Feed the Feminine

Masculine-dominant cultures are terrible at grieving, whether it's actual loss of life or the decaying of institutions, ideas, hopes, futures -- and that's by design. We have hardly any skill or stomach for the thing we’re all inevitably careening toward, and perhaps that's one of the biggest reasons we're bubbling over with anxiety, depression, avoidance, and cruelty as a group. But it doesn't have to be that way. Through the recent loss of her dad, Vanessa explores grief as an opportunity to deepen into the feminine. Whether personal loss or collective, if grief is love with nowhere to go, maybe we can give it some direction.

Filmmaker brutbros joins me for an in-depth exploration of the symbolic and archetypal themes in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.brutbros film library: https://www.youtube.com/@brutbros

An intro or refresher on the archetypal masculine and feminine.

Masculine metrics tell us who to trust. We pay for that certainty with our own instincts. Who do you give your authority to instead of yourself?

On this episode, dedicated to my mentor and friend Bruce Avery, I share how my personal experiences of grief and the wisdom of poets and psychologists alike have led me to understand the meaning of mourning.References:Psychoanalytic Diagnosis - Nancy McWilliamsThe Dark Interval - Rainer Maria RilkeUnlocking Us with Brené Brown - Grief and Finding MeaningAll There is with Anderson Cooper - Grateful for Grief with Stephen ColbertRefuse in Grief, Megan Divine

Codependency influences us to be responsible for making other people feel better. Success in that area is what can determine a sense of personal value, but this creates suffering. A more objective truth is that we can support each other but the work to quell our upset and evolve is ours alone. And boundaries – a trait of the masculine light – is where that healthy separation begins.

Discussing behavior traits of the feminine shadow and their impact on relationships. When we’re stuck in the feminine shadow, our self-image is usually not great. Because it’s a darker manifestation of feminine light which is about relationship and community, when that healthy manifestation turns dark, it’s still about relationship and community but about us being on the outside of it, feeling disconnected from it, not allowed into it.

Let's talk about empathy: highly sensitive empathic attunement, those who have no empathy at all, empathy's impact on co-dependency, empathy through the feminine/masculine framework, and how it can feel impossible to manage empathy in times of global suffering.References:Live Lift Love Podcast, Episode 7

A masculine-dominated culture is asked to stop hustling and stay home instead? As the world asks for feminine traits to take the lead in uncertain, community-focused times, those obedient to the masculine face fear and anxiety about a new way of being.Let's talk about it.

This episode I'm paying tribute to legendary sports broadcaster and WRHU mentor Ed Ingles who passed away this week. I discuss how his mentorship helped me overcome my own self-imposed silence and get me on the path to self-discovery, self-expression, and self-healing, as well as the patient, nurturing ways this broadcasting legend empowered college students to follow their dreams.Credits:Live Lift Love Podcast, Episode 7: https://www.galtsconditioning.com/podcast/live-lift-love-podcast88.7FM WRHU's Ed Ingles Interview with Chris Buckley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFYmDyy3wuA

Why it can be helpful to understand food through the lens of addiction, how relational wounding and sexual repression may influence our food relationships, and why consciousness and shadow integration may help satisfy our hunger.

On this episode I share an essay I wrote about the spiraling maze out of depression and into self-compassion.Originally published 10/14/2019

Different therapists take different approaches to therapy. I explore how some approaches are inherently rooted in masculine qualities while others in feminine. Why does this matter? Is there a right time for these certain interventions? How can these different approaches be used in service to balance?Originally published 9/30/2019

People experiencing oppression are not generating illness from within, they're being poisoned from the outside and then punished for how they respond to that poison. If we, as therapists, don't let that part of the conversation into the room, we're going to pathologize the wrong part of the equation, we're going to make our client the "Identified Patient," and we're going to perpetuate their oppression.Originally published 9/14/2019

How can understanding our individual reactions to the collective's repressed feminine help us understand our own hopelessness?Originally published 8/26/2019

With the masculine justifyingly dominant in military environments, how can civilians utilize feminine qualities to support veterans who are struggling after service at an alarming rate?Originally published 8/19/2019

What is moral injury and why are oppressive systems working so hard to convince us we're just "burned out" instead?Originally published 8/11/2019

Viewing food as a metaphor, we may see dis-ordered eating patterns as an attempt to revive the repressed feminine. Plus how to ensure your implicit weight bias isn't harming someone you care for.Originally published 8/4/2019

Drawing from wiser minds, including Marion Woodman's concept of the "illusory totality" of binge eating, I explore what unconscious functions are served when we use food to deprive or deluge ourselves.Originally published 7/21/2019

On this debut episode I share my own personal experiences with disordered eating and discuss the overall mission and philosophy of The Hungry Feminine.Originally published 7/7/2019