Practical Growth: A Self-Recovery Podcast

Have you ever been manipulated by a narcissist? Shamed by them? Coerced through therapy-warped language? 

That's what we're talking about today as we explore the Jonah Hill controversy and what real boundaries look like in a relationship. We dive into how narcissists exploit therapy terminology to manipulate and even shame their partners. 

Even more intriguing, we'll question the effectiveness of treating a narcissist and examine their toxic entitlement to control in a relationship. This episode is a wake-up call to recognize these signs in your own partnerships. More importantly, it's an essential guide to asserting and maintaining healthy boundaries in your relationships. So tune in, and let's grow together!

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Do you want to improve your emotional regulation, stress management, and resilience?

Join me, E.B. Johnson, in the final episode of season two, as we dive into this groundbreaking approach and reveal how you can implement these life-changing techniques.

Listen in as we explore why cognitive reappraisal is so powerful and discuss three ways for you to embark on a journey of emotional transformation this summer.

As the season comes to an end, I want to encourage you to think differently about yourself and your life, and to strive for your personal greatness before the year's end.

So, tune in, embrace the journey, and get ready to unlock your full potential with the power of cognitive reappraisal. Keep your head up and your eyes on the stars – the sky's the limit!

SEASON 3 STARTS JULY 6th

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

• Having Fun Healing
• Learn to Chase Joy
• Learning to Let Go 

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Like it or not, there's power in having a realistically positive mindset. It changes everything in your life.

Why? It's because all our behaviors and decisions begin there, in how we think and what we believe. Our thoughts shape the decisions we make and the actions that we take. The people you choose, and the career paths you take, all of it is affected by your mindset. 

Be careful, though...

It's easy to take this idea and fall into the toxic positivity trap. We don't want that. That's why in this episode I'm going to walk you through what it takes to adopt a more balanced mindset that can create more positive outcomes in your life. Find the balance and improve every avenue of your life.  

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Are you stuck in the grips of a manipulative person? Is someone trying to pull your strings? Are they trying to call the shots in your life?

It can be hard dealing with someone who tries to control you through your emotions, or the close bond you share with them. You're always being diminished and forced to put yourself on the back burner.

No more. In this episode, I'll help you identify the manipulative relationships in your life and the tools you need to stop the endless string-pulling. Instead of settling for hurt and resentment, I'll teach you how to stand by your boundaries and to stand up for what you need - no matter who is manipulating you.

What We're Talking About:  

• How toxic people manipulate us 
• Beating manipulative behaviors 
• Taking control of your happiness 

A Few More Resources: 

• Take back power from manipulative people (GUIDE)

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Last week, it was all about forgiveness. This week? We're tackling the next step in the recovery journey...self-compassion.

It's easy for victims to have self-compassion for others. After all, they're conditioned by abusive parents and partners to have compassion (and empathy) for some of the most unforgivable and brutal of behaviors.

The problem comes when they try to extend that same compassion to themselves.

While survivors may learn to extend compassion to those who hurt them, they rarely learn to extend that same compassion to themselves. Instead, survivors tend to get stuck in patterns of harming themselves and tearing themselves down.

In this episode we're going to take a look at radical self-compassion, what it is, and why it must be the next step on your healing path.

What We're Talking About: 

• What is radical self-compassion?
• How does it look in action? 
• Why is it a part of the forgiveness journey? 

A Few More Resources: 

• Real Self-Compassion Guide

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

There are a lot of lies that self-made "healing gurus" peddle in online recovery spaces. The worst? That you have to forgive your abusers to heal.

How much truth is there in this? Are we really required to extend the grace of forgiveness to someone who doesn't show remorse? Do we have to hold that kind of space in our hearts for someone who made a choice to damage us mentally, emotionally, and physically?

In this episode, we're going to dispel one of the biggest and most dangerous myths in the self-recovery space: forgiveness. Tune in and listen up to protect yourself from more gaslighting and toxic advice that will lead you down the tunnel of abuse.

What We're Talking About: 

• What is true forgiveness? 
• Who deserves forgiveness? 
• Do we have to forgive to heal? 

A Few More Resources: 

• Forgiving Abusers
• Forgiveness and Healing
• Essential Ingredients Forgiveness

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Do you feel a sense of relief every time your partner or spouse leaves the house?

This is one of the biggest and most important relationship issues to pay attention to. You shouldn't feel a greater sense of peace or comfort when your partner is gone. If anything, you should miss them and feel comfortable with them around. 

Are you someone who looks forward to getting them out of the house? Is being left alone the best part of your relationship? Serious problems may be bubbling up in your relationship. In this episode, we're going to face each and every one. 

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Make no mistake, this episode is a call to action. It's a baptism by fire. And I hope on the other side you feel called to shed your pain and end the line of generation trauma that's been haunting your family for centuries...

Secrets are what make toxic families strong. From decade to decade, century to century, we see it. Entire families, hell bent on holding on to the shame, the pain, and the secrets that help to perpetuate the darkest corners of their homes.

These family secrets are what make us sick.

These family secrets are what allow the abuse and the disrespect to continue. 

This is your chance to break the cycle; to end the generations of trauma that have been breaking down, compacting, and shredding every new branch of your family tree. You have the power to make it stop, but you're going to have to speak up first. 

In this episode, we're going to empower you to speak up and end the trauma that's been putting you through the spin cycle your whole life. Silence is violence, but screams - they are power. This episode is your permission, your power to call out the trauma once and for all. 

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Do narcissistic parents really love their children? I'm sharing one of my most controversial opinions and laying out the facts in this episode. 

I'm going to explain how narcissistic relationships function - between parent and child - and explore the depth of love and what it really means in that context. We'll be exploring empathy, support, and stewardship vs. ownership.

What we're talking about: 

• What makes a narcissistic parent really? 
• The elements of true parental love 
• The root of a narcissistic relationship

A few more resources:
Narcissistic parents
Narcissistic families
Narc abuse recovery

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

My deepest healing couldn't until I accepted one brutal truth: my mother knew she traumatized me.

It was demonstrated throughout my childhood. Moment after moment revealed a woman who could have done better, but didn't. A woman who saw the pain building, and decided to do little. 

Once I accepted that my mother was aware, I was able to accept myself and my childhood in radically transformative ways. You can too, but you may have to swallow one of these 6 hard realities and commit to doing something about it.

What We're Talking About: 

• The line of awareness
• Signs of consciousness
• Confronting the reality

A Little More...

• My Mother Knew She Was Traumatizing Me

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Where do narcissists come from?

They certainly don't exist in a vacuum. So where do they come from? Are they created strictly by trauma? Is it inherited? The answer is a lot more complex than we first believe.

The truth is that narcissism has many layers. Biology is certainly a part of it. Genes play a role and so does neurochemistry. Environment is also a key factor in harboring narcissistic tendencies.

But there's a deeper level to consider: parenting. And that's what we're going to take a look at in this episode. What are the 2 parenting styles that contribute the most to narcissism? Is there anything we can do to change the pattern? Yes.

What We're Talking About: 

• Development of narcissism
• How parenting affects narcissism
• Overcoming narcissistic parenting

A Few More Resources:
The Parenting Styles That Create Narcissists

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Where do you sit on the narcissistic spectrum?

This week, I'm taking you on a deep dive into echoism - the distant cousin of narcissism. What does it mean to be an echoist? Are you living in echoistic patterns?

Listen to this episode to find out the truth about echoism and how you can defeat it in yourself after surviving narcissistic abuse. It's not always as straightforward as you may think. 

What we're talking about: 

• What is echoism? 
• Where does it come from? 
• How can we defeat it? 

A few more resources:
Echoism and Narcissism

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

The Practical Growth Podcast is back with special guest Duncan from BoldlyGrowing4Ward. In this episode, we're talking personal accountability. What does it mean to be personally accountable? What role does it play in improving the world and ourselves? 

Duncan is going to blow your mind in this eye-opening episode on healing, admitting when you're the problem, and making the most out of the parts that make you most human. 

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

This is the most brutally honest episode of Practical Growth I've ever released, and the most brutal to record. I hope you'll understand, and I'll see you in the new year. Happy Holidays!

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

Did you suffer a lot of your trauma around the holiday season? Even when you're removed from the chaos, the symptoms can remain.

Notice yourself getting overly stressed, even though there's not a lot going on? Feel an impending sense of doom as Christmas looms closer? Feel like you can't show up enough for your friends and family? Like you need to impress them?

All of these could be signs of cyclic trauma rearing its ugly head. Check out this episode, as I break down why this happens and how we can manage the stress of traumatic holiday memories.

What We're Talking About: 

• Cyclic nature of trauma
• Effects of holiday trauma
• How to manage triggers

A Few More Resources: 

• Cyclic Holiday Trauma
• Managing Holiday Expectations
• Toxic Holiday Relationships

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

There's a reason I go on and on about narcissistic families. They differ from any other form of a toxic family in the world. Why? I'm going to break it down for you in this new episode.

We are going to set out the 5 main differences between a standard, run-of-the-mill toxic family and a narcissistic one.

Were you raised in a toxic family? What makes their abuse so much longer lasting? So much more damaging. It's all getting exposed. Listen now for the full scoop.

What We're Talking About:

• What is narcissism? 
• What is a narcissistic family? 
• Why are they so different? 

A Few More Resources: 

• Narcissistic Family
• Childhood Trauma
• Healing from the Pain

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

I've been getting a lot of heat from toxic parents in the comment section lately. So, this is an open message to every abusive and manipulative parent who hates the message that I spread. Get ready! You're not going to like it.

For everyone else, this episode is very different. It's a love letter to you and the work that I do.

Because the truth is this: the work isn't about me. It's not about feeling good and looking good. It's about making life better for myself and for others. It's about ending the cycles of generational traumas that are destroying families and destroying the planet.

A Few More Resources: 

• Read the full message on Medium.com

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

My clients are always so perplexed by the time they come to me.Despite years of therapy and hundreds of hours spent learning and researching, they keep falling into the hands of narcissistic people.

Why? Haven’t they learned better? Haven’t they broken the cycle by identifying narcissists and every single trait they could exhibit?

This week, we're going to get to the bottom of this major problem. I'll reveal why you keep attracting narcissistic partners and friends into your life, as well as what you can do to stop it. 

What We're Talking About: 

• Narcissistic relationship patterns
• Why they happen
• What we can do to break them 

A Few More Resources: 

• Why you attract narcissists 
• Narcissistic partners love this
• Confronting your narcissism

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.

One of the hardest parts of reconciling any kind of trauma is rediscovering your sense of self.

Authenticity and our strong sense of self-knowing disappear in the wake of abuse. We're not allowed to tap into that strength because it would pull power away from the people and circumstances that hurt us.

A big part of the healing journey is figuring out who you are again. You must step into the life you truly value, but that only happens when you learn how to truly value yourself, your needs, and your desires.

How do we get back there? In this episode, I'm going to help you rediscover who you really are with a simple and straightforward technique that I use with readers, clients, and even my own family.

What We're Talking About: 

• What losing ourselves looks like
• The cost of not knowing who we are
• How to uncover our truest self

A Few More Resources: 

• The cost of childhood abuse
• Confronting our trauma
• Finding ourselves after heartbreak

Love the podcast? Leave a 5* review on Apple Podcasts. Ready to commit to the next level of transformation? Join my email list to get my best advice. Want to get coached by me? Apply now: www.therealebjohnson.com.