What happens when you’ve spent so long minimizing your own experience that you can no longer recognize how much pain you’re carrying?

In this episode, I step outside the fairy tale to explore what The Handless Maiden can look like in real life. I share the story of my first childbirth—how often I silenced what I felt, handed my authority to others, and insisted I was fine when my body was telling me otherwise.

This is an exploration of what happens when we believe trusting someone else requires us to stop trusting ourselves.

Along the way, an octopus shows us how something lost can grow back, and a turtle becomes an unexpected teacher in listening to the wisdom within us and trusting the next step without knowing where the entire path will lead.

Together, we explore the quiet ways self-abandonment happens, the healing that often takes place where no one else can see it, and the first small act of sovereignty: telling ourselves the truth about where we are.

And I’ll leave you with one question:

Where in your life might you be calling a nine a three?

Did something in this episode speak to you? Send me a note.

About Know Thy Soul

Know Thy Soul explores myth, fairy tales, scripture, symbolism, psychology, and spiritual traditions as maps of the soul, revealing the timeless patterns that illuminate the journey home to ourselves.

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