Welcoming God
Hey spiritual seeker! My name’s Sarah Haykel and I’m the host of Welcoming God, a podcast for spiritual seekers.
In this podcast, I’ll be sharing the goodness of Welcoming God back into my life after years of rebelling against the God of my Catholic upbringing and years of honest seeking on a personal spiritual path. I’ll share my consistently evolving understanding of God and what I’m learning on the path, to help create a God accessible to the every day person.
We’ll have honest and sometimes hilarious conversations about how to go from being a “spiritual” person to a God-loving person. Understanding God as a benevolent guide. What does it mean to have a relationship with God? What does it mean to surrender to God? Cultivating a spiritually mature understanding of God. Learning how to discern God’s truth and will for our lives. How to cultivate the most important relationship you’ll ever have, with God, on a daily, moment to moment basis.
Come along on this spiritually rEvolutionary journey where we get to know God.
This podcast is marked as explicit because there may be swearing or content appropriate for mature audiences in some of the episodes.
Welcoming God
The Spiritual Journey: Cultivating Self-Compassion When Confronted with Shame
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When triggers hit, it can feel like an explotion of fire in your chest! Then comes the second wave: the inner judge that says you shouldn't feel this way, you shouldn't want this, something must be wrong with you! In this episode, we get honest about this crazy spiral and how to choose a different path: one of self-compassion, as both a spiritual practice and a grounded way to work with your mind and nervous system.
I walk through how simple noticing creates space between “adult me” and the parts of me that react with jealousy, fear, shame, guilt, or harsh self-talk. Using an Internal Family Systems (IFS) lens, those reactions are not enemies, they are protectors that learned their jobs through upbringing, lineage, and old beliefs that still run in the background when we get activated. When we stop fully identifying with those feelings, we can regain choice, steadiness, and a clearer connection to The One True Source!
You'll also get a practical, repeatable technique you can try the next time you feel overwhelmed by triggers: place a hand over your heart space, breathe, and offer a simple phrase to the parts of you that feel triggered like ,“I’m here” or “I hear you.” We also talk about when to reach for support, including working with a therapist or IFS practitioner to help parts unburden and heal so new beliefs and healthier qualities can take root.
If this episode resonates, share it with a friend who needs a softer way to meet hard feelings, and subscribe so you stay connected to what comes next on this podcast! If you can, leave a review to help more spiritual seekers find the show.
Want to stay connected? Join the email newsletter at WelcomingGod.com for a free ebook companion to season one and info on upcoming retreats for women going through the menopausal journey.
Music by Song Channel Music. Listen at SongChannelMusic.com
Ready to order your own hand-held clay labyrinth? Contact me at WelcomingGod.com by scrolling to the bottom of the page and sending me an email at the "Get In Touch" section! I can make laybrinths for individuals or for a group.
Content Note And Welcome
SPEAKER_00Hey everyone, Sarah here. Just to let you know, sometimes I do use swear words in these episodes, and we may at times discuss adult content. In case you happen to be listening around little ones or people that won't appreciate that. Thanks so much for listening, and let's get right into it. Hi, and thanks for joining me on Welcoming God. What are they really showing us? And how do we open up to a reframe, to something different to what God, one true source, whatever you call it, has and wants for
Why Compassion Starts With You
SPEAKER_00you. And today's episode is about compassion. It's about having self-compassion, having compassion for ourselves when we go through some of these what can feel like highly triggering feelings, emotions, thoughts. It feels like a fire in my chest, is like, whoa, there's a lot of energy here. Okay, what is this all about? And then I feel immediately shame, like guilt, bad feelings come up. I shouldn't be feeling this way. It's wrong. It's not right. I shouldn't be wanting this. I should, you know, bad, wrong, bad, wrong, like slapping my hand. And it's like, whoa, whoa, okay. All right. Thank you, managers, for trying to help my system. Those are parts and, you know, the internal family systems model. Um, thank you for trying to protect me from feeling these difficult feelings. Um, and I'm here now. You know, the adult Sarah is here. I I we talked about the free-to-be process in the first episode. I'm noticing that I am feeling these feelings. And once I notice, how does that create a little bit of space between me, present-day adult Sarah, and those parts that feel those ways? That would be from an internal family systems perspective. Um, or I could say, how does just noticing create some space between me and these feelings or thoughts so I can see them better? I am not totally 100% identified with them now. Ah, what a great relief. Okay, because sometimes I'm so blended with parts and feelings and thoughts that it's like I am them. I feel like I am. And there's no power in that, there's no choice in that. And that feels like a scary place to be because then I can do all kinds of things, say all kinds of things, and it's just reactions reacting from these parts. So when I can notice and have some space to say, ah, I see you. Okay, oh, I I see the jealousy, I feel the jealousy, I see it, I feel the fear, oh, and now I feel the shame. Now I feel the guilt. Now I feel the, you know, abusing, like you shouldn't be thinking this. And oh wow, okay.
Create Space From Triggered Thoughts
SPEAKER_00And I can just put my hand over my heart space, which uh is like the center of the sternum bone in your chest, and just give a little, you know, clock um counterclockwise circular motion rub there with the the kind of um palm of your hand, um, the area right underneath the knuckles of your the base of your fingers, and just kind of give a little rub there and say, okay, I'm here. Okay. So how do we take these moments to have some self-compassion, compassion for ourselves, for our parts? They've been through some tough stuff, or they've been trained to think this way or compare themselves to others and not accept what's for them or want what's for them. Like this might have come through parenting or the lineage or seeing other people act this way when we were
A Hand-On-Heart Calming Practice
SPEAKER_00kids, and then we've picked up these beliefs, actions, ideas from others we don't even realize they're still in us, they're still running our system in certain ways at certain times when we get triggered about something. So, how will you take some space to offer yourself some compassion when you start feeling judgmental toward your towards yourself for having these types of thoughts and feelings? How will you take some time to extend some self-compassion to yourself, to your parts? Just even taking a breath in the moment to say, okay, I hear you, I feel you, thank you for showing up. And then if you have the tools to work with them on your own, and if you don't seek support, find a therapist, find an internal family systems person to help you start working with these parts to help them unburden and heal and take in new beliefs, new beneficial qualities for your whole system and for the greater good of
Getting Support To Heal Parts
SPEAKER_00all.
Listener Invitation And Sharing Requests
SPEAKER_00So thank you so much for joining me in this new season of Welcoming God. I invite you to go over to welcoming God.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, and send me an email from the Get in Touch section. I am also creating handheld clay labyrinths. If you're interested in one of those, you can send me an email about that. I also could create them for a group. Um, and if you're interested in me sharing about anything on this podcast, any topics or ideas that you have, please share that with me through the get in touch section as well. Will you share this episode with a friend that it might support or post it on social media wherever you feel inspired to? And thank you so much for being here. Aloha, Nui Loa, God bless, and I'll see you next time.
Legal Disclaimer And Purpose
SPEAKER_00Hey everyone, Sarah Haeckel here from Welcoming God, a podcast for spiritual seekers. This is a legal disclaimer to say that this podcast is not a substitute for therapy or professional help. I am not a trained therapist. I also have not studied theology in a formal setting. This podcast is purely for educational, inspirational purposes, to share the goodness of welcoming God back into my life and all of the things that I'm learning on this journey. So thank you for joining me here, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.
Subscribe, Review, And Credits
SPEAKER_00Thanks for joining me on another episode of Welcoming God. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen, and consider leaving us a review as it helps more people find and benefit from this show. Music by Song Channel Music. You can listen and hear more at Songchannel Music.com. Until we meet again, Aloha Nui Loa, take care and God bless you.