What happens when you stop performing the version of yourself that other people approved of?

Angelica Faith joins Tammy and Lori for a conversation about deconditioning: unlearning the shoulds, retiring the strong independent woman hat she has worn so long it fused to her, and getting radically honest about what actually lights her up.

She shares the download that told her to write a musical. She describes the moment on a coaching call when two halves of her life finally clicked into one, and the Broadway dream she had never told her closest friend about. And she says a sentence out loud for the first time in her life: good girls aren't angry.

Lori shares the message that came through in the bath. I am a powerful creator, divinely connected to the universe. She talks about pulling her energy out of frequencies that were feeding something she did not want to feed, and about two days on the floor with her grandbabies with the phone face down.

Tammy gets honest about living the dream she chased for ten years and still fighting guilt for not working. She talks about worthiness that is not earned. She talks about the three years she survived one AA meeting at a time.

It is a conversation about intuition, about receiving, and about the fact that not everything is meant to come with you. Letting go is allowed to be ugly.

Life is meant to be lived together. Your people are already waiting for you.

Content note: this episode includes honest discussion of depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. If any of it lands close to home, please reach out to someone you trust or a local line. In the US, call or text 988.

New episodes weekly.

Angelica's contact: @angelicafaithllc

(00:00) Welcome to Episode 15

(01:38) Being honest without a title yet

(06:16) Retiring the strong independent hat

(08:13) Why The United States of Us

(11:07) What deconditioning is teaching her

(13:17) You are going to write a musical

(17:15) Two halves of her come back together

(19:43) I am a powerful creator

(22:32) Tammy's 2024 download: unity

(28:32) Enough room at the table

(34:52) Living the dream and feeling guilty

(37:13) I am not arriving

(44:07) Good girls aren't angry

(49:36) Tammy's three years in the dark

(56:13) Life is meant to be lived together

Nadja Marks-Shafton doesn't work for money. She works for God. And she says that's the actual source of abundance.

On this episode of the spiritual podcast The United States of Us, Tammy and Lori sit down with the award-winning artist, educator, and creative leadership mentor behind Casa Nadja and Free Art Skills. After two episodes on the Divine Masculine, this one brings it full circle with the Divine Feminine. Nadja shares the three stops of her virtual art school, the Krishna story that reframes surrender, why choosing purpose over money is the real abundance mindset, and how she teaches oil painting for beginners so complete non-artists go from blank canvas to a painting they'd hang on their wall in one month.

This conversation covers creativity and spirituality, art as healing, emotional expression, and leaving corporate America to build a life that fits like a glove. If you've ever said "I'm not an artist," this one's for you. Bring it. Put it on the altar.

Connect with Nadja:
Instagram: @CasaNadja
Art and gatherings: CasaNadja.com
Learn to paint free: FreeArtSkills.com

Timestamps:
(0:00) Welcome and Nadja's introduction
(1:34) A Leo birthday and shining the light
(5:16) Three stops on the train: skills, soul, and why
(10:33) Krishna and the bamboo flute
(13:00) Leaving corporate and the gilded prison of safety
(18:19) Squirrels over screens: choosing presence
(26:15) A system for creating anything from a blank canvas
(30:50) Turning a home into a permanent exhibition
(33:42) Emotions are fuel, not something to numb
(36:09) A life that fits like a glove
(39:37) Inside the Soul Journey: your inner visual language
(48:56) Bring it to the altar
(53:38) Where to find Nadja
(56:11) When a commission becomes a divine appointment
(59:06) The divine feminine is in you

Therapist, somatic practitioner, and 15-year Navy veteran Nick joins Tammy and Lori for an honest conversation about healing the whole person — body, mind, and spirit.

Nick shares the founding of Ronan Relief, his work bringing somatic and plant-medicine modalities to veterans, and his own reckoning with fear, anger, and sex addiction. Together they explore merging the divine masculine and feminine, retraining a nervous system built for combat, and the quiet ways TV, dopamine, and scrolling pull us out of the present. Lori offers a vulnerable reflection on the hidden forms of "porn" in everyday life, and the three land on the daily practices — meditation, gratitude, a non-inflammatory diet, and A Course in Miracles — that bring them back to love instead of fear.

A tender reminder that we came here to remember who we really are.

Note: This episode discusses trauma, addiction, and mental health. If you're struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional. In the US, dial or text 988 (Veterans press 1).

Find Nick here: https://www.roninrelief/projects/

00:00 Welcome & meet Nick

01:16 Nick's path: therapy, somatics & 15 years in the Navy

02:38 Healing the whole person & the documentary dream

04:36 Merging the divine masculine & feminine

05:57 Facing fear, anger & sex addiction honestly

07:14 Seeing the "wounded child" behind men's behavior

08:36 Safety, vulnerability & re-identifying with God

10:40 Why we made this podcast: unity over division

11:38 Matriarchy vs. merging — uplifting women

14:24 The military, PTSD & men's bottled-up emotions

16:13 Retraining the nervous system & alchemizing energy

17:44 Meditation as the daily foundation

19:04 Building the men's program from lived experience

22:01 Tracing addiction to its childhood root

23:12 Lori's confession: smut books are porn too

25:40 Dopamine, escalation & "feeding the machine"

27:21 When pleasure starts robbing the present moment

28:01 Sex & shame: Europe vs. America

31:25 Throwing out the TV & turning it into an altar

33:32 Subliminal messages & your subconscious operating system

36:05 Horror films: intentional vs. compulsive watching

39:36 "Tell-a-vision": co-creating what we consume

41:12 A Course in Miracles: ego, fear & surrender

47:18 Remembering we are spirit

48:46 Food as medicine: the body as temple

51:42 Releasing control & the urge to fix everyone

53:09 Closing gratitude & goodbyes