And Still We Rise
The "And Still We Rise" Podcast (formally known as The Ego Project), is hosted by mental health therapist and group practice owner, Cristine Seidell. It is a space where look deeper into our limiting beliefs or behavioral patterns, seek to understand our authentic self and find new and exciting ways to celebrate the radiance we are meant to bring into the word. Through unscripted and unedited conversations with thought-leaders, therapists, spiritualists, and creatives, And Still We Rise explores how childhood wounding and intentional healing impacts our lives.
And Still We Rise
From Awareness to Inspired Action: Breaking Down the Healing Journey
Healing has become such a buzzword in our conscious, awakening world—but what actually is it? In this deeply reflective exploration, we unpack the true nature of healing as an ongoing process rather than a destination.
The healing journey follows a distinct cycle that begins with awareness—that moment when our bodies alert us something isn't right, whether through relationship patterns, self-destructive behaviors, or somatic responses like unexplained physical symptoms and panic attacks. Your body is the alarm system trying to bring unconscious patterns into the light. We examine how to identify these patterns and trace them back to their childhood origins, where they likely formed as survival mechanisms.
Then comes the challenging threshold of acceptance, where many of us get stuck yearning for justice while struggling to accept we can only control our own healing path. This pivotal moment requires us to acknowledge that while we didn't create these patterns, we're responsible for how we continue them today. The journey culminates in inspired action—that beautiful space where authenticity, purpose, and joy become possible again as we reconnect with who we truly are beneath the layers of wounding.
Perhaps most importantly, we explore the shadow side of healing—how the language of transformation can be manipulated and weaponized. True healing is quiet, embodied rather than proclaimed. It creates a presence that feels grounding and kind without judgment or superiority. Whether you're beginning your healing journey or supporting someone else's, remember that genuine healing always returns us to love, both for ourselves and others. You're good, you're worthy, and you're valuable exactly as you are.
Thank you for tuning into And Still WE Rise! If you would like to learn more about me or the work our practice is doing, feel free to follow us on Instagram at:
@atltherapygirl and @risetherapycenter
Or check us out at www.risetherapycenter.com
Hello and welcome to. And Still we Rise. My name is Christine and I am your host, and today we are talking about healing. What the actual hell is healing, how do you do it? And, from the shadow side, what are some of the misuses and manipulations of healing? So, with that said, let's get started. Manipulations of healing. So, with that said, let's get started.
Cristine Seidell:So healing is such a buzzword in today's world, especially within our very enlightened, you know, waking up to the intuitive type of world that we're living in right now, where everybody is so consciously aware of the need for self-work Now, I say everyone, but we all know not everyone will be available to do the healing work, but it is such a topic of conversation as we go into connections in this world. So it's really important to understand, from an individual's perspective, what healing actually is. And healing is not a place you get to, it's not this destination. Healing is this ongoing process of becoming consciously aware of patterns and belief systems that are creating angst in your life and you are no longer available to continue them. So healing is really the cycle that we may go into many times throughout our life when we become consciously aware of something is no longer working for us. Now understand that not everyone is going to be available to do the healing work in this world is going to be available to do the healing work in this world. Honestly, if we really think about it. Some of us have the privilege of being able to be consciously aware. Not all of us are living within the survival mode of life, so if we look at some people that really don't even have the capacity to have their basic needs met, like food, shelter, clothing, safety within their own body, being called to the healing work is really not something that they can access at this moment, because it's not safe to even be within their own body, to even take a moment to be present with what is a more subconscious need at this level. It's really about trying to survive in this world, whether that's a physical lack of safety or a psychological lack of safety. Some people will just not be able to or available to do this work in this life. But if you're someone who's listening to this podcast, I feel like you're probably somebody who is. So, with that being said, let's talk about what the healing cycle is. Again, it's a process, and so the way that I like to describe it is called the healing cycle, knowing that it's cyclical and that as we complete a cycle, we may become more and more aware of other cycles that need to be looked at within itself too, and for your convenience, I'll actually add a link to this podcast where you can access a little infographic that talks about the healing cycle.
Cristine Seidell:So the first phase of healing is something that I call awareness. Awareness is when we consciously begin to recognize that something is not okay. We begin to feel the sense of dysregulation within our bodies. This is not something that we think, this is something we feel. We begin to say this is not okay with me, something doesn't feel right. Now, this may be something within a relationship, maybe it's a pattern within a relationship where we begin to recognize this doesn't feel safe to me, this doesn't feel right. Something is just not okay in this relationship. I can't put my finger on it, but I can sense it. Maybe it's a self-destructive behavior. This is not okay for me to participate in. I am not okay doing these things. Whether it's substance use, whether it's promiscuity, whether it's harming the body, there is some self-destructive behavior that we become consciously aware of is not okay for us.
Cristine Seidell:Or third, and this is actually, one of my most satisfying types of clients to work with is when our bodies can't actually put words to it, but it knows that something is not okay, and this is what we call somatic responses to stress. This is the dysregulation within our body, as if our body is like this alarm system, saying you may not be able to consciously tell yourself that something's not okay, but I am alerting you that something is not okay. This can show up as prevalence in panic attacks. What I see a lot of is different centers of the body having some type of somatic response. Oftentimes, a lot of my clients come in with some type of throat issue whether it's a tick, whether it's a feeling of something caught in the throat, whether it's nausea, whether it's a fear of vomiting but there's some part of the body that cannot be attributed to something else physically. They've gone to doctors, they've gone to holistic healers and they cannot find anything going on within the body that would explain what is going on in that particular center. So the body itself is saying alert, alert, I am not okay. You've been off the grid and I'm going to light you up so that you pay attention to me, become aware. And this is where we become very consciously aware of what this actually is Right.
Cristine Seidell:So let's say we're in a relationship and the dynamic within a partner or let's say, parent, child or friendship or work relationship the dynamic is what is alerting us to something is not OK. And as we explore what that pattern is and we see the pattern play out, we're able to look at what is that actually? Maybe these are patterns of codependency. Maybe they're patterns of people pleasing, maybe they're patterns of egocentric. What are the patterns that are disrupting our ability to be and feel secure in something? That's the first part of awareness is understanding what is it actually not, what does it feel like? What is it actually, by a very realistic perspective, actually are, so that they can help you see and navigate where these patterns are playing out and what they're actually called from a psychological standpoint. That's the first part of awareness. The second part of awareness is understanding where did these patterns originate?
Cristine Seidell:Now, as a childhood expert, as an inner child therapist, I of course go back to childhood. I look at attachment, I look at ego, development phases and I begin to understand where this dysregulation, where this false belief system originated. And this can be a very difficult process because there is oftentimes some shedding of the understanding of what a relationship actually is versus what we really hoped it would be, and there can be a lot of cognitive dissidence, meaning I believe this or I think this, yet I feel this, and that can be a longer process that many people are really wanting to invest in because there is this sense of really hoping things are different than what they are. But it's the place we have to start. We have to know what it actually is and where did it originate. Now the second phase is called acceptance.
Cristine Seidell:Acceptance is a tricky, sticky place, because acceptance requires us to step into a place of. I recognize that I am not responsible for the creation of these patterns. The creation of these patterns happened in a part of my development, that I had no other choice but to develop these patterns, to seek safety and connection with my caregivers. And I have to take responsibility with how I am victimizing myself today, how I am actively participating in my own hurt, in my own woundedness, by continuing these patterns as an adult, and I am no longer willing to do that. This is where a lot of people can get stuck. It's called the threshold of work. We don't want to go back to being unconscious, so to speak. Yet we really, really, really want a sense of justice.
Cristine Seidell:It's hard to grapple with the fact that in childhood there was some conditioning that led to us having these patterns in adulthood that have been very, very painful, and we can only control ourselves. We can only make the choice to heal for ourselves. No one else can make that choice for us and we can't make that choice for them. So acceptance requires us to detach from what others are willing to do in their own healing work. So, let's say, I'm working with a couple.
Cristine Seidell:This is a point at which we can no longer blame each other for what they are doing. We can no longer dwell what we call a fear cycle, meaning if you meet my needs, then I will change. If you do what you need to do, then I will do what I need to do. No, this is a point at which you have to fully accept and consciously choose to do something different because it's for your greatest good. You have to accept that you have to love and choose yourself and your healing before and above anybody else's changes. And this is tough. This is our little inner teenager wanting justice, wanting to be seen, wanting to be heard and oftentimes that just does not happen. We have to do it for ourselves, not happen. We have to do it for ourselves.
Cristine Seidell:And then the third step is called inspired action. And inspired action is such a beautiful space to be because you have crossed the threshold of acceptance and you are ready. You are so ready to come back into authenticity in this world. You are so ready to be an integrity, to shine in the way that you were always made to shine, knowing you are good and worthy and valuable just as you are. And this is where you get to do a lot of really yummy work around. Who are you really? You know before all of the woundedness occurred in childhood, what makes you you, what sets you apart, what makes you shine? How do you move in this world with purpose, out of service? And this is the place where we find so much joy and so much love, first for ourselves and then for other people.
Cristine Seidell:And in this work we really are very specific in who we are. We write down our characteristics, we speak about what is healthy for us and what is not healthy for us, and we live in integrity under that framework every day, consciously. Is this something that is authentic to me Am I in integrity? And listen. Life can be messy, life can be weird. We can be a little messy, we can be a little weird. That's part of what makes us us and we have to accept those parts and move through that part too. Live in this world playfully, live in this world joyfully, be intuitive, be funny, be wise, attune to animals, attune to children Whatever makes us so unique and special. We do that every single day, consciously.
Cristine Seidell:Now, the final piece of this podcast we're going to talk about what is the shadow part of the healing work. We're going to talk about what is the shadow part of the healing work, and this is a difficult concept because until you start understanding the healing process and the healing cycle, you will be very, very susceptible to people's healing narrative and unfortunately, like I said, not everybody will be available to heal in this world. Some people will continue to be in self-destructive patterns, and not only self-destructive, but patterns that harm others. So, unfortunately, some people have learned the healing narrative and talk about healing, but they talk about healing from a place of superiority. I have done my healing work. I have healed. You need to do your healing work. This is clearly an unhealed part, almost from a lens, of I am better than you, I am wiser than you from a place of healing.
Cristine Seidell:Now, this can be shrouded in spirituality, it can be shrouded in religion, it can be shrouded in just people being out there giving healing advice. Understand that healing is done very quietly, it's done in a very sacred space, in a very sacred space. It's done with what I call the bones of grief. It's not something we proclaim, it's not something we brag about, it's something we embody. And it's very, very, very evident when you are with somebody who has completed several rounds of their own healing cycles, because their presence feels grounding, it feels inviting, it feels kind and it feels like a source of love. There's no judgment, there's no shame, there's no calling out, there's no proclamation. Calling out there's no proclamation, there's no showing, the evidence of it just exists.
Cristine Seidell:So be very mindful of people who want to use healing as a source of superiority, as a source of making you feel less than, or that you should aspire to where they're at. Healing is a connection back to the divine and that is only a source of love and care and kindness, and through healing we embody that as we move through this earth. So anyone who uses their healing as an example or as a status that you should achieve or aspire to be towards. That's manipulation of the healing cycle. We are all in this journey and even those that aren't going to really be able to have the privilege of being available for healing, we still sit in a place of love and joy and kindness for those people, maybe with boundaries because maybe they're coming from a place of manipulation, but we still hold space for those people from a place of love and care and kindness, but without access to us. So I hope this gave a little bit of an explanation of what healing is.
Cristine Seidell:We'll be having some other videos around particular patterns that people have gone through the healing cycle in, and I will go into more depth of each of these phases and other podcasts. But again, thank you for joining us today. Please feel free to reach out, subscribe and like and, as always, if there's a topic that you would really like to hear about, please send us a DM or a message. We would love to be able to highlight that in our upcoming episodes. Anyway, you're good, you're worthy and you're valuable. Go, have an amazing day.
