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

Can you actually learn how to be happier and raise the level of happiness you naturally return to?

Happiness strategist Monique Rhodes believes you can. After more than 30 years studying happiness, meditation and the mind, she teaches that happiness is not something we have to wait for or find outside ourselves. It is a skill we can practice.

In this conversation, we talk about self-abandonment, why we run from discomfort, the stories our minds create when we are stressed or uncertain, and what Monique calls our happiness baseline, along with how simple daily habits can help raise it over time.

We also explore:

• Why learning to stay with discomfort builds self-trust and emotional resilience
• How meditation helps us respond instead of react
• Why the stories we tell ourselves can create unnecessary stress and anxiety
• What Monique does when life knocks her off center
• Why courage and resilience need to be practiced
• A simple gratitude practice that goes beyond making a list
• Why happiness does not mean feeling good 24/7
• How to notice more of the everyday wonder we so often take for granted

Monique is the creator of The 10 Minute Mind, which was formally trialed at University College London and has been used in more than 70 colleges and universities worldwide. She describes herself as an “accidental teacher,” a path that began when a few women in India asked her to teach them meditation and eventually became her life’s work.

Learn more about Monique:
IIntendToBeHappy.com

Take Monique’s free Happiness Quiz:
Available at IIntendToBeHappy.com

Connect with Monique:
Instagram: @moniquerhodesofficial
Facebook: Monique Rhodes Official

I’d also love to hear from you. As I think about what to create next for Love From the Inside Out, I want to hear what brings you to the podcast, what is most useful to you, and what you would love more of. The listener survey is anonymous, and even a sentence or two is incredibly helpful.

Click here to take my listener survey.

And if this episode speaks to you, please follow Love From the Inside Out and share it with someone who might need the reminder that happiness really can be an inside-out job.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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.

I’m popping in on a Tuesday with a few things I’m excited to share!

First, today is the official launch of the new Love From the Inside Out Substack. I’ve heard from many of you that you’d like more ways to interact with me and with Love From the Inside Out beyond the weekly podcast, and I heard you.

The Substack gives us another place to connect through writing, bonus audio and video, live Q&As, subscriber conversations, a quarterly book club, guided reflections, workshops and other things I’m developing as we go.

To celebrate the launch, paid subscriptions are $7 a month or $70 for the year until noon Arizona time on Thursday, October 15. After that, the regular pricing will be $8 a month or $80 a year.

I also created an anonymous Love From the Inside Out listener survey because I want to hear what you think. What are you enjoying? What would you like more of? What topics, guests or other ways of connecting would be useful to you? Your feedback helps me understand how Love From the Inside Out can continue to grow in ways that are meaningful to this community.

And if you’re in the Phoenix area, I’m also sharing details about Moth Musings: Embrace Your Shadow and Light, a small live event happening this Saturday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to noon at Kaya Holistic.

I’m partnering again with artist Kristen Fagan for a morning of creativity, conversation and reflection. Kristen will lead the art experience, and I’ll share a personal story and lead a guided reflection around the expectations and stories we carry, what still feels like ours, what we may be ready to release and how we can practice showing up more like ourselves.

There are just a few spots left.

LINKS & MORE INFO

Join the new Love From the Inside Out Substack
Special launch pricing is available until noon Arizona time on Thursday, October 15.
Subscribe at susankricun.substack.com.

Take the anonymous Love From the Inside Out Listener Survey
I’d love to hear what’s working for you, what you’d like more of and what you’d like to see next.
Take the survey here!

Moth Musings: Embrace Your Shadow and Light
Saturday, October 17 | 10 a.m.–12 p.m. | Kaya Holistic, Phoenix
Learn more and register at kayaholistic.com.

Kaya Holistic is a community-centered wellness boutique and gathering space in Phoenix dedicated to herbal wellness, conscious living, creative expression and meaningful connection. They also have an online store, so you can explore Kaya even if you’re not in Arizona.

RELATED LISTENING

How to Reconnect With Your Creativity: Self-Care, Confidence and Quieting Your Inner Critic with Kristen Fagan & Kerry Burki
Kristen and Kerry join me for a conversation about creativity, self-care, perfectionism, the inner critic and what can happen when we give ourselves permission to create again.
Listen to the episode

What We Keep: Family Keepsakes, Old Photos, Memory, and Legacy
A personal episode about the things we keep, the memories attached to them, grief, family and the stories we carry forward. It connects closely with some of what I’ll be exploring at Saturday’s event.
Listen to the episode

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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 happens when more money, more clients and more growth start creating more stress instead of more success?

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan talks with entrepreneur, media executive and marketing consultant Cynthia Sassi about business growth, entrepreneurship, scaling, self-doubt, perfectionism and how our definition of success can change over time.

Cynthia has spent nearly 20 years in digital media and marketing. She is the founder and president of Fabulous Media Group, co-owner of LuxeGetaways and co-founder and president of Say Less Media. But this conversation goes far beyond how to build a business.

Cynthia shares what it was like to start Fabulous Arizona as a side business, the fear and uncertainty she felt before going full-time, and the growing pains that came with hiring, leading a team and learning to let go of control.

She also talks candidly about a realization that changed the way she thinks about business growth: more clients and higher revenue do not always mean more profit, more fulfillment or a better life. At one point, she realized there was “no price tag for my sanity” and began paying closer attention to which parts of her work felt meaningful and which left her feeling drained.

Susan and Cynthia also explore what it means to take a step back without seeing it as failure, how to know when growth is actually aligned, why you may never feel completely ready to begin, and why so much of entrepreneurship is simply taking the next step, learning from it and adjusting as you go.

It’s a conversation for anyone starting a business, growing a business, considering scaling, feeling overwhelmed by success, or questioning whether the version of success they have been chasing still fits.

Because sometimes the better question is not, “How much more can I build?”

It’s, “How does the life I’m building actually feel?”

In this episode:
• Business growth and scaling without losing yourself
• Why more clients and more revenue can sometimes create more stress
• Redefining success around happiness and fulfillment
• Self-doubt and imposter syndrome in entrepreneurship
• Perfectionism, control and learning to delegate
• Knowing when to step back from something that no longer feels right
• Why you do not have to feel ready before you begin
• Taking small steps, learning and adjusting along the way
• Building a business and a life that feel good from the inside out

Learn more about Cynthia Sassi at CynthiaSassi.com.

Connect with Cynthia:
Instagram: @cynthiasassi
LinkedIn: Cynthia Sassi

Love From the Inside Out is a podcast about self-trust, identity, reinvention, relationships, success and creating a life that feels as good on the inside as it may look on the outside.

I’d love to hear from you. As I think about what to create next for Love From the Inside Out, I want to hear what brings you to the podcast, what is most useful to you, and what you would love more of. The listener survey is anonymous, and even a sentence or two is incredibly helpful.

Click here to take my listener survey.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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.

How do you build a better relationship with yourself?

Acclaimed meditation and mindfulness teacher with more than 30 years of experience and bestselling Hay House author Sarah McLean joins Susan for a deeply personal conversation about self-love, self-trust, relationships, meditation, and learning how to stay connected to yourself through change. Sarah has been teaching meditation for more than three decades and has led retreats, trained meditation teachers, and written extensively about meditation and self-awareness. 

A special gift for the Love From the Inside Out community!

Sarah is generously offering listeners free access through November 30th to her full self-paced course:

Transform Your Life: A Deep Dive into Meditation & Mindfulness

This is the complete program, available at no cost to the Love From the Inside Out community through November 30th. After that date, the complimentary access ends.

Access the course here.

In this conversation, Sarah shares how her own experiences with fear, difficult relationships and self-protection eventually led her toward meditation, and why the practice has become about much more than what happens while your eyes are closed.

Susan also takes Sarah back to a conversation they had years ago about love and relationships. When Susan asked what it actually meant to love yourself, Sarah told her that she had learned to “date herself.” She took herself to dinner and stopped waiting for someone else to buy the flowers, gifts or experiences she wanted. That simple idea stayed with Susan and helped shape the way she began thinking about self-love and relationships.

Together, they explore the difference between being able to rely on yourself and believing you have to do everything alone, how past relationships can shape the way we experience love, and the ways we sometimes protect ourselves from the very connection we want.

Sarah also shares one of her favorite relationship questions: How do you feel about yourself when you’re with this person, and how do you feel about yourself when they’re not there?

They also talk about meditation as a way of coming back to yourself, what happens when you fall out of a practice that helps you feel grounded, and why the real value of meditation may have less to do with what happens during meditation and more to do with how you experience the rest of your life. Sarah emphasizes that meditation is ultimately about direct experience, not trying to have the “right” kind of meditation.

In this episode

• What it really means to build a relationship with yourself
• Self-love beyond the clichés
• Why Sarah learned to “date herself”
• Independence, self-reliance and learning to let others show up for you
• How past relationships can shape the way we experience love
• The ways we sometimes protect ourselves from vulnerability and connection
• Meditation as a way of coming back to yourself
• What happens when you fall out of a practice that helps you feel grounded
• Finding a meditation practice that actually fits you
• Why the benefits of meditation often show up when your eyes are open
• How to feel more connected to yourself in everyday life

About Sarah McLean

Sarah McLean is an acclaimed meditation and mindfulness teacher, bestselling Hay House author and longtime educator who has been teaching meditation for more than 30 years. Her work draws from decades of study, practice, teaching and retreat leadership, and she is the author of Soul-Centered and The Power of Attention. She also leads online meditation communities and shares guided practices through her YouTube channel.

Connect with Sarah

Website: https://www.McLeanMeditation.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SarahMcLeanMeditation
Awaken Wednesday: https://www.awakenwednesday.com

Books:
Soul-Centered

The Power of Attention

Free course access through November 30th

Transform Your Life: A Deep Dive into Meditation & Mindfulness

Sarah is giving the Love From the Inside Out community free access to the complete course through November 30th.

Access your special listener link here!

After November 30th, complimentary access ends.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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.

Something doesn’t have to be broken for you to realize it may be time to do things differently. What happens when your career, routines, or life still work — but you’ve changed?

We get comfortable with our careers, routines, relationships, and even the way we see ourselves. But when was the last time you stopped to ask whether the decisions you made years ago still make sense for who you are today?

Twenty-four years after being fired from the Phoenix Coyotes, I found myself revisiting my career in a way I never expected. It all started when I tried to save a little money on a GoDaddy renewal and accidentally crashed my entire Kricun Media website.

What began as a frustrating and expensive mistake turned into an opportunity to revisit years of work, recognize how much I've grown, and rethink how I want to use my experience moving forward.

In this episode, we're talking about the cost of getting too comfortable, how our past experiences can limit what we believe is possible, and why personal growth doesn't have to mean starting over.

I'm also sharing how an old money mantra has taken on new meaning for me, and why the freedom to make choices, create, and contribute matters more to me now than ever.

Here's something to think about as you listen: What in your life have you stopped questioning simply because it's familiar? And what might become possible if you gave yourself permission to look at it differently?

You don't have to wait for something to fall apart before you decide to make a change.

Mentioned in this episode

Fired and Finally Free

If you haven't heard the story behind my unexpected departure from the Phoenix Coyotes and how it changed the direction of my life, you can listen to my very first episode of Love From the Inside Out here:

Listen to Fired and Finally Free.

Explore the new Kricun Media website

The unexpected website crash gave me an opportunity to revisit more than three decades of work and create a new website that better reflects who I am and the experience I bring to my clients today.

If you're looking for an experienced partner in strategic communications, public relations, marketing, or corporate and nonprofit event strategy, I'd love to connect. I bring 30+ years of industry experience to help organizations strengthen their message, increase visibility, and tell their stories through strategic communications, marketing counsel, and thoughtfully executed events.

Explore my work and let's start a conversation:

Visit KricunMedia.com

Let's stay connected

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who might be ready to take another look at what's possible in her own life.

And I'd love to hear from you: What's one thing you've been doing on autopilot that might deserve a fresh look?

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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.

When someone dies, what happens to the life they lived?

My Aunt Essie passed away recently, and her death brought me back to something I’ve felt deeply since losing my parents: I don’t want the people I love to simply become part of the past. Their stories, personalities, beliefs, humor, music, relationships and the ways they shaped us still matter.

In this episode, I talk about grief, memory and what it means to keep a loved one’s memory alive after loss. I share a photograph I found of Aunt Essie as a little girl standing in a flower garden, what her glass-half-full approach to living with MS taught me about perspective, the 40 years she shared with her husband Jim, and why Elton John’s Crocodile Rock will always bring her back to me.

I also explore the small ways we can preserve the people we love: telling family stories, saving photographs and videos, writing down names and memories, explaining why certain objects matter, and keeping the little details alive that might otherwise disappear with time.

Because remembering someone doesn’t always have to feel sad. Sometimes it’s a photograph. Sometimes it’s a story that still makes you laugh. Sometimes it’s a song that comes on unexpectedly and, for a moment, brings that person right back.

If you’ve lost a parent, family member or someone you love, or you’ve found yourself thinking more about family history, grief, legacy and preserving memories as you get older, I think you’ll understand this one.

In this episode:

• Why keeping loved ones’ memories alive matters so much to me
• What losing my parents taught me about memory and legacy
• Remembering the whole person, not only the end of their life
• Simple ways to preserve family stories, photographs and memories
• How music and everyday objects can reconnect us with people we’ve lost
• The perspective my Aunt Essie carried throughout her life

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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 do you already know inside that you keep looking outside yourself to confirm?

In this episode, Susan explores why we can know exactly what we want and still wait for more proof, permission or certainty before we act. Inspired by Cathy Heller’s idea of “main character energy,” this conversation is about what it means to participate fully in your own life instead of waiting on the sidelines for something else to happen first.

Susan shares the story of wanting to start this podcast for years, taking a podcasting course twice, and still finding ways to talk herself out of moving forward. She also shares a much more current example: deciding to reach out to Peloton instructor Jess King with an invitation to be a guest on the podcast rather than waiting until she had enough evidence that the answer might be yes.

The episode also explores Cathy Heller’s VCR framework — Vision, Choices, Results — and the difference between making decisions from the part of you that is trying to stay safe and the quieter part that already knows what feels true.

Then, after hearing Cathy speak about identity and choice, Susan found herself hearing a similar message from a completely different direction in an episode of The Mel Robbins Podcast featuring Dr. Cassandra Vieten.

Dr. Vieten’s future-self exercise offered a different way to think about becoming the woman you want to be. Instead of focusing primarily on what your future life looks like — the house, the career, the accomplishments — what happens when you focus on how that future version of you feels?

And what if your future self isn’t simply someone you’re supposed to become someday, but someone you can start consulting today?

This episode explores:

• Why waiting for certainty can keep you circling the same decision
• How fear can disguise itself as perfectly logical thinking
• Cathy Heller’s Vision, Choices, Results framework
• What “main character energy” can actually look like in real life
• Brené Brown’s idea about the emotional cost of unused creativity
• How negative self-talk can make it even harder to move forward
• A different way to approach future-self visualization
• Why self-trust grows through experience rather than reassurance
• How to recognize when you already know the answer but keep looking outside yourself for confirmation
• The one question that can help you decide what your next move really is

You don’t need to know how the whole story ends. You may simply need to get quiet enough to hear what you already know — and decide what part of the plot is actually yours to move forward.

Mentioned in This Episode

The Mel Robbins Podcast with Dr. Cassandra Vieten, PhD
World-Leading Psychologist: How to Manifest Anything & Create the Life You Want 

Among many things, Dr. Vieten discusses The Next You, future-self work, imagination and how thinking about the person you are becoming can influence the choices you make today.

Cathy Heller
Author of Abundant Ever After and host of Everything Is Energy

Brené Brown — Why Design Matters with Debbie Millman
Includes Brené’s discussion of creativity and what can happen when it goes unused.

Notes From the Inside Out

If these are the kinds of conversations you like thinking about after an episode ends, join Susan for Notes From the Inside Out — more of what she’s thinking about, practicing and noticing between episodes, along with ideas that may help you hear yourself a little more clearly in your own life.

Sign up here!

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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 if your personal style — and even the way you think about fashion — has less to do with clothes and more to do with confidence, identity and how fully you're allowing yourself to be seen?

In this deeply personal conversation, style and self-expression coach Maren Swenson shares how her own journey of questioning expectations, rebuilding self-trust and learning to express herself more freely completely changed the way she sees personal style. We talk about body image, confidence, the stories hiding in our closets, dressing for approval versus dressing for ourselves, and why what we wear can become a surprisingly powerful tool for self-expression and self-love.

Maren also shares one of my favorite ideas from the conversation: style can be “self-love in 3D.”

And this episode goes far beyond clothes. It's about what happens when we stop waiting for permission, stop shrinking to make other people comfortable and begin showing up more fully as ourselves.

In this conversation:

• Why personal style is connected to confidence, identity and self-expression
• The stories behind the clothes we buy — and the ones we never wear
• How body changes can affect the way we see and express ourselves
• Why so many women dress from practicality, approval or expectation rather than desire
• What it means to shop with an “unlimited mindset budget”
• Why your first response to an outfit may tell you more than the thoughts that come afterward
• How to reconnect with your personal style without buying anything new
• Why women often feel responsible for other people's reactions
• The difference between thinking about the woman you want to become and actually beginning to live as her
• Why, as Maren says, “you can't be her unless you go be her”

About Maren Swenson

Maren Swenson is the founder of Wild Serenity and a style and self-expression coach who helps women stop hiding and start feeling at home in their own skin.

Through personal coaching, retreats and group experiences, Maren teaches women to use style as a tool for self-expression, body connection and confidence. Her work goes far beyond what to wear. It's about helping women reclaim the parts of themselves they've buried under years of “shoulds” and show up more fully as who they are.

Connect with Maren:

Website: https://marenswenson.com/

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

Free Style Quiz: https://marenswenson.com/style-quiz

Maren also has a few spots remaining for her upcoming Unapologetic Tour in Las Vegas, an immersive experience designed to help women put this work into practice through style, coaching, connection and real-life experiences. If this one fills, she's planning another experience for early next year.

If this conversation made you think of a woman in your life, share this episode with her. I have a feeling it's one you'll want to talk about afterward.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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.

Do you ever feel like you’re not doing enough — even when you’re doing a lot? Or like you should be further along by now in your career, health, relationships, finances or life?

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan explores the connection between enoughness, perfectionism, self-worth and self-compassion — and asks a question that may change the way you think about all of it:

When did you start believing there was a test… and whose test is it?

The conversation was sparked by an email from self-compassion researcher Dr. Kristin Neff about the ENOUGH movement and its simple bracelet designed to remind us that our worth isn’t something we have to earn.

That message brought Susan back to something she learned much earlier in life. Growing up with a perfectionist mother, she eventually created her own mantra — “There is beauty in imperfection.” Years later, during an online program with Brené Brown, she wrote another reminder on the palm of her hand: “I am imperfect and I am enough.”

Now, more than a decade later, the word enough has found its way back into her life.

Susan also shares an idea from bestselling author Nir Eyal and his daughter Jasmine about why “enough” can become a constantly moving target when we attach it to the next achievement, number, job or milestone.

Because there’s a big difference between:

I want more.

and

I’m not enough until I have more.

This episode is an invitation to notice the standards you may be measuring yourself against without ever consciously choosing them — and to ask whether they still belong in your life.

Maybe enoughness isn’t about giving up ambition or deciding you never want anything to change.

Maybe it’s learning how to keep growing without making who you are today wrong.

In this episode, Susan explores why perfectionism can create a false sense of control, how inherited expectations quietly become our own rules, why reaching the next milestone often doesn’t create the feeling we expected, and what it might look like to define “enough” from the inside out.

You’ll also hear a simple question Susan has been practicing at the end of the day:

What if this is enough for today?

And one to carry with you long after the episode ends:

What do I know inside that I keep looking outside myself to confirm?

Join the ENOUGH movement

Susan recently became an ambassador for the ENOUGH movement after discovering it through Kristin Neff. If you’d like to learn more or order an ENOUGH bracelet of your own, you can find it here.

Disclosure: Susan may receive a small commission if you purchase through this link, at no additional cost to you.

Notes From the Inside Out

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Mentioned in this episode

Kristin Neff, PhD — self-compassion researcher and author

ENOUGH
[INSERT YOUR ENOUGH AMBASSADOR LINK]

Brené Brown

Nir Eyal

If this episode made you think of someone who is always wondering whether she’s doing enough, send it to her. 

Sometimes we need someone else to remind us of what we already know:

You are enough.

Text Susan about this episode

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

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• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
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📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
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© 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 if you’re not “uncreative” at all? What if you’ve simply gotten disconnected from that part of yourself?

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, I’m talking with expressive artist and creativity empowerment guide Kristen Fagan and intuitive mentor and yoga teacher Kerry Burki about creativity as something much bigger than being able to paint, draw, or make something beautiful.

We talk about why so many of us gradually lose touch with our creativity as life gets fuller, what perfectionism and our inner critic have to do with it, and what can happen when we give ourselves permission to create simply because it feels good.

Kristen and Kerry also share how creativity, movement, mindfulness, and intuition can work together to bring us back into the present moment and reconnect us with ourselves.

And yes, I share my own experience of being the person who freezes when someone puts a blank piece of paper in front of me and says, “Create something.” As it turns out, what gets triggered in those moments can have very little to do with the art itself.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why women often lose touch with creativity as life gets busier
• Why “I’m not creative” may not actually be true
• How perfectionism and our inner critic can shut down creativity before we even begin
• What changes when we stop creating for an outcome and start creating for the experience
• Creativity as a form of self-care
• How movement, mindfulness, and getting into our bodies can quiet some of the noise in our heads
• The freedom of knowing you can paint over it, change direction, or simply start again
• How creating can help us rediscover what we actually like, want, and feel drawn to
• Why creativity extends far beyond painting and drawing
• Simple ways to start reconnecting with your creative self without turning it into another thing on your to-do list
• Kristen’s belief that we are all artists of our lives

About Kristen Fagan

Kristen Fagan is an Expressive Artist and Creativity Empowerment Guide who helps women reclaim their creativity, inner calm, and confidence through art, mindfulness, and immersive creative wellbeing experiences.

Her intuitive, layered approach gives perfection a chance to step aside so there’s more room for play, curiosity, self-expression, and self-discovery. Kristen holds a BA in Visual Communication, is a certified creativity coach, co-facilitator of Create More Community, and co-creator of the Tend & Create Retreat.

Her core belief is simple: Life is yours to create.

Connect with Kristen:

Website: kristenfagan.com

Instagram: @kristenfagan

YouTube: Kristen Fagan Art

Monthly Membership, Soul Painting Journeys & Online Courses: Make Art with Kristen

About Kerry Burki

Kerry Burki is an Intuitive Mentor, E-RYT 200 yoga teacher, author, and Divine Resonance Magic Practitioner who helps women reconnect with themselves through mindfulness, movement, creativity, intuition, and intentional self-care.

Through her books, workshops, and immersive experiences, Kerry creates spaces where women can slow down, listen inward, and reconnect with what feels alive and meaningful in their lives. Her work is rooted in the belief that we don’t always need to fix ourselves. Sometimes we need space to pause, feel, create, and hear what our next chapter is asking of us.

Kerry is also the co-creator of the Tend & Create Retreat.

Connect with Kerry:

Website: kerryburki.com

Instagram: @kerry_burki

Book: Tend to Your Vibration

Discover & Paint Your Animal Guide Online Class
Kristen and Kerry also created the online Discover & Paint Your Animal Guide class that came up during our conversation. It’s available to join from anywhere.

Tend & Create: Full Moon & Feathers Retreat

Kristen and Kerry’s next Tend & Create Retreat takes place September 25–27, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The retreat brings together creativity, gentle movement, yoga, mindfulness, reflection, community, and practices centered around releasing what is no longer yours to carry.

And you do not have to live in Arizona to attend. Women travel from around the country for their retreats, and attendees can choose to stay at the retreat hotel or make their own lodging arrangements.

Learn more and register here:

Tend & Create: Full Moon & Feathers Retreat

Stay connected with Love From the Inside Out

If this conversation gave you something to think about, share it with someone who might need the reminder that her creative self hasn’t disappeared. She may just need a little space to find her way back to it.

And you can stay connected with Love From the Inside Out and sign up here for Notes From the Inside Out.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Get More:
• Instagram: @susan.kricun
• Drop in my DMs and share your story or ask a question.
• Sign up for my newsletter for free resources and updates.

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

✨ Support the Show:
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen
• Share this episode with a friend who could use a little more love—right where it matters most.

📚 Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools
• This link leads you to a curated list of books and tools I genuinely love and use.
• Some links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎙️ Be a Guest on the Show. Fill out this form.

© 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.