This Tree and Me

There is a version of this work that feels like enough. The clarity that keeps arriving. The understanding that deepens. The knowing that grows. And it is not enough. Because listening is not living. This episode is about the step most people never take — the Follow. Why the Listen and the Allow are the beginning and not the destination. Why the act is what opens the door to everything that comes...

What if the answer to everything you have been chasing is smaller than you think? Not a ceremony. Not a breakthrough. Not a vision. A clean kitchen. A made bed. A folded pile of laundry. This episode is about the most practical and most overlooked teaching in all of self-development — the little things. Why they are the actual foundation and not a checklist to complete before the real work begins....

Before you lead anyone else — there is something that has to happen first. Most people skip it. Not because they don't know it matters. Because they don't know what it actually looks like. This episode covers what self-leadership actually is and what it is not, why the LAF Method is not a clean sequence but a living process that loops and deepens, what it means to teach self-leadership by living i...

How much of your life have you actually given yourself permission to live? Not the life you are capable of. Not the life you talk about. The life you have actually stepped into. This episode covers what the noise inside actually is and what it is pointing at, why we point outward at others when we cannot face something in ourselves, the version of you that got buried and why buried is not the same...

You can meditate every morning. You can journal. You can get the clearest message of your life and feel completely aligned. And still be in the exact same place a week later. Not because the practice is wrong. Not because the message was unclear. Because the receiving and the doing are two different things. This episode is about the doing. This conversation covers: The distance between the message...

You can do all the work and still not get there. Not because of effort. Not because of discipline. Because of the gap. This episode names what lives in that gap — and how to fill it. Belief is not something you think into existence. It is not borrowed from someone else's excitement when you announce what you are building. It is proven. To yourself. By yourself. Through the accumulation of evidence...

Most people are building in the wrong order. The visible work gets done. The invisible work gets skipped. And eventually everything built on that unfinished ground falls — and the cycle starts again. This episode is about the foundation. What it actually is. Why most people skip it. And what it costs when they do. This conversation covers: Why doing alone is not enough — and what the gap actually...

This episode is coming from inside the middle of something real. A life purge underway. The candles burning out one by one — Compassion first, Love next, Coach after, the ceremony candle last. A meditation mantra arriving and returning all morning: it takes all of us. This conversation covers: What a real purge looks like — not a closet cleanout, leaving the entire life that built you The differen...

What happens when you realize you've been trying to perform a feeling instead of actually feeling it? In this episode of This Tree and Me, Cory J Riggs explores the distinction between “feel” and “look” — not intellectually, but through lived experience. The conversation moves through: how the ego manufactures appearance why genuine feeling cannot be forced the body as the authority over what is r...

This episode begins with a blood vessel popping in Cory's left eye — and ends with five words that changed the ground for everything ahead. This is a storytelling episode. Not a teaching episode. The teachings are inside the story. The arc moves through: A physical limitation that stripped every external support away and revealed the practice beneath it The worthiness wound named for the first tim...

This is where the pattern used to break. The eye. The financial pressure. Every legitimate excuse available. And two journal entries anyway. In this episode we go into the place where the bad habits come back, the excuses start, and everything around you is telling you to stop — and what finding a way actually looks like from inside it. Not from the other side. This conversation covers: Recognizin...

You've already proven the process works. In this episode we break down why most people refuse to apply what they've already built — and what that resistance is actually about. This conversation covers: Proof vs confidence Fear that stays but loses authority Applying a proven process to new and scary arenas LAF as an operating system, not a philosophy This isn't about starting over. This is about r...

Do you believe you have to suffer to heal? In this episode of This Tree & Me, Cory J Riggs explores the belief that pain and suffering are required for growth—and challenges the idea that holding onto your past is what proves you’ve changed. This conversation breaks down the difference between feeling pain and living in it, and how identity can become tied to guilt, past actions, and self-impo...

In this episode of This Tree & Me, Cory J Riggs explores the role intention plays in personal growth and why many people feel stuck despite consistent effort. The conversation shifts away from productivity and external results, focusing instead on internal alignment. Cory breaks down how ego-driven patterns—comparison, urgency, and outcome chasing—can create the illusion of progress while keep...

You think you’re building a life. But what if you’re not? In this episode, Cory J Riggs explores a shift that reframes everything: life isn’t built in the future—it’s built in the present, one day at a time. Drawing from real journal insights and lived experience, this conversation breaks down how ego-driven urgency for results pulls you out of the process, and why most people stay stuck in cycles...

What if the parts of your life you thought were behind you… were never actually repaired? In this episode, Cory J Riggs explores the difference between moving forward and truly healing. Using the metaphor of a damaged road, he breaks down how most people learn to patch over pain, create detours around difficult experiences, and continue forward without ever addressing what’s underneath. But what i...

Reflective Opening Inside every person there are moments when two voices seem to speak at once. Both sound reasonable. Both sound convincing. One voice leads toward truth. The other protects the ego. Learning to recognize the difference is one of the most important practices in personal growth. Episode Summary In this episode of This Tree & Me, Cory J Riggs explores the subtle distinction betw...

Most people build their lives in survival mode. Working harder. Pushing faster. Trying to prove something. And for a while, that survival energy creates momentum. It builds discipline. It builds resilience. It builds strength. But survival was never meant to lead your life forever. In this episode of This Tree and Me, Cory J Riggs explores the moment when survival must step back and clarity must t...

Life will happen. There will be pressure. There will be growth. There will be fear. There will be opportunity. You cannot stop life from unfolding. But you can decide who leads when it does. In this episode of This Tree & Me, Cory J Riggs explores what it means to live from the inside out — taking responsibility for your internal world so your external life reflects clarity, structure, and sel...

If you are not leading your internal system, your ego is. In this episode of This Tree and Me, Cory J Riggs breaks down what true inner leadership looks like — not control, not force, not suppression — but authority through love, structure, and healing. You’ll learn: • Why your ego doesn’t disappear — it breathes • What real leadership inside yourself actually means • Why healing requires structur...

https://coryjriggs.com Motivation can push you forward. Inspiration can lift you up. But neither of them heals the parts of you that keep repeating the same patterns. In this episode, I explore the difference between motivation, inspiration, and true healing—and why ignoring the ego doesn’t make it disappear. It waits. We talk about why cycles repeat, why success doesn’t protect us from breakdown,...

If you knew that every path you took would include suffering, pain, and eventually death, which path would you choose? Most of us choose the path of "settlement" because the ego convinces us it’s safer. It plays an internal movie filled with excuses and justifications to keep us from the "doing" that makes our transformation real. ​In today's episode of This Tree and Me, Cory J Riggs deconstructs...

The gap between seeing what you need to do and actually doing it is where the ego thrives. It uses your own physical discomfort to keep you stuck, turning your anxiety into a reason to stay still. In this episode, we break down how to listen to the vision and move through the resistance by recognizing the body's signals as a compass for growth. It’s time to stop the cycle of non-doing and start th...

The pain you are running from is not your enemy—it is your compass. Tonight, we introduce the first step of the LAF Method: Listen. We aren’t listening to join the drama or agree with the narrative. We are listening to hear the lesson. It is time to stop ignoring the shadows and start withdrawing the wisdom hidden within the wound. ​https://www.coryjriggs.com/blog https://www.coryjriggs.com/podcas...

We all have "versions" of ourselves built for survival. But what happens when those protectors—the walls we built to stay safe—start keeping us from growing? In this episode, Cory J Riggs discusses the internal ecosystem, the ego's "warm blanket" of familiar pain, and why there are no shortcuts on the path to healing. ​Resources: Explore more at the Blog: https://www.coryjriggs.com/blog Official P...