What if the greatest obstacle to becoming the woman you want to be is holding on to the woman you once needed to be?

Change can be unsettling, especially after 50, when the roles, relationships, and beliefs that have defined us for decades no longer reflect who we are becoming. In this episode of SILVER TALKS®, host Sharon Ryan welcomes integrative psychotherapist, educator, and SILVER AWAKENING® Mentor Carmela Carlyle for an insightful conversation about why we resist change, how our past experiences shape our present, and the importance of releasing what no longer serves us to create space for what comes next.

Drawing on more than 30 years of experience guiding women through life's transitions, Carmela explores the connection between our thoughts, emotions, bodies, and nervous systems. She shares how self-compassion, mindfulness, and experiential practices can help us recognize outdated beliefs, quiet our inner critic, and move beyond familiar patterns of survival. She also offers a glimpse into her SILVER AWAKENING course, Transformative Tools: A Guided Series in Release, Spaciousness, and Manifestation, which invites women to rediscover themselves through reflection, creative expression, and intentional self-care.

At the heart of this conversation is a simple yet profound reminder: "You are worthy of your attention." Through honest reflection, the power of the sacred pause, and the courage to embrace change, Carmela reminds us that growing older doesn't mean becoming less. It offers an opportunity to become more fully ourselves, honoring the wisdom we've gained while creating a life that reflects who we are today.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.

What if the story you’ve been telling yourself is the very thing holding you back from becoming who you truly are?

In this special episode of SILVER TALKS®, the tables are turned as guest host Eleni Savva, founder of Empower Your Essence, interviews Sharon Ryan, co-founder of SILVER AWAKENING®. Sharon opens up about her personal journey of self-discovery, the painful patterns that shaped her life, and the profound realization that changing the way we see our past can change the way we experience our present.

Through an intimate and revealing conversation, Sharon explores the importance of reclaiming our authentic voice, challenging limiting beliefs, and finding the courage to live on our own terms. She also introduces her 12-week course, Rewriting Your Story & Reclaiming Your Voice, designed to help women explore their personal narratives, reconnect with their inner wisdom, and discover who they truly are. It's a conversation about honesty, self-awareness, and the power of recognizing that while we cannot change our past, we can choose how we carry it into our future.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.

What happens when betrayal doesn’t just break your heart—but makes you question everything you believed about your life, your relationship, and even yourself?

In this deeply personal episode of Silver Talks, host Sharon Ryan sits down with SILVER AWAKENING mentor Disha Prinja, CEC, CRC, CLC to explore the emotional, psychological, and physical impact of betrayal—and why true healing isn’t simply about “forgiving and moving on.”

Disha explains how betrayal can rupture our sense of reality and self-trust, leaving women struggling with anger, grief, shame, isolation, and the painful question of what was ever really true. Together, Sharon and Disha explore a different path forward: integrating what happened, releasing the shame that was never yours to carry, and slowly “coming home to yourself.”


Disha also shares the philosophy behind her eight-week SILVER AWAKENING course, The Sacred Unfolding, which guides women through safety and stabilization, anger and grief, and ultimately post-traumatic growth. Rather than asking women to suppress their emotions or rush toward forgiveness, her work creates space to feel, grieve, reconnect with the body, rebuild self-trust, and be witnessed by other women who understand.

As Disha reminds us, healing doesn’t mean returning to the woman you were before betrayal. It can mean discovering a more grounded, connected, authentic version of yourself—and realizing that even after walking through the rubble, there can still be beauty on the other side.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.

What if grief isn’t only about losing someone we love—but also about losing the life, identity, or version of ourselves we once knew?

In this episode of Silver Talks, host Sharon Ryan sits down with Dr. Ava Pommerenk, national speaker, empowerment coach, Silver Awakening mentor, and facilitator of the Loss & Grieving Silver Circle, for a deeply insightful conversation about the many forms grief can take. Ava explains that grief is our response to loss—and loss can accompany everything from divorce and an empty nest to aging, changing relationships, shifting identities, and even positive life transitions. For women over 50, these changes can bring a powerful period of “life review,” when we begin asking whether the life we’ve been living still reflects who we truly are.

Together, Sharon and Ava explore why grief is rarely linear, why old losses can resurface alongside new ones, and why isolation can sometimes feel necessary—but can also become a place where we get stuck. They discuss the importance of community, self-compassion, and practical ways to move through grief, from music and journaling to simply allowing ourselves to feel what we feel. And Ava leaves us with a beautiful metaphor: grief can feel like swimming between two islands—the life we can no longer return to and the new life we cannot yet see. There may be moments when we feel as though we’re drowning, but eventually we begin to float, then swim again, and finally glimpse the shore ahead.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.

What happens when the life you spent decades building ends—and you’re left wondering who you are without it?

In this episode of Silver Talks®, host Sharon Ryan sits down with SILVER AWAKENING mentor Kay Seelinger for an intimate conversation about reclaiming yourself after divorce—for women navigating this profound transition after 50. Together, they explore why later-life divorce can feel so disorienting, often unraveling not only a marriage but also the identity, expectations and vision of the future a woman may have carried for decades. Kay reframes the question “Who am I now?” not as a call to reinvent yourself entirely, but as an invitation to come home to the woman who has been there all along.

The conversation also explores betrayal, narcissistic relationships and the difficult process of learning to trust yourself again. Kay explains how betrayal can deeply affect a woman’s sense of worth, while emphasizing that another person’s decision to betray is not a reflection of her value. Whether a divorce is high-conflict or relatively amicable, grief, disappointment and loss still deserve to be acknowledged. Rather than rushing toward the “next chapter,” Kay encourages women to give themselves the space and grace to feel what has ended, rediscover their own voice and begin making conscious choices about what they want to carry forward.

Sharon and Kay also share practical ways women can support themselves through the transition, including creating guiding principles, seeking safe community, reconnecting with the body through gentle movement, and remembering that healing does not happen in isolation. Perhaps most powerfully, they remind listeners that grief and joy can exist at the same time—and that what feels like an ending can gradually become a return to self. The woman emerging after divorce is not starting from nothing; she is drawing on everything she has lived, learned and survived to discover just how much possibility is still ahead.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.

What happens when the life you thought you knew suddenly changes overnight?

Host Sharon Ryan welcomes Diane Manning, CEO of SILVER AWAKENING, for a deeply personal conversation about the divorce she never saw coming. After 38 years of marriage, Diane walked in on her husband in a sexual encounter with a younger woman—a discovery that shattered the life she knew and changed the course of her future.

But this isn't just a story about betrayal or divorce. It's about what happens after the life you planned falls apart.

Diane shares her journey from shock and heartbreak to rebuilding her identity, finding her voice, and discovering that life after 50 can hold possibilities she never imagined. Her experience ultimately became part of the inspiration behind SILVER AWAKENING and its message to women: sometimes the end of one chapter is the beginning of discovering who you are becoming.

A candid, powerful conversation about unexpected change, starting over, and awakening to the woman you were always meant to become.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.