What if some of the beliefs that shape our lives were learned long before we could name them?

In this episode of Compassion Over Silence, Rashida Saunders explores the quiet lessons many of us absorb in childhood about strength, self-reliance, emotions, and vulnerability. Drawing from her experiences growing up in Northeast Portland, serving in law enforcement, motherhood, leadership, and healing, she reflects on how silence becomes normalized and how survival patterns often follow us into adulthood.

This conversation explores childhood conditioning, emotional suppression, independence, and the journey of unlearning what once helped us survive.

Because sometimes the stories that shape us most are the ones that were never spoken aloud. Today we're talking about the silence we learn before we ever have words for it.

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Resources

📖 Permission to Break: A Memoir of Strength, Silence, and Softness

https://a.co/d/04Dlb6ME

📓 Permission to Break Workbook: A Guided Journey of Reflection, Release, and Softness

https://a.co/d/02n7neQV

About the Podcast

Compassion Over Silence™ explores leadership, healing, identity, service, and what it means to live beyond survival mode.

Hosted by Rashida Saunders, author of Permission to Break, public safety leader, speaker, and founder of Black Ember House.

Leadership • Humanity • Honest Conversations

New episodes every Wednesday.

Connect

Instagram: @rashidasaunders

LinkedIn: Rashida Saunders

Website: rashidasaunders.com

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