The Mountain and the Mirror: Why We Put People on Pedestals

The Mountain and the Mirror: Why We Put People on Pedestals

Have you ever found yourself looking up to someone and feeling smaller in the process? Maybe it was a parent, a partner, a therapist, a spiritual teacher, a celebrity, an influencer, or someone who simply seemed to have life figured out. At some point, many of us begin treating certain people as if they are wiser, more capable, more evolved, or somehow more important than we are. But why do we do this? In this episode, we explore the psychology, neuroscience, attachment patterns, and cultural influences behind pedestal building. We look at how childhood experiences shape our tendency to seek certainty in others, why confidence can feel like safety, how projection works, and how social media amplifies the illusion that some people have all the answers. You’ll learn why putting people on pedestals isn’t a sign of weakness, but a deeply human attempt to find security in an uncertain world. More importantly, we’ll explore how to admire others without abandoning yourself, how to recognize when you’re giving away your authority, and how to develop the self-trust needed to stand on your own ground. Because healing isn’t about tearing people down. It’s about remembering that no one is above you, and you were never beneath them. Join me for a compassionate conversation about admiration, attachment, self-trust, and the freedom that comes from meeting people eye to eye. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/support] If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with someone who might need these words today. To stay connected, follow along for upcoming Untamed Voices episodes and reflections. Remember: your story matters. Your truth belongs. Until next time — stay free, stay human, and keep listening to your untamed voice. Join Untamed Voices Community group of FB https://www.facebook.com/share/g/178tQDFCLb/ Follow me on Insta @ https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr [https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr] Podcast Disclaimer This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or professional mental health treatment. No client information or session content is ever shared. Any examples discussed are generalized, composite, or drawn from the counselor’s personal experiences and do not represent individual clients. Listening to this podcast does not establish a therapeutic relationship. The counselor does not provide individualized advice through public platforms and maintains professional boundaries with current clients. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 911, go to your nearest emergency room, or contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

Less Control, More Flow: Learning to Trust the Next Step

How much of your energy goes into trying to figure everything out before life unfolds? In this deeply personal episode, I explore something I’ve been noticing in my own healing journey: the desire for certainty. The need to know. The urge to understand, predict, and control what comes next before it arrives. For many of us, control isn’t a character flaw. It’s a survival strategy. It’s something we learned in response to uncertainty, trauma, unpredictable relationships, or environments where being prepared felt necessary for safety. But what happens when the very thing that once protected us begins to keep us stuck? In this episode, I share reflections from my work as a therapist, my own experiences with intuition and self-trust, and the ways control can quietly show up in relationships, parenting, spirituality, and everyday life. Together we’ll explore: • Why uncertainty feels so uncomfortable • How control and safety become intertwined • The difference between forcing and allowing • What true trust actually looks like • Why curiosity can be more powerful than certainty • How to recognize when you’re gripping too tightly • What it means to trust yourself even when you don’t know the outcome This isn’t about becoming passive or pretending everything will work out exactly as planned. It’s about learning to trust that whatever comes, you have the capacity to meet it. Because maybe healing isn’t about having all the answers. Maybe it’s about becoming comfortable enough with yourself that you can take the next step without needing to see the entire path. Less control. More flow. Learning to trust the next step. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/support] If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with someone who might need these words today. To stay connected, follow along for upcoming Untamed Voices episodes and reflections. Remember: your story matters. Your truth belongs. Until next time — stay free, stay human, and keep listening to your untamed voice. Join Untamed Voices Community group of FB https://www.facebook.com/share/g/178tQDFCLb/ Follow me on Insta @ https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr [https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr] Podcast Disclaimer This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or professional mental health treatment. No client information or session content is ever shared. Any examples discussed are generalized, composite, or drawn from the counselor’s personal experiences and do not represent individual clients. Listening to this podcast does not establish a therapeutic relationship. The counselor does not provide individualized advice through public platforms and maintains professional boundaries with current clients. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 911, go to your nearest emergency room, or contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

I Contain Multitudes: Debunking the Myth of a Single Purpose

What if your soul isn’t a job title? In this deeply personal and philosophical episode, Lizzi explores a question that has followed her for years: Why do we feel so compelled to reduce ourselves to a single gift, identity, or purpose? After attending a retreat where everyone was asked to name their spiritual gift, she found herself struggling to answer. Later, she was told her dharma—her soul’s path—was attunement. While the description resonated deeply, it also sparked a bigger question: Is that all I am? From spiritual gifts and intuition to psychology, neuroscience, identity, and human evolution, this episode explores the tension between our desire for certainty and the reality that human beings are far more complex than any label can contain. Together we’ll explore: * Why humans naturally seek identities and categories * How spiritual communities can unintentionally encourage people to shrink themselves into roles * The hidden ways we become attached to identities like healer, empath, teacher, psychic, or strong one * Why cultivated wisdom deserves just as much reverence as intuitive knowing * The science of attunement, perception, and relational intelligence * The difference between spirituality and spiritual performance * How trauma can influence our need to feel special, chosen, or certain * Why understanding the brain doesn’t make life less sacred * The integration of mind, body, emotions, intuition, experience, and soul * Walt Whitman’s powerful reminder that we “contain multitudes” This episode is for anyone who has ever questioned whether their gifts “count” because they learned them rather than received them. For the helpers, healers, therapists, teachers, parents, intuitives, and lifelong students who sometimes wonder if they are spiritual enough. Maybe your wisdom doesn’t arrive in visions. Maybe it arrives through listening. Through surviving. Through learning. Through staying present long enough to help another human being come home to themselves. And maybe that’s sacred too. Because perhaps the goal was never to become one thing. Perhaps the goal was simply to become fully alive. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/support] If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with someone who might need these words today. To stay connected, follow along for upcoming Untamed Voices episodes and reflections. Remember: your story matters. Your truth belongs. Until next time — stay free, stay human, and keep listening to your untamed voice. Join Untamed Voices Community group of FB https://www.facebook.com/share/g/178tQDFCLb/ Follow me on Insta @ https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr [https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr] Podcast Disclaimer This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or professional mental health treatment. No client information or session content is ever shared. Any examples discussed are generalized, composite, or drawn from the counselor’s personal experiences and do not represent individual clients. Listening to this podcast does not establish a therapeutic relationship. The counselor does not provide individualized advice through public platforms and maintains professional boundaries with current clients. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 911, go to your nearest emergency room, or contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

Lessons from Puzzles: Trusting the Shape of Your Life

Sometimes the deepest lessons don’t come from huge life-altering moments. Sometimes they come quietly… while sitting at a table late at night in sweatpants looking for a tiny little piece of sky. In this deeply personal episode, Lizzi reflects on the unexpected wisdom she’s found through doing puzzles — and how something so simple became a mirror for healing, identity, nervous system regulation, comparison, play, patience, and learning to trust herself again. Through heartfelt storytelling, reflections on childhood beliefs, adult pressure, and the quiet ways we rule ourselves out before we even begin, this episode explores what puzzles can teach us about forcing what doesn’t fit, slowing down, rediscovering joy, and allowing life to unfold piece by piece. This conversation is for anyone who has ever questioned their worth because they moved slower, felt different, struggled to “fit,” or believed they weren’t capable enough to try. Sometimes healing doesn’t arrive dramatically.  Sometimes it happens quietly… one piece at a time. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/support] If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with someone who might need these words today. To stay connected, follow along for upcoming Untamed Voices episodes and reflections. Remember: your story matters. Your truth belongs. Until next time — stay free, stay human, and keep listening to your untamed voice. Join Untamed Voices Community group of FB https://www.facebook.com/share/g/178tQDFCLb/ Follow me on Insta @ https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr [https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr] Podcast Disclaimer This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or professional mental health treatment. No client information or session content is ever shared. Any examples discussed are generalized, composite, or drawn from the counselor’s personal experiences and do not represent individual clients. Listening to this podcast does not establish a therapeutic relationship. The counselor does not provide individualized advice through public platforms and maintains professional boundaries with current clients. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 911, go to your nearest emergency room, or contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

When the Nervous System Learns Love Through Fear

In this deeply personal and psychology-based episode, Lizzi explores wounded attachment — what it is, how it forms, and why so many of us unknowingly recreate the same painful relationship patterns throughout life. Using real-life examples, attachment theory, nervous system insight, and reflections inspired by Little Voices by Kiersten Hathcock, this episode dives into the invisible emotional blueprints created in childhood and how they continue shaping our relationships with partners, friends, bosses, authority figures, and even ourselves. This episode is both educational and deeply human — a compassionate look at the ways people learn to protect themselves while still longing for connection. New episodes every Monday at 6 AM. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2542994/support] If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with someone who might need these words today. To stay connected, follow along for upcoming Untamed Voices episodes and reflections. Remember: your story matters. Your truth belongs. Until next time — stay free, stay human, and keep listening to your untamed voice. Join Untamed Voices Community group of FB https://www.facebook.com/share/g/178tQDFCLb/ Follow me on Insta @ https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr [https://www.instagram.com/untamed_voices_lvr?igsh=dWJuZnR0dDQwbjhv&utm_source=qr] Podcast Disclaimer This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or professional mental health treatment. No client information or session content is ever shared. Any examples discussed are generalized, composite, or drawn from the counselor’s personal experiences and do not represent individual clients. Listening to this podcast does not establish a therapeutic relationship. The counselor does not provide individualized advice through public platforms and maintains professional boundaries with current clients. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 911, go to your nearest emergency room, or contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.