An empty can. A fish-shaped dessert. A side hug. And BritneySpears.

Sometimes we don’t realize we’re living by a rule until wemeet someone who isn’t.

In this episode of Soul Shift Studio, Maggie reflects on theinvisible rules we absorb from our families, cultures, communities, and the places that shaped us—and what happens when we realize we may still be carryinga rule from a world we’re no longer in.

Some rules still feel like home. Some once helped us belong.And some may be quietly making our world smaller.

Maybe awareness isn’t about getting rid of them.

Maybe it simply gives us enough room to ask:

Is this still mine?

If something in this episode brings up a story you’re beginning to untangle, I’d love to hear from you at [email protected].Instagram: @thesoulshiftstudio

What happens when you’ve done the reflecting, the forgiving, the understanding—and something in you still reacts the same old way?

In this episode, I return to someone from Episode 35, Come Here, who began practicing something different: noticing what was happening in her body, staying with herself, and reminding the part of her preparing for a fight:

We’re okay. We’re safe. Nothing has happened yet.

Then an ordinary moment at work gave her a glimpse of what might be changing.

A situation that once could have left her defending, explaining, and replaying the interaction for days suddenly felt surprisingly simple.

“It was so easy.”

This episode is a reflection on the nervous system, the space between trigger and response, and what can become available when our bodies begin to come along with what our minds may already understand.

🎧 If you haven’t heard Episode 35 — Come Here, you may want to listen to that episode first for the beginning of this story.

If there’s a story in your own life that you’re trying to untangle—or a place where it might help to have someone stay with you while you learn to stay with yourself—I’d love to hear from you.

📩 [email protected]

Sometimes what we’re seeing is true. It’s just not allthat’s true.

A small moment between my kids over four chocolate-chippancakes made me think about the lenses we carry—the things we’re especially sensitive to, the experiences we notice, and the meaning we make from them.

What happens when a true experience begins to reinforce amuch bigger story about our lives?

In Episode 37 of Soul Shift Studio, The Lens, I reflect onthe questions we may have been carrying for a very long time, how they shape what we notice, and what can open up when we become curious enough to ask:

What happened?

What did I make it mean?

And what else might also be true?

If you have a story you’re trying to untangle, I’d love tohear from you.

[email protected]

Instagram: @thesoulshiftstudio

Surrender is a word I’ve returned to again and again over the years. And somehow, each time, it seems to mean something a little different.

In this episode, I reflect on what surrender looks like to me now—through the image of a forest, the parts of ourselves we welcome, and the parts we might rather not see.

What if seeing the whole forest means making room for all of it?

If you have a story you’re trying to untangle, I’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

May you meet yourself with more gentleness and curiosity.

Sometimes the thing we want most in a difficult moment is simply for someone to come closer.

But the harder we try to explain ourselves, the further away they seem to go.

This episode grew out of real conversations with someone who began noticing this pattern in themselves. Together, we explore what might be underneath the need to be understood—and what can happen when we learn to meet ourselves there, too.

Episode 35 — Come Here

If you have a story you’re trying to untangle, I’d love to hear from you.

[email protected]

May you meet yourself with more gentleness and curiosity.

What happens when you're ready to let more of yourself beseen—but part of you is still afraid?

In this episode, I reflect on what happened when I begansharing Soul Shift Studio more openly with my professional world, the unexpected fear that surfaced, and a dream that made that fear almost impossible to miss.

This is a reflection on visibility, the parts of us thatstill want to stay safe, and what it might look like to move forward without pushing those parts away.

Maybe courage isn't about making the fear disappear.

Maybe it's learning to hold its hand and keep going.

If something in this episode resonates with you, or there'sa story or reflection you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you.

You can reach me at [email protected].

You’re always welcome to share anonymously.

Sometimes we know something doesn’t quite fit long before we know what we want instead.

In this episode, I reflect on a season when I began questioning some of the pictures of success I had inherited and absorbed along the way—from career and providing for our children to what it means to build a good life.

None of those dreams were wrong. But I began to wonder which parts truly belonged in my own picture.

Maybe clarity doesn’t always arrive as an answer. Sometimes it begins with contrast—with noticing what feels true, what doesn’t, and what we’re still discovering.

If there’s something in your own life you’re trying to untangle—an expectation you’ve been carrying, a story you inherited, or simply a feeling that something doesn’t quite fit—I’d be honored to hear from you.

[email protected]

New episodes every Tuesday.

Sometimes the people closest to us don't just need something from us.

They awaken something within us.

In this episode, I reflect on a conversation with a motherwho wanted to better understand the relationship she was having with her nine-year-old daughter. What began as a discussion about parenting slowly became something much deeper—a reflection on joy, practicality, and the quietbeliefs we carry from our own childhood.

As we talked, a question emerged that has stayed with meever since:

When did we learn we needed permission to follow whatbrings us joy?

This isn't really an episode about parenting.

It's an invitation to notice the parts of ourselves that mayhave been waiting quietly beneath responsibility, expectation, and the desire to do the right thing.

If this reflection resonates with you, or there's a story you'd like me to gently untangle in a future episode, I'd love to hear from you.

📧 [email protected]

Thank you for listening.

Sometimes the hardest part of a difficult conversation isn't what's happening in front of us—it's the story quietly unfolding inside us.

In this episode, I reflect on a conversation with a mother who felt trapped in a familiar cycle with her teenage son. What first appeared to be an argument about homework revealed something much deeper: the fear that his struggles meant she had somehow failed.

As we explored what was really happening beneath the surface, it became clear that this wasn't just a parenting story. It's a human one.

How often do we mistake someone else's behavior as evidence of our own worth?

If you've ever found yourself reacting more strongly than you expected—to a child, a partner, a colleague, or even yourself—I hope this conversation offers a gentler way to understand what's happening beneath the surface.

And if there's a story beneath the story that you're trying to untangle, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at [email protected]. Your story may inspire a future Tuesday reflection or Thursday conversation, and if you'd prefer to remain anonymous, I'm always happy to honor that.

Thank you for being here.

We often think transformation happens when we finallyrespond differently.

But what if it begins much earlier than that?

In this episode, I share two simple parenting moments thatreveal something much bigger: the quiet journey from unconscious reaction to awareness, and from awareness to practice. One story is about noticing a familiar pattern in real time. The other is about what that same awareness canbecome after years of practicing repair over defensiveness.

This isn't really an episode about parenting. It's aboutbeing human. About letting people down, taking responsibility for our part, and discovering that relationships aren't strengthened by perfection—they're strengthened by repair.

If you're carrying a story, a relationship, or a patternyou're trying to untangle, I'd love to hear from you.

📧 [email protected]

Instagram: @thesoulshiftstudio