EP68: Learning to Feel Safe Again - Wilderness, Skill, and Self-Trust

EP68: Learning to Feel Safe Again - Wilderness, Skill, and Self-Trust

What if safety is not something you find — but something you learn to build again? For many women healing relational trauma, betrayal, emotional neglect, or years of self-abandonment, the world can stop feeling safe. But what if confidence does not come from reassurance or positive thinking alone — what if it comes from competence, embodiment, and learning to trust yourself again? In this episode of Loving Everything, I sit down with Norther Emily — wilderness guide, forager, writer, endurance athlete, and founder of Wild Solitude Guiding — for a powerful conversation about fear, self-trust, nervous system healing, and what happens when we reconnect with our own capability. Raised among the forests and basalt cliffs of the Oregon coast, Norther teaches wilderness skills through what she calls intimacy with place — helping people move beyond fear and learn how to navigate, forage, assess risk, and feel genuinely at ease in the natural world. This is not a romanticized conversation about nature. It is an honest conversation about: • fear, anxiety, and learning to work with uncertainty • why real skill changes the nervous system differently than reassurance • wilderness competency and evidence-based risk management • self-trust after trauma and relational injury • embodiment, courage, and rebuilding confidence • emotional healing through nature and place connection • foraging, navigation, and reclaiming personal agency • the difference between survival and truly feeling alive • what wilderness teaches us about resilience, identity, and belonging We also explore childhood, family systems, healing, self-leadership, masculinity, safety culture, environmental stewardship, and the deeper psychological question beneath Norther's work: How do we learn to feel safe again — inside ourselves and in the world? This conversation is especially for women navigating: • betrayal trauma • attachment wounds • emotional abuse or high-conflict family systems • loneliness and identity loss • nervous system dysregulation • rebuilding self-trust in midlife • learning to stop abandoning themselves to stay safe in relationships Because healing is not only emotional. Sometimes healing is learning you can carry yourself through the forest — and through life. ⟡ Guest: Norther Emily Founder, Wild Solitude Guiding Wilderness guide • forager • writer • teacher of nature connection and wilderness skills Follow Norther: Instagram: @wildsolitudeguiding Website: wildsolitudeguide.com — About Loving Everything: Loving Everything is a long-form podcast exploring trauma, relationships, identity, grief, and meaning-making through honest, in-person conversations. — Find out more: https://andrea.love [https://andrea.love] — All production by Cody Maxwell Artwork by Heather Grace Gordy

EP71: Undoing Aloneness - Healing Overwhelm Through Connection

You can be surrounded by people… and still feel completely alone inside your experience. In this episode of Loving Everything, I sit down with therapist Kelly Pratt to explore a concept at the heart of real healing: undoing aloneness. Because most people don't just struggle with anxiety, grief, or overwhelm. They struggle alone. Alone inside their experience. Alone inside their emotions. Alone inside their nervous system. And that's what keeps suffering in place. Kelly's work is grounded in AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), where healing doesn't happen through fixing or analyzing—it happens through being deeply accompanied. In this conversation, we explore what overwhelm actually is, how it forms, and what begins to shift when someone no longer has to hold it alone. We also move beyond theory and into experience, with a live, guided moment in session that shows what this work feels like in real time. In this episode, we discuss: • What "undoing aloneness" actually means in therapy and in real life • Why overwhelm is often a relational experience, not just an internal one • How the nervous system changes in the presence of safe connection • The difference between explaining emotions and actually feeling them • Why self-reliance and intellectualizing can keep people stuck • How emotional accompaniment reduces overwhelm physiologically • What people truly need—but rarely receive—when they're struggling • How to stay present with pain without trying to fix or bypass it This conversation is for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed… and alone inside it. You don't have to do this alone. — About Kelly Pratt: Kelly Pratt is a Professional Counselor Associate specializing in AEDP, somatic therapy, IFS, and relational healing. Her work focuses on helping clients access emotional truth, reduce overwhelm, and experience deeper connection and self-understanding. Learn more: https://www.guidedinsight.care/ [https://www.guidedinsight.care/] — About Loving Everything: Loving Everything is a podcast exploring trauma, relational healing, identity, and meaning-making through long-form, in-person conversations with clinicians, educators, and healers. — Find out more: https://andrea.love [https://andrea.love] — All production by Cody Maxwell Artwork by Heather Grace Gordy

EP70: Why Do We Fall In Love

We're told it's about chemistry. About connection. About finding the right person. But that's only part of the story. In this solo episode of Loving Everything, I break down what's actually happening when we fall in love— from attachment and neuroscience to the deeper psychological truth most people don't talk about: You're not just falling in love with someone else. You're falling in love with who you become in their presence. This episode explores the difference between falling in love and staying in love, why intensity can be mistaken for intimacy, and how early attachment patterns shape who we're drawn to, and why. We also look at heartbreak differently. Not as a failure. But as information. Because the way a relationship ends often reveals more than how it begins. In this episode, we cover: • Why we are biologically wired to fall in love • The role of dopamine, oxytocin, and attachment • Why chemistry doesn't equal compatibility • The difference between falling in love and staying in love • What actually creates long-term connection • Why some relationships feel intense but don't move forward • How heartbreak reveals patterns, not just loss • What it means to choose yourself without closing your heart This is not about becoming cynical about love. It's about understanding it clearly—so you can participate in it differently. — About Loving Everything: Loving Everything is a podcast exploring relational healing, trauma, identity, and meaning-making through long-form, in-person conversations with clinicians, educators, and thought leaders. — Find out more: https://andrea.love [https://andrea.love] — All production by Cody Maxwell Artwork by Heather Grace Gordy

E69: Midwifing the Grief Heart - Love, Loss, and Life's Thresholds

In this episode of Loving Everything, I sit down with KP Parks—therapist, healer, and midwife of the heart—for a conversation about grief, transformation, and what it means to stay present in the face of life's most profound thresholds. KP brings a deeply integrative approach to their work, shaped by over 25 years of lived experience with grief, a background in midwifery, and a commitment to walking alongside people—not as an expert or fixer, but as a guide. Together, we explore grief not as something to resolve or move past, but as something that lives with us, in the body, in the nervous system, and across the lifespan. We talk about: • Grief as a lifelong companion rather than a problem to solve • How loss reshapes the nervous system, memory, and sense of safety • Why grief can feel like a survival response—long after the loss • The role of ritual, creativity, and embodiment in healing • Identity shifts, queerness, and navigating life transitions • What it means to "midwife" someone through change, rather than fix them • Staying human, open, and connected in a world shaped by impermanence This conversation moves beyond clinical language and into something more human—an honest exploration of love, loss, and the spaces in between. KP works with grief, trauma, life transitions, and identity-based healing, offering care that is relational, somatic, spiritual, and deeply attuned. Their work centers those navigating complex grief, end-of-life processes, pregnancy and postpartum experiences, and major identity shifts. If you've ever felt like grief doesn't "end," or that something in you was fundamentally changed by loss—this conversation will meet you there. — Connect with KP Parks: Website: https://www.mithtracounseling.com/ [https://www.mithtracounseling.com/] Offerings include grief tending groups (virtual and in-person), trauma-informed therapy, and support for life transitions. — About Loving Everything: Loving Everything is a podcast exploring relational healing, trauma, identity, and meaning-making through long-form, in-person conversations with clinicians, educators, and healers. — Subscribe for more conversations on mental health, grief, and relational healing. __ Find out more about Andrea Love and her services here: andrea.love Find out more about The House of Healing & Love here: thehouseofhealing.love ___ All production by Cody Maxwell. sharkfyn.com Artwork by Heather Grace Gordy. Opening graphic assets by arakelov and Envato Elements.

EP67: Wanting Love Is Not the Problem - Attachment Needs and Singlehood

Is wanting love actually the problem… or is it the thing we've been taught to question? In this episode of Loving Everything, I sit down with licensed marriage and family therapist Nora Harrington to explore the experience of longing, attachment, and what it means to be single in a culture that often pathologizes the desire for connection. We talk about the tension so many people feel between being told to "heal," "detach," or "want less" — and the very real, human need for closeness, intimacy, and relationship. This conversation challenges the idea that longing is something to fix, and instead explores what it might be communicating. We explore: The difference between anxious attachment and a healthy desire for connection How long-term unwanted singlehood impacts the nervous system and self-worth Why our culture is uncomfortable with longing and emotional need What happens when people believe their desire for love is the problem How attachment wounds show up in dating, sexuality, and intimacy The impact of cultural scripts on sex, desire, and pleasure What it means to "undo aloneness" in both individual therapy and group work How to reconnect with your body after rejection, shame, or relational pain Nora's work centers on helping people move toward deep, meaningful relationships and a more authentic connection to their own desire, pleasure, and capacity for connection. If you've ever felt like you are "too much," "too needy," or somehow doing relationships wrong — this conversation offers a different lens. This isn't about wanting less. It's about understanding what your longing is asking for. https://awaketogethercounseling.com/ [https://awaketogethercounseling.com/] 🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on relationships, trauma, and emotional healing Recorded in Portland, Oregon __ Find out more about Andrea Love and her services here: andrea.love Find out more about The House of Healing & Love here: thehouseofhealing.love ___ All production by Cody Maxwell. sharkfyn.com Artwork by Heather Grace Gordy. Opening graphic assets by arakelov and Envato Elements.