personal growth

December 2, 2025

When the Tool Becomes a Crutch: AI, Agency, and Doing Your Own Thinking

I’ve discovered something troubling: there’s a line between AI helping me organize my thoughts and AI doing my thinking for me. And that line matters. Continue reading

ai, mental health, sacred healing, technology and society, trauma recovery

agency, ai, AI ethics, AI limitations, Anthropic, artificial intelligence, autonomy, Boundaries, chatgpt, Claude, cognitive health, creative process, critical thinking, decision making, discernment, echo chamber, healing, Human Connection, IFS, Internal Family Systems, mental health, peer support, personal growth, professional help, psychological wellbeing, religious trauma, responsible AI use, self-awareness, self-led living, spiritual manipulation, technology, therapy, trauma recovery, trauma-informed, writing, writing process
November 21, 2025

When Helping Ourselves Becomes Hurting Ourselves: My Journey with Rumination

For years, I thought retelling my abuse story was helping me heal. I had no idea I was retraumatizing myself every single time. Today I discovered the hidden pattern that’s been keeping me stuck—and why even well-intentioned therapy can miss it. Continue reading

peer support, rumination, sacred healing, trauma Informed, trauma recovery

church abuse, coping skills, counseling, depression, emotional regulation, emotional sobriety, healing from abuse, hypervigilance, IFS, Internal Family Systems, mental health, mental health awareness, mindfulness, nervous system regulation, peer support, perfectionism, personal growth, ptsd, religious trauma, retraumatization, rumination, self-compassion, self-help, survivor, therapy, trauma healing, trauma recovery, trauma response, trauma-informed coaching, victim mentality
November 6, 2025

One Box at a Time

Can you remember the last 5 self-help tips you saw on Instagram? I couldn’t. Every scroll triggers emotions without purpose. Every post we forget still drains our energy. Information that isn’t thoughtfully applied just becomes noise. Time to sort through one box at a time. Continue reading

emotional regulation, emotional wellness, mindful living, personal growth, trauma recovery coaching

burnout recovery, Dealing with Feelings, digital detox, emotional awareness, emotional energy, emotional regulation, energy management, information overload, Intentional Living, life coaching, Liminal space, managing emotions, Marc Brackett, mental health, mindful scrolling, one thing at a time, overwhelm, personal growth, processing feelings, self-awareness, self-help tips, setting boundaries, slowing down, social media habits, what to let go
September 22, 2025

Finding Your True North: Why Grounding in Your Values Matters Now More Than Ever

The Blur Between Authentic and Expected The line between our genuine values and society’s expectations has become so blurred that many of us don’t even know where one ends and the other begins. When was the last time you paused to ask yourself what you actually care about, separate from what you think you should Continue reading

trauma recovery coaching

Authenticity, mental health, mindfulness, personal growth, self discovery
September 16, 2025

Breaking Down the Barriers to Love

“I spent almost half a decade looking into the mirror and seeing someone else. Who did I see? Someone who everyone else expected me to be. People-pleasing doesn’t give your true self the opportunity to be loved—and it doesn’t give someone else the opportunity to be loved by your true self.” Continue reading

America 2025, authentic living, authentic self, awareness, belonging, breaking cycles, childhood trauma, complex trauma, CPTSD, cult recovery, developmental trauma, emotional courage, Generational Patterns, healing process, inner child healing, inner wisdom, life reflection, mental health, mental health and wellness, personal growth, personal journey, ptsd, relationships, religious deconstruction, religious trauma recovery, sacred healing, self discovery, self-discovery, Self-Reflection, soul discovery, spiritual journey, Toxic religion recovery, trauma recovery coaching

authentic being, authentic connection, authentic expression, authentic growth, authentic living, authentic relationships, authentic self, authentic transformation, authentic voice, Authenticity, breaking barriers, breaking conditioning, breaking cycles, breaking free, breaking patterns, carl jung, conditional love, creative expression, creative healing, emotional authenticity, emotional boundaries, emotional breakthrough, emotional courage, Emotional Freedom, emotional growth, emotional healing, emotional liberation, emotional recovery, emotional wellness, fear of abandonment, finding self, finding voice, Generational Patterns, genuine connection, healing path, healing process, healing relationships, healing story, healing trauma, healing wounds, healing-journey, inner child healing, inner healing, inner journey, inner peace, inner strength, inner truth, inner work, mindful parenting, mirror work, overcoming fear, overcoming shame, parenting with love, people-pleasing, perfectionism, personal breakthrough, personal empowerment, personal freedom, personal growth, personal healing, personal transformation, projection, psychological barriers, psychological freedom, psychological growth, psychological healing, psychological transformation, psychological wellness, self discovery, self-acceptance, self-awareness, self-compassion, self-discovery journey, self-empowerment, self-liberation, self-love, Self-Reflection, self-understanding, self-validation, self-worth, shadow work, spiritual awakening, therapeutic writing, toxic patterns, true identity, unconditional acceptance, vulnerability, writing therapy
September 14, 2025

Are You Running on Fear?

Our nervous systems are wired to keep us alive, not to keep us happy. They’re incredibly good at detecting danger, but terrible at telling the difference between real threats and false alarms. That rustling in the bushes could be a bear or it could be a squirrel. Your nervous system doesn’t care—it just screams ‘RUN!'” Continue reading

authentic living, Nervous System, survival

adoption trauma, anxiety management, attachment healing, authentic connection, belonging and connection, body-based healing, childhood trauma, complex trauma, developmental trauma, Emotional Intelligence, emotional regulation, Emotional Safety, emotional wellness, fear response, fight or flight, grounding techniques, healing community, healing practices, healing-journey, healthy relationships, holistic healing, hypervigilance, inner child work, intergenerational trauma, Linda Thai, mental health awareness, mental health support, mindful living, mindfulness practices, nervous system regulation, nervous system reset, personal growth, recovery tools, relationship healing, resilience building, safe relationships, self-acceptance, self-compassion, self-regulation, somatic therapy, stress management, therapeutic techniques, therapeutic wisdom, therapy insights, trauma awareness, trauma education, trauma healing, trauma informed care, trauma recovery, trauma survivor, trauma therapy, wellness journey
September 13, 2025

Navigating the Cracks

I’ve been trying to understand what I’m feeling when I look at social media these days. Confusion, fear, anger, and so much grief over where we are as a country right now. It feels like walking across a frozen pond with cracks, wondering when we might fall through. But I’m learning that beneath the surface… Continue reading

America 2025, collective healing, collective hope, community, hope, Human Connection, perseverance, sacred healing, Toxic religion recovery, trauma recovery coaching

beauty, belonging, common ground, community, faith deconstruction, fear, finding peace, frozen pond metaphor, grief, hope, life, Liminal space, love, mental health, personal growth, polarization, political division, reflection, Social Commentary, social media, spiritual journey, vulnerability, writing
September 4, 2025

Understanding Fawning: Breaking Cycles of Survival-Based Relationships

Unlike fight, flight, or freeze responses that happen in the moment, fawning is different—it’s a survival pattern learned over time. Dr. Mary Catherine MacDonald explains how this trauma response develops through repeated experiences, creating adults who struggle to simply exist in relationships without constantly scanning for others’ needs. But understanding fawning is the first step… Continue reading

attachment, attachment theory, CPTSD, emotional courage, fawn, mental health, parenting, Personal Development, personal growth, trauma recovery, trauma recovery coaching

attachment theory, attunement, Boundaries, breaking cycles, breaking patterns, child development, childhood trauma, codependency recovery, Dr. Mary Catherine MacDonald, Edward Tronick, emotional regulation, emotional wellness, Family Dynamics, family healing, family therapy, fawning, fight flight freeze, generational trauma, good enough parenting, healing from trauma, hypervigilance, inner child work, mental health, mindful parenting, neuroplasticity, parenting mistakes, people-pleasing, personal growth, psychology, relationships, repair and healing, rupture and repair, secure attachment, self-awareness, Survival Responses, The Joy Reset, therapeutic insights, toxic family dynamics, trauma recovery
August 31, 2025

When the Shell Cracks: Finding Truth Beyond Religious Performance

Truth always finds a way to surface. Our ego tries to keep everything together, but eventually the shell cracks and what’s inside starts leaking out. If we’re brave enough to look at what seeps out instead of frantically patching the holes, we might find what we’ve been searching for all along. Continue reading

authentic living, authentic self, childhood trauma, complex trauma, CPTSD, Cults, Deconstronstruction, developmental trauma, ego death, emotional courage, Emotional Intelligence, emotional manipulation, emotional regulation, faith deconstruction, Faith deconstruction help, false prophets, grief, healing and recovery, hope, light, strength within, life reflection, mental health and wellness, Personal Development, personal growth, personal journey, perspective shifts, ptsd, religious abuse, religious deconstruction, Religious PTSD recovery, Religious trauma syndrome, sacred healing, sacredwounds, self discovery, self trust, self-care, self-discovery, Self-Reflection, soul discovery, spiritual abuse, spiritual abuse recovery, spiritual journey, spirituality, subconscious patterns, Toxic religion recovery, toxic shame, trauma bond, trauma informed ministry, trauma practitioner, trauma recovery coaching, Wholeheartedness

adoption trauma, authentic faith, breaking free, church hurt, Church Trauma, deconstruction, evangelical church, faith and healing, faith crisis, faith deconstruction, finding truth, healing-journey, inner critic, pastor abuse, personal growth, personal testimony, religious conditioning, religious hypocrisy, religious performance, religious shame, religious trauma, spiritual abuse, spiritual abuse recovery, spiritual authenticity, spiritual awakening, spiritual healing, spiritual journey, spiritual memoir, spiritual transformation, trauma recovery
July 23, 2025

When Authority Becomes the Enemy of Truth

“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” — Albert EinsteinThe ambulance lights cut through the darkness at the convenience store. Someone had played Russian roulette and lost. As I drove past that night, seventeen and heartbroken after my boyfriend left me for my best friend, I looked up at the empty sky… Continue reading

abuse of power, adverse religious experiences, authentic self, mental health, personal growth, personal journey, spiritual abuse, spiritual abuse recovery, spiritual trauma, system of abuse, Toxic religion recovery, trauma recovery

abuse prevention, adoption trauma, advocacy, authoritarian abuse, blind obedience, body keeps the score, breaking cycles, breaking silence, child protection, childhood trauma, church hurt, complex trauma, critical thinking, cult recovery, discernment, emotional healing, evangelical trauma, exploitation, exvangelical, faith deconstruction, family dysfunction, finding your voice, gaslighting, generational trauma, grooming, healing community, healing is possible, healing-journey, inner child work, inner wisdom, institutional betrayal, intuition, leaving religion, manipulation tactics, mental health, narcissistic abuse, pastoral abuse, personal growth, post-religious, power dynamics, protecting children, ptsd, questioning faith, red flags, religious fundamentalism, religious manipulation, religious trauma, reparenting, self trust, setting boundaries, speaking truth, spiritual abuse, spiritual awakening, spiritual bypassing, spiritual freedom, survivor stories, survivor support, systemic abuse, therapy, toxic authority, toxic relationships, trauma awareness, trauma Informed, trauma recovery, trauma therapy, trusting your gut, truth seeking, vulnerability