In this episode of (re)Parenting Radio, Lisa unpacks a human experience every adult has but few truly understand: emotional regression — the moment when something small hits something old, and your body reacts like you’re 8 instead of the adult you are today.

We often call it being triggered, but Lisa explains what’s really happening inside the nervous system when a younger part takes the wheel because authenticity feels unsafe.

You’ll learn:

• What emotional regression actually is
Not immaturity — a survival program that once protected you.

• Why it happens with some people but not others
You can handle rejection at work but spiral at home because attachment, not stress, activates old wounds.

• How to recognize when your inner child is leading
Oversized reactions, losing your words, shame spikes, black-and-white thinking, or replaying the moment endlessly.

• Why parents and partners get triggered the most
Your nervous system stored emotional memories long before you had language, logic, or a prefrontal cortex.

• The 5 steps to bring your adult self back online

1. Awareness
2. Attunement
3. Safety
4. Reassigning leadership
5. Adult re-expression
   These steps form the foundation of the (re)Parenting Method℠.

When you stop regressing and start reparenting, everything shifts.
You communicate with clarity, stop personalizing others’ emotions, break old relational patterns, and finally respond from who you are, not who you had to be.

Emotional regression doesn’t mean you’re broken — it means you’re human. And reparenting is how you become the leader of your inner world again.

If this episode resonated and you want support integrating this work, you can reach Lisa at lisa@lisa-watson.com

Send us a text

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CONNECT WITH LISA WATSON

• Instagram: @reparentyourself
• TikTok: @reparentyourself
• YouTube: Lisa Watson – (re)Parent Yourself
• Website: reparent-yourself.com
• Website: awakentheone.org

“You are not broken—you are programmed.
Healing is how you remember your original code.”

FREE RESOURCES

• QUICK START GUIDE to RE-PARENTING YOURSELF
  • https://reparent-yourself.kit.com/lt-qs-rpy
• QUICK START GUIDE to CONSCIOUS PARENTING.
  • https://reparent-yourself.kit.com/lt-qs-cp

FIND LISA’S FIRST CHILDREN’S BOOK HERE

• "Courage Finds His Calm"

WORK WITH LISA ONE ON ONE

• https://www.reparent-yourself.com/sacred-reboot

Hey Tribe 💛,

This week on (re)Parenting Radio Lisa is joined by guest John Harper — Diamond Approach teacher, Enneagram guide, and author of The Enneagram World of the Child and Nurturing Essence: A Compass for Essential Parenting.

Together, they explore what John calls “the dance of development” — the way a child’s early environment, their parents’ personalities, and the nervous system’s survival responses weave together to create the sense of self we later mistake as “just who I am.”

You’ll hear John unpack:

• How fear, anger, shame, and the inner critic become core forces in ego development
• Why children almost always conclude, “It must be my fault,” when something goes wrong
• How early shocks and repeated tensions (like conflict, chaos, or criticism) wire the nervous system
• How awareness, acceptance, and curiosity gently dissolve old patterns without force

Lisa brings in the (re)Parenting Method℠ lens — connecting John’s spiritual-psychological framework with real-life reparenting:

• Why you didn’t “choose” your early programming, but can take responsibility for healing it
• How your nervous system keeps trying to return to the energetic “comfort zone” of childhood
• Why chasing “happiness” doesn’t work if your system is still wired for chaos, criticism, or conflict

This episode is an invitation to:

• See your parents — and yourself — as innocent to conditioning
• Get curious about the patterns you’re still reenacting in your relationships
• Reclaim presence as the most powerful parenting tool you have

Whether you’re a parent, a cycle-breaker, or simply someone devoted to inner work, this conversation will help you understand how you became who you are, and how to gently reorient back to who you’ve always been.

🔗 Connect with John

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaharper/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haj1155

Websites: https://www.harpgnosis.shop

https://www.diamondapproach-sacramento-folsom.com

https://www.enneagramworldoft

Send us a text

Support the show

CONNECT WITH LISA WATSON

• Instagram: @reparentyourself
• TikTok: @reparentyourself
• YouTube: Lisa Watson – (re)Parent Yourself
• Website: reparent-yourself.com
• Website: awakentheone.org

“You are not broken—you are programmed.
Healing is how you remember your original code.”

FREE RESOURCES

• QUICK START GUIDE to RE-PARENTING YOURSELF
  • https://reparent-yourself.kit.com/lt-qs-rpy
• QUICK START GUIDE to CONSCIOUS PARENTING.
  • https://reparent-yourself.kit.com/lt-qs-cp

FIND LISA’S FIRST CHILDREN’S BOOK HERE

• "Courage Finds His Calm"

WORK WITH LISA ONE ON ONE

• https://www.reparent-yourself.com/sacred-reboot

“What if saying no to a tradition is actually saying yes to your inner child?” — Lisa Watson

In this heartfelt and deeply human episode, Lisa takes you behind the scenes of her own holiday evolution — from a childhood where Christmas carried wounds of exclusion, to an adulthood where she reclaimed her emotional safety through conscious guardrails.

Using her (re)Parenting Method℠, she reframes boundaries as acts of self-respect and inner child protection, not rejection or rebellion.

You’ll hear how letting go of performative traditions allowed her nervous system to finally rest — and how you can begin to do the same.

You’ll discover:

• How childhood holiday dynamics plant the earliest seeds of people-pleasing
• Why not participating in certain traditions can be a boundary
• What guilt really means when you set limits (hint: it’s not what you think)
• How to stay regulated when others resist your guardrails
• Why choosing yourself doesn’t harm relationships — it clarifies them
• Practical tools to navigate family expectations without abandoning yourself

This episode is an invitation to make your holiday season more peaceful, more honest, and more aligned with your inner truth, without guilt, or performance.

💛 Mantra: “My boundaries are bridges, not walls.”

Send us a text

Support the show

CONNECT WITH LISA WATSON

• Instagram: @reparentyourself
• TikTok: @reparentyourself
• YouTube: Lisa Watson – (re)Parent Yourself
• Website: reparent-yourself.com
• Website: awakentheone.org

“You are not broken—you are programmed.
Healing is how you remember your original code.”

FREE RESOURCES

• QUICK START GUIDE to RE-PARENTING YOURSELF
  • https://reparent-yourself.kit.com/lt-qs-rpy
• QUICK START GUIDE to CONSCIOUS PARENTING.
  • https://reparent-yourself.kit.com/lt-qs-cp

FIND LISA’S FIRST CHILDREN’S BOOK HERE

• "Courage Finds His Calm"

WORK WITH LISA ONE ON ONE

• https://www.reparent-yourself.com/sacred-reboot