Wendy Peterson had to earn being around. Watch the kids, do the dishes, be a good girl, cause no static. "I would earn the love. I would be okay."

Wendy is an author, a metaphysical teacher and an intuitive energy healer. She spent twenty years in IT before any of this got named, and she built the Empower Method the way she used to build systems: test what works, keep it, structure it. Her premise is that confidence was never something you built. A three-year-old in a Superman cape already has it, right up until the world gets hold of her.

Lori answers with the chaotic alcoholic house she grew up in, where she made herself as small as she could, and with a meeting room years later in corporate America where saying her own name in front of colleagues made her heart hammer.

The middle of the episode belongs to Lori, and it's about a bag of salad. A food bank shift, two salads left on the shelf, and a man behind her holding a grocery basket with three well-behaved boys and exhaustion all over him. She hands him one. He says, "thank you so much, I'm just trying to make it through the day." The salad is beside the point. A few years ago she'd have walked out of that store without ever seeing him.

The back third is about carrying other people's energy. Wendy pulls the cord out at the source rather than cutting it, sweeps clean, then fills the space. Lori has four words for the same thing and she learned them the hard way. Observe, don't absorb.

Hosted by Tammy Green Mitchell and Lori Walpole. Guest: Wendy Peterson, founder of Radiance Restoration and creator of the Empower Method.

0:00 Cold open

0:36 Welcome to Episode 17

2:20 Meet Wendy Peterson

3:49 Superman cape confidence

6:28 Leaving a 28-year marriage

8:38 It is safe to shine now

15:12 I will never do that again

16:48 Yesterday, at the food bank

17:45 The man with three boys

24:44 The blessing jar

29:28 Lori's father and gratitude

37:04 I taught the world to treat me

37:43 I would earn the love

43:32 Observe, don't absorb

47:32 Pulling the cord at the source

52:24 We walk each other home

Nothing in this episode is medical advice. Wendy, Lori and Tammy speak from their own lives, not as clinicians. Lori's account of stepping back from alcohol and from prescribed medication is her own experience. Talk to your doctor before changing anything, and never stop a prescribed medication on your own.

A note on this episode. It includes discussion of growing up in a home with alcoholism, and of Lori's own drinking and her decision to stop. If any of it lands close to home, reach out to someone you trust. US listeners can call or text 988.

Wendy's book Quantum Leap Into Authentic Confidence for Empaths & Lightworkers is on Amazon, and it contains the full seven-step Empower Method. Her site: https://myradiancerestoration.com

QHHT is Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique. Lori is a certified Level 2 practitioner and sees clients professionally.

Some of the deaths you live through don't come with a funeral.

Lori opens this one by reading a piece she found called The 7 Deaths You Experience Without Physically Dying, by John Roma. Identity. Relationships. A dream. A belief system. The future you had already pictured. Tammy listens, and says she has been through almost all seven in a single day.

What follows is the two of them going through the list honestly. Tammy on questioning everything she was taught growing up Southern Baptist. Lori on being 18, watching her parents divorce, and wanting her mother back badly enough to pay for weekly lunches she could barely afford. Tammy on the boundary she set to stay sober, and on choosing not to attend her mother's funeral after thirteen years of silence.

Near the middle, Tammy describes smelling cigarettes and perfume in a house where nobody smokes, and knowing. Then, for the first time in fifty-seven years, feeling how much her mother loved her.

Tammy works out on tape that she has been through six of the seven and is sitting in the last one, the death of needing to know who she is becoming. She sets that as her intention for the month.

No guest this week. Just the two of them, which is when this show is at its most itself.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open

0:33 Welcome to Episode 16

1:33 The seven deaths, read aloud

7:05 Caterpillar goo, and the in-between

8:50 Lori: if you'd asked me a year ago

12:21 The prayer, and the violinist in Malaga

14:19 The death of a belief system

16:12 The hardest one: relationships

18:19 Adult children and their parents

22:30 Tammy: my mother cut ties, not me

26:10 The boundary that kept her sober

37:23 The funeral she chose not to attend

44:55 Floating in the in-between

59:57 Loving who you were, flaws and all

1:05:01 I'm a badass

LINKS

The United States of Us: https://tammygreenmitchell.com

The seven deaths piece read in this episode is by John Roma, from the Healer page. Used with permission. https://facebook.com/john.roma.31149

A NOTE BEFORE YOU LISTEN

Around 21 minutes, Lori shares something from her childhood that may be hard to hear. If it brings something up for you, talk to someone you trust. In the US you can call or text 988 any time.

What happens when you stop performing the version of yourself that other people approved of?

Angelica Faith joins Tammy and Lori for a conversation about deconditioning: unlearning the shoulds, retiring the strong independent woman hat she has worn so long it fused to her, and getting radically honest about what actually lights her up.

She shares the download that told her to write a musical. She describes the moment on a coaching call when two halves of her life finally clicked into one, and the Broadway dream she had never told her closest friend about. And she says a sentence out loud for the first time in her life: good girls aren't angry.

Lori shares the message that came through in the bath. I am a powerful creator, divinely connected to the universe. She talks about pulling her energy out of frequencies that were feeding something she did not want to feed, and about two days on the floor with her grandbabies with the phone face down.

Tammy gets honest about living the dream she chased for ten years and still fighting guilt for not working. She talks about worthiness that is not earned. She talks about the three years she survived one AA meeting at a time.

It is a conversation about intuition, about receiving, and about the fact that not everything is meant to come with you. Letting go is allowed to be ugly.

Life is meant to be lived together. Your people are already waiting for you.

Content note: this episode includes honest discussion of depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. If any of it lands close to home, please reach out to someone you trust or a local line. In the US, call or text 988.

New episodes weekly.

Angelica's contact: @angelicafaithllc

(00:00) Welcome to Episode 15

(01:38) Being honest without a title yet

(06:16) Retiring the strong independent hat

(08:13) Why The United States of Us

(11:07) What deconditioning is teaching her

(13:17) You are going to write a musical

(17:15) Two halves of her come back together

(19:43) I am a powerful creator

(22:32) Tammy's 2024 download: unity

(28:32) Enough room at the table

(34:52) Living the dream and feeling guilty

(37:13) I am not arriving

(44:07) Good girls aren't angry

(49:36) Tammy's three years in the dark

(56:13) Life is meant to be lived together

Nadja Marks-Shafton doesn't work for money. She works for God. And she says that's the actual source of abundance.

On this episode of the spiritual podcast The United States of Us, Tammy and Lori sit down with the award-winning artist, educator, and creative leadership mentor behind Casa Nadja and Free Art Skills. After two episodes on the Divine Masculine, this one brings it full circle with the Divine Feminine. Nadja shares the three stops of her virtual art school, the Krishna story that reframes surrender, why choosing purpose over money is the real abundance mindset, and how she teaches oil painting for beginners so complete non-artists go from blank canvas to a painting they'd hang on their wall in one month.

This conversation covers creativity and spirituality, art as healing, emotional expression, and leaving corporate America to build a life that fits like a glove. If you've ever said "I'm not an artist," this one's for you. Bring it. Put it on the altar.

Connect with Nadja:
Instagram: @CasaNadja
Art and gatherings: CasaNadja.com
Learn to paint free: FreeArtSkills.com

Timestamps:
(0:00) Welcome and Nadja's introduction
(1:34) A Leo birthday and shining the light
(5:16) Three stops on the train: skills, soul, and why
(10:33) Krishna and the bamboo flute
(13:00) Leaving corporate and the gilded prison of safety
(18:19) Squirrels over screens: choosing presence
(26:15) A system for creating anything from a blank canvas
(30:50) Turning a home into a permanent exhibition
(33:42) Emotions are fuel, not something to numb
(36:09) A life that fits like a glove
(39:37) Inside the Soul Journey: your inner visual language
(48:56) Bring it to the altar
(53:38) Where to find Nadja
(56:11) When a commission becomes a divine appointment
(59:06) The divine feminine is in you

Therapist, somatic practitioner, and 15-year Navy veteran Nick joins Tammy and Lori for an honest conversation about healing the whole person — body, mind, and spirit.

Nick shares the founding of Ronan Relief, his work bringing somatic and plant-medicine modalities to veterans, and his own reckoning with fear, anger, and sex addiction. Together they explore merging the divine masculine and feminine, retraining a nervous system built for combat, and the quiet ways TV, dopamine, and scrolling pull us out of the present. Lori offers a vulnerable reflection on the hidden forms of "porn" in everyday life, and the three land on the daily practices — meditation, gratitude, a non-inflammatory diet, and A Course in Miracles — that bring them back to love instead of fear.

A tender reminder that we came here to remember who we really are.

Note: This episode discusses trauma, addiction, and mental health. If you're struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional. In the US, dial or text 988 (Veterans press 1).

Find Nick here: https://www.roninrelief/projects/

00:00 Welcome & meet Nick

01:16 Nick's path: therapy, somatics & 15 years in the Navy

02:38 Healing the whole person & the documentary dream

04:36 Merging the divine masculine & feminine

05:57 Facing fear, anger & sex addiction honestly

07:14 Seeing the "wounded child" behind men's behavior

08:36 Safety, vulnerability & re-identifying with God

10:40 Why we made this podcast: unity over division

11:38 Matriarchy vs. merging — uplifting women

14:24 The military, PTSD & men's bottled-up emotions

16:13 Retraining the nervous system & alchemizing energy

17:44 Meditation as the daily foundation

19:04 Building the men's program from lived experience

22:01 Tracing addiction to its childhood root

23:12 Lori's confession: smut books are porn too

25:40 Dopamine, escalation & "feeding the machine"

27:21 When pleasure starts robbing the present moment

28:01 Sex & shame: Europe vs. America

31:25 Throwing out the TV & turning it into an altar

33:32 Subliminal messages & your subconscious operating system

36:05 Horror films: intentional vs. compulsive watching

39:36 "Tell-a-vision": co-creating what we consume

41:12 A Course in Miracles: ego, fear & surrender

47:18 Remembering we are spirit

48:46 Food as medicine: the body as temple

51:42 Releasing control & the urge to fix everyone

53:09 Closing gratitude & goodbyes

Ask a man how he's doing and you'll almost always hear "I'm good." But are we, really? In Episode 12, Tammy and Lori sit down with Norman Robinson — a leadership coach and therapist who's spent decades working with men — to talk about his new program helping men reconnect with their emotions, their relationships, and themselves.

We get into why men are taught to keep it all in, the difference between fixing and being present, the quiet power of asking for what you need, and what real leadership looks like at home. It's honest, warm, and full of wisdom — and it was Norman's first podcast ever.

0:00 Welcome to Episode 12

1:05 Meet Norman: 50 years in the room with men

2:10 "I'm good" — the lie almost every man tells

3:50 The word that broke him open: "neglect"

4:10 Inside the program: emotions, embodiment & the nervous system

8:45 "There's a lane for you": leading with inspiration

12:35 Why men are taught to shut down

15:15 Don't fix it — just be present

17:05 "I just need you to listen": Lori & her husband

22:10 Two timelines: choosing a different path

24:35 The marriage lesson: just ask

29:15 The 10 days a month men never knew about

32:40 "It gets to be easy": redefining leadership

36:55 How the world makes men look small

42:10 The crisis facing young men

44:05 Women, voice & the divine masculine

50:10 Tammy's story: making amends & breaking the cycle

56:05 Connection, disconnection & repair

59:59 Slow down — "the thing is not the thing"

1:02:10 Where to find Norman + goodbye

New episodes of The United States of Us every week. 💛

What happens when you finally stop replaying the story of what was done to you — and start asking what it's here to teach you?

In Episode 11 of The United States of Us, Tammy and Lori have one of their most honest conversations yet. It starts with a post called "The Victimhood Loop" and turns into something neither of them planned: a live, unscripted, and emotional exchange about a real moment when Lori felt "not chosen" — and how she moved through it instead of staying stuck in it.

Together they unpack why healing is a responsibility (not a fault), what forgiveness really means, and how the emotions we refuse to feel end up living in the body. Raw, tender, funny, and deeply human.

In this episode:

• The "victimhood loop" and how identity fuses with a wound
• Why what happened to you is not your fault, but healing from it is your responsibility
• Forgiveness that frees YOU — not the person who hurt you
• Lori's real, never-before-shared story about feeling left out before Tammy's move to Spain
• Perfectionism, unworthiness, and "earning" love
• How children process emotion — and what we unlearn as adults
• Feeling it to heal it: crying, screaming into a pillow, dancing, movement
• "The Body Keeps the Score" and how buried emotion becomes physical
• Giving yourself (and others) permission to be vulnerable

Mentioned in this episode:

• "The Victimhood Loop" — a post by Katherine Keeler
• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Timestamps:

(00:00) Catching up & checking in

(02:00) Reading "The Victimhood Loop"

(06:00) Not your fault, but your responsibility

(10:00) Lori's story: feeling "not chosen"

(18:00) Taking your power back

(22:00) Perfectionism, unworthiness & earning love

(30:00) How children feel emotion — and what we unlearn

(36:00) Feeling it to heal it: tears, screaming, movement

(48:00) The body keeps the score

(58:00) Permission to be who you are — closing thoughts

New episodes weekly. If this one resonated, follow the show and share it with someone who needs to hear it today.

Some weeks the world moves so fast you lose track of what's real. This is one of those weeks.

This time it's just the two of us. Tammy and Lori, at the table, talking about what happens when the ground keeps shifting under your feet. Relationships that used to take years now start and end in months. People you trusted turn out to be someone else. Information comes at you from every direction and you can't always tell what's true. It can leave you ungrounded and doubting your own read on anyone.

So we talk about disillusionment. The kind that hits when you learn something that doesn't fit the picture you'd built of a person, or the story you were sold your whole life. We talk about the rot that's becoming visible right now. And we talk about why you can't heal a thing until you expose it to the air.

Lori shares the prayer she says to release what isn't hers. She tells the story of the 25-year secret she finally told her husband, and what happened when she did. Tammy talks about the grief that shows up without warning. About her mother. About carrying the belief that she was the burden who changed her mother's life.

Then we come back to the ground. Box breathing. Feeling your feet on the floor. Humming, and what it does to the vagus nerve. Turning the noise off. Small things that pull you out of the story in your head and back into the room you're standing in.

And we land on freedom. It's Independence Day week. It's the country's 250th. It's Hope's birthday. This year the word means something different to us. We are not waiting for a country or a system to hand us our freedom. Freedom is here. It's right here.

This one is for anyone who has seen the picture they trusted come apart, and had to find their own footing again.

New episodes of The United States of Us drop every week. Come sit with us.

(00:00) Welcome to Episode 10, and why the name matters (01:46) Bombarded with information: fear and propaganda (03:11) Relationships are speeding up (04:44) Disillusionment when people aren't who you thought (06:43) Our nervous systems were never built for this (09:39) "They" versus us: we are the co-creators (11:22) The rot was there the whole time, and why healing needs air (15:16) Everyone was doing their best: clean vessels and attachments (18:48) Releasing what isn't yours (20:28) Why we can't watch what we used to (24:43) The release prayer, spoken in full (27:44) We do not consent to this fuckery (29:11) Grief, consciousness, and a spiritual end of the world (32:02) Discernment and loving every version of yourself (34:32) When awakening strained a marriage: the secret she told (38:12) Soul contracts and unconditional love (40:43) Divorce is not a failure (42:47) Tammy's parents and the burden she carried (47:16) Redefining family, and the mothers who kept showing up (49:51) Coming back to the ground: breath and presence (53:11) More tools: meditation, humming, the vagus nerve (56:02) The future we're choosing: community and enough (59:49) Independence Day, the 250th, and freedom that's already here