Join Michelle and Barb and revisit this special re-released episode.

Your Gut-Feelings Are Guardian Angels—Learn to Trust Them. In this episode we unlock the power of your intuition and build unshakable self-trust, so your gut-feelings become your inner compass, guiding you to a more confident and aligned life. ⬇️

✨ Available now - Dear Friend to receive daily doses of clarity, hope, and heartfelt encouragement.💌

⟶ thedearfriendbook.com

Your intuition is one of the most powerful tools you possess—an internal compass that protects, guides, and speaks with a wisdom deeper than logic. In a world filled with noise, learning to hear and trust your inner voice is one of the greatest acts of self-love and a vital part of mental health and emotional well-being.

In today’s episode, Michelle and Barb open up about the deep connection between intuition, gut-feelings, and self-trust. They share how learning to listen to their inner voices helped them make aligned decisions in love, life, and healing. Together, they explore how building confidence in your inner knowing can transform your mental health and empower you to live with clarity and intention.

Barb offers practical wisdom on overcoming self-doubt and tuning into your intuition, while Michelle shares her honest experience with navigating uncertainty and how she began cultivating a trusting relationship with herself.

Your gut-feelings are not random—they are your soul speaking. The more we honor our intuition, the more confident we become in navigating life’s challenges with grace and truth.

Here's what we’re covering in this episode:

✨ Know the Difference Between Your Head and Heart Voice

Our minds often speak in judgment; your intuition comes from compassion. Learn to recognize the quieter, truer voice within.

✨ Start an Inner Dialogue

Cultivating self-trust starts with listening. Whether through journaling or speaking aloud, getting to know your inner voice is the first step toward clarity.

✨ Stay Rooted in Your Values

When you understand what truly matters to you, your intuition becomes stronger. Your values are the foundation of wise decision-making.

✨ Have Faith in Yourself

Believe that you already have the answers. Confidence grows each time you honor your inner voice and take action from a place of truth.

Remember: your gut-feelings and intuition are guardians, not guesses. The more you tune in, the clearer the path becomes.💕

We’re so grateful you’re here with us! As a mother-daughter duo, we’re passionate about sharing the real-life lessons that have shaped us—so you can feel empowered to build confidence, prioritize self-care, and navigate life’s challenges with emotional strength and resilience.

Join us next Tuesday for another heartfelt and healing episode of Life Happens with Barb Michelle! 💕

Join our community⬇️

YouTube: @LifeHappensThePodcast

Instagram: @LifeHappensThePodcast

Substack: https://lifehappensthepodcast.substack.com/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifehappensthepodcast

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Grief doesn't disappear, it changes form.

After losing her beloved cat Charlotte at nearly 20 years old, Michelle was surprised by just how deeply the loss affected her. While it didn't mirror the grief she experienced after losing her father, it brought its own unique heartbreak and reminded her that pet grief is real, profound, and often misunderstood.

In this deeply personal episode, Barb and Michelle explore the reality of pet loss, why grief can resurface in unexpected ways, and how every loss teaches us something new about love, attachment, and letting go. Michelle shares how Charlotte's passing brought waves of sadness she didn't anticipate and why trying to "prepare" for grief doesn't necessarily make it easier when the moment arrives.

This conversation is for anyone who has lost a beloved pet, a loved one, or is navigating the complicated emotions that come with loving deeply and saying goodbye.

What You'll Take Away:

• Why pet grief is real grief and why comments like "it's just a pet" can be so hurtful
• Michelle's experience losing Charlotte and why the loss affected her more than she expected
• How grief can awaken memories of previous losses without being the same experience
• Why anticipatory grief doesn't protect us from heartbreak
• What acceptance actually looks like in real life
• How to stop judging your grief and allow yourself to feel what you feel
• Why grief isn't something we master, fix, or move beyond but something we learn to carry differently over time

Whether you've recently lost a pet, are supporting someone who has, or simply want a more compassionate understanding of grief, this episode offers comfort, validation, and a reminder that love and loss are always connected.

"Grief is the reminder that love was present, and that even if it's no longer in its original form, that love still exists." @Michelle Maros

Don't risk carrying grief alone or judging yourself for how you heal. Learn how to embrace loss with compassion and discover why love never truly leaves us.

Resources Mentioned:

Orthodox Teaching on Head and Heart

"It can take no time to get something into the head, but it can often take a lifetime to get it into the heart."

The Five Stages of Grief

The Five Stages of Grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—were developed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and continue to provide a framework for understanding grief and loss.

Learn more: https://www.grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Should you try to fix your parents? Most people spend years trying. Here's what actually works — and what's just making it worse.

In this candid Q&A episode, Barb and Michelle get into three questions that don't have easy answers:

— Should you try to fix your parents (or your adult kids)? — Does emotional connection get harder the bigger your family gets? — How do you apologize to your kids without losing your authority as a parent?

Barb — who's spent 40+ years in therapy and recovery — breaks down the fix/control/compare trap that keeps most families stuck, why apologizing to your kids is actually a power move when done right, and what it really means to "let go" of a parent who hurt you (hint: it's not what the internet tells you).

Michelle brings the adult-child perspective — including the quiet role reversal that happens when you start parenting your own parents, and why that's more common (and more complicated) than anyone admits.

In this episode:

• The fix/control/compare framework Barb uses daily
• Why big families often produce invisible kids — and what that costs them
• How to apologize to your child without becoming a doormat
• What "letting go" of a difficult parent actually looks like
• Why your parents were "raised by cavemen" — and why that context changes everything

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you've ever felt lighter in your life after removing someone from it — this episode explains why.

Barb & Michelle get real about the 5 signals that it might be time to cut someone out of your life — and why knowing the signals is only half the battle. This episode covers the guilt, the fantasy that people will change, the sunk cost of long relationships, and how to actually do it in a way that doesn't consume the next five years of your life.

Barb speaks from experience — including her own 33-year untangling — and Michelle brings the practical, modern perspective on why even empathetic, self-aware people stay in relationships that cost them everything. This is the episode for anyone who already knows what they need to do but can't seem to let themselves do it.

What You'll Learn:

• The 5 specific signals that a relationship is costing you more than it's giving
• Why the apology is often the manipulation — not the resolution
• How to tell the difference between sunk cost and real love
• Why being "the bigger person" is sometimes just being controlled
• How to release someone from your life without needing to hate them first

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are conversations every parent knows they should have — and most of them never do. In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, mother and daughter go deep on the exact things they wish someone had said to them before life had to teach them the hard way.

From family alcoholism surfacing after a 15-year-old's first drunken night, to growing up with two alcoholic parents and never once hearing 'I love you' — Barb and Michelle trace how silence passes down through generations, and what it actually takes to break that chain. This one is for every parent afraid to say the hard thing, and every adult child who's still waiting to hear it.

In this episode, you'll learn:

- Why 'protecting' your kids from hard truths usually means protecting yourself from discomfort

- How to create a safe space so your child actually comes to you — without fishing or manipulating

- The HALT tool (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) and how to make it a natural part of family life

- What to do when you've already said something that closed your child off — and how to repair it

- Why you don't need the perfect moment — and how to let hard conversations unfold naturally

From psychiatrist and author M. Scott Peck's famous opening line in The Road Less Traveled: "Life is difficult." Rather than seeing this as pessimistic, Barb taught Michelle that accepting life's challenges is one of the greatest pathways to peace, resilience, and emotional freedom.

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult ―once we truly understand and accept it― then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

- M. Scott Peck

Don't wait for the sit-down talk. The moment is already here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Comedian Jessi Cruickshank joins Barb and Michelle backstage at Lynn University for a raw, funny, and unexpectedly emotional conversation about motherhood, performance, anxiety, and becoming the women their mothers raised them to be.

From professional perfectionism to internet criticism, the conversation moves from hilarious behind-the-scenes moments into deeper reflections on identity, mindfulness, and the pressure women carry in public and private life. Jessi opens up about the comment she never forgot, while Barb and Michelle unpack what they inherited — and what they had to unlearn.

In this episode:

• Why perfectionism quietly controls so many women

• The emotional cost of always performing “fine”

• How humor and mindfulness actually serve the same purpose

• The parenting lessons they resisted most

• Why confidence is usually built through embarrassment

Learn how to stop performing perfection and start connecting honestly.

Connect with Jessi:

Follow her on Instagram & Facebook: @jessicruickshank

Follow her on TikTok: @jessicruickshanktok

Check out her Evening Club Tour: jessicruickshank.com/tour

Listen to her podcast: https://tr.ee/u6WMhIAnoi

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens after the book tour ends, the championship is won, and the calendar goes blank? Michelle opens up about the unexpected emptiness she felt after her biggest accomplishment, and Barb reveals something she has never experienced: a void. This mother-daughter conversation uncovers why success can feel like getting fired, what it means to live like you are running out of time, and why the quiet after the loud season might be the most important chapter of all.

This episode dives into the generational divide between pushing through and pausing, the difference between rest and avoidance, and how two very different people navigate the same transition. Whether you just graduated, finished a big project, ended a season, or closed a chapter you poured everything into, this conversation will help you understand why the void is not a problem to fix but a space to fill on your own terms.

What you'll take away:

• Why achieving your biggest goal can feel like getting fired overnight
• The generational difference between 'keep moving' and 'feel your feelings' after a big moment
• How Barb's micro-transitions throughout the day prevent her from ever hitting empty
• The connection between running out of time, grief, and never allowing a void
• How to recognize when sitting in the void becomes productive reflection vs. staying stuck

Don't let the quiet after the loud season convince you that the best part is over. Learn how to make the space count.

💬 We’d love to hear from you! What insight or moment resonated most with you in this episode? Share in the comments—we truly read every one.

🎙️ Hosted by:

• https://www.instagram.com/peaceful_barb/
• https://www.instagram.com/michellemaros/

Join our community⬇️

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@LifeHappensThePodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifehappensthepodcast/

Substack: https://lifehappensthepodcast.substack.com/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifehappensthepodcast

Listen to our podcast anywhere→ https://michellemaros.com/podcast/

🎙️ New episodes of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle are released every Tuesday

0:00 — Intro: Michelle's post-book-tour void

0:58 — Welcome to Life Happens with Barb and Michelle

1:14 — It's bigger than a book: any major milestone

1:45 — Indiana football national championship & the "now what?"

2:44 — Barb's reaction: the joy of the unexpected

3:51 — Michelle's book journey and the feeling of the drop-off

7:39 — Barb never felt a void — a generational contrast

14:35 — What is rest? Defining it differently for everyone

21:32 — Vulnerable question: does living like you're running out of time come from grief?

24:28 — How will you know when you've done what you came here to do?

38:32 — Barb's Italy trip: sometimes the transition is fast

41:01 — Closing reflections & takeaways

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.