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When Breaking Apart Sets You Free
Autonomy isn’t selfish—it’s about staying true to yourself, no matter what others say you “should” be. How often do people tell you who to be or what to believe? Sometimes they push so hard because they’re unsure of themselves and need you to mirror their choices to feel comfortable. When we abandon ourselves to become…
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Finding Reverence Again After Spiritual Abuse
When we only look at what’s chasing us, we miss so much… The Joy Reset: Six Ways Trauma Steals Happiness and How to Win it Back, Mary Catherine MacDonald, PhD Spiritual abuse doesn’t just hurt—it steals reverence. And once that’s gone, finding it again feels nearly impossible. I was reading Dr. Mary Catherine McDonald’s The…
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You ARE A Lot Stronger Than You Think You Are
I struggle with the expectation that I should be stronger when facing people who think I’m sinning for disagreeing with their doctrine. My abuse happened in a mainstream evangelical church—not something people call a cult today. Many people I care about still attend churches with similar beliefs. I often wonder: am I traumatized by the…
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Rethinking Emotions: How Your Brain Constructs Your Emotional Experience
“You are an architect of your experience.” – Lisa Feldman Barrett Last week I watched a YouTube video by Lisa Feldman Barrett on how emotions are created. After watching the Inside Out movies, I initially thought emotions were just a normal part of being human—automatic reactions that tell us important things about ourselves. But Barrett’s research…