embrace the madness

In this episode, my best friend of 22 years joins the podcast to share her journey and experience in psychology, graduate school, and integrating a practice called "radical acceptance" into her life. A skill taught by Dr. Marsha Linehan, psychologist and creator of DBT (dialectical behavior therapy), radical acceptance brings together the idea of human behavior and concepts like mindfuln...

In today's world, we are constantly being fed information and news regarding the latest updates about what's going on around us. How healthy is it to consume day after day? It's become an addition and we need more and more each day to catch our fix. We want to stay informed so that we can help out where we can, but where do we draw the line when it seems to be invading our lives? How do we maintai...

Get ready to have your heart and soul GLOWING after this episode, starring my friend Ophrah. After 10 years, it was time for an update, and she joins me in a glorious conversation about her life and journey discovering her passion and purpose. She graciously shares how her upbringing, family, and spirituality have made her into the passionate and fierce woman she is today. She's a co-host of the h...

The moment we've all been waiting for is finally here, but has anything actually changed? Will all our problems just disappear with the past year? Can we leave it all behind? In this episode, we talk about what it means to enter a new year and how we can use our reflections from 2020 to help make 2021 work for us. If you are looking for deeper, more intimate support, I invite you to join the mad m...

It seems like it's been a season full of surprises, downfalls, successes, and just plain ol' gamechangers. It's been hard to wrap my brain around all the changes. Can we get a break, just for a second?? PLEASE? In this episode, I share some of my experience with feeling lost, disconnected, and depressed. It seems like it's a mood right now. But I'm coming out of it. I'm remembering that it's a cyc...

Duality, the idea that two equal and opposite forces can coexist, has been plaguing my life! "Either this or that, it can't possibly be both!" I drive myself back and forth almost daily trying to come to terms with the fact that two contradictory things can be true. It's not something that comes easy,especially when thinking about the "oneness" of the universe. Listen as we dis...

This year is one that keeps on giving, but how can we find gratitude in things we didn't ask for? How does one take all these challenges and hardships and make something out of it? It just takes a little mindset adjustment, but remembering to count our blessings is what will save us from this year. I share my recent experience practicing gratitude amidst all the setbacks this year has given me, an...

Nature is often a beautiful parallel to our human experience, and fall is no different! I took some time to be in the woods and in the middle of peak foliage season, I was mesmerized. The beauty of the colors around me filled my heart with joy, but it also reminded me of some core truths about my own life. I experience change and transformation just like the trees do, losing their leaves after the...

It's that week, y'all! Yeah, we got the election coming up, but it's also Embrace the Madness' BIRTHDAY!! Can you believe we've been around for a whole year? Me either. It's a celebration! I take a little bit to check in, talk about election week and how important it is to stay grounded and remember our strength no matter the results. If you are looking for deeper, more intimate support, I invite...

As of late, my mind and my body are having a hard time communicating. One usually thrives at the expense of the other, and the mind has been winning. Unfortunately, this means a lot of anxiety, doubt, fear, and plain ol' discomfort. I imagine a lot of folks to be experiencing symptoms like this, most definitely because 2020 has just been THAT year. Although it's a year of growth and seeing things...

As of late, I feel like overwhelmed is one of the winning emotions in my awareness. Constantly being surrounded by news and social media doesn't help, when we are already feeling like we are gonna explode. In this episode, I talk about what some signs of overwhelm are, as well as some ways in which we can reduce our overload and figure out how to manage the chaos. By tuning into our body and our e...

We have found ourselves in a topsy-turvy 2020 thus far, and to top it all off, it's an election year. There is a lot at stake this year, so we cannot afford to opt out. We must accept our current reality and take the next best step to rebuilding our communities and revitalizing our national morale. In this episode, I share my take on the election, the importance of voting, and I discuss some of th...

While things in the external world seem like they are way out of our control, it's helpful to remember that we do have control over some parts of our lives. The choice we make in our perception of the reality we experience is something we have control over, though we may not always realize it. Whether it is a conscious or unconscious choice, we have the enormous power of where we focus our attenti...

2020 is just a year for the books. We've been taken on this rollercoaster of a year without any warning, and my emotions have been all over the place. It's really hard to find inspiration when you are constantly coming up for air. I've been feeling down for a couple of weeks, but I know I'm not alone. When you find yourself in this state, it's hard to find that motivation you need to keep pushing...

This week, we get silly and spiritual! My friend Dennis Ross joins us this episode to share his journey, his goals, and his experience with abundance and manifesting his reality before his very eyes. He shares his humble beginnings growing up in poverty, pursuing higher education at University of Kentucky, and eventually his time in the US Navy. Dennis shares gems upon gems of wisdom and power, as...

I've been feeling burned out and uninspired and trying to remember it comes and goes. It's hard though! I took a quick moment to think about my productivity, my burnout, and how I've been navigating all of it coming together. I also remembered that it was Labor Day, and what better way to contemplate my place in this world than a day founded on respect and rest. If you are looking for deeper, more...

It's been a minute since I've shared a little bit about my life, where I'm at personally, and what steps I'm taking to keep my sanity while I spend most of my time at home! My Patreon launches next week, September 2, and so I wanted to take it easy this week. I reflect on time during the pandemic and living in the world over the last few months. And how my dreams are coming true :) If you are look...

ETM gets a mini history lesson! As police brutality continues in America, it brings up an interesting point in regards to the responsibilities of the organization. I did some research so I could learn for myself the history of the police department in America and how that evolved into what it is today. After reading a few accounts from historians and police reformers, I learned a lot about the ini...

This week, we're sharing our top tips for how to stay grounded and calm AF right now. It seems like social media is at an all-time drainfest, and this can be a huge leech in our time and energy. It's mega important to be mindful of these circumstances and their negative effects on our lives. When we can find ourselves centered, we are in tune with our bodies and hearts, and we can live our lives f...

The summer of 2020 has definitely been one for the books. It seems like each day brings a new crisis to give our attention to, but how healthy is it for us to constantly be in a state of fear and anger? It's important that we keep a grounded perspective so that we can stay calm and think critically about how we can take action. By building our emotional strength, we can fully take care of ourselve...

Mental health is something still stigmatized today in 2020, and the way we can address this is by creating dialogue, educating ourselves, and spreading awareness. Ingram Stovall joins us this week to share her journey into the world of mental health and what inspired her to join the social work field. She passionately reflects on her experiences in New Orleans as the first student from Southern Un...

*TW: This episode talks about trauma, which may trigger you if you have had a traumatic experience. We discuss trauma in general (nothing graphic). If this applies to you, please listen with caution. ♥♥♥ Suffering is an inevitable part of life, unfortunately, so good coping mechanisms are crucial if we want to live healthy lives. Sometimes this suffering happens to be severely intense, more so tha...

Who is Odd Wilson? Ever wondered why he wears that big head during his performances? I got a chance to talk with my friend, Odd, who shared his story about life, music, and everything in between. Odd shared with me one day the importance of being fearless, both in creative endeavors and life as a whole, so I wanted him to share the same wisdom on the podcast. Listen as we discuss Memphis vs. New Y...

Acknowledging our societal privilege is one of the first steps we can take in the movement toward ending systemic racism. There are a lot of complex emotions like shame and frustration that arise when we begin to think about racism, white privilege, and that's okay. Racism seems like a yucky relic from the past, but the more you learn, the more you realize how the very reality we live in has been...

Sometimes reality comes crashing down, smacks us in the face, and leaves us looking confused at a whole lot of broken pieces on the ground. As yucky as these shattered illusions may seem, they are often a blessing in disguise. I share some of my experiences with "awakening" to the state of reality as we know it, and how this may have been amplified with the quarantine in place. If you ar...