Sitting with Pain: Finding freedom through courageous feeling Artwork

The Soul Horizon

The hero the world’s been waiting for? It’s you, sweet soul. Join psychologist and insatiably curious spiritual truth seeker Ashley Melillo each week as she melds psychology and spirituality to explore soulful topics such as consciousness, the nature of reality, self-reclamation + self-mastery, the higher self, empowerment, and awakened living. If you’re feeling stuck or stagnant and searching for a way to reignite that internal spark, this is the podcast for you. It’s time to come home to your soul—the world needs you to come alive.

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The Soul Horizon

Sitting with Pain: Finding freedom through courageous feeling

May 22, 2025 • Episode 111

In this episode, we're going to explore the power of being fully present with the painful emotions we experience and how, exactly, to do this (as well as how not to do it). This topic might seem like an oddly placed one in the midst of a season of episodes that's intended to be geared towards conscious relationships. And yet, the truth is that emotional opposites are intimately entangled. Painful emotions and pleasurable emotions are, in essence, two sides of the same dualistic coin. And that's why this episode is included here in the midst of a season about conscious relationships, love, connection, etc. Because to love more consciously we must bring more consciousness to all of our feeling experiences—the painful ones included.

Resources
Focusing Resources
Focusing Therapy: The Classic Six Steps
Focusing-Oriented Therapy Instructions (PDF guide)
Focusing-Oriented Therapy One: Learning How the Body Speaks and Listening so it Heals (workshop)

Podcast Episodes

Ep. 92: Beyond Victimhood—Reclaiming and revealing your own inner Hero

Ep. 88: Healing Beyond Shame: How shame sustains shadow repression + how to disintegrate ’Shamewalls’

Ep. 32: Spiritual Bypassing and the Fragmented Self

Ep. 10: Triggered: Using emotional triggers as a roadmap to healing

Reclamation Radio by Dr. Kelly Brogan: Ep. 100—How to Stop Repeating Toxic Relationship Patterns

Books
How to Be Loving* by Daniella LaPorte
How to Do the Work* by Dr. Nicole LePera
The Surrender Experiment* by Michael A. Singer
Focusing* by Eugene T. Gendlin, PhD
No Bad Parts* by Dr. Richard C. Schwartz
Beyond Anxiety* by Martha Beck

Articles
What is Parts Work?
What is Internal Family Systems Therapy?
Soul Work & Internal Family Systems (IFS) Beginner's Guide
Crying as a Powerful Stress Reliever: The Surprising Truth
9 Ways Crying May Benefit Your Health

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not substitute individual psychological advice.

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