Love From the Inside Out: Honest Conversations for Women About Midlife, Menopause, Body Changes and Becoming Yourself Again

Feeling stuck between who you are and who you want to be? In this episode, Susan explores how embodiment—the practice of feeling first what you’ve been chasing—helps you create real, lasting change. Learn how to regulate your nervous system, move from control to trust, and embody the version of yourself that already exists within.

Through science, storytelling, and soul, Susan shares how everyday moments, like a day at the Arizona State Fair, can shift your energy, your mindset, and your life from the inside out.

✨ In this episode:
• What embodiment really means (and why it works)
• How to teach your body emotional safety so change feels natural
• A one-minute guided visualization to help you feel grounded and aligned
• How to embody abundance, calm, and ease right now

If you’ve been craving more peace, confidence, and connection, this one’s for you.

💌 Join Susan’s Love Letter Newsletter for weekly inspiration, podcast updates, and behind-the-scenes reflections. Sign up here!

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• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

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🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Have you ever noticed repeating numbers, songs, or animals crossing your path — and wondered if they meant something?

This week on Love From the Inside Out, Susan shares a true story from one of her favorite hikes on Arizona’s Quartz Trail, where a surprising encounter with grasshoppers turned into a powerful reminder about trust, flow, and divine timing.

Through nature’s symbols, Susan explores how to recognize when the universe is sending you signs, what they really mean, and how to tune your awareness so you can tell the difference between coincidence and guidance.

You’ll learn:
✨ How to recognize patterns the universe uses to get your attention
✨ The simple brain science behind intuition and synchronicity
✨ Why forcing outcomes blocks flow — and how trust gets things moving again
✨ What grasshoppers, hummingbirds, coyotes, and even mosquitoes can teach you about alignment
✨ How to interpret signs from the universe in your own life with clarity and confidence

Susan also references Cathy Heller’s This Abundant Life, a community focused on creativity, abundance, and aligned living. You can learn more about it here:
👉 Cathy Heller’s This Abundant Life

Looking to deepen your abundance practice? Explore Cathy’s Wealth Identity Mastermind here.

Whether you call it intuition, alignment, or spiritual guidance, this episode will help you understand what it really means when the universe is speaking to you.

🔗 Listen now to reconnect with nature, slow down, and start seeing the signs that are already around you.

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• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
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🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

🎙️ Finding Faith After Losing Religion: A Journey of Belonging and Self-Trust

Have you ever questioned what you really believe — or where you truly belong?
In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, I explore what it means to lose religion, find faith, and rebuild self-trust after years of shame, silence, and spiritual confusion.

I share my personal story of growing up Jewish, hiding parts of my identity, and slowly rediscovering what spirituality and belonging mean on my own terms.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• My story of losing religion and finding faith after childhood exclusion
• The deeper lesson behind What the Bleep Do We Know!? — and how people of every faith saw themselves in it
• How fear still shows up when I attend synagogue, and what that reveals about safety and faith
• The moment I opened a High Holy Days prayer book to page 333 — and what that “angel number” meant to me
• Why connection, love, and self-trust matter more than labels
• Reflections on Cathy Heller, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, and other women who live their faith out loud
• An invitation to ask yourself: Do I believe what I believe because it’s true for me — or because it was handed to me?

✨ Mentioned in this episode:

📘 Heart of a Stranger by Rabbi Angela Buchdahl

💫 Cathy Heller’s This Abundant Life program

💎 Cathy Heller’s Wealth Identity Mastermind

💬 Key themes & keywords:

faith after religion, losing religion story, finding faith again, Jewish identity, spirituality and belonging, spiritual awakening, personal growth, self-trust, healing shame, faith deconstruction, self-love and belonging, nervous system healing, What the Bleep Do We Know, R.E.M. Losing My Religion, Angela Buchdahl, Cathy Heller, Judaism and self-trust, rebuilding faith, spiritual growth podcast

❤️ If this episode resonated:

Share it with a friend, rate it on Apple Podcasts, or leave a short review — it helps more people find this show.

You can also join my free weekly newsletter, Love Letter to Life, for inspiration and reflection straight to your inbox.

Subscribe via the link below.

Until next time — keep living and loving from the inside out. 💫

Text Susan about this episode

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• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

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Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, host Susan Kricun — storyteller, writer, and former sports and entertainment PR executive — shares a moving reflection on healing, growth, and letting go through the story of her African violet, the little plant that refused to give up.

With her signature blend of science and soul, Susan explores how caring for plants can reduce anxiety, boost mindset, and mirror our own process of emotional healing and midlife transformation. From pruning what’s dead to finding the right light, every lesson in her garden becomes a metaphor for resilience, presence, and renewal.

If you’re navigating burnout, midlife change, or simply craving more calm and confidence, this episode will help you reconnect with yourself and trust the quiet power of growth you can’t yet see.

✨ Subscribe now and discover why healing, mindset, and confidence truly begin from the inside out.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

What ego, menopause, and permission have to teach us about real strength.

If you’ve ever wondered why you can crush your goals one day and crash the next, this episode is for you. In this week’s episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan explores the “space between” — that overlooked place between “all-in” and “all-out.” From ego whispers and childhood nicknames to post-menopausal shifts, Christine D’Ercole’s mantras, and Stacy Sims’ game-changing research, you’ll discover why real strength isn’t about doing more, but about choosing differently.

This is where permission meets power, where resilience is built, and where true transformation begins.

We’ll talk about:

• Why Christine D’Ercole’s mantra, I am. I can. I will. I do, led Susan to create her own: I am. I can. I will. I choose.
• The sneaky disguises of the ego—and how old nicknames or “family truths” can become lenses you wear for years.
• Why postmenopausal weight isn’t vanity, it’s biology (and Dr. Mary Claire Haver’s powerful reframe).
• Stacy Sims’ game-changing research on women’s physiology and why “women are not small men.”
• A practical micro-tool: how mirroring can bridge the gap between intention and impact in relationships.
• Why permission to feel might be the bravest move of all.

💡 Key idea: Overcoming can be a power move. Permission can be a love move. You need both.

📌 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Christine D’Ercole — Peloton instructor and mantra inspiration
• Dr. Mary Claire Haver — NY Times Best Seller - The New Menopause
• Dr. Stacy Sims 
• Dr. Andrew Huberman — Huberman Lab Podcast Episode with Stacy Sims

🙏 Support the show: If this episode resonated, the best way to support is to share it with a friend, leave a review, or post it on your socials. Every ripple helps this community grow.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Discover how to overcome fear, step outside your comfort zone, and reclaim your voice to live fully with courage, love, and freedom.

Are you ready to step beyond your comfort zone and finally overcome fear that’s been holding you back? In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, I share my journey of pushing past fear, finding my stretch zone, and reclaiming my voice in midlife.

We’ll explore:

• Why living at the edge of your comfort zone is the key to growth
• How fear shows up — from travel anxiety to fear of failure — and how to shift into love
• The surprising science of neuroplasticity and how small actions expand your resilience
• Why psychologists say the comfort zone vs. stretch zone is where real transformation happens
• How to recognize the difference between healthy challenge and unhealthy pressure
• Why launching this podcast became my personal turning point and proof that action breeds clarity

💡 Along the way, I’ll also share insights inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s newest book, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation, and how her vulnerability has reshaped how I think about life, death, and freedom.

✨ Ready for more tools, stories, and reflections?
Sign up for my free weekly newsletter, My Love Letter — your little black book of wisdom for living and loving from the inside out.

👉 Subscribe here

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Nearly a decade after first writing about “pressing the escape key,” I’m revisiting what self-care really means in 2025. Spoiler: it’s not about waiting for a once-a-year vacation or a system-wide crash to finally rest. It’s about creating micro-escapes — tiny daily choices that protect us from burnout, restore our energy, and bring us back to ourselves.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why burnout has become a modern badge of honor (and what Brené Brown calls “exhaustion as a status symbol”).
• The arrival fallacy: why finishing the list never feels like enough.
• How micro-habits retrain your brain (with insights from James Clear’s Atomic Habits).
• Why “cognitive load” — the simple act of remembering everything — drains us more than we realize.
• Practical ideas for creating “everyday vacations,” from naps and bookstore strolls to unplugging from email and tech.

I also share personal stories about resisting rest, what I discovered on vacation, and how I finally stopped letting email run my life.

👉 Grab my free Exhaustion Meter Quiz + Daily Micro-Escapes Checklist here.

And don’t miss the bonus journal prompts below to help you take this episode deeper.

If you’ve ever felt drained, overwhelmed, or stuck in busyness, this episode will remind you: self-care isn’t indulgence — it’s survival. And even the smallest escapes can create the biggest shifts.

Bonus Journal Prompts ✍️

1. What are the inherited stories or beliefs about rest and productivity that I’m still carrying — and do they actually serve me?
2. If I gave myself a daily “micro-vacation,” what would it look like? (Five minutes, one action, no guilt.)
3. Where in my life am I numbing with busyness instead of giving myself permission to feel?
4. Which of today’s “menu of escapes” resonated with me most, and how can I build it into my week?
5. When was the last time I felt truly restored, and what small element of that could I recreate today?

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Have you ever noticed how just a few notes of a song can take you right back to another time in your life? 🎶

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan explores the playlist of your life — how music unlocks memories, stirs deep emotions, and even helps us heal.

From teenage mixtapes and dance floors to wedding day anthems and childhood car rides… music isn’t just a soundtrack — it’s a mirror of who we were, who we are, and who we’re becoming.

You’ll discover:

• Why songs trigger such powerful memories
• What science says about music and the brain
• How to create your own life playlist to reconnect with yourself in a deeper way

✨ Want to dive in even further?
Click HERE to listen to the official Love From the Inside Out Spotify Playlist with songs that inspire connection, healing, and joy.

If this episode resonates, please subscribe, rate, and share it with a friend. ❤️
Music connects us all — and so does love from the inside out.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

From Victim to Victor: How Gratitude Shifts Everything
Why awareness, perspective, and a little self-love change the story you tell yourself.

Ever find yourself asking, “Why me?” In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan shares how to shift from victim consciousness into the victor of your own story. Through real-life moments—from a conversation with her hairdresser to insights on yoga, gratitude, and resilience—you’ll learn how awareness, perspective, and self-love can change the way you see everything.

✨ What you’ll hear inside:

• The difference between life happening to you vs. life happening through you
• A simple question that can stop a spiral: “How is this serving me?”
• Why gratitude is the bridge back to yourself
• How yoga and flow remind us to come home again and again

If you’ve ever felt stuck in old patterns or wanted to reclaim your power with more grace, this episode is for you.

💛 If this resonates, please rate, review, and subscribe—it helps spread more love from the inside out. And if someone in your life could use this reminder today, send it their way.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Looking for the best self-help books to spark real transformation? In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan shares her Top 10 favorite personal growth books — including Brené Brown, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Mel Robbins, and Gary Chapman. These life-changing reads support mindset, confidence, emotional healing, boundaries, and self-love so you can live fully from the inside out.

These are the books Susan returns to when she needs a reset — practical tools to help you heal, grow, and thrive.

👉 Tune in for stories + actionable takeaways, then check the notes for the full book list and links.

Editorial Note (Added Feb. 2026)
This episode was recorded before recent reporting connected Peter Attia and Deepak Chopra to the newly released “Epstein files” (via past communications/associations). After learning about it, I removed Outlive and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success from my Top 10 list so my recommendations stay aligned with my personal values and the values of this show.

Updated replacements:
Instead of Outlive: Good Energy — Casey Means, MD
Instead of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: The Four Agreements — Don Miguel Ruiz

📚 Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• The Let Them Theory — Mel Robbins
• This Is What You’re Really Hungry For — Kim Shapira, MS, RD
• The Feelings Journal — Amber Rae
• Courage — Debbie Ford
• Becoming Supernatural — Dr. Joe Dispenza
  • 🔗 Explore Dr. Joe’s meditations & events
• Abundant Ever After — Cathy Heller
  • 🔗 Learn more about Cathy’s Abundant Life Membership (affiliate link — thank you for supporting the show 💛)
• The Five Love Languages — Gary Chapman
• The Gifts of Imperfection — Brené Brown

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.