After a year away from the podcast, I'm back – and I'm sharing the real story behind my break. This past year has been one of huge growth, deep reflection, and big changes.

I paused the show to finish writing my new book, "Be Yourself, Not Your Parents," and to do the inner work I teach. In this mini-episode, I open up about what really happened, what I learned, and what's coming next for the podcast and our community. If you've ever felt stuck or needed to hit reset, this one's for you.

Get my new book!

E-Book: https://sciencespirithappy.com/be-yourself-book/

Paperback: https://mybook.to/Be-Yourself

Thank you for being here. Your support means everything. Let's keep growing – together.

The holidays are a stressful time of year (for so many reasons), but that's NOT what it's supposed to be about... and it doesn't have to be that way. At all. I'm walking you through how to find JOY at Christmas, New Year, (or any other stressful time) by CHOOSING PEACE.

Yes, it is a choice (or it can be) -- I'm not saying that you're "choosing" to be stressed, I'm saying that with the right permission you CAN choose peace. I'm giving you that permission.

It's also the one year anniversary of The Science & Spirit of HAPPY! We started publishing episodes on the Winter Solstice (Summer Solstice in the southern hemisphere) 2023. It's been one year and I'm so happy and grateful for the growth of this work. So thank you.

Quote I discuss is by Brianna Wiest.

I've been on break finishing the book! But I'll be back in the new year full time. Get your book now before it drops, because the preorder is only $5!!! It won't/can't ever be this price again. So get it now here. Or copy/paste this into your browser:

https://sciencespirithappy.com/how-to-not-be-like-your-parents/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_4bAnniversary

If you're trying to understand emotional intelligence without suppressing your feelings, this episode explains what is often missing beneath emotional control. Get the book here: https://sciencespirithappy.com/be-yourself-book/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_4_des&utm_campaign=book_yt

This conversation shifts focus from the MindSet to the HeartSet, introducing Fierceness as the capacity to feel emotions fully rather than perform strength or composure. It explores why many approaches to growth move quickly from thinking to doing, often bypassing emotional awareness altogether.

The episode explains how feelings function as information rather than obstacles, and how early experiences can weaken trust in emotional signals. When the HeartSet is compromised, direction can feel unclear even when goals appear well defined.

Using the bike analogy, the discussion illustrates why progress without emotional trust often leads to exhaustion rather than fulfilment. Movement continues, but internal guidance is missing.

If this feels familiar, you're not alone, and you're not failing at change.

If you'd like to explore this work further, these resources may be helpful:

Join the movement. Subscribe to the newsletter. https://sustainabledreamsinc.com/memberships/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_4

Start the first lesson in the Zero to Hero course here for free: https://sciencespirithappy.com/from-zero-to-hero/#utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_4_des&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero

If you understand your patterns but still feel unsure how to get the life you want, this episode explains why insight alone often fails to translate into lived experience. Get the book here: https://sciencesspirithappy.com/be-yourself-book/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_3_des&utm_campaign=book_yt

This discussion focuses on Connection as a Personal Power within the MindSet district, and why Clarity without Connection often leads to over-intellectualising rather than movement. It explores the difference between collecting data points about the past and developing the capacity to relate those points to a broader, more objective view.

The episode examines how narrative can quietly become a substitute for growth, particularly when awareness of trauma reinforces a fixed sense of identity. Connection is described as motion in the mind, allowing understanding to link with communication, perspective, and relational context rather than looping inward.

If this feels familiar, you're not alone, and you're not failing at change.

If you'd like to explore this work further, these resources may be helpful:

Join the movement. Subscribe to the newsletter. https://sustainabledreamsinc.com/memberships/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_3

Start the first lesson in the Zero to Hero course here for free: https://sciencespirithappy.com/from-zero-to-hero/#utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_3_des&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero

If you're wondering how to find your true self after years of adapting to family expectations, this episode explains why that confusion exists. Get the book here: https://sciencespirithappy.com/be-yourself-book/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_2_des&utm_campaign=book_yt

This conversation introduces the foundation of The Sets and The Personal Powers, beginning with Clarity. It explores how early family dynamics shape the MindSet, including how we learn to doubt ourselves, defer our perceptions, or prioritise being right over seeing what is actually happening.

The episode looks at how happiness is understood as alignment rather than pleasure, and how effectiveness in relationships, work, and finances depends on knowing where you genuinely stand. When that internal reference is unclear, effort often increases while results remain inconsistent. Reality IQ is introduced as a way of understanding how dents and distortions form over time through microtrauma across the MindSet, HeartSet, SoulSet, and BodiSet.

These patterns are explored as adaptive responses rather than personal shortcomings. I

f this feels familiar, you're not alone, and you're not failing at change.

Join the movement. Subscribe to the newsletter. https://sustainabledreamsinc.com/memberships/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_2

Start the first lesson in the Zero to Hero course here for free: https://sciencespirithappy.com/from-zero-to-hero/#utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_2+des&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero

This episode explores generational patterns that quietly shape identity, behaviour, and life direction, often without conscious awareness. Get the book here: https://sciencespirithappy.com/be-yourself-book/#utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_1_des&utm_campaign=book_yt

If you're dealing with repeating family patterns or questioning how your upbringing still influences your choices, this may help you make sense of what's happening. This conversation examines why lives can begin to mirror parental realities financially, relationally, physically, or emotionally, even when someone consciously wants something different.

It looks at how early conditioning shapes identity and worldview long before choice is available, and why repetition is not always the result of trauma or harmful parenting. Much of what gets passed down happens through subtle alignment, expectations, and learned ways of relating to the world.

Concepts such as microtrauma and reparenting are explored as language used to describe how people are shaped into lives that fit where they came from, rather than who they are.

It looks at how inherited patterns form, why they persist, and why insight alone does not always dissolve them.

This episode is part of SSH's ongoing work on identity, patterns, and nervous system responses without blame.

Join the movement. Subscribe to the newsletter: https://sustainabledreamsinc.com/memberships/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_1

Start the first lesson in the Zero to Hero course here for free: https://sciencespirithappy.com/from-zero-to-hero/#utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=3_1+des&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero

This episode explores how healthy relationships are shaped by emotional safety, particularly when familiar relational patterns begin to feel confusing rather than intentional. Access the Zero to Hero course here: https://sciencespirithappy.com/get-unstuck/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=2_10_shownotes&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero_pd

If you are noticing recurring emotional patterns or tension in relationships and are unsure why they keep repeating, this may help you make sense of what is happening.

This conversation examines relational behaviour through the lens of emotional safety, inner work, and nervous system responses, with a focus on the HeartSet as the domain of emotional awareness, regulation, and safety. It looks at how relationship patterns form, stabilise, and repeat across different relational environments.

Rather than treating relationships as skills to master or problems to solve, the episode explores the conditions that shape emotional connection. Topics include people pleasing, boundaries in relationships, and the role of nervous system safety in maintaining closeness and belonging. Attention is given to how social influence, emotional awareness, and the need for safety affect mental health and everyday relational experience.

The focus remains on explanation rather than fixing, offering language for understanding why certain dynamics persist and what may be unfolding beneath conscious awareness.

When we decide to make changes, we outgrow many people and situations. Although the change is what we wanted, it still hurts when we have to let go of people we love or situations we've become comfortable in.

We also have to let go of our past selves -- the people we've been and become from the negative experiences that shaped us in our lives. This is all a normal part of the healing process.

This episode talks about how to let your past go and forgive yourself.

Get the first lesson in the Zero to Hero course FREE here: https://www.sciencespirithappy.com/get-unstuck?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=2_9&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero (PS this is a real lesson. So bring a pen!)

This episode explores people pleasing as a patterned relational response, particularly when authenticity feels risky or unsafe in close relationships. Access the Zero to Hero course here: https://www.sciencespirithappy.com/get-unstuck?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=2_8&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero

If you are dealing with people pleasing patterns or questioning why being yourself feels difficult around others, this may help you make sense of what is happening.

This conversation examines people pleasing psychology as something shaped through experience rather than personality. It looks at how managing other people's emotions, avoiding conflict, or maintaining emotional balance can become learned responses in early environments where safety depended on stability.

Rather than framing people pleasing as kindness or selflessness, the episode explores how it functions as a regulation strategy that once served a purpose. Using ideas such as equilibrium and pressure, it explains how patterns that supported safety earlier in life can later feel intrusive, exhausting, or misaligned.

The focus throughout is on explanation rather than fixing. The discussion looks at why people pleasing can persist even when it no longer works and why recognising the pattern does not automatically dissolve it. This episode is part of SSH's ongoing work on understanding identity, patterns, and nervous system responses without blame.

You can become irresistible to your dream guy or girl, and the awesome, amazing friends you really want. This is how! Grab a pen because I'm laying it down in this episode on how to magnetize the people and opportunities you crave in your life starting now!

Get the first lesson in the Zero to Hero course FREE here: https://www.sciencespirithappy.com/get-unstuck?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=2_7&utm_campaign=zero_to_hero

(PS this is a real lesson. So bring a pen!)