Two people can go through the same event and walk away with different stories about what happened.

That’s right — same event, different story. And those different interpretations can quietly shape how we feel about each other, how safe we feel in our relationships, and even how much love we’re able to express.

In this episode I talk about where we go wrong and what we can do to bridge the gap of disconnect, switch focus, stop arguing about our different versions and come back into connection.

In this episode we look at:

• There’s Truth on Both Sides
• Nowhere Is This More Polarising Than in the Bedroom
• Memory: Is not to be trusted
• The 3 Stances That Keep Us Stuck
• How to Improve Your Relationship — Bridging the Gap
• Seeing Things Differently Can Be a Strength

This podcast was created by Nicole Mathieson, a Brisbane based counsellor and couple therapist, who has a couple of podcasts and is the author of The Beauty Load, How to feel enough in a world obsessed with beauty.

Nicole helps men, women and couples get smarter, happier and more connected in their intimate relationships.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How are you in conflict?

I hear so many clients ask me how to stop being so intense in their moments of conflict and I always answer that it is a great question, but also it is the wrong question in a way. I think we need to zoom out. Listen in as I take you through my ideas for how to do this.

Sign up to my live workshop on June 8th - Keeping your cool, how to naviage conflict with grace.

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson is a couple therapist and relationship focussed counsellor helping people come back to themselves. Nicole teaches practical experiential skills to ceate more loving, connected and harmonious intimate relationships - with themselves and their partners.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Get the course nicolemathieson.com/courses

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Patriarchy does not serve any of us and it most definitely has it's gnarly tendrils in our homes and our relationship dynamics. The way that women respond to the patriarchal influences in our relationships is often quite bitchy.

In this episode, I talk about what I mean by the Patriarchy, what I mean by bitchy behaviour and I invite you to my new monthly catch up for 2025 - Bitch Club.

To join the Bitch Club mailing list go here - nicolemathieson.com/btch-club/

To get in touch email me [email protected]

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson is a couple therapist and relationship focussed counsellor helping people come back to themselves. Nicole teaches practical experiential skills to ceate more loving, connected and harmonious intimate relationships - with themselves and their partners.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Get the course nicolemathieson.com/courses

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I explore a bunch of pressures on female libido that I see over an over and yet are not commonly thought of as desire stoppers.

I am hoping that this episode feels hopeful and gives you lots of options for healing and exploration where you otherwise may have been feeling stuck.

This episode does come with the trigger warning of the mention of sexual trauma.

Listen to the end for my top tips on what to do once you discover these barriers to your libido.

To get in touch email me [email protected]

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson is a couple therapist and relationship focussed counsellor helping people come back to themselves. Nicole teaches practical experiential skills to ceate more loving, connected and harmonious intimate relationships - with themselves and their partners.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Get the course nicolemathieson.com/courses

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Solutions are good right? I am just trying to help. Yes, but we actually find it really frustrating when we are sharing an issue and our partner jumps straight to solutions. Why is that? What is going on here? And what do we want and need instead?

Listen to this episode as we explore what is going on with not always loving solutions.

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson is a couple therapist and relationship focussed counsellor helping people come back to themselves. Nicole teaches practical experiential skills to ceate more loving, connected and harmonious intimate relationships - with themselves and their partners.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Get the course nicolemathieson.com/courses

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I talk to my beautiful, soulful friend Kris Franken.

So many people ask me how they can find themselves, be true to themselves and still be in relationship. It can be tricky to navigate. We fear that if we change and become more true to ourselves that we will lose our partner. We fear that authenticity and integrity means loss of connection. Well, today I called in Kris to talk to us about this because Kris, in my opinion is the epitomy of being true to herself, of being wildly, truly authentic, and she manages all this within her 20+year relationship.

Kris shared her integrity and authenticiy with me on the Beauty Load podcast where we talk about our own true beauty.

Here is the link: shows.acast.com/the-beauty-load/episodes/10-true-beauty-beyond-the-illusion-with-kris-franken

About Kris

My guest on this episode is my friend, author, mentor, healer and way shower, Kris Franken.

Kris is a spiritual teacher who has a background in psychology as well as in the magazine publishing world and is the author of 2 books and creator of multiple oracle card sets. One of the reasons that I really wanted to share her with you and get her wisdom into the Beauty Load is that Kris is having a deep love affair with mother earth – her take on beauty comes from a place of being deeply deeply connected in the experience of living in her body as a spiritual being in amongst nature and the miracle of life.

Where to find Kris

Check Kris out on Instagram @kris_franken

Kris has her second book,Wild hearted purpose which is out now.

All details are at: www.krisfranken.com/wildheartedpurpose/ 

And here is her website: krisfranken.com

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole helps Individuals and couples to find a deeper and more stable connection to themselves as a foundation for their relationship with life and each other. Nicole is passionate about helping people in practical ways to feel safe and more conencted within their relationships.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Get the course nicole-mathieson.thinkific.com/courses/Insecurity-to-body-confidence

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does your partner have sex tantrums?

How does it make you feel?

How do they feel?

What is going on and how do you get out of the downward spiral of need, guilt, obligation, and then less desire?

Listen in as we unpack this very common dynamic, try not to generalise too much, and as I give you a few pointers to get back to sex without the guilt, anxiety and pressure.

For more exploration on sex tantrums check out Emily Nagoski's book Come As You Are.

Check out my other podcast The Beauty Load, how to feel good enough in your body here - shows.acast.com/the-beauty-load

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Intimacy (and I am not talking about sex), in my opinion is one of the hardest things in the whole world, but also, something that gives us the deepest most heart fulfilling satisfaction.

Gah, what a dilemma! It would be so much easier if we could just get all operational and robotic and not have to have those hard conversations, get vulnerable and honest with ourselves and then share it with another....we could just get on with it. But alas, as humans, we are drawn back in to the fray.

To do it best, intimacy starts within with an intimate relationship with ourselves. So what does that look like?

In this episode I share my very messy intimate journey that led me to be an intimacy and relationship coach and share with you what getting intimate entails.

This episode was inspired by an interview on @drkirstyseward 's podcast. You can listen to that here - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-kirsty-seward/id1617397162

Check out my other podcast The Beauty Load, how to feel good enough in your body here - shows.acast.com/the-beauty-load

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello ,it's me Nicole Mathieson and I would like to introduce you to my brand new podcast; The Beauty Load, How to feel good enough in your body.

This podcast is inspired by my book also called the Beauty Load in which I explore this exhausting pressure, anxiety and insecurity that many if not all women feel in regards to the way they look.

In this podcast, I aim to explore how the Beauty Load is felt by different people, in different countries, different cultures and sub-cultures and with different experts.

I aim to normalise the struggle of the Beauty Load.

I aim to question the culture, the expectations and the high standards we hold ourselves to.

I aim to raise awareness of how much of a privilege it is to even worry about this. But also to raise awareness of how much we are trapped and limited by this constant insecurity and anxiety the way that we look creates in us.

Most of all, I hope that in all this exploring we feel a little bit less alone and we can minimise the load that we carry, so that we can just get on with living our lives and being our beautiful, radiant selves.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.