
Conversations from the Heart
A weekly, soul-nourishing podcast offering psychologically grounded, heart-centered reflections on human relationships, inner healing, and compassion-based communication.
Focused on live mini-coaching moments to help callers shift from reactive, domination-based communication to collaborative, heart-centered connection. Listen for new scripts for stuck situations, new ways of responding to old relationship dynamics and guidance on how to approach these situations with empathy, self-awareness, and effective communication strategies. Here, we emphasize understanding both one's own needs and the needs of others, creating safe spaces for vulnerable conversations, and finding ways to express ourselves authentically while respecting others' boundaries.
Conversations from the Heart
#94 - How to Love Someone Without Letting Them Off the Hook
This tender and deeply resonant episode follows a heartfelt question from listener Cathy: Do I keep talking to my brother, even after all the harm he’s caused?
What unfolds is an intimate exploration of how to stay rooted in our own integrity when we’re torn between love and protection, compassion and accountability, connection and boundaries. We dive into how to love someone clearly, without collapsing into enabling, appeasing, or pretending.
Cathy shares the painful complexity of loving a sibling who’s caused irreversible harm - some unethical, some illegal - and the grief of wanting connection without pretending the pain never happened.
Warning: Strong language is used, so be careful if little ones are listening in!
📝 Shownotes:
- Do you have to forgive to love someone again? (Minute 12)
- What to say when someone you love won’t take responsibility (Minute 20)
- The difference between “enabling” and “accepting” (Minute 27)
- A real-life script to stay honest and kind (Minute 35)
- How to protect your inner child in hard family relationships (Minute 41)
- Why punitive force backfires - and what to do instead (Minute 50)
This episode is a masterclass in the art of loving honestly, and in choosing relationship without gaslighting yourself.
Join me this summer for my Holding Hope and Truth Over Comfort Mini-Workshops. We'll explore strengthening and centering hope, and choosing truth over comfort.
For ongoing practice and deeper learning, join my monthly membership program. You will find a safe space for live discussions and a supportive community of like-minded, open-hearted humans.
Stay updated on new episodes and resources by subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts or visiting yvetteerasmus.com.
Get 20% off your annual NVC Library subscription using the code YVETTENVCLIBRARY at checkout at: https://nvcacademy.com/registration/signup/nvc-library
Here are more ways to connect with me: