Bookends of Recovery and Healing: Addiction, Betrayal Trauma & Healing
Learn from my mistakes, experience, growth & healing:
30+ years clean • Healed after betrayal trauma 🌻
I share tools, exercises, and mindfulness for betrayal trauma healing and addiction recovery 🕊️
You don’t have to do this alone → BookendsOfRecoveryandHealing.com
Join r/BookendsofRecovery | Reality TV & Doberman lover 🐾
Episodes
119 episodes
The Erosion of Self
Sometimes you don’t realize how much of yourself you’ve lost until little pieces of you start coming back.In this episode, I’m talking about the slow erosion of self that can happen when so much of your energy is spent navigating someone...
Breadcrumbs of Information | Footprints of Betrayal Trauma
Sometimes progress doesn’t mean the alarm stops sounding. It means we respond differently when it does.In this episode, I share a recent experience with my ex that brought back an old, familiar pattern: breadcrumbs of information, fear, ...
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ANTs: Reframe Negative Thoughts and Manage Them
In this episode, I walk through an old group exercise and update it to help you learn how to reframe and manage negative thoughts. Also includes a free
Mindfulness Exercise for Anger and Resentment
A guided mindfulness exercise for moments when anger or resentment feels heavy. Using breathing and a gentle body scan, we’ll slow down and notice how those feelings are showing up in your mind and body.
Am I A Terrible Person? Learning About Boundaries and Healthy Detachment
Today we’re talking about why physical distance doesn’t always make emotional boundaries easier and what I’m learning about healthy detachment during separation.
Breathing Through the Stress of Anxiety
Today, we'll use a simple visualization to help you step back from the stress you may be carrying and gently return to the present moment.Stress has a way of pulling us away from ourselves.Together, we'll use the breath to find our w...
We Can Face Our Fears Using the Tools: Playing the Script Until the End and The Stop Sign
When fear tries to stop us or the negative voice starts chiming in our heads, we can combat it with these two tools: Playing the Script Until the End and The Stop Sign. Be sure to tune in next week for the guided meditation here and...
Why Some Apologies Heal...and Others Don't
It’s no secret that I’ve made about kabillion mistakes on my journey to emotional sobriety, and one of them included my amends.Initially, I wanted to apologize to everyone. Like, every single person imaginable. Where’s that cross? Let me...
The River Meditation: Letting Go
Join me for this calming guided meditation, designed to help you gently let go of what may be weighing you down as you imagine yourself beside a gently flowing river.
Written Boundaries: What Do You Think?
After my second disclosure, I spent a lot of time online. Some might say an unhealthy time online. Those some would be my counselor and my husband’s CSAT. They weren’t wrong.During that time, I remember seeing a lot of disagreements abou...
When a Crockpot Triggered My Trauma
A crockpot shouldn't trigger anyone...right? In this short, personal episode, I share what happened inside my head and how emotional sobriety helped me find my way back to peace.
The Velcro Brain: Learning What Deserves to Stick
Some people have what I call a Velcro brain. We don't just notice things... we hold on to them. In this episode, I share how my two clingy Dobermans helped me realize that healing isn't about becoming less of who we are. It's about decid...
The Puzzle Pieces of Healing with a Guided Meditation
Healing doesn't mean having all the pieces figured out. Join me for a short reflection, followed by a guided meditation, to help you explore your own puzzle, embrace the gray areas (gah!), and reconnect with yourself, one piece at a time.
Emotional Sobriety for Loved Ones: Learning Not to Engage
Not every conversation leads somewhere healthy. In this episode, I share a recent experience that reminded me what emotional sobriety looks like in real life and why protecting our peace sometimes means choosing not to participate.Visit ...
Learning to Feel: A Meditation on Making Space for Every Emotion
A calming meditation to help you make space for every emotion, reconnect with yourself, and remember that feelings come and go. You can feel deeply without losing yourself, staying grounded one breath at a time.
"Relapse is part of recovery." "No, it's part of addiction." Which is it?
"Relapse is part of recovery." "No, it's part of addiction." So...which is it? Let's talk about why this question hit me personally, emotional sobriety, and why boundaries still matter.
From the Archives: My Partner's an Addict...Should I Stay?
Before we get started, I wanted to add a quick update to this episode.When I originally recorded this, I was still in my marriage. Since then, my husband and I have decided to separate.I still agree that there isn't a single right...
Tending the Garden of Healthy Pathways: A Guided Meditation
Slow down, breathe, and reconnect with the healthy pathways within you.This guided meditation uses the symbolism of a garden to explore awareness, emotional well-being, self-care, emotional sobriety, and personal growth. Together, we’ll ...
Sometimes It Whispers: Stagnation in Recovery & Healing
Sometimes recovery and healing don’t unravel all at once. Sometimes it whispers.In this episode, we talk about stagnation and complacency in recovery and healing, emotional sobriety, unhealthy patterns that quietly return over time, and ...
Guided Imagery & Your Happy Place Guided Meditation (Throwback)
If you have ever felt overwhelmed or anxious, or had your thoughts spiral out of control, you are not alone. I’ve been there. Today I’m resharing some mindfulness techniques that you can use when things feel overwhelming, a trigger hits, or you...
Stuck in Recovery or Healing? Do You Need a Break or a New Direction?
What do you do when the tools that used to help no longer do? In this episode, we explore the brick wall in recovery and healing, and how to figure out whether it’s time for a change or time to give yourself a break.
How to Stop Overthinking in Recovery: Practical Tools to Break the Thought Spiral
Not every thought is a fact, but when you’re in the middle of a spiral, it can feel like it is.In this episode, we walk through simple, real-life tools to help you pause, challenge unhelpful thinking, and respond differently in the momen...
For the partners: Meditation: Detaching with Love
If you’ve been swinging between trying to fix everything and wanting to shut down, this guided meditation will help you find your way back to balance using detaching with love.
Detaching with Love: Holding Space & Letting Go Without Losing Yourself (with a worksheet walkthrough)
I thought I had detaching with love figured out… until I realized I was just pulling away. In this episode, I share my mistakes, the shift that changed everything, and what it really looks like in real life. Including a worksheet walkthrough.
Questions to Ask Yourself After Discovering Your Partner's An Addict...Do I Leave or Stay is Just the Beginning
When we find out our partner is an addict, one of the first questions we ask ourselves is do we stay or do we go? Especially if our partner is pornography and/or sex addict. In this episode, I share questions to consider beyond the question of ...
