when your body isn't your own: what abusive relationships and grooming taught me about love

Reflecting on the Euphoria character "Cassie," Evan Rachel Wood's new documentary "Phoenix Rising" (about her alleged struggle with domestic violence, grooming, and sexual assault at the hands of singer Marilyn Manson), and recent events with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West inspired me to sit down and reflect on my own chaotic experiences with grooming, domestic violence and sexual assault throughout my teens and twenties. I realized that the thread that connected all of the chaos was an underlying disconnection from my intuition or "gut feeling." In this episode, we discuss how to reconnect to our sense of inner knowing and how to move forward and heal from toxic connections that we previously thought were love but weren't.

Questions answered and topics discussed in this episode:

■ Warning signs you've lost touch with your intuition (and how this often happens in childhood)

■ How I learned to overcome my obsession with seeking male validation

■ Sexual grooming (recognizing the signs and my personal experiences)

■ How I learned that rape isn’t black and white

■ Rebound relationships & domestic violence (rushing into things too soon before knowing the person)

■ My experience meeting my current partner and understanding that true love is “friendship first” (finally finding safety in a relationship)

■ Strategies on tapping into our intuition when we’ve lost a connection with it (practical exercises from Martha Beck)

Recommended resources:

Phoenix Rising Documentary with Evan Rachel Wood

The Gathering Room Podcast

5 Steps for Tapping Into Your Intuition (Article by Martha Beck)

“Trip Down Intuitive Memory Lane” Exercise (Lesson 3)

Intuitive Scoring (Lesson 4)

Intuition Conversation with Non Dominant Hand (Lesson 5)

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The information contained in this podcast episode is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for treatment or consultation with a licensed mental health professional.

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