Strange Orphan

This week, Laura answers a difficult question, "Do I even try to have a relationship with my dad?" Emotionally Immature parents are difficult emotional time-sucks. Trying to engage with parents who don't see you can leave you exhausted, frustrated, and unsure of yourself. How do we know when its time to give up and walk away, and when its appropriate to hold out and keep trying to forge a relationship.

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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Sometimes no matter how many attempts we take to move forward, nothing seems to be showing up. In this episode, Laura helps someone navigate their journey through "the void," and how when handled correctly, can be fertile times to strengthen our faith, our worth, and re-establish our radio signal to the divine.

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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I think we can all agree that self-worth should be innate. We all are born equal and worthy. So why do some feel like God’s favorites, while others struggle with low self-worth? This episode Laura dives into how worthiness wounds show up in our lives often stemming from our reflections from the father, and how this reflection supports of hinders the connection between our worth, our passions and our purpose.

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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Forgiveness is not because they deserve it. It's certainly not a "welcome back in" sign. This episode Laura breaks down the fundamentals of how to approach forgiving. And how when done too quickly, forgiveness can actually wind up holding us back in a place of resentment. Forgiveness isn't for them, it's for us.

Cited: Gabor Mate

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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It's Laura's birthday. You're invited. It's in the basement of Chuck E. Cheese. Sometimes figuring out how to celebrate yourself is a battle all of its own, especially if you've never been shown how. Laura dives into her past ineptitude at "doing birthdays," along with tips for honoring yourself even when your life is in shambles. Want to send a birthday gift to strange orphan? Well gosh, thanks! :)

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Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on...

HERE’S THE THING ABOUT OUR STORIES. THEY’RE A SELF FULL-FILLING PROPHECY. They keep us stuck in a loop of our story, without realizing it. Not just attracting the same dynamics, but also seeing the world in a limiting way. How do we wipe our old dirty goggles clean, and begin to question the thoughts and beliefs keeping our lives limited?

Want to be on the pod for a live WIP session? Email us at [email protected].

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Oh man...This week we're talking FAWNING,--The slutty little sister of self-abandonment. The act of trying to feel "safe" and "okay" by continuously placing someone else's energy above your own. Sounds exhausting? Well, it is. Laura dives into how fawning has been re-appearing up in her own life, along with exploring some of the root causes of fawning, such as MEAN MOMS and BEING MADE TO FEEL LIKE A HUMAN DOORMAT!

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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Identity collapse, the false self, identity void after foundational erosion, all these terms are explored today on the pod. How do we say goodbye to old identities, especially the false ones we still kind of like?

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Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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Cited:  Alice Miller "The Drama of the Gif...

This episode Laura delves into the murky terrain of getting back into a place of true inner power, and agency after years away. We talk the different energetic resonances of power vs. fake power, such as “force.” How we can get out of survival mode to come back into reception with ourselves. Sometimes coming back into a powerful place of self worth, requires meeting our selves in the places we don’t want to go to. 

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

Pleas...

This episode Laura delves into the murky terrain of getting back into a place of true inner power, and agency after years away. We talk the different energetic resonances of power vs. fake power, such as “force.” How we can get out of survival mode to come back into reception with ourselves. Sometimes coming back into a powerful place of self worth, requires meeting our selves in the places we don’t want to go to. 

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show...

Hey everyone! This week Laura responds to a Dear Orphan email about how to employ discernment in dating when we're starving for "soup." Laura gives her advice on navigating those super intense, (yet not entirely red flagged,) relationships that seem to come out of the blue, and suck us in like a vortex. Do we navigate the high-octane intensity of TRAUMA BOND relationships determines wether or not we'll wind up shipwrecked.

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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This episode Laura gets personal with a recent setback, and talks from experience on how to move forward when nothing is working. When its actually "you" and your methods that might be "the problem." The new chapters of life require letting old versions of yourself go, but allowing these doors to fully close isn't easy. We're talking shedding, and advice for the uncomfortable stillness of transformation. And what to do when you no longer know how to dress yourself.

Got a thought of a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected]...

Hola strangos. This week we're talking "re-entry" into the dating world after serious time away. Healing brings new perspectives, but also makes us really weird out in the world, like dating flagellum. Laura also reflects on celibacy and sovereignty in dating and boundaries, as well as the "father wound," and how father longing can play into how we conduct ourselves and who we choose to date.

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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"Healing” is often portrayed as our fast-track to peace and up-levels. But when you grew up in a narcissistic environment, shedding old versions of yourself can feel more like a loss than a liberation. How do we say goodbye to these versions of ourselves that we barely got to know? How do we navigate the in-between space of identity loss? How does one become, an adult? And is it really worth it? 

Show Notes:

Alain de Botton - The School of Life @theschooloflifelondon 

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Emai...

How do we prime ourselves for "miracles" and "manifestations" to occur in our lives? After having a home-related miracle fall in her lap this past week, Laura dives into her take on the “mechanics of miracles,” and how we might be more responsible for our participation in helping the Divine bless us, than we know.

Neuropsychologist, Dr. Julia DiGanji - @drjuliadiganji 

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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Mother's day is here. And with it comes an entire buffet of questions on how we're supposed to survive it. How do we fill the ache in our hearts that lingers even years after leaving our original homes? How much "love and nurture" can really be asked of our pets? This episode dives into Laura's tips for nurturing yourself, and finding ways to not feel like a sad orphan this weekend.

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

Ple...

Sometimes there’s no place like home. This week Laura dives into her years long battle with constant uprooting, and the nervous system work of facing the emotional storms that continue to plague us from our original homes, and how to win the war against Airbnb, and the family of cockroaches inhabiting your rental.

TRIGGER WARNING: Brief mention of S***ide.

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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Strange orphan is on the road! This week we’re talking about surviving "hermit mode," that isolating season of deeply internal realignment. Laura gives her tips on navigating that darkness-disco to rediscover your own light. She also discusses her gripes with Airbnb bedsheets, and entering her Fivel era. 

Got a question for Strange Orphan? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll dive into it on the show. 

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What's the difference between manifestation, delusion, fantasy and disassociation? Who knows! These are very thin lines, folks. 

This week we’re talking about creativity, or disassociation, depending how you look at it. And how it might just be the last thing that saves us from the nightmarish daily news cycle we're currently living in. Laura takes us on a journey through the past, how she resorted to fantasy to escape and uproot to London with a TV show, and how using creativity as a means of disassociation to escape a traumatic upbringing isn't always the...

This week we’re talking about creativity, and how it might just be the last thing that saves us from the nightmarish daily news cycle we're currently living in. Laura takes us on a journey through the past, how she resorted to fantasy to escape and uproot to London with a TV show, and how using creativity as a means of disassociation to escape a traumatic upbringing isn't always the best advice. We explore the value of our attention, and what we give it to. As well as tried and tested methods of harnessing our everyday creativity into something th...

Highly critical parents are dream killers and soul crushers. How do we clean out the old septic tank of a subconscious, and finally take action on our aspirations and dreams after years of emotional pummeling? 

This week Laura answers another WIP question, on how to find the motivation to take action on our goals, after an upbringing of heavy criticism. Laura explains her theory of “the gap of defeat,” and the methods she’s employed in order to do life and take action on our goals. 

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Lost the energy to perform in the world? It's one thing to cut ties from a former career. It's another to have no remaining shreds of "ambiguous ambition" left. This episode dives into the early days of trying to "make it" in lunatic Hollywood, and the painful unraveling that occurs when we've been performing as the "false self."

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References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl8iYAo90pE

This week we’re answering a listener's” very timely question about navigating a “stuck season." What's the course of action when it feels like the universe is pummeling you with a baseball bat for fun? When nothing in your present circumstance is going right, making sense, or remotely kind at all. We talk navigating this rough terrain of a “stuck seasons," along with some of Laura's personal experiences in them, including helpful tips on how to not lose your mind in the meantime. 

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How do we stop obsessing over the past? Rumination is the coping mechanism to the try and understand the traumatic and unresolved, however it’s not a helpful one. This episode explores Laura’s battle with rumination, and freeing our bodies and out energy from the trap of overthinking. The hardest part of moving on, is forcing the mind to “not look back.” 

Materials referenced: 

“Slaughterhouse Five” - Kurt Vonnegut 

“Breaking the Pattern of Being Yourself” — Dr. Joe Dispenza

“The Power of Now” - Eckhart Tolle

So you’ve finally “chosen yourself.” Now what?

Do you still have a problem saying "no?" Do you struggle maintaining your "energetic space" out in the world? Are people constantly dumping their emotional burdens on you like the pigeon lady from "Home Alone?"

This episode delves into the complex topic of physical and energetic boundaries, and the trying task of drawing our antenna back to ourselves after decades spent catering and worrying about the lunatics of our homes. 

How do we stop endlessly ruminating about what remains unresolved? How do we shift away from old energy and embrace what is new? How can we stop "looking back" at the traumas of the past, so that our life doesn’t resemble a page from a Kurt Vonnegut novel? This episode dives into the hinderance of rumination, which can often accompany old traumas, and ways to break the cycle of over thinking in times of emotional activity. 

Sources referenced:

“Slaughterhouse Five” — Kurt Vonnegut 

“Energy Rising” — Dr. Julia DiGangi 

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What do we do when the life we’ve been living is suddenly revoked?  When the universe has reduced us to “mush?”  How does one navigate a strange orphan life-collapse? This episode Laura goes deep into her story of life-collapse; her sudden ejection from her life in the UK, and the tough time that followed in Texas. As well as insights on how to navigate the aftermath of life's shake-ups.

Do you have a question for Strange Orphan? Email your estrangement questions in to [email protected] and Laura would love to answer it on the pod!

Ple...

Happy Valentine's Day! This week we're talking trauma bonds, feeling "loved starved," and other romantic pitfalls that await the strange orphan on their search for love.

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Laura’s Book Rec: “Hotel du Lac” by Anita Brookner 

Happy Valentine's Day! This week we're talking trauma bonds, feeling "loved starved," and other romantic pitfalls that await the strange orphan in their search for love.

This week we get into America's aversion to "full-frontal grief." As well as exploring the different methods for not conquering your "grief," such as fleeing your life and uprooting to a different country.

Today we dive into the heavy hitter topic of Narcissistic family dynamics and "how to know when to go."

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Welcome to Strange Orphan! We're diving into the journey of estrangement, one bear trap at a time!

Check out @StrangeOrphan on YouTube and Instagram