What if the clarity you’re looking for isn’t “out there” at all, but already inside you — waiting for the moment it comes into view?

In this conversation, NYT bestselling author and adventurer Jedidiah Jenkins sits down with us to talk about revelation, habituation, aging, and what it means to build a life you’re actually comfortable being yourself in.

Jed talks about how his books — from To Shake the Sleeping Self through Mother, Nature and now his upcoming fourth — trace the long arc of becoming, moving through the mother wound, his religious upbringing, and the early experiences that sharpened his curiosity. He shares why he sees revelation as the moment when previously collected pieces finally organize into clarity, and how trusting the authority of his own questions has guided his life and work.

We talk through:

• Revelation vs. information — why most “aha” moments are old truths finally landing in the right order
• Habituation and the hedonic treadmill — how we get used to everything, even the life we once wanted, and how Jed disrupts that pattern
• How he now makes sense of the 30-year-old who biked from Oregon to Patagonia — and the life that opened because of it
• How his first three books became a trilogy of healing the mother wound
• Why living fully as yourself quietly liberates other people to do the same
• His eight-week, no-phone sabbatical in rural Colorado during the election — and what surfaced when the noise stopped
• Why he believes many of us are one sabbatical away from a breakthrough
• Entering the “youngest old person” season of life and finding a beginner’s mindset again in midlife

We also talk about the truth of the moment — how naming what’s real as it arises becomes its own form of presence — and how Jed has had to rebuild his sense of truth from the inside out after growing up inside a religious system that defined it for him. He reflects on learning to trust the authority of his own questions, and why that practice continues to shape his life and his work.

And yes — we talk about the leaf.
The one Kathryn caught during a silent walk at Jed’s retreat, the one that never touched the ground. Jed wrote on it: What falls will feed the new. It becomes a quiet throughline for this conversation about clarity, courage, and letting what’s no longer true fall away so something more honest can grow.

More from Jedidiah Jenkins:
• Website — www.jedidiahjenkins.com
• Instagram — @jedidiahjenkins
• Substack — jedidiahjenkins.substack.com
• Forthcoming fourth book — out fall 2026 (fun sneak peek at the process mentioned in the episode)

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Blair Milam is the co-founder of Sound Garden in Mill Valley, CA, a new space for sound healing, restoration, and deeper connection. Over the years, Blair has moved through many environments — from high-performing corporate settings to yoga studios, teacher trainings, and sound school — letting different parts of herself grow at different times. What once felt like separate identities began to inform one another, and eventually, she allowed and embraced their coexistence.

In this conversation, we return to the beginning: the horse girl from the South shaped by kindness, service, and a belief that she could do anything; the young woman who followed intuition across the world; the executive who knew how to lead inside high-pressure rooms; and the healer who was slowly forming in the background. All of those selves lived inside her, even when they didn’t feel like they belonged together.

We talk about the moment she ran out of “oomph,” the body-level signals that told her something needed to shift, and the season of surrender that unfolded when she stopped gripping as tightly. Blair shares how her mother’s cancer diagnosis changed her relationship to healing, how timing aligned only after she released her grip on it, and how community, love, and readiness shaped the birth of Sound Garden.

This is a conversation about truth, alignment, and what becomes possible when we allow — instead of effort.

We talk about:

• How dual identities — the corporate self and the healer — can live in the same room
• Trust as a body sensation, not an idea
• What surrender actually looks like in practice
• How her mother’s diagnosis opened the path to sound
• The role of community, love, and timing in this next chapter
• The stillness that teaches us what striving never could
• Why letting things change you is part of living in truth

If this episode meets you in a season of transition or new beginnings, share it with someone who might need it — or leave a review so others can find the show.

Visit Sound Garden ✨:
Instagram → @soundgarden.co

Website → www.soundgarden.co

Check out Blair's favorite book!: Hidden Messages in Water

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Jakob Wandel is a filmmaker and photographer whose path has carried him from the Navy to years on tour with musicians — and now into a new chapter of storytelling through his documentary series, Craft.

In this episode, we talk about how his journey has been one long act of starting again: leaving behind identities that no longer fit, saying no to what’s safe, and following the pull to create something of his own. Jakob shares how witnessing other makers has reconnected him to patience, process, and presence, and what he’s learning about embracing failure as part of the creative path.

It’s a reminder that the process itself is the point — and that meaning often lives in the making.

• The moment of clarity that led Jakob to walk away from touring
• What Craft is teaching him about patience, attention, and integrity
• The connection between grief, truth, and creative courage
• How slowing down and making with our hands reconnects us to meaning
• Why so much of the work we do bears no immediate reward — and why that’s okay

If this conversation reminds you of your own season of starting again, share it with someone creative in your life — or leave a review so others can find the show.

Connect with Jakob:
Instagram → @jakobwandel

Visit his website → www.jakobwandel.com

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

John Markland is a highly respected director, screenwriter, producer, and acting teacher, and the founder of The Markland Studio, whose work has guided countless artists and performers toward deeper, more authentic expression.

In this conversation, we talk about what happens when the identity you’ve built to feel safe or successful starts to feel out of alignment. John shares how a lifetime of adapting shaped his work with artists, and why he believes honesty matters more than approval — on stage and in life. We explore the unexpressed parts of ourselves we learn to hide, how reconnecting to instinct and curiosity can bring us closer to what’s real, and why taking the time to understand the moments that shaped you can open more freedom in how you move forward.

It’s a conversation about truth, creativity, and what becomes possible when we stop performing and start allowing.

We talk about:

• Why so many of us live inside identities built for safety, not truth
• What it looks like to start expressing the parts of yourself you’ve been taught to hide
• How honesty — not effort or perfection — creates real presence
• The role of play in loosening control and reconnecting to what’s real
• Why understanding your own story changes how you move through the world
• How letting go of control opens the door to something truer

If this episode leaves you thinking about the self beneath your own identity, share it with someone who might need it — or leave a review so others can find the show.

Connect with John & The Markland Studio:
Instagram → @themarklandstudio

Website → www.marklandstudio.com

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

Debut romance author Joss Richard joins us this week to talk about what happens when something that’s lived quietly inside you for years finally asks to be shared.

We talk about the leap from corporate to a creative life, how writing fan fiction became her quiet training ground, and the months of 5 a.m. mornings that led to It’s Different This Time — a story that began in the Notes app on her phone and turned into a USA Today bestselling debut.

It’s a conversation about creative permission, evolving dreams, and what it looks like to follow the thing that feels most true to you, even when it asks you to let go of the plan you thought you had.

Her debut novel, It’s Different This Time — a New York-in-the-fall, Nora Ephron–style second-chance romance — is out now wherever books are sold.

We talk about:

• Our cross-country drive with our rescue dogs (and how friendship sometimes sneaks up on you)
• Fan fiction 101, “shipping,” and why writing for yourself changes everything
• The moment she realized she wanted to create her own characters
• Starting It’s Different This Time in her phone’s Notes app, then writing the rest before work each morning
• The practical and emotional side of leaving a full-time job
• Redefining success when the goalpost keeps moving
• Why romance is serious storytelling — about love, loss, and everything in between
• The truth that what’s meant for you might just be what you never thought was possible

If this episode leaves you thinking about the part of yourself that’s been waiting to be seen — share it with someone who might need to hear it, or leave a review so others can find it too.

Connect with Joss Richard:

📚 Order It’s Different This Time
✨ On Instagram → @joss.richard
🌐 On her website→ https://www.jossrichard.com/

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthispodcast

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

This week on The Truth Is, Kathryn sits down with Joanne Molinaro — or as many know her, The Korean Vegan — a New York Times best-selling and James Beard Award–winning author, attorney, and creator whose storytelling and advocacy invite millions to look more closely at who they are, what they stand for, and how they show up in the world.

At the height of her legal career, Joanne realized that to be “successful,” she was becoming someone she wasn’t sure she could respect. That moment of reckoning — between achievement and integrity — sits at the center of her story, and at the center of this conversation.

Together, they explore what it really means to fight for yourself, to tell the truth to yourself first, and to leave the life that looks right in order to build the one that actually is. Joanne shares how she turned fear into agency, how writing became a lifelong practice of truth-telling, and how her voice — through food, advocacy, and storytelling — continues to be a force for compassion and change.

A conversation about courage, integrity, and the ongoing practice of becoming someone you respect.

In this episode, they talk about:

• What it really means to fight for yourself
• The myth that adulthood means giving up joy
• How to tell the truth to yourself first
• The cost of “success” when it’s defined by others
• Turning fear into agency and advocacy
• The quiet work of staying rooted in integrity

Connect with Joanne
ORDER JOANNE'S NEW BOOK! → The Korean Vegan: Homemade
Discover Korean Vegan Beauty → koreanveganbeauty.com
Connect with Joanne → @thekoreanvegan | thekoreanvegan.com

Connect with The Truth Is
Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast
YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
TikTok → @thetruthispod

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

This week on The Truth Is, Kathryn sits down with Jennifer Swartley—her coach and a leadership, mindset, and career coach whose work helps people return to themselves, rebuild compassion within, and move through change with clarity and agency.

Together, they talk about the moment we’re in—one where distraction can masquerade as progress, and where even self-work can keep us from truly listening to ourselves. Jen offers language and perspective for what it means to get beneath the noise: noticing the pulls that are actually yours, meeting yourself with compassion, and creating space for what’s next to take shape.

She also shares her own journey—the moment she realized how much work had become an over-indexed aspect of her identity, the experience of being at a wellness company while not being well, and how that awareness led her toward her own “what’s next,” built from the inside out.

In a world constantly competing for our attention, this work isn’t a one-time realization—it’s a continuous commitment. Throughout the conversation, Kathryn and Jen walk through real examples of her work in action: how fear transforms when met with understanding, how clarity comes through the body before the mind, and how slowing down can reveal what’s true and ready to emerge.

A conversation about discernment, compassion, and the ongoing practice of returning to yourself in a world that’s always asking you to look away.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How distraction can masquerade as progress
• Why even self-work can keep us from listening to ourselves
• The difference between mental noise and embodied knowing
• Meeting yourself with compassion instead of judgment
• The relatable experience of being at a wellness company but not being well
• How slowing down helps us move from control to clarity

Links & Resources
Connect with Jen → @jenswartley
Learn more about her coaching and group programs → jenniferswartley.com

Connect with The Truth Is
Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast
YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
TikTok → @thetruthispod

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

This week on The Truth Is, Kathryn sits down with her sister, Alyssa Flaschner, for a conversation about paying attention to what makes us feel alive, and how change really happens: not all at once, but through tiny degree shifts that slowly realign our lives toward what feels true.

In the stillness of COVID, Alyssa began to notice a quiet pull toward something else. What started as weeknights with her cookbook collection soon turned into a decision to take herself—and her curiosity—seriously. That choice led to nine months of commuting to New York City for culinary school—twenty-seven weekends in a row—couch surfing with friends and family and rolling a little suitcase full of knives through the city. Nine months later, that curiosity had become a craft—and eventually, a full-time role on the team at Philadelphia’s acclaimed restaurant My Loup.

Together, we talk about what it means to find the thing that makes you come alive—and to keep following it, even when it asks you to rewrite the life you thought you were building.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How perfectionism shaped Alyssa as a competitive dancer—and the ways it still shows up in the kitchen
• The difference between chasing achievement and feeling alive
• How small degree shifts add up over time—where slowly, you start to take yourself seriously, and the things that once felt impossible begin to feel real
• The awkward, necessary process of being a beginner again
• What it’s like to work in an environment where you can’t fake it—and how that kind of honesty builds confidence
• The people who remind us of our own strength, and why support systems matter more than we think

It’s an intimate, sister-to-sister conversation about curiosity, courage, and learning to trust the pull toward what makes you come alive.

Visit My Loup, where Alyssa is part of the culinary team
Read Alyssa’s essays on Substack
Follow Alyssa on Instagram → @alyssaflash

Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast
YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
TikTok → @thetruthispod

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch