#198: Is Self-Help a Scam? The Billion-Dollar Lie I Believed for Years

#199: She Lost Her Daughter on Her Husband's Birthday — Then God Gave Her This | Shanna Brown

Have you ever wondered how someone keeps their faith after losing a child? ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch [https://linktr.ee/taragooch] on all platforms Shanna Brown, MS, MHC, ACC, is a licensed mental health counselor, certified grief specialist, and accredited coach — and the founder of Grief Wise, a faith-centered platform helping people heal after death, divorce, trauma, and silent suffering. In this episode, Shanna shares the deeply personal story behind her mission: the 2017 loss of her daughter Brooke, who passed away from complications related to May-Turner Syndrome and lupus — on her husband's birthday. Shanna opens up about the isolation that followed, the spiritual wrestling that came with it, and the moment she decided to take her pain and turn it into purpose. We talk about grief as a "figure eight" rather than a finish line, the Japanese practice of Kintsugi as a metaphor for healing, and why unforgiveness can function as spiritual warfare. Shanna also shares the unlikely birth of her podcast, Grief Wise, and what it means to seek God's wisdom rather than the world's self-help answers when you're in the depths of loss. If you've ever asked "why" in the middle of suffering, or wondered whether faith and grief can coexist, this conversation will meet you exactly where you are. Connect with Shanna and listen to Grief Wise [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grief-wise-grief-whys-podcast/id1845724506] on YouTube, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. Want to be a guest on Grief Wise podcast? Email tara@taralafongooch.com. [tara@taralafongooch.com] 🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world! What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling. 🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you! 🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3CpfzhPSQxCUiuC1fvYaqW?si=9386769187ad404b] | Amazon/Audible [https://www.amazon.com/GRASP-Confidence/dp/B0CLK72LC2/ref=sr_1_5?crid=38Q52L9IH95ZK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Xz7cmxDeDx64AqoSmZvjALmIG6xQ0qh3JcaK8AnGEBj6YNyUG7hJgbymav2gEna3ih74frCJuG84ZqbDiU8OGQ.iT5bNFG1LoPg1On1SPEuDIYiY4wDqJg8fsZpXtoBoXw&dib_tag=se&keywords=tara+lafon+gooch&qid=1764088474&sprefix=tara+lafon%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-5] | iHeartRadio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-grasp-confidence-personal-123635469] Follow Tara: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-lafon-gooch/] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TaraLaFonGooch] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/taralafongooch/] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/tara.lafon.gooch] 🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions [https://bestbranding.solutions/], helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together. 💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.

#198: Is Self-Help a Scam? The Billion-Dollar Lie I Believed for Years

I Tried Manifesting and "Self-Helping" My Way There. It Almost Crushed Me. ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch [https://linktr.ee/taragooch] on all platforms I used to be obsessed with self-help. The books, and the "gurus" promising the life I wanted was always just one system, one course, one retreat, or one breakthrough away. I've since come to a different conclusion: self-help is a billion-dollar industry built on a lie; the lie that you can transform yourself, by yourself. In this episode, I break down the real difference between manifestation and biblical surrender, and why so much of what gets called online still skips the most important phrase in the Lord's Prayer — "Thy will be done" NOT "my will be done." WHY SELF-HELP NEVER FINISHES YOU Manifestation tells you to match a frequency, visualize harder, and become your own source of creation. It's toil disguised as empowerment and I've personally met people who've gone to five, six, even eight self-help, "guru" led retreats chasing that promise, spending thousands of dollars and dozens of hours of their lives, only to come home unchanged. That's not their failure. That's the system working exactly as it was designed; built to be returned to, not to finish you. THE BIBLICAL ALTERNATIVE: ALIGNMENT, NOT MANIPULATION The biblical pattern is different. It's not about manipulating an outcome through the law of attraction or "speaking it into existence"; it's about aligning your will with God's will and trusting Him with what happens next. I'll share a personal story about something I once wanted desperately that, in hindsight, would have crushed me had I gotten it and why God, who sees the hundred-thousand-foot view while we only see the square directly in front of us, doesn't always give us what we ask for, even when He is love and wants good for us. HOW TO SPOT A FALSE TEACHER You'll hear why I believe true transformation isn't possible through man's wisdom alone, no matter how polished the packaging and the one test that reveals whether a teacher or guru is a false teacher leading you in circles, or a true teacher pointing you to the living water Jesus promises in John 4 and why "God-help," not self-help, is the only path to lasting change. THE INVITATION If you've ever felt exhausted from trying to manifest your way to peace, or you've found yourself stuck in a self-help loop with nothing to show for it, this episode ends with an invitation to stop striving and start surrendering. 🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world! What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling. 🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you! 🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3CpfzhPSQxCUiuC1fvYaqW?si=9386769187ad404b] | Amazon/Audible [https://www.amazon.com/GRASP-Confidence/dp/B0CLK72LC2/ref=sr_1_5?crid=38Q52L9IH95ZK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Xz7cmxDeDx64AqoSmZvjALmIG6xQ0qh3JcaK8AnGEBj6YNyUG7hJgbymav2gEna3ih74frCJuG84ZqbDiU8OGQ.iT5bNFG1LoPg1On1SPEuDIYiY4wDqJg8fsZpXtoBoXw&dib_tag=se&keywords=tara+lafon+gooch&qid=1764088474&sprefix=tara+lafon%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-5] | iHeartRadio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-grasp-confidence-personal-123635469] Follow Tara: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-lafon-gooch/] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TaraLaFonGooch] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/taralafongooch/] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/tara.lafon.gooch] 🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions [https://bestbranding.solutions/], helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together. 💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.

#197: The Slow "Authority Drift" That Steals Your Identity | Michael N. Fineman

Authority Drift; Finding Your Way Back to Who You Really Are ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch [https://linktr.ee/taragooch] on all platforms What happens when you wake up one day, look in the mirror, and don't recognize the person staring back; even though everyone around you says you're doing great? Identity strategist Michael N. Feinman joins Tara to unpack "authority drift" — the slow, almost invisible erosion of self that happens through years of micro-compromises. Like getting swept down the beach by a current you never noticed, you can wake up successful on paper and still feel completely off-center. Michael breaks down why what we call "confidence" is really just the byproduct of something deeper: authority, which only comes from authenticity, which only comes from knowing your true identity. This conversation goes straight to the root of identity — not as a performance, a title, or an achievement, but as sonship. Michael shares his own story: childhood abandonment, years in institutions, a self-taught chameleon survival style, and the moment everything cracked open — holding his newborn son and hearing God say, "I love him hundreds of thousands of times more than you ever could." Tara and Michael dig into the Father-son dynamic as the cure for performance-based identity, why money and achievement make such convincing identity substitutes, and why this generation of young people is craving authenticity more than any before it. Hit play if you've ever felt like you're performing a version of yourself that isn't quite you anymore. This episode will help you find your way back; not by trying harder, but by getting still enough to remember whose you are. Connect with Michael + Support his work! www.MikeF360.com [http://www.mikef360.com/] www.AuthorityDrift.com [http://www.authoritydrift.com/] www.AuthorityDriftBook.com [http://www.authoritydriftbook.com/] 🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world! What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling. 🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you! 🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3CpfzhPSQxCUiuC1fvYaqW?si=9386769187ad404b] | Amazon/Audible [https://www.amazon.com/GRASP-Confidence/dp/B0CLK72LC2/ref=sr_1_5?crid=38Q52L9IH95ZK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Xz7cmxDeDx64AqoSmZvjALmIG6xQ0qh3JcaK8AnGEBj6YNyUG7hJgbymav2gEna3ih74frCJuG84ZqbDiU8OGQ.iT5bNFG1LoPg1On1SPEuDIYiY4wDqJg8fsZpXtoBoXw&dib_tag=se&keywords=tara+lafon+gooch&qid=1764088474&sprefix=tara+lafon%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-5] | iHeartRadio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-grasp-confidence-personal-123635469] Follow Tara: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-lafon-gooch/] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TaraLaFonGooch] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/taralafongooch/] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/tara.lafon.gooch] 🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions [https://bestbranding.solutions/], helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together. 💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.

#196: The Hidden Patterns Keeping You Stuck | Dr. Kimarie Machinga

What if your biggest blind spot is the very thing keeping you from everything God promised you? In this episode of the GRASP Confidence Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Kimarie Machinga [https://www.bravebreakthroughs.com/drkimariemachinga.html] — doctor, ordained minister, burnout expert, founder of Brave Breakthroughs, and creator of the SIGNAL Method — who has spent over 30 years helping high achievers decode the hidden patterns beneath their struggles so they can finally lead, love, and live without losing themselves in the process. ↳ Connect with the host, Tara LaFon Gooch [https://linktr.ee/taragooch] on all platforms Kimarie and I go DEEP on: * Why your triggers aren't random and what they're actually trying to show you * The physical sensation in your body that signals you've left the present moment (and your power) * How to interrupt a spiral in real time, even when you can't stop and breathe * Why sending love isn't weakness, it's the highest-frequency power move you have * The connection between presence, the prefrontal cortex, and divine guidance * Why resistance keeps the pattern alive and leaning in sets you free This is not surface-level self-help. This is the kind of conversation that rewires something in you. You are wonderful just the way you are. Now let's get you present enough to believe it. 🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world! What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling. 🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you! 🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3CpfzhPSQxCUiuC1fvYaqW?si=9386769187ad404b] | Amazon/Audible [https://www.amazon.com/GRASP-Confidence/dp/B0CLK72LC2/ref=sr_1_5?crid=38Q52L9IH95ZK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Xz7cmxDeDx64AqoSmZvjALmIG6xQ0qh3JcaK8AnGEBj6YNyUG7hJgbymav2gEna3ih74frCJuG84ZqbDiU8OGQ.iT5bNFG1LoPg1On1SPEuDIYiY4wDqJg8fsZpXtoBoXw&dib_tag=se&keywords=tara+lafon+gooch&qid=1764088474&sprefix=tara+lafon%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-5] | iHeartRadio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-grasp-confidence-personal-123635469] Follow Tara: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-lafon-gooch/] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TaraLaFonGooch] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/taralafongooch/] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/tara.lafon.gooch] 🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions [https://bestbranding.solutions/], helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together. 💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.

#195: What the Book of Job Taught Me About Suffering

What if the book of the Bible you've been quietly avoiding is the very one your soul needs most? Last year, God guided me to read the entire Bible from beginning to end; every chapter, in order, no skipping ahead. And when I reached the book of Job, I will be honest with you: I cringed. How could a man who did everything right lose everything? His wealth. His children. His health. His dignity. And still he did not turn against God. I didn't want to sit in that tension. But God had other plans. In this episode, I share a reflection that stopped me in my tracks and shifted something deep inside me: We are all Job. Not in identical circumstances. Not in the same sequence of loss. But in the shared human experience of suffering, spiritual wrestling, and the desperate question we all carry but rarely say aloud — Why do bad things happen to good people? This is not a theological lecture. This is an honest, personal conversation about what happens when faith meets suffering, when obedience leads you into lessons you didn't know your heart needed, and when the hardest scriptures become the ones that transform you the deepest. In this episode: → Why I almost skipped Job and why I'm grateful I didn't → The dangerous myth that faith should shield us from hardship → What Job 13:15 teaches us about fierce, unshakeable faith → Why God's response to Job was not explanation but presence → How suffering can deepen intimacy with God rather than destroy it → A reflection question that will invite you to see yourself in Job's story This episode is for you if: You are walking through loss, battling illness, carrying grief, navigating betrayal, or feeling as though life has become unfair and incomprehensible. Your suffering does not disqualify your faith. Your questions do not distance you from God. Your pain does not mean He has abandoned you. We may all walk through seasons of Job. But we do not walk through them alone. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." — Job 13:15 🎧 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] and share your biggest takeaway, it means the world! What does GRASP stand for? Gratitude. Responsibility. Action. Sight. Purpose. These five pillars are the foundation of authentic, confident leadership — and every episode is designed to help you embody them more fully in your life, business, and calling. 🎙️ Not subscribed yet? Join thousands of high-performing leaders who tune in weekly for powerful conversations with world-class guests; real stories, mindset shifts, and actionable insights you can use immediately. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If today's episode moved you, a quick review helps us reach more leaders like you. Thank you! 🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grasp-confidence-personal-growth-for-leaders-and-high/id1703502670] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3CpfzhPSQxCUiuC1fvYaqW?si=9386769187ad404b] | Amazon/Audible [https://www.amazon.com/GRASP-Confidence/dp/B0CLK72LC2/ref=sr_1_5?crid=38Q52L9IH95ZK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Xz7cmxDeDx64AqoSmZvjALmIG6xQ0qh3JcaK8AnGEBj6YNyUG7hJgbymav2gEna3ih74frCJuG84ZqbDiU8OGQ.iT5bNFG1LoPg1On1SPEuDIYiY4wDqJg8fsZpXtoBoXw&dib_tag=se&keywords=tara+lafon+gooch&qid=1764088474&sprefix=tara+lafon%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-5] | iHeartRadio [https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-grasp-confidence-personal-123635469] Follow Tara: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-lafon-gooch/] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TaraLaFonGooch] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/taralafongooch/] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/tara.lafon.gooch] 🚀 Ready to elevate your brand? Tara's agency, Best Branding Solutions [https://bestbranding.solutions/], helps leaders and businesses build a brand presence that's as powerful as their vision. Let's grow together. 💛 Share the love — send this episode to someone who needs it, or post it on your favorite platform. We rise by lifting others.