038 Authenticity, People Pleasing & True Intimacy!

We all want connection, but sometimes our defense mechanisms—or “parts”—get in the way. Some of the most common culprits are the People Pleaser Part and the Obligated Part. We may think there’s no other way than to do things we don’t actually want to do and to put others’ needs first at our own expense, but there absolutely is. In fact, tamping down our authentic self guarantees we won’t experience true intimacy in our relationships. After all, how can you feel fully known or understood if you’re not really showing up? So, while our “parts” have the best intentions, they’re unfortunately misguided. This is where Internal Family Systems and Self Energy comes in! Self Energy is our higher consciousness and already feels connected to everyone and everything. From that place we can heal the People Pleaser and Obligated parts and experience real closeness with others.In This Episode, You’ll Learn:- How defense mechanisms or “parts” may show up in your relationships- How people pleasing can sneak up on you even if you’re an assertive person who isn’t afraid to speak up- How accessing Self Energy can easily help you heal parts that aren’t serving you and bring you closer to the people who are ready to love you for exactly who you areWORK WITH HEATHER:Apply for a free no-pressure discovery call to learn about Heather’s 3-month “Intimacy Infusion” coaching program - https://calendly.com/hshann1/discovery-call-1-clone?back=1&month=2023-07 LET’S CONNECT! FIND HEATHER HERE ⤵️:Heather’s Website - https://HeatherShannon.co Heather’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/AskASexTherapist Heather’s YouTube - Check out the video version of this podcast & more! - https://www.youtube.com/@AskASexCoach  SIMILARLY AWESOME EPISODES:Liked the episode? Here’s a few more episodes of Ask A Sex Therapist that you'll enjoy:Episode 23 - Heather coaches, a Vanessa, and you get to listen to their session! - https://pod.fo/e/178cc5Episode 03 - The Emotions Of Sex - https://pod.fo/e/15c61aRATE & REVIEW US!Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here. https://podfollow.com/AskASexTherapist All Apple written reviews are eligible to win a 3-book bundle of books (or audiobooks) from Heather’s Amazon Storefront (https://www.amazon.com/shop/heathershannonlcpc). Listen to the podcast to win and if you hear your review read, email us at [email protected] to claim your prize!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp