『Cracking Open with Molly Carroll』のカバーアート

Cracking Open with Molly Carroll

Cracking Open with Molly Carroll

著者： Molly Carroll MA LPC
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What happens when life brings you to your knees and forces you to discover who you truly are?

Cracking Open is the podcast for anyone who has faced a defining moment of crisis, grief, trauma, or rock bottom and found themselves transformed by it. Hosted by Molly Carroll, licensed therapist, TED speaker, published author, and coach, each episode dives deep into the raw, real stories of actors, athletes, thought leaders, healers, and everyday warriors.

Whether it was the loss of a loved one, addiction, childhood trauma, incarceration, or an unexpected life collapse, these "cracking open" moments shape everything: how we parent, love, work, lead, and connect.

What you'll discover:

  • How trauma and crisis can become the greatest catalysts for growth
  • Tools and insights from mental health, healing, and personal transformation
  • Honest conversations that normalize struggle and celebrate resilience

If you're navigating grief, trauma recovery, personal growth, or a major life transition, or you simply want to feel less alone in your human experience, this podcast is for you.

Subscribe and join the conversation.

© 2026 Cracking Open with Molly Carroll 個人的成功 心理学 心理学・心の健康 自己啓発 衛生・健康的な生活
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  • How Death Doulas Help Us Live Lighter with Karen Callahan & Jen Tadjedin

    How Death Doulas Help Us Live Lighter with Karen Callahan & Jen Tadjedin
    2026/09/03
    Quick heads up: we are talking about grief, death, and all that we can learn from this deep topic today. I know, I know, stay with me. Because we spend so much energy avoiding the one thing that's guaranteed to happen to all of us: death. But I am learning death doesn’t have to be so heavy. It can actually bring so much more light into our lives: perspective, gratitude, appreciation. Those of you who know me or have listened to this show know that I lost both of my parents when I was in my 40s, and I’ve lost friends along the way too. Now, with my own kids heading off to college, I’ve been feeling so many emotions, grief being one of them. So when Karen and Jen reached out to come on the podcast, it was a resounding yes.Karen Callahan and Jen Tadjedin are death doulas who left careers in tech and advertising to help people navigate dying, grief, and end-of-life planning work they both came to after losing people close to them. On this episode, we talk about what a death doula actually does, why we’re so afraid of this conversation, the paperwork nobody wants to fill out but everyone’s grateful for later, and the woo-woo stuff too: mediums, dreams, and the ways our people keep showing up after they’re gone.In this episodeWhat a death doula actually does: part medical advocate, part care manager, part emotional support, far bigger than just being there at the very endTheir origin stories: Karen after losing both parents within two years; Jen after a hospice training changed everythingThe Peace of Mind workshop: five components, and why the conversations matter more than the paperworkWhy we’re so afraid of death and the couple whose workshop became the tipping point to move to San Diego finallyGrief has no timeline: Karen on the “foggy” first year, and why compassion beats any scheduleThe medium, the dream, and what comes after personal stories that reshaped what they believe happens nextHealing relationships after death ritual, unfinished business, and why some healing only comes after someone’s goneEven though death still scares me, I love finding the time and space to actually talk about it. Every time I do, I walk away feeling more peaceful, more light, and more grateful for the life I get to live right now. I hope this conversation gives you a little bit of that too.Resources & linksKaren Callahan & Jen Tadjedin’s website Peace of Mind WorkshopPeace of Mind WorkbookBook mentioned: Advice for Future Corpses by Sallie TisdaleWork with Molly: https://calendly.com/mollycarroll/coachingIf you’re ready to do the meaningful work of truly knowing and accepting yourself, I’m currently accepting new therapy clients. I specialize in helping people:Break stuck patterns in relationships or life decisionsDevelop coping strategies for anxiety and depressionNavigate life transitions with clarity and purposeCreate more joy, balance, and healthy habitsA note from Molly: For three years, I’ve poured my heart into this podcast, creating over 100 episodes. I’ve funded everything myself to focus on meaningful conversations, but to keep bringing you the quality content you deserve, I need your help.Even $5 a month, less than a coffee, helps cover hosting, editing, and prep time. If this podcast has supported you, would you consider joining? Support hereStay Connected with Molly: Follow on Instagram Follow on FacebookIf this episode brought something up for you, I’d love to hear about it — leave a comment or send me a message. And if you know someone who needs this conversation, share it with them.
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    1 時間 1 分
  • Kathy Eldon: Don’t Despair, Don’t Give Up Grief, Loss, and Finding Light After Tragedy

    Kathy Eldon: Don’t Despair, Don’t Give Up Grief, Loss, and Finding Light After Tragedy
    2026/08/06

    I’ve been sitting with a strange kind of grief lately, the kind that comes from something good. Both my kids will be in college soon, and I know how lucky I am to say that. Still, I keep hearing the same thing from everyone around me. “Molly, this is your time!”

    Some days that’s true. I feel free, open, like a whole new chapter is standing right there waiting for me. Other days my heart aches just thinking about the quiet house. No one asking me to make them a sandwich. No shower running in the morning, no dishes thrown in the sink because someone was rushing out the door. That sound, that mess, I miss it before it’s even gone.

    So I needed today’s conversation more than I realized when I sat down to record it.

    My guest is Kathy Eldon, and her opening line to me set the tone for everything that followed. Don’t despair, don’t give up. There’s no way out, but through.

    Kathy’s life has been one long act of reinvention, from a conservative upbringing in Iowa, to a journalist in Nairobi, to a mother who lost her 22-year-old son Dan, a Reuters photojournalist killed while covering the crisis in Somalia. She has since built Creative Visions Foundation, which has incubated more than 400 projects across five continents and touched over 100 million people. She’s the author of 17 books, including her memoir In the Heart of Life, which cracked me wide open before we even hit record.

    In our conversation, Kathy shares:

    ✨ How being cracked open again and again, by apartheid, by divorce, by grief, became the shape of her entire life rather than something to recover from and move past.

    ✨ What she has learned about grief after losing Dan, including why the second year was harder than the first, and the one piece of advice she gives everyone who is grieving.

    ✨ How she turned unimaginable loss into Creative Visions, and what it looks like to give your creative spark to something bigger than yourself.

    We also talk about her noisy spirits, her visits with psychic mediums, and her simple, powerful closing words: find a path to joy.

    This conversation is for anyone standing at the edge of a new chapter, whether it’s an empty house, a loss, or a version of yourself you’re not sure how to leave behind. Kathy’s story is proof that the cracks are not the end. They’re where the light gets in.

    🎧 Tune in now to listen.

    xoxo

    Molly

    https://molly-carroll.com

    Resources & Links:

    • Read Kathy’s memoir, In the Heart of Life.
    • Learn more about Creative Visions Foundation
    • Learn more about Kathy Eldon

    Work with Molly: https://calendly.com/mollycarroll/coaching

    If you’re ready to do the meaningful work of truly knowing and accepting yourself, I’m currently accepting new therapy clients. I specialize in helping people:

    • Break stuck patterns in relationships or life decisions
    • Develop coping strategies for anxiety and depression
    • Navigate life transitions with clarity and purpose
    • Create more joy, balance, and healthy habits

    A note from Molly: For three years, I’ve poured my heart into this podcast, creating 90 episodes. I’ve funded everything myself to focus on meaningful conversations, but to keep bringing you the quality content you deserve, I need your help.

    Even $5 a month, less than a coffee, helps cover hosting, editing, and prep time. If this podcast has supported you, would you consider joining? Support here

    Stay Connected with Molly: Follow on Instagram; follow on Facebook
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    51 分
  • Jodie Patterson on Staying Curious When Your Kids (and Your Identity) Are Changing

    Jodie Patterson on Staying Curious When Your Kids (and Your Identity) Are Changing
    2026/07/23
    This fall, my youngest, my last one, leaves for college. Twenty-one years of being a mom, and I’m standing at the edge of a chapter I don’t know how to close. When my son left two years ago, I was a wreck. Shame that I was “too attached,” fear of who I am when mothering isn’t my daily identity, questions about my marriage, my life, my self.So when Jodie Patterson agreed to come back on the podcast, the timing felt like more than coincidence.This is Jodie’s third time on Cracking Open: she was episode 2, back before I knew what I was doing, and episode 65. She’s a friend, and a voice this podcast keeps coming back to. And this time, I felt how much we’ve both shifted since we last talked.Jodie Patterson is an award-winning, globally recognized author, activist, beauty explorer, and mother of five. She was the first Black person to chair the Human Rights Campaign Board, our nation’s largest LGBT organization, and speaks widely on identity, gender, race, and radical parenting. Her memoir, The Bold World, was called “marvelous” by Alice Walker, and her children’s book, Born Ready, was gifted to every public school in Kansas. She also co-founded two beauty companies, works with Mount Sinai Hospital on health disparities and transgender medicine, and has been recognized by the United Nations as a Champion of Change.Here’s what we got into.✨Slow down internally, then respond from your highest selfThe night before we recorded, one of Jodie’s adult children texted asking her to back off on the weekly check-ins. Her first instinct was hurt. Instead of firing back, she put the phone down, cried a little, and responded from a steadier place: “I’ll slow down, I’m a phone call away, and when you shift, I’ll shift with you.” One of the best examples of parenting adult children I’ve heard on this show.✨Mothering as an internal revolutionWe box ourselves in as much as the world boxes us in, and the deepest revolution is internal. Raising five kids across different relationships, cultures, and identities has taught Jodie that gender, faith, and family are far more fluid than she was raised to believe.✨Two years without a loverAfter a family near-death experience, Jodie stopped dating entirely for two years, not from lack of desire, but because energy is finite. She described it like moving houses and finally seeing what’s been under the carpet for years. What she found is the foundation for how she’s dating now, at 55, with a clarity she didn’t have before.✨Healing versus fixingJodie’s daily practice isn’t about optimizing; it’s about healing what’s underneath instead of numbing it:Stretching before she’s even out of bedTen minutes on a vibration plateWeight training and an hour walking her dogsWhole foods, less caffeinePlant medicine and clinical ketamine therapy, used intentionally and under care✨Hustle down, flow upI shared the phrase my solopreneur friends coined: hustle down, flow up, and Jodie lit up. Less ambition to write the next book or chair the next board. More interest in what makes her feel alive: alone time, surfing for the first time in Costa Rica, tree hugging.✨Humility, earnedJodie said something I won’t forget: she’s had to earn her children’s respect and companionship, the same way she’d earn it with anyone she loves. That humility has softened her — while her boundaries have only gotten clearer.I came into this episode carrying so much about my own transition twenty-one years of identity wrapped up in being someone’s mom. Talking to Jodie didn’t hand me answers, but it did something better: she gave me permission to be me again. If you’re standing at your own edge of letting go, I hope this conversation gives you that same permission.Jodie, thank you for trusting me with this conversation again. Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, and if you missed Jodie’s first appearance, go back to episode 65.🌱 Purchase Jodie’s book The Bold World here, and Born Ready here. Follow Jodie on Instagram.Love,Molly🌱 Please consider supporting the Cracking Open podcast on Patreon.RESOURCES & LINKS:Molly Carroll:Website | Instagram| FacebookNow accepting new therapy clients!If you’re feeling stuck, navigating change, or craving more purpose and peace, I’d love to support you. Learn more or schedule a session here.
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    1 時間
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