Lost or Found

The death of someone we love, changes our lives forever.  And after someone dies, it’s almost always a long and painful journey. 

According to Dr. Alan Wolfelt, after working with thousands of grieving people over the years,  he writes that he has “learned that if we are to heal we cannot skirt the outside edges of our grief.  Instead, we must journey all through it.” Grief is what we think and feel on the inside when someone we love dies.  It’s the internal meaning given to the experience of loss.  Mourning is the outward expression of our grief, the difficult journey that we define.

On today’s show, we have my friend Kim Rodriguez to talk about her husband’s death and she speaks about rediscovering what it means to live a full life.

“Everyone’s body has some story to tell.”  Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT) is a unique set of techniques, approaches, and methodologies that address pain, dysfunction, disease, and disability.  IMT achieves health and healing by taking into account the whole body, identifying the primary source of dysfunction or the underlying cause of a problem, rather than just treating symptoms.  Practitioners use their hands to diagnose and treat clients, for the opportunity of healing and rehabilitation, as an alternative to or complement of more traditional treatments.  Kathy Nuss is an occupational therapist who focuses on self-empowerment, by helping her patients find their path to wellness and identifying underlying causes and needs.  You can find her wellnessfromwithinpg.com.

I guess we’re going there today. And it’s a hella interesting conversation!  

And as Dr. Chris Fahrenbach says in the interview, “If you can’t talk about something…Why is that?”

I am a Catholic. And I don’t understand why Womenpriests are not formally accepted. As a Catholic, I often find myself at a crossroads.  When I feel lost, confused, or really sad, going into a church makes me feel safe and heard.  As a child, we started to attend church as our family started to fall apart. Although I believe God exists everywhere, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be in a place of worship, sometimes that faith is more obvious to me in a church or in the woods.  Although I feel called to the Catholic faith, I am tolerant of all religions, as I believe, to each his or her own. As much as the church comforts me, I don’t agree with everything the it teaches. For example, why can’t women be priests? Why can’t priests marry?

On today’s episode, Dr. Chris Fahrenbach, a psychologist here in Santa Cruz, CA, talks with us about Roman Catholic Womenpriests, as she, herself, is one. And, well, I can’t hide my adoration for Dr. Fahrenbach. She is so thoughtful and introspective as she guides us into this discussion. Join us! To learn more, goto romancatholicwomenpriests.org

We’re baaaaaaack!!  Season 2 begins today!  Hello!  Welcome!  We’ve missed you!!

On today’s episode, my friend Cierra Ryczek and I discuss Lindsay Gibson’s book, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents.  Even the title made me pause, because, well, it feels like a gigantic dose of reality.  Like a bit of vomit plus a good cry.  It’s definitely an Ouch (plus probably a couple of expletives).  The book teaches us that emotionally immature parents cause emotional neglect and rejection, which have long term effects, with the reality that our parents could have been toxic.  But she says that this neglect wasn’t about us, it was about them.  If you’ve felt lonely as a child, join us in this interesting and super fun conversation as we try to begin to understand.  Two women together in a room, who have experienced emotional loneliness as children – who are not going to continue to live that way as adults.  Spiritual Gangsters, we are!

You can find Cierra and her beautiful store at lumengal.com.

And thank you for giving us a listen!  We are a relatively new podcast, and if you are loving the show, please don’t forget to give us a great rating, and tell all your friends.  I am rooting for the badass that is you because the truth is, if you put your mind and soul into it, there is nothing that you can’t do.  For Sure.

On today’s episode, Oriana Gliessman asks ME questions!  It definitely feels different not being the one to ask the questions, but the one answering them.  Awkward, informative, fun, or funny?!?  Always, all of the above!  We talk about the path, the process, what led to it, and well, what now?  Why didn’t I just buy the fancy red sports car during my midlife crisis??  This will be the last show as we close out the first season – 52 episodes!  I will be taking a 2 month break before we return on 2/24/22.  If you’re loving the podcast, don’t forget to rate it, write a great review, or follow me on instagram or facebook!  

Thank you to all my listeners!  I am so grateful to all of you who are listening.  Thank you for letting me into your lives, and, hopefully, together we feel more courage than fear, we laugh more than we cry, we feel more faith than doubt, more hope than despair, and more light than darkness.

Thank you to my amazing website designer, wonderful and very competent friend, Katherine Hallissy Ayala at CodeByKatherine.  I am so grateful you chose to take a chance with me!

And thank you to my fantastic and utterly professional Sound Producer, Will Mitchell at Hands on Sound.  You make sound hella amazing, and thank you for aiding me on my journey as a podcaster.

Lorna Bryne, an international bestselling author, is here to talk about Angels!  It’s amazing to think how the imagery of angels is recognized by virtually everyone, yet in our society, many of us do not believe that they actually exist. Born in Ireland, Lorna is the author of seven best-selling books, including Angels in My Hair, A Message of Hope From the Angels, and Angels at my Fingertips.  Lorna has become a spiritual teacher as a result of her remarkable gift, as she has been seeing and talking with angels her whole life, as she sees them as a natural part of her waking life.  Join us in this fascinating conversation, as we talk about messages from the Angels!

“It’s a wise person who rules the stars, a fool who is ruled by them”, -Martinie.

Today we’re talking about Astrology with Jenifer Edwards!  She is a gifted Maine-based Intuitive Astrologer who believes that her divine mission is to assist others in discovering their Soul’s Purpose through their unique astrological fingerprint, their birth chart.  The birth chart is a soul map of our journey in this lifetime, filled with the challenges we choose to master as well as the blessings which guide and enhance our human experience.  I am so excited to discuss Astrology with Jenifer! If you love reading your horoscope, you’ll find this conversation fascinating! You can find Jenifer at thankgoddess.org.

On today’s episode, we have Dr. Jyothi Rao, MD on the show to speak about Gut Health!  Learning about the gut is extremely important.  Our gut has tons of bacteria in it, and these gut bugs are responsible for much of our immune system defense as well as hormone and mood regulation. Our gut bacteria can even decrease inflammation, and they likely play a role in how we get sick.  Although we may not be able to control our genetic predispositions, we can control our environmental triggers.  Join us in this fascinating topic, as Dr. Rao talks about how we can heal our gut.  She is the author of Body on Fire: How Inflammation Triggers Chronic Illness and the Tools We Have to Fight It.  Dr. Rao is an Internal Medicine doctor and practices Integrative Medicine.  You can find her at raowellness.com

On today’s episode- we talk about Gratitude!  There are scientifically validated benefits of gratitude, and it’s so much more than saying “thank you”.  Gratitude affects us mentally and physically.  There are numerous studies that suggest that showing gratitude can increase one’s happiness, decrease inflammation in one’s body, reduce stress, increase optimism and change our brain, increase satisfaction in life, and build greater resilience.  Join us in this compelling conversation with Nisha Sidhu, who is a Mindful Life Coach, as we talk about celebrating the present!  You can find Nisha at myndtreat.com.

On today’s episode, we have Rebecca Hurdis on the show to talk about her life as an adoptee.  Born in Seoul, Korea, Rebecca Hurdis is a transracial transnational adoptee.  She spent her childhood on the east coast, before moving to California when she was 20 years old.  Growing up in the 1980’s and 90’s when most of America believed in the model minority myth and assimilation for Asian Americans, Rebecca argues that such beliefs are false and dangerous. She brings up the idea that adoption is associated with trauma: it has been suggested that trauma is at the ‘Center of all Adoption’ as adoption cannot occur without trauma. And she brings up the theory of the Primal Wound, how abandonment and loss can be imprinted on the unconscious minds of those who have been separated from their biological mothers at birth.  Join us for this fascinating and thoughtful conversation!