Episode 031
From Breakdown to Breakthrough The Radical Power of Self-Solidarity with Shawn Mahshie
The marriage unraveled. Her body gave out. Her big-deal career fell apart. And somehow… she got happier.
Here's how Shawn Mahshie flipped her rock-bottom into a life of peace, purpose, and pretty unbelievable healing.
Shawn Mahshie doesn’t just talk about transformation – she embodies it. After her health, marriage, and career all collapsed like a row of sad dominoes, she found herself sobbing in a clawfoot tub, realizing she’d abandoned herself one small compromise at a time. That moment cracked her wide open – and kicked off a two-decade journey into energy medicine, nervous system healing, and self-forgiveness work that now helps thousands find peace with themselves and the people who triggered the hell out of them.
In this soul-nourishing, brain-expanding episode, Shawn shares the origins of her “Symmetry Principle” – the radical idea that what triggers or hurts you actually holds your path out of pain. She walks us through the science, the spiritual shifts, and the deeply human process of learning how to stop turning against yourself, even when life is coming at you like a batting cage of curveballs.“You can’t be in fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest at the same time. One has to go.”
Connect with SHAWN:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThriveThisTime
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnmahshie
- Website: https://shawnmahshie.com
- Free flipbook: Escape the Prison of Your Thoughts
Timestamps:
00:00 – When life throws all the curveballs – and what to do next
02:26 – The childhood moment that rewired her coping
03:17 – Health scares, career collapse, and the marriage that couldn’t hold
05:18 – The clawfoot tub breakdown (and breakthrough)
06:44 – Self-solidarity: becoming your own source of safety
07:57 – What the Symmetry Principle actually is
10:12 – Why “just let it go” doesn’t work on deep wounds
13:20 – Coping when you can’t be tender with yourself
14:56 – Triggered? Good. Start there.
17:23 – How our own harsh inner voice creates external conflict
20:40 – Trauma, hiding, and why we stay on the sidelines
22:12 – Letting go vs. affirming over your fear
25:34 – Regret hell and the Wheel of Self-Forgiveness
28:37 – You didn’t create the thought – here’s what that means
31:45 – Owning your part without self-blame
34:51 – Letting go of trauma that's lived in your body for decades
37:05 – The fear of what your pain may have caused
38:57 – The one thought behind all emotional pain
40:31 – Final words – the gift of not resisting now