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Episode 353: What Porn Actually Does to the Brain: Porn isn’t just about sex, it’s about the brain.

In this episode, we explore why porn is so compelling, why willpower usually fails, and why intelligent, caring people struggle with it even when it conflicts with their values or relationships. This conversation moves beyond shame and into understanding how novelty, dopamine, attachment, and emotional regulation intersect, and why real change starts with compassion, not control.

 

Episode 352: The world feels divided — but the real damage is happening between us.

We recorded this episode planning to talk about current events, and the conversation didn't go exactly where we planned, and that's why it matters.  Instead, we found ourselves talking about how people are actually living inside all of this, the personal experiences and stories that impact us.  

Politics. Gender. Fear. Fatigue. Misunderstanding.  

 This wasn’t a debate.  It was a conversation about what it costs us to stay polarized — and what it might take to repair.  

 What part of this conversation stayed with you the most?
 Where do you feel the divide showing up in your own life — relationships, family, friendships?

Episode 351: When Answers Become a Defense: How Rationalization Keeps Us Comfortable...and Stuck: Most avoidance doesn’t sound defensive.

It sounds reasonable.

It sounds like:
• “This makes sense.”
• “This is normal.”
• “I already know why I do this.”

In this episode, I explore how rationalization and minimization quietly protect comfort, certainty, and the need to feel right — especially for smart, thoughtful people.

Episode 350: When you try to talk… and somehow you become the problem.

Defensiveness doesn’t always look like anger.
Sometimes it looks like minimizing, mocking, dismissing, or explaining things away.

In this episode, I talk about:
• why people get defensive
• how avoidance can be loud or quiet
• how to respond without escalating
• and the red flags that mean a boundary has been crossed

If you’ve ever felt shut down for asking a real question, this one’s for you.

Episode 349: Letting the Year Unfold : What if the new year isn’t asking you to decide anything?

Rachel and I talk about why so many of us feel pressure to know what comes next, and how real change tends to happen without announcements. We explore how moves, family dynamics, and internal shifts quietly reorient us long before we name them.

If you’re entering this year without goals or certainty, this conversation offers permission to slow down.

 Listen now.

 

Episode 348: What we're carrying forward, and what we're putting down: Not every year ends with closure. Some years end with clarity, and some don’t.

As this year comes to a close, there’s pressure to reflect, resolve, and reset.  But not everything we live through gets neatly wrapped up.  In this episode, I talk about what it means to move forward without closure, why waiting for it can keep us stuck, and how grief, loss, and complicated family dynamics shape what we carry and what we lay down.

This isn’t an episode about resolutions. It’s about honesty.  About integration.  About letting a year end without forcing meaning too soon.

Episode 347: Navigating Uneven Healing in Couples

When one partner grows faster, it doesn’t mean the relationship is failing.  

Uneven healing is one of the most painful dynamics couples face.
One partner finds language, boundaries, and insight.
The other is still trying to feel safe.

This episode isn’t about who’s “ahead.”
It’s about how healing actually unfolds, and how couples stay connected when growth isn’t synchronized.

Because growth isn’t a competition, and pressure isn’t intimacy.

If this feels familiar, this episode is for you.
Listen, reflect, and notice what lands.  

Episode 346: Identity Shifts and Recovery

In this episode, we go into the identity shifts that happen in relational recovery, for betrayed partners, for CPTSD survivors, and for the partners who are healing from addiction or avoidance.

 

When recovery is real, identity shifts happen beneath the surface. And they can feel terrifying, confusing, and unfamiliar, even when they’re healthy  

 

If you’ve ever felt your body tense even when your partner is doing everything right… This episode explains why.  

 

If you’ve ever felt scared by something that was actually good… this is for you.
 Save & share.
 Full episode in bio.  

Episode 345: 🎙️The Discomfort Paradox: Why the Hardest Parts of Healing Set You Free

   Have you ever made a decision or taken a step in your healing that terrified you, only to realize later it was the best thing you've ever done? Today we’re talking about why healing so often feels uncomfortable, why your brain resists the exact things that help you grow, and how to tell the difference between the discomfort that sets you free and the discomfort that keeps you stuck.  

 

  In this episode, Jackie unpacks The Discomfort Paradox—the surprising truth that the hardest, scariest parts of healing are often the ones that finally move us forward.  

 _{If this episode stirred something in you—an old story, a new awareness, or a pattern you’re finally ready to shift—take a moment to ask yourself:}

 

Is this discomfort healing or harmful?
That single question can change your trajectory.

If this episode resonated with you, share the episode with someone who might need it today.

Episode 344: The Family Roles We Inherit

Family roles aren't personality traits.  They are survival strategies.  In this episode, Jackie talks about how these roles form within the Child Self, the Adaptive Child Self, and the Functional Adult Self framework. And how healthy families do it differently.

 

If you grew up in a role you’re trying to outgrow, if you lose your Adult Self around family, and if you’re trying to break generational patterns, this episode is for you.  This episode will help you understand why you became who you had to be,  and how to become who you want to be now.