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"You're not crazy." Three words that changed everything for Hilda Reyes after years of doubting her reality in what appeared to be a perfect marriage. What began as a fairytale romance with a handsome fireman who promised to show her what real love felt like gradually unraveled into a nightmare of gaslighting, betrayal, and physical illness as her body tried desperately to alert her to the truth her mind wasn't ready to accept.

In this deeply moving conversation, Hilda takes us through her journey from being completely disconnected from herself to finding profound healing and self-love. She reveals how childhood trauma and lack of self-worth made her vulnerable to narcissistic manipulation, and how even as her intuition screamed that something wasn't right, she was told by both her husband and a therapist that the problem was within her. The physical toll was devastating – chronic pain, stomach issues, and eventually an autoimmune condition that doctors linked directly to emotional abuse.

The path to recovery wasn't linear or easy. Hilda shares the excruciating process of sitting with her pain rather than numbing it, taking radical responsibility for her own patterns, and using various healing modalities including therapy, breathwork, and plant medicine to reconnect with her authentic self. Perhaps most powerfully, she describes how healing herself also healed her relationships with her mother and daughter, breaking generational patterns of trauma.

Whether you're questioning your own relationship, supporting someone through narcissistic abuse, or on your own healing journey, Hilda's story offers profound insight into how our greatest pain can lead to our greatest awakening. Remember: if your body is telling you something is wrong, listen. You're not crazy. You're enough, and you've always been enough.

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Forgiveness is often misunderstood as condoning hurtful actions or pretending they never happened—radical forgiveness is something entirely different. We dive deep into what true forgiveness actually means: a profound act of self-liberation that allows us to release the weight of resentment without excusing harmful behavior.

"You don't give forgiveness because they deserve it. You give forgiveness because you deserve to not carry it anymore." This powerful truth sits at the heart of our conversation. When we hold onto anger, resentment, or pain, we're the ones drinking poison while hoping someone else feels the effects. These emotions consume enormous energy, leaving little room for joy or peace in our lives.

The journey begins with self-forgiveness—a crucial first step that many overlook. Noelshares his personal story of learning to extend compassion to himself before he could genuinely forgive those who had hurt him. By understanding his own patterns and connecting dots between past experiences and current behaviors, he created space for healing at the deepest level. This process involved recognizing that the question isn't "what's wrong with me?" but rather "what happened to me?"

Perhaps the most transformative moment came when Noel began to see his abusive stepfather as a complete human being, not just a monster. This perspective shift didn't excuse harmful behavior but allowed him to process his emotions more completely and release the stranglehold of resentment. We explore practical tools for your own forgiveness practice: somatic awareness, expressive writing, no-send letters, and a guided breathwork experience to help move stagnant emotional energy from your body.

Remember, forgiveness can be a spiral—you may revisit the same wounds, but with more softness each time. This episode offers both the compassionate understanding and practical guidance to begin your own radical forgiveness journey.

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We explore the transformative shift from victimhood to radical responsibility and how honesty with ourselves can change our relationships.

• Looking at what triggers our emotional reactions and getting curious about their source
• Recognizing when we're parenting from performance anxiety rather than genuine connection
• Understanding the subtle ways we deceive ourselves with phrases like "I'm fine" or "I'm just a people-pleaser"
• Learning what it truly means to hold space for others without inserting ourselves
• Practicing radical responsibility by owning how we relate to situations, not just what happens to us
• Identifying old stories we tell ourselves that no longer match who we're becoming
• Taking time to pause when triggered rather than responding from old patterns
• Using breathwork to integrate radical responsibility and release old emotions

Join us next time when we talk about radical forgiveness. Let us know your questions on Instagram at Let that Shift Go or visit our website, serenitycovetomecula.com.

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We explore the transformative difference between loneliness and solitude, revealing how embracing time alone can lead to self-discovery, personal growth, and healthier relationships.

• Examining society's negative perception of being alone and how it stems from primal survival instincts
• Distinguishing between loneliness (feeling incomplete without others) and solitude (finding strength in being with yourself)
• The benefits of learning to enjoy your own company and discovering what truly brings you joy
• How avoiding silence through constant distraction prevents necessary inner work
• Why relationships thrive when two whole people come together instead of seeking completion in each other
• Practical ways to shift from seeing alone time as punishment to viewing it as a sanctuary
• Breathwork exercise to help embrace solitude and affirm self-wholeness

Visit us on Instagram @LetThatShiftGo or at our website serenitycovetomecula.com with your questions for future episodes.

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We explore why rest feels hard and why doing nothing feels like failure in our overstimulated world. Stillness often brings up what we've been avoiding, making vulnerability feel scary.

• Our addiction to being overstimulated comes from inherited beliefs around productivity
• "Capitalism and trauma pairing" describes how our culture glorifies burnout and devalues rest
• Rest shouldn't be something earned - it should be deserved
• Many of us struggle with over-functioning and tying our value to productivity
• Social media scrolling isn't actually rest - it's stimulation and avoidance
• Real rest means allowing ourselves joy without needing to be productive
• Our nervous systems need downtime to repair and process
• If rest makes you uncomfortable, it's a sign you're letting go of survival strategies

Check us out on Instagram at Let that Shift Go or visit our website, serenitycovetomecula.com.

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What happens when your entire life changes in a single week? After 30 years in high-tech, 27 years of marriage, and raising two children, Nicole Rousseau suddenly found herself navigating life as both a new widow and recent retiree—all within five days.

Nicole's story reveals the raw, messy, and often unspoken truth about grief in American culture. With remarkable candor, she describes what she calls the "three chapters of grief" and the particular challenges of anticipatory grief while caring for her husband through both dementia and ALS. "You start losing them before you've really lost them," she explains, describing the years of invisible grieving that preceded his death.

Rather than staying in her home of 25 years surrounded by memories, Nicole made the bold decision to sell her home and move from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California—challenging conventional wisdom about avoiding major life changes after loss. "I wasn't running from anything," she shares. "I was running to me." This radical reinvention allowed her to discover who she is beyond the roles that had defined her for decades.

Nicole's journey illuminates the transformative power of grief when we're willing to sit with it rather than rush through it. She describes grief as a magnifying glass that shows you all your imperfections, fears, and uncomfortable emotions—forcing you to confront parts of yourself you've long ignored. Through this process, she discovered new passions in sound healing, somatic work, and coaching, finding purpose in helping others navigate their own grief journeys.

The most profound lesson from Nicole's experience is what she calls the "six G's of grief": gratitude, grounding, grace, going through, grit, and group. These elements form a powerful framework for anyone navigating loss of any kind. As she powerfully states, "You've got to feel it to heal it"—there's simply no way around grief, only through it.

Have you experienced significant loss or major life transitions? Nicole's story reminds us that even in our darkest moments, transformation and unexpected joy are possible when we face our grief with courage and an open heart. Follow us on Instagram @LetThatShiftGo for more conversations that help you navigate life's biggest challenges.

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Have you ever noticed how uncomfortable silence can be? In this deeply reflective episode, we explore why quiet feels so threatening in our noise-filled world and how reclaiming silence might be the most radical power move of all.

Growing up in vibrant, expressive cultural households meant we learned early that to be seen, we needed to be heard – often loudly. Many of us carry this programming into adulthood, filling every moment with noise, from background music to constant social sharing. But what if this compulsive need to fill space and explain ourselves comes from a place of fear rather than strength?

We dive into the transformative distinction between secrecy and sovereignty. While secrecy implies hiding, sovereignty means being secure enough in yourself that you don't need external validation or explanation for your process. This subtle shift changes everything about how we show up in relationships and healing journeys.

Through personal stories, we illustrate how "strategic patience" – the practice of intentional silence – creates space for deeper understanding in conversations that would otherwise devolve into defensive reactions. Rather than immediately making situations about ourselves, silence allows us to hear what others are really saying beneath their words.

The most powerful leaders often aren't the loudest voices in the room. True power moves begin internally before manifesting externally. What might change in your life if you let your energy be felt rather than just your words being heard?

We close with a guided breathwork session to help you experience the clarity that comes from intentional stillness. Remember: you're not missing out by being quiet – you're tuning in to something much deeper.

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Chad Aranzonzo, veteran and cousin of host Noel, shares his powerful journey from rock bottom to recovery after waking up in the hospital from alcohol poisoning and seeing the pain on his mother's face.

• Serving in the military taught Chad to accept death, creating a mindset he couldn't turn off in civilian life
• After returning home, Chad drank heavily to numb PTSD symptoms, eventually reaching two bottles a day
• January 19th, 2023 became his turning point when he woke up in the hospital after vomiting blood
• Recovery forced him to face his trauma without alcohol, describing it as "looking in a broken mirror"
• Learning to identify self-deception and the "armor" he created as protection mechanisms
• Discovering that authentic connections require first being honest with yourself
• The profound weight lifted when truly forgiving others and himself for the first time
• Finding glimpses of happiness and working toward peace as his ultimate goal
• Valuing genuine presence over empty words: "Just sit there, man, I know who you are"
• Shuffling forward every day: "It's going to get worse, but the better is way worth it"

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