and nervous system.

Tune in to hear more about...

• The growth edge of uncomfortable but tolerable
• Having a working understanding of yourself
• The stories we carry about our needs
• Balancing the consequences of divesting from grind culture
• Delighting in your own pace and timing

Hang out with Molly...

• Visit Molly’s Website
• Order Body Full of Stars and The Map of Enough
• Join Molly’s Bi-Monthly Newsletter
• Join Molly’s Membership, The Loam

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

What does it look like to live collaboratively with the world around us? And how do we get in touch with our inner magic?

Today, I’m joined by Mimi Young for our final guest episode of 2022. Mimi is an Animist Spirit Medium and owner of Ceremonie, a brand focused on intuition and spirit connection, reawakening us to embodied living with the visible and invisible. She offers a variety of courses, readings, and products with a focus on increasing one’s understanding of and connection to psychic language.

Together, Mimi and I discuss animism, spiritual healing, being rather than doing, how we invite our children to live more collaboratively, and even a bit about Mimi’s muggle home. Tune in to remember how to rebuild your relationship with yourself and why our inner and outer worlds are deeply interconnected.

 Tune in to hear more about...

• Searching for safety in quiet, solitude, and nature
• Rebuilding relationship with ourselves
• Cultivating a rich inner world
• The beautiful basics of animism
• Knowing yourself, getting lost, and finding yourself again
• Learning to trust the intangible
• Needs as allies

Hang out with Mimi...

• Visit the Ceremonie Website
• Sign Up for Mimi’s Mailing List
• Follow Ceremonie on Instagram

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

How do we stay connected to what we want to create and what we need to take care of?

Today, I'm continuing to pull back the curtain on how we hold dreams, make decisions, and move forward with a nod - always - to our own capacity.

Join me as I discuss what I’ve learned about maintaining a sustainable life, and giving myself what I need in order to fulfill my inner desires.

Tune in to hear more about...

• The importance of role models for this kind of thinking
• Getting clear about what we want and need by building a robust relationship with ourselves
• Prioritizing by desire & circumstance
• Saying “yes” with sustainability in mind
• The story behind the creation of my enjoyment-focused Tuscany Retreat
• Introducing my new course, Roost, and what inspired its conception
• Deciding what your life is actually for

Links:

• Retreat with me in Tuscany
• Join me for Roost in 2023 
• Check out my other courses

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Some days it feels like we’ve been collectively burnt out since 2020. So how do we find our way back to ourselves after more than two years of distraction and dissociation? And how do we create under these conditions?

Asha Frost is an Indigenous (Ojibwe) Medicine Woman, and a member of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation. She is the bestselling author of You Are the Medicine and has guided thousands of people through profound and lasting transformation. She is from the Crane Clan, the totem of leadership, and believes in holding space from vision and heart as an energy healer, homeopath and mentor.

In today’s episode, Asha joins me to discuss collective and individual care in the face of capitalism, colonialism and everything that pulls us away from ourselves. She also shares how she cultivates creativity under less-than-ideal conditions, and why she returns to the medicine wheel to learn to flow with the cycles of creation.

Tune In to Hear More About:

• The grounding practice of a daily walk
• The damage residential schools have on Indigenous children & their families
• Flowing with the cycle of creation
• Finding beauty in the death & rest phases of the cycle of creation
• The challenge of knowing when to say “yes” and “no” to things
• How to listen to our bodies when they tell us enough is enough

 Hang Out with Asha:

• Visit Asha’s Website
• Pre-order the Sacred Medicine Oracle Deck
• Follow Asha on Instagram @asha.frost
• Order You Are the Medicine

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

We live in a world that doesn’t respect cyclical energy rhythms. And that makes it so hard to sit with the natural contractions that come after periods of expansion.

In today’s episode, I talk about how I’m slowing down to process my current contraction & what happens when we try to override these cycles in our lives.

Tune in to hear me explore…

• Macro & micro cycles
• Expansion & creating sustainable, titrated momentum
• Contraction & honoring your need to slow down
• Signs that we’re trying to override our natural cycles
• Tethering practices to ground you through hard times

This episode is great for anyone who’s ever experienced burnout. Listen in if you want support feeling safe & trusting yourself while slowing down.

LINKS 

• Preorder my book Needy from your favorite indie bookstore or from Amazon

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

How do you feel about setting boundaries? Are you worried it may alienate you from friends, family, or loved ones?

In today’s episode, Melissa Urban joins me to discuss her journey with boundaries, from learning what they really are to setting them with her close connections. Together, we also unpack how boundaries are kind (not selfish) and make us more (not less) free.

Melissa Urban is the Whole30 Co-Founder and CEO, a recovered addict, New York Times best-selling author, mother, podcast host, nature churchgoer, and boundary wizard—in a nutshell. Her latest work, “The Book of Boundaries”, is available for pre-order on her website (linked below).

Join us as we discuss:

• What boundaries really are and how they show kindness to our close connections
• The importance of setting boundaries with yourself as an act of self-love
• Navigating conflict with healthy boundaries
• Attachment styles in conflict
• The importance of re-evaluating boundaries regularly as your life and situations change

Hang Out with Melissa:

• Order Melissa’s Book on Boundaries
• Visit Melissa’s Website
• Find Melissa on Instagram
• Follow Melissa on Twitter

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

How do you feel about “quiet quitting”? I love it. And I’ve been encouraging people to quietly quit for years, so I’m happy to see this work make it to the mainstream.

In today’s episode, I unpack how to quietly quit your work, your relationships, and your constant attempts at self-improvement.

Tune in to hear more about…

• Why we should rebrand “quiet quitting” as sustainable living
• How to recognize when your work is unsustainable
• Why you should quit performing perfection for yourself or other people
• How to release unrealistic expectations
• Why you don’t need “self-improvement”
• My wishlist of everything I wish we could all quiet quit right now

This episode is great for overachievers, perfectionists and people-pleasers. Listen in if you want support quiet-quitting anything or anyone in your life.

LINKS

• Preorder my book Needy from your favorite indie bookstore or from Amazon

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.

Send Mara a quick text love note here!

Why do we deny ourselves the grace we offer others? What makes us so “special” that we don’t deserve it, too?

In today’s episode, I open up about the depths of my struggle with perfectionism. And I share how I’ve unpacked my ideas of “good work” and “success” to keep doing my work, even when its not perfect.

Tune in to hear more about…

• The idea of “terminal specialness” and why we deny ourselves the grace we offer others
• How perfectionism becomes interwoven with professionalism
• My personal Bad Place scenario that’s forced me to reevaluate what “good work” means to me
• Why burnout is not a moral failing
• The audacity & authenticity of showing up imperfectly

This episode is great for anyone who feels pressure to be perfect. Listen in if you want support releasing perfectionism and giving yourself permission to be who and how you actually are.

Love Needy? Pretty please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a rating & review.

Really love Needy? Join the Needy Podcast Inner Circle! Courses, discounts, quarterly Q&As and more for a one-time or monthly donation of any amount. Exclusively for folks who love the Needy podcast. THANK YOU.