All episodes

Ep 134. Train the Pause

Ep 134. Train the Pause

‧ 16m 36s

What happens when criticism reaches your nervous system before your thinking mind has time to catch up?

A critical comment can trigger an immediate urge to explain, defend yourself or push back. The response may take only seconds, but it can leave both people feeling uncomfortable and create tension that later needs to be repaired.

In this episode, I share an insight from a recent coaching conversation and connect it with a principle used in dog training: impulse control is first practiced under manageable conditions, before the level of distraction is gradually increased.

You’ll learn:

• why criticism can activate...

Ep 133. Shared Feelings

Ep 133. Shared Feelings

‧ 13m 22s

Can a feeling become part of a relationship?

Looking back at my life with three horses, I can now see a different emotional theme in each relationship: freedom with Chio, not belonging with Serena, and resignation and rejection with Maggie.

In this solo episode, I explore the Trust Technique concept of Shared Feelings and why I only understood its real significance much later. This is not about claiming that an animal simply mirrors our emotions. Animals have their own bodies, histories, needs and experiences. But our feelings, expectations and habitual responses also enter the relationship.

What becomes visible when we...

Ep 132. My Inner Voice Isn’t Talking to Me

Ep 132. My Inner Voice Isn’t Talking to Me

‧ 16m 19s

What if your inner voice is not actually talking to you?

In this solo episode, I share a surprising discovery: most of the time, my inner voice is addressing other people. It is teaching imaginary participants, preparing podcast episodes, creating courses, and turning everyday experiences into something I could share.

That observation led me to a bigger question: who is your inner voice talking to, and what is it trying to achieve?

I explore the different forms inner voices can take, why some sound like parents, teachers, or former bosses, and how tone, volume, speed, and distance can change their...

Ep 131. Spirituality Without the Woo: Finding Presence in Everyday Life

Ep 131. Spirituality Without the Woo: Finding Presence in Everyday Life

‧ 25m 4s

Poetry as prayer, and spirituality you can actually live in.

In this episode, Christine sits down with Colette Lafia, an award-winning writer, retreat leader, and spiritual director from the San Francisco Bay Area, to talk about her book Leaving the Shore: Experiencing Poetry as Prayer. Colette makes a quiet but radical case: that we don't need to decode poetry to be moved by it, and that a single line or image can become a way of slowing down and reconnecting with what matters. Along the way, Christine opens up about her own path from a very cognitive life into spirituality,...

Ep 130. How Guided Imagery Can Help Heal Trauma, Grief and Guilt

Ep 130. How Guided Imagery Can Help Heal Trauma, Grief and Guilt

‧ 31m 50s

Time may create distance from a traumatic experience, but it does not necessarily resolve the guilt, fear or grief attached to it.

In this episode, Christine speaks with clinical psychologist Dr. Chris Cortman, author of The Guided Imagery Cure. Drawing on more than 40 years of clinical practice, he explains how guided imagery can help people actively process unresolved experiences and reach a sense of closure.

The conversation explores:

Why avoidance can keep traumatic experiences emotionally active
What happens when the brain continues to respond from fear and hypervigilance
How guided imagery can change the meaning attached to a painful...

Ep 129. How to Think More Clearly and Make Better Decisions

Ep 129. How to Think More Clearly and Make Better Decisions

‧ 27m 19s

Why can we recognize that something is not working, yet still hesitate to change it?

In this episode, Christine speaks with Andres Kuusk about the thinking patterns that quietly shape our decisions. Andres is a seven-time World Pentamind Champion, former game theory professor, business executive, and author of Unlocking the Success Puzzle.

The conversation looks beyond motivation and productivity advice. Instead, it examines how assumptions, cognitive distortions, and survival-oriented shortcuts can make us overestimate difficulty, avoid uncertainty, and limit ourselves before we have properly tried.

They discuss:

why believing you are inferior can become a self-fulfilling prophecy
how early learning...

Ep 128. How to Rebuild Your Life After Losing Your Daily Routine

Ep 128. How to Rebuild Your Life After Losing Your Daily Routine

‧ 5m 8s

For the first time in 26 years, Christine no longer has a horse determining her daily routine.

Although Maggie has moved to what Christine considers the perfect home, saying goodbye revealed something unexpected. It wasn't only the horse she would miss, but the structure, movement, rhythm, and responsibility that had quietly organized her life.

Reflecting on the seven weeks of intensive care while Maggie recovered from illness, Christine explores how deeply our identity can become connected to the responsibilities we carry.

This isn't only true for horse owners. The same questions arise when we retire, finish an important project, change...

Ep 127. How to Turn Tension Into Better Decisions

Ep 127. How to Turn Tension Into Better Decisions

‧ 24m 23s

Many (leadership) challenges are approached as problems to solve.

But some aren't problems at all.

In this episode, Dr. Tracy Christopherson and Michelle Troseth introduce the concept of polarities: interdependent pairs of perspectives, values, or priorities that appear to be in conflict but actually need each other to achieve a greater purpose.

We discuss:

Why we often default to either-or thinking
Common workplace polarities such as managing vs leading, hierarchy vs partnership, and individual vs team
How different perspectives improve decision quality
The difference between healthy tension and destructive conflict
Why psychological safety is essential for navigating disagreement
How partnership...

Ep 126. How Trauma Patterns Shape Identity And How Awareness Creates Choice

Ep 126. How Trauma Patterns Shape Identity And How Awareness Creates Choice

‧ 24m 51s

In this episode, Christine speaks with Keri Lefave about trauma, identity, triggers, and the daily work of choosing a different response.

Keri describes how early experiences of restriction and abuse shaped her sense of self, her relationships, and her ability to speak up. She also shares the turning points that helped her recognize repeated patterns, leave an abusive relationship, and begin rebuilding her identity from the inside out.

The conversation goes beyond personal story. It explores how patterns persist, how triggers show up in everyday life, how the body can signal old responses, and why awareness creates the possibility of...

Ep 125. How Authenticity Builds Trust and Personal Brand

Ep 125. How Authenticity Builds Trust and Personal Brand

‧ 21m 15s

What creates trust?

According to Brittni Cosgrove, it is not visibility, marketing tactics, or having the perfect message. Trust grows when people consistently experience authenticity and alignment.

In this conversation, Brittni shares her perspective on personal branding as an expression of who we are rather than a performance we create. We discuss the difference between authenticity and role-playing, the importance of vulnerability, and how pressure and perfectionism can pull us away from ourselves.

We also explore:

What authenticity actually means
Why vulnerability does not require giving up privacy
The role of presence during stressful situations
Internal versus external sources of...