What happens when you realize you've been trying to perform a feeling instead of actually feeling it?

In this episode of This Tree and Me, Cory J Riggs explores the distinction between “feel” and “look” — not intellectually, but through lived experience.

The conversation moves through:

how the ego manufactures appearance

why genuine feeling cannot be forced

the body as the authority over what is real

returning to the breath during fear and emotional static

giving wounded parts what they actually needed

spaciousness vs emotional containment

self leadership through honesty rather than performance

This is an episode about learning the difference between aesthetics and truth. Not what life looks like. What life actually feels like.

🎙 This Tree and Me — hosted by Cory J Riggs