Most of us were raised inside an invisible contract: if you try hard enough, improve yourself enough, and play your role well enough, you’ll be loved, safe, and chosen. So we become diligent students of “better.” Better habits. Better productivity. Better mindset. Better communication.

But when that contract stops working, it’s not a personal failure. It’s often the psyche refusing to keep participating. In Episode 1, Vanessa Bennett, LMFT explores the difference between growth and self-optimization as a survival strategy, how people-pleasing and overfunctioning once kept you attached, and why your anxiety, burnout, or identity unraveling may be a threshold into something more honest. You’ll leave with prompts and one “micro-moment” practice to start rebuilding an inner compass you can trust.

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Additional Resources

Explore: VanessaBennett.com

Book: The Motherhood Myth

Community: Inner Compass Collective

Training: Inner Compass Academy

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Inner Compass is a depth psychology and relationships podcast with Vanessa Bennett, LMFT, for people who are tired of self-improvement that leaves their lives unchanged.

Each episode explores codependency, attachment, boundaries, intimacy, shame, desire, resentment, and nervous system patterns - alongside the cultural myths shaping love, worth, womanhood, and power.

Grounded, direct, and reflective, Inner Compass bridges depth psychology, lived experience, and cultural analysis without reducing healing to “tools and tips.” This is a space for honest inquiry, not performance - and for rebuilding an inner compass you can actually trust.

Follow the show to receive new episodes weekly.

For educational purposes only. This podcast is not therapy.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the podcast, Vanessa and Dené talk about the ways in which we are all being challenged to stay with ourselves through the discomfort of releasing the things we have been holding as certain. 

we talk about:

• why it becomes necessary to be in acceptance of loss for us to show up authentically in relationships 
• how our culture conditions us to be in a constant space of preoccupation- often in an attempt to defend against the fear of endings 
• how we are collectively being invited to come into an acceptance of the nature of impermanence 
• the very human desire to cling to the known when we are about to step into the next phase of our development 

..and so much more! 

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along with the show on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube! 

Connect with Vanessa:

• Instagram: @vanessasbennett
• Website: vanessabennett.com
• TikTok: @itsvanessabennett

Connect with Dené:

• Instagram: @dene.logan
• Website: denelogan.com
• TikTok: @denelogan

Again, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

If you're interested in being one of our live anonymous coaching episodes, you can apply at the link in the show notes.

And follow or subscribe to our IG, TT or YouTube.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this week’s episode, Vanessa and Dené talk about the energy that is being felt by so many of us as we move through what many astrologers are calling a ‘turning point’ eclipse season.  

we talk about:

• the immense amount of shadow work we’ve been asked to dive into in the midst of the current eclipse season
• the dehumanization that starts to come up when we place people on pedestals 
• how we are being asked to look at where we’ve outsourced our sense of security to other people 
• how our disappointment in others often reflect where we’ve left expectations unexpressed 

..and so much more! 

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along with the show on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube! 

This podcast is, for sure, Cheaper Than Therapy. 

Follow Cheaper Than Therapy

• Instagram: @cheaperthantherapypodcast
• TikTok: @cheaperthantherapypod
• YouTube: @cheaperthantherapypodcast

Connect with Vanessa:

• Instagram: @vanessasbennett
• TikTok: @thecodayoda
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vanessabennettlmft5631 

Connect with Dené:

• Instagram: @dene.logan
• TikTok: @denelogan

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

..the growth that comes from them is optional. In this week’s episode, Vanessa and Dené  talk about the extent to which 2025 has felt like - to many - one enormous ego death, what that means, and why this is a crucial aspect of our collective healing process. 

we talk about:

• how life is changing pushing us to separate our essence from our adapted survival strategies or what we’ve been calling our personality 
• why it becomes important to honor other people’s process - even if we experience them as bypassing the ‘truth’ of where we believe they should be 
• how we can start to view life’s difficult moments and relationships as an invitation to expand through what might actually be an initiatory cycle or ego death 
• the extent to which we are experiencing an collective ego death as human race 

..and so much more! 

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along on Instagram and YouTube!

Connect with Vanessa:

• Instagram: @vanessasbennett
• Website: vanessabennett.com
• TikTok: @itsvanessabennett

Connect with Dené:

• Instagram: @dene.logan
• Website: denelogan.com
• TikTok: @denelogan

Again, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

If you're interested in being one of our live anonymous coaching episodes, you can apply at the link in the show notes.

And follow or subscribe to our IG, TT or YouTube.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the first installment of one of our new solo series, Vanessa kicks off with a core theme from her new book The Motherhood Myth: The Lie We Were Sold—the cultural script that says partnership and motherhood should be inherently easy and endlessly fulfilling…and if they aren’t, you must be doing it wrong. Vanessa traces how that story keeps us isolated, ashamed, and over-functioning, and why naming it is the first step to reclaiming a solid sense of Self.

We discuss:

• How a shared season of overstimulation, depletion, and “Who am I anymore?” sparked this book
• The lie itself—and how it feeds codependency, self-abandonment, and the “performing for belonging” loop
• Dominator systems 101: patriarchy, capitalism, and why shame is such an effective control mechanism
• What changes when you build from capital-S Self: less personalization, more ownership, real agency
• Two journal prompts to begin untangling your inherited myths (about “good mother / partner / woman / person”)
• An invitation to help name this solo mini-series + what’s coming next (“Ego Explosion”)

We would love to hear from you:

1. What is the lie you were sold about partnership, motherhood, womanhood—or being a “good” person?
2. How was shame used to keep you performing that role?

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along on Instagram and YouTube!

Connect with Vanessa:

• Instagram: @vanessasbennett
• Website: vanessabennett.com
• TikTok: @itsvanessabennett

Connect with Dené:

• Instagram: @dene.logan
• Website: denelogan.com
• TikTok: @denelogan

Again, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

If you're interested in being one of our live anonymous coaching episodes, you can apply at the link in the show notes.

And follow or subscribe to our IG, TT or YouTube.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this week’s episode, Vanessa gives Dené a recap of her time spent at a bachelorette party over the weekend. We explore some of the trends - and possible factors impacting - why millennials may have a different relationship with alcohol than older generations.

We discuss:

-Whether studies suggesting that gen Z is consuming less alcohol than millennials are pointing to an awakening of consciousness or feeling more self-conscious about making mistakes.

- If the younger generation are being raised with a lower tolerance for discomfort.

- What some of the positive outcomes could potentially be from discomfort that parents may be robbing their children of experiencing. 

..and so much more! 

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along with the show on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube! 

Connect with Vanessa:

• Instagram: @vanessasbennett
• Website: vanessabennett.com
• TikTok: @itsvanessabennett

Connect with Dené:

• Instagram: @dene.logan
• Website: denelogan.com
• TikTok: @denelogan

Again, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

If you're interested in being one of our live anonymous coaching episodes, you can apply at the link in the show notes.

And follow or subscribe to our IG, TT or YouTube.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We sat down to explore some of the challenges that come up living in a culture where we are exposed and reacting to so many people lives, perspectives and ultimately ways of negotiating conflict. 

We discuss: 

-the challenges that we’re facing as a culture that struggles to allow for diversity of thought 

-holding ourselves with compassion even as others may be holding us with judgement 

-how we honor the unique nature of our Souls blueprint instead of feeling like we are all meant to be the same 

-what it looks like to take responsibility for being a conduit to the world I want to see instead of pushing against current circumstances 

..and so much more! 

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along with the show on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube! 

Connect with Vanessa:

• Instagram: @vanessasbennett
• Website: vanessabennett.com
• TikTok: @itsvanessabennett

Connect with Dené:

• Instagram: @dene.logan
• Website: denelogan.com
• TikTok: @denelogan

Again, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

If you're interested in being one of our live anonymous coaching episodes, you can apply at the link in the show notes.

And follow or subscribe to our IG, TT or YouTube.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’re back and so excited to share with you all some of the conversations we’ve been having offline. This week, we explore some of the current conversations we’ve heard coming up around AI, the tie it will play in how we meet one another relationally, and what the larger invitation may be for all of us in this rapidly changing world.  

we discuss:

• the uptick of people replacing a therapeutic relationship with their use of chat GPT 
• how we might see the rise in technology as being a catalyst for cultivating a more intimate relationship with the human capabilities that cannot be outsourced 
• what it will look like to balance the reality that AI is here and something we will have to negotiate a personal relationship with, to continuing to prioritize connecting with other humans

..and so much more! 

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along with the show on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube! And look out for all new episodes of Cheaper than Therapy on August 11! 

Connect with Vanessa:

• Instagram: @vanessasbennett
• Website: vanessabennett.com
• TikTok: @itsvanessabennett

Connect with Dené:

• Instagram: @dene.logan
• Website: denelogan.com
• TikTok: @denelogan

Again, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

If you're interested in being one of our live anonymous coaching episodes, you can apply at the link in the show notes.

And follow or subscribe to our IG, TT or YouTube.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cheaper than Therapy is back for season 4!! And we couldn’t be more excited to kick things off with a live recording (and celebration of the launch of Vanessa’s new book, The Motherhood Myth) we did with two of our favorite dads - and friends - Dr. Adi Jaffe and Nicholas Gonzalez.

Adi is an addiction & mental health expert, and founder of IGNTD. Nick is an actor, father, and advocate for conscious masculinity. They are also two dads doing the work of taking so much personal responsibility for their growth as men and fathers.

We sat down to talk with Adi and Nick about: finding self-compassion and what it looks like to do the conscious work of repairing as a parent how to avoid the trap of parentified dynamics with your partner the often unaddressed desire to feel valued as men and whether or not that equates to ‘needing’ the women in their lives reimagining privilege in a society where we’ve lost track of what it means to support one another in community

..and so much more!

Connect with Adi: https://www.adijaffe.com/ (Website)

Connect with Nick on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/eltexmex/ Instagram

We are so excited to be back!

Don’t forget to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also follow along with the show on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube! And look out for all new episodes of Cheaper than Therapy on August 11!

This podcast is, for sure, Cheaper Than Therapy.

Connect with Vanessa:

    •    Instagram: @vanessasbennett (https://www.instagram.com/vanessasbennett/)

    •    Website: vanessabennett.com

    •    TikTok: @ (https://www.tiktok.com/@thecodayoda)itsvanessabennett

Connect with Dené:

    •    Instagram: @dene.logan (https://www.instagram.com/dene.logan/)

    •    Website: denelogan.com

    •    TikTok: @denelogan (https://www.tiktok.com/@denelogan)

Again, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

If you're interested in being one of our live anonymous coaching episodes, you can apply at the link in the show notes.

And follow or subscribe to our IG, TT or YouTube.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.