The Shift: A Podcast With Ben Brown

The ONLY Way To Actually Feel Better.

In this episode of The Shift, I sit down with Dr. David Forbes for one of the most impactful conversations I’ve had on the podcast so far. We talk about trauma, emotional release work, childhood wounds, therapy, emotional safety, and what it actually means to heal instead of just cope. Dr. Forbes shares a perspective on trauma that completely changed the way I think about emotional pain. That trauma is not necessarily the wound itself, but the separation that happens from ourselves after the wound. The distance we create from the parts of us carrying pain because at some point, it no longer felt safe to stay connected to them. We get into the limitations of traditional therapy, the importance of being seen and understood, and why healing often requires more than just talking about what happened. We also explore emotional release work, support structures, dependency, psychedelic therapy, sobriety, and the fear so many of us have of relying on anything outside of ourselves to feel okay. This conversation challenged me in a lot of ways. It made me think differently about conflict, relationships, accountability, and the stories we carry into adulthood from childhood. If you’ve ever struggled with feeling disconnected from yourself, emotionally stuck, or trapped in patterns you can’t fully explain, this episode will resonate.

You Are Not Your Pain.

In this episode, I sit down with sex therapist, Amanda Adili to talk about addiction, healing, spirituality, and what it actually means to be true to yourself. Amanda shares her journey through addiction and recovery, and the deeper emotional work that began after getting sober. We talk about the tools that helped her reconnect with herself in a real way. Therapy. Two way prayer. Learning how to sit with discomfort instead of constantly trying to escape it. One of the biggest things we explore is the idea of “capacity” — building the ability to actually feel your emotions without shutting down, numbing out, or running away. Amanda shares how healing wasn’t about becoming someone new, but about slowly uncovering who she already was underneath the pain, fear, and survival patterns. This conversation is honest, funny, spiritual, and deeply human. It’s about learning how to live authentically instead of performatively. How to stop identifying with your wounds. How to trust yourself. And how recovery becomes less about perfection and more about connection. If you’ve ever felt disconnected from yourself, emotionally overwhelmed, or like you’re constantly searching for something outside of you to feel okay, this episode will speak to you.

You Don’t Quit. You Replace.

In this episode, I sit down with Dane to talk about what it actually looks like to change your life. Not just saying you want to be different… but doing the work to become different. Dane shares his journey through sobriety and what he’s learned about replacing old patterns with something better. We talk about the idea that you can’t just remove the things that aren’t serving you, you have to give yourself something new to step into. Something that challenges you. Something that excites you. Something that pulls you forward. We get into the tools that helped him along the way. Meditation. Journaling. Therapy. Faith. And the role that community and honest conversations play in real transformation. There’s no perfect formula here. Just a real conversation about what it means to take responsibility for your life and choose something better, one day at a time. If you’ve ever felt stuck, or there’s a part of you that keeps pulling you back into old habits, this one will hit.

Daddy Issues, Anyone?

Do you have a difficult relationship with a parent? In this deeply personal episode of The Shift, I share my journey with my father—how his struggles with mental health and multiple suicide attempts shaped my life. I realized that a lot of my acting out through sex, substances, and risk was a way to cope with a pain I couldn’t fully name at the time. But this episode isn’t just about me; it’s about you, too. I invite you to reflect on whether you’re holding on to resentment toward a parent and how that weight might be affecting your career, relationships, and sense of freedom. I share what I’ve learned: recovery is not about recovering a father or a mother, but about recovering yourself. Join me as we take small steps toward letting go, forgiving, and choosing a freer life on your own terms. I want to be clear: this episode is not about blaming my father. He was, and still is, dealing with his own pain, his own struggles, and I believe he’s always been doing his best. This episode is about acknowledging what was hard and working my way through it. It’s about choosing, one day at a time, to let go of resentment, so I can be free.

Forgiveness Isn’t Soft. It’s Freedom.

In this deeply moving episode, I sit down with my dear friend Hal Strickland, a grateful 67-year-old from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, whose gratitude and spiritual wisdom have helped shaped my life. Hal, a profoundly optimistic man, shares his insights on forgiveness, faith, and the transformative power of letting go of resentment. There’s no single topic here—just a heartfelt conversation that will leave you reflecting on your own life and what it means to forgive, love, and be truly present.