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spiritual emergency pt 3: uncovering pathways for self-healing and professional help
Facing a spiritual emergency and need guidance? Learn how to blend self-care with expert assistance in our series conclusion. In a world where mental health dialogue often vacillates between strict biomedical interpretations and elusive new age spirituality, the concept of spiritual emergence stands out. It's a profound experience that defies simple classification, often overlooked in mainstream mental health due to its focus on clinical aspects, neglecting the deeply personal and transcendent elements of psychological crises.
This final installment in this 3-part series delves into the treatment of spiritual crises through the lens of the work of transpersonal psychiatrist Dr. Stanislov Grof. We explore effective psychotherapeutic strategies that recognize these states not as pathological conditions, but as gateways to healing and transformation. This involves understanding the extended cartography of the psyche, including perinatal and transpersonal realms. Whether it's through experiential therapy or holistic approaches, the right treatment can facilitate emotional and psychosomatic healing, psychological transformation, and consciousness evolution.
Navigating the treatment of spiritual crises can be challenging, particularly in finding therapists who are adept at handling such complex transformations. This episode provides recommendations for seeking appropriate therapists, including whom to approach and whom to avoid. It brings Grof's work into the 21st century, highlighting the difficulty of finding insurance-compatible therapy and offering insights into managing spiritual crises with limited resources. I also share my personal journey, revealing how I moved through my own spiritual crisis with constrained finances and no health insurance. It's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of self-guided healing.
Reference: http://www.totallyalivecore.com/images/Spiritual_Emergencies_-_Article_by_Stan_Grof,_PhD.pdf
Spiritual Emergence Network Resources: https://www.spiritualemergence.org/
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Disclaimer: The information contained in this podcast episode is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for treatment or consultation with a licensed mental health professional.
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communication mastery series part 3: stop people pleasing, start owning your space
01:08:40|In today’s episode, we’re peeling back the layers of the boundary-setting conversation, and doing it differently than you’ve heard before. We’ll explore the pitfalls of cut-off culture — this idea that you should sever ties with anyone who makes you uncomfortable or crosses a line. It’s easy to see why this is appealing, especially in today’s world of Instagram influencers and self-help rhetoric, but it’s a trap. If you’re someone who struggles with people-pleasing, you’ve probably found yourself gravitating toward boundary-related content, only to end up feeling like the solution is to cut everyone out. But that’s not the whole picture. In this episode, we’re offering a different path.We talk about becoming emotionally resilient. The kind of resilience that helps you identify what’s truly toxic in your life versus what’s just discomfort that you need to sit with and work through. We also dive into the real emotional work of learning how to state your needs, say no, and have those difficult conversations without feeling like you’re falling apart. And yes, some relationships might fall away as you start to assert yourself, but the ones that remain — or the ones that transform — will be healthier and more aligned with your true self. You might even begin attracting more balanced, emotionally mature people into your life because you’re showing up more grounded.We also get into the physical toll of people-pleasing. Emotional suppression doesn’t just affect your relationships. It starts to show up in your body. We’ll talk about resentment and how it manifests in your communication patterns, and why it’s so important to face these patterns head-on. To wrap up, I’ll share how you can use ChatGPT (or any language model) to practice setting boundaries, communicating your needs, and navigating difficult conversations, just as we’ve done in this episode.This is the work. It’s messy, it’s uncomfortable, but it’s the only way to build the life and relationships you actually want.GO DEEPER WITH HUNDREDS OF BONUS EPISODES + WEEKLY PATHWORK PROMPTS. Unlock my FULL ARCHIVE of members-only content + Patreon exclusives:PATHWORK → Weekly self-inquiry prompts to turn insight into transformation.THE CONSCIOUSNESS STREAM → Raw, unfiltered deep dives.THE DEEP CUT → Structured breakdowns of esoteric + psychological themes.BONUS EPISODES + RESOURCES → Hundreds of hours of hidden gems.Start exploring right now for FREE and see everything waiting for you at backfromtheborderline.com.healing in a world that won't heal
25:13|You’ve been carrying someone else’s burden. The weight of their healing, their progress, their transformation. You’ve believed that if you just try hard enough, they’ll “get it” just like you did. If you could just push them, nudge them, make them see what you see, they would awaken too.But this weight isn’t yours to carry. Let go.The more you try to pull others along on your journey, the more you hold yourself back. There’s an untapped power within you when you stop managing someone else’s evolution. It’s not about being superior, and it’s certainly not about fixing anything. It’s about releasing control. That’s when you find peace. That’s when you can connect with people authentically, not because you need them to change, but because you’re no longer trying to change them.You can’t force anyone to grow. They’re not ready. They’re on their own timeline. And if you’re too focused on their journey, you’ll miss your own. By stepping back, by letting others fall apart, burn, or reshape themselves as they need to, you create space for your own evolution. The path you walk won’t be the same as theirs. And that’s how it’s meant to be.When you release the rope, you clear the energy you’ve been wasting on something you can’t control. That’s when the magic happens: you grow. Not because you’ve manipulated anyone’s healing, but because you’ve stepped into your own.True freedom lies in knowing that you don’t need everyone to be where you are. You don’t need them to catch up to you. Their healing isn’t your responsibility, and neither is the timeline of their progress. This is what true sovereignty looks like. Walking your own path, letting others walk theirs. And in that, you’ll find peace.🔓 UNLOCK THE FULL EPISODE + BONUS CONTENT: Want to keep listening? Get full access to this episode, ad-free listening, and my entire archive, plus exclusive Patreon-exclusive podcasts like The Consciousness Stream and The Deep Cut and access to Pathwork, my digital mystery school. Pro Tip: iPhone users should sign up through a browser (Safari or Chrome) to avoid Apple’s extra fees.🔗 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODEMy full archive is available at patreon.com/backfromtheborderlinecommunication mastery series part 2: the stoic art of emotional control
01:13:13|Welcome to Part 2 of our Communication Mastery Series. In this episode, we’re diving into something powerful and timeless: Stoicism. This philosophy isn’t just for philosophers or ancient thinkers. It’s an emotional control blueprint for anyone who feels overpowered by their feelings, trapped in emotional reactivity, and has a hard time finding peace amidst life’s chaos.You’ll learn about the history of Stoicism, the philosophers who laid the foundation, and how their principles can serve as your secret weapon in the battle for emotional mastery. We’ll tackle the criticisms surrounding Stoicism. Yes, it’s been misunderstood, especially in today’s world. But I’ll show you how it’s the perfect antidote to the overwhelm, stress, and emotional hijacking we’re constantly facing in our hyper-connected world.In this episode, we’ll break down the most crucial Stoic tools. The ones that will help you stop being ruled by your emotions and start responding with clarity, purpose, and control. You’ll see how practicing Stoic principles can transform your communication, allowing you to speak with confidence and calm even in the most emotionally charged moments.The world today is an emotional battleground with news, social media, and algorithms all vying for your attention and emotions. But if you can master your emotional responses, if you can stay centered in the storm, you’ll stop being controlled by the noise. You’ll become the calm in the chaos, responding from your emotional center, not from a place of fear, reactivity, or overwhelm.If you’ve ever felt like your emotions are running the show. this episode is for you. It’s time to take back your power, regain control, and navigate your life and conversations with the clarity and strength that Stoicism offers.GO DEEPER WITH HUNDREDS OF BONUS EPISODES + WEEKLY PATHWORK PROMPTS. Unlock my FULL ARCHIVE of members-only content + Patreon exclusives:PATHWORK → Weekly self-inquiry prompts to turn insight into transformation.THE CONSCIOUSNESS STREAM → Raw, unfiltered deep dives.THE DEEP CUT → Structured breakdowns of esoteric + psychological themes.BONUS EPISODES + RESOURCES → Hundreds of hours of hidden gems.Start exploring right now for FREE and see everything waiting for you at backfromtheborderline.com.i miss who i was before the internet knew me
22:30|The internet never felt exactly safe, but it did used to feel like freedom. A wild, unstructured frontier. A portal you stepped through to escape family, teachers, and society, diving headfirst into a chaotic unknown. This was before Silicon Valley had perfected the algorithms, before influencers commodified authenticity, before activism became a performance and your identity became data to harvest.Now the digital world feels heavy. Notifications pull you from your body, urging you to document life instead of living it. You scroll through a sanitized landscape, endlessly policing your own thoughts, shadowboxing with invisible algorithms. Celebrity culture metastasized, influencer campaigns turned your insecurities into profit, and now your inner life is just another marketplace.You don’t want to delete yourself. This is our reality now. But you can still feel the psychic toll every day of your life. Every moment online carries the weight of surveillance, commodification, and division. You miss the person you were before you started watching yourself through a screen, before freedom turned into a cage.There is a deeper ache beneath your exhaustion. It calls you back to yourself. Listen closely.🔓 UNLOCK THE FULL EPISODE + BONUS CONTENT: Want to keep listening? Get full access to this episode, ad-free listening, and my entire archive — plus exclusive Patreon-exclusive podcasts like The Consciousness Stream and The Deep Cut and access to Pathwork, my digital mystery school. Pro Tip: iPhone users should sign up through a browser (Safari or Chrome) to avoid Apple’s extra fees.🔗 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODEMy full archive is available at patreon.com/backfromtheborderlinecommunication mastery series part 1: command your voice, command your life
01:38:54|The way you communicate will either open doors or shut them. It’s time you start mastering it. You’ve been talking your whole life, but what if your words are failing you? What if your communication is costing you relationships, opportunities, and peace of mind? We’re conditioned to think that just “saying what we feel” is enough, but deep down, we know there’s more to it than that.In this episode, we’ll start to unravel the truth about why communication is broken for so many of us. The things we haven’t been taught. How to get what we need from others, how to assert ourselves without guilt, and how to create connections that actually last. I’m not here to sugarcoat things. I’m here to show you how you’ve been holding yourself back. What you weren’t told growing up is that communication is power. If you don’t know how to wield it, you give that power away. You let others control the narrative, control your relationships, and control how they see you. We’ll take a look at why so many of us struggle to communicate effectively. Why we’re misunderstood, why we feel like we’re always fighting to be heard, and why poor emotional regulation plays a huge role in all of it. I’ll share some of my own painful lessons, too. Times when I let my emotions hijack me and ended up sabotaging the very connections I was trying to build. We won’t just dissect the problem. I’ll also give you tools to fix it. We’re going to explore the lost art of rhetoric. The ancient skill that the best communicators used to reshape their reality and influence everything around them. You’re not broken, but your communication could use some serious work. And that’s where we’ll start.We’ll also talk about the difference between manipulation and assertion. Many people get scared to speak with power because they fear they’ll be labeled manipulative, but learning how to communicate powerfully is not the same as trying to control or manipulate others. You’ll learn how to take back control of your own voice without crossing that line. I’ll show you exactly how your emotions have been controlling your interactions and how to break free from that. It’s time to stop reacting and start communicating from a place of strength. I’ll walk you through real examples. Where I messed up, and how you can do it differently. GO DEEPER WITH HUNDREDS OF BONUS EPISODES + WEEKLY PATHWORK PROMPTS. Unlock my FULL ARCHIVE of members-only content + Patreon exclusives:PATHWORK → Weekly self-inquiry prompts to turn insight into transformation.THE CONSCIOUSNESS STREAM → Raw, unfiltered deep dives.THE DEEP CUT → Structured breakdowns of esoteric + psychological themes.BONUS EPISODES + RESOURCES → Hundreds of hours of hidden gems.Start exploring right now for FREE and see everything waiting for you at backfromtheborderline.com.you're sleepwalking: it's time to wake up to what's ACTUALLY real
25:01|You’ve been sleepwalking. Moving through your days as if reality is fixed, inevitable, and happening TO you. You’ve felt hijacked by the comments, opinions, and energies of others, as though your peace and power are at the mercy of everything outside yourself. But what if this isn’t the truth at all? What if reality is not fixed, but fluid, symbolic, and entirely shaped by the way you see?In this episode of The Consciousness Stream, you’ll discover how to ACTIVELY participate in shaping your own experience. Not through hollow manifestation techniques or superficial affirmations, but by deeply engaging with symbols, archetypes, and the hidden currents that shape your inner world. Together, we’ll explore how subtle yet profound shifts in your perception ripple outward, changing how others respond to you, how synchronicities multiply, and how life itself begins to feel more meaningful, more alive. It’s time to stop letting the world dictate your inner reality and reclaim your sovereignty. It’s time to see beyond the illusion you’ve mistaken for truth and step into the powerful, symbolic alchemist you’ve always been. Are you ready to wake up? Once you hear this, you’ll never see your life the same way again.🔓 UNLOCK THE FULL EPISODE + BONUS CONTENT: Want to keep listening? Get full access to this episode, ad-free listening, and my entire archive — plus exclusive Patreon-exclusive podcasts like The Consciousness Stream and The Deep Cut and access to Pathwork, my digital mystery school. Pro Tip: iPhone users should sign up through a browser (Safari or Chrome) to avoid Apple’s extra fees.🔗 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODEMy full archive is available at patreon.com/backfromtheborderlinewhy you crave chaos in love
01:04:44|Why does love feel most real when it hurts? When the tension, the pull, the rupture are the only things that makes you feel alive? If you’ve ever found yourself confusing emotional chaos for connection, this one’s for you.In this episode, we’re diving beneath the surface of your craving for intensity. The kind of love that leaves you anxious, off-center, and chasing closeness like a fix. This isn’t love. It’s a nervous system wired for unpredictability. It’s the echo of past wounds that made love feel unsafe, volatile, or earned through over-functioning. We’ll unravel the deeper patterns. The ones that don’t just keep you tied to toxic dynamics, but make the stillness of real intimacy feel foreign. We’ll talk about why safe love can feel boring, why peace can feel threatening, and how to start seeing these cravings for what they really are: old survival scripts dressed up as romance.This isn’t a self-help pep talk. It’s an invitation to see your pain clearly. To stop making a home in heartbreak. And to remember: stability isn’t the absence of passion. iIt’s the soil where real love finally has the chance to take root.Unlock my FULL ARCHIVE of members-only content + Patreon exclusives:PATHWORK → Weekly self-inquiry prompts to turn insight into transformation.THE CONSCIOUSNESS STREAM → Raw, unfiltered deep dives.THE DEEP CUT → Structured breakdowns of esoteric + psychological themes.BONUS EPISODES + RESOURCES → Hundreds of hours of hidden gems.Start exploring right now for FREE and see everything waiting for you at backfromtheborderline.com.the demons you bury are the lessons you need to learn
19:47|The same problems keep showing up in your life, don’t they? The same struggles, the same emotional triggers, the same conflicts that feel like they’re stalking you no matter where you go. What if they weren’t random? What if they weren’t about other people, or the situation, or even bad luck? What if they were the mirror of something deeper? Something unresolved within you, constantly showing up in the world until you face it?In this episode, we’re diving into the demonic forces that don’t just exist outside of you, but within. We’ll explore how unresolved psychic forces project outward, manifesting in your relationships, your career, your sense of self. These forces, often experienced as externalized “problems,” are really the unacknowledged shadows of your own psyche trying to get your attention.We’ll unravel the nature of these inner forces, and how they show up in our lives not as punishments, but as opportunities for transformation. But transformation doesn’t come from avoiding these forces, it comes from facing them. When we stop resisting the chaos, when we stop fighting the shadow, we begin to transmute it.So what if your struggles aren’t things to fear? What if they’re invitations to integrate and reclaim your own power? What if you could finally see the forces behind your recurring struggles, and choose to transform them? Sit with that. Press play. Let the transformation begin.🔓 UNLOCK THE FULL EPISODE + BONUS CONTENT: Want to keep listening? Get full access to this episode, ad-free listening, and my entire archive — plus exclusive Patreon-exclusive podcasts like The Consciousness Stream and The Deep Cut and access to Pathwork, my digital mystery school. Pro Tip: iPhone users should sign up through a browser (Safari or Chrome) to avoid Apple’s extra fees.🔗 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODEMy full archive is available at patreon.com/backfromtheborderlinehow the energy you carry is secretly controlling your life
01:23:59|You think you’re moving through life as yourself, but something is running beneath the surface. A frequency, a pattern, a program that shapes everything around you. It’s invisible to the naked eye - and even your conscious awareness - but it’s there, shaping your world, your relationships, your opportunities.But you’ve been blind to it. You’ve been living inside it, mistaking it for reality itself. Until now.In this episode, I’m not here to comfort you. I’m here to wake you up. To reveal the energetic archetypes that have been shaping how the world meets you without your knowledge. These archetypes - the Armored One, the Eternal Girl, the Unseen One - they aren’t who you are, but they’ve become how you move, how you interact, how you exist in the world.These patterns don’t define you. They never did. And the moment you see them for what they are, you can start to step outside of them. No more surviving on autopilot. It’s time to reclaim your sovereignty. Because the moment you see the program, you’re no longer just a character in it. You’re the one writing the story.Something is already shifting as you read this. The real work begins now. Press play. Unlock my FULL ARCHIVE of members-only content + Patreon exclusives:PATHWORK → Weekly self-inquiry prompts to turn insight into transformation.THE CONSCIOUSNESS STREAM → Raw, unfiltered deep dives.THE DEEP CUT → Structured breakdowns of esoteric + psychological themes.BONUS EPISODES + RESOURCES → Hundreds of hours of hidden gems.Start exploring right now for FREE and see everything waiting for you at backfromtheborderline.com.