Soul & Soma Talk
Connect with your true self.
Welcome to Soul & Soma Talk. A podcast about healing, self discovery and the beautiful (and messy) journey of being human. I’m Barbara, a therapist based in Australia. My path into this work wasn’t straight or simple, it was shaped by my own experiences of feeling unseen, misunderstood, and out of place. The pain became my purpose and today I hold space for others to transform, reconnect, and step into who they truly are.
Why Soul and Soma? Because healing is never just in the mind. Soul speaks to your essence, your true self beneath the noise. Soma is the body, the vessel that remembers, feels and carries you. Together, they remind us that real change comes when we honour the whole of who we are: mind, body and soul.
On this podcast you’ll hear real talk, practical tools and honest stories from trauma, grief and relationships, to people pleasing, inner critics, hormones, and midlife shifts. Some episodes will be short reflections, others deeper conversations, always with honesty, compassion and the belief that even small steps can transform your life. This space is for you if you’ve ever felt tired of living for others, if you’re ready to stop settling and if you’re ready to reconnect with yourself.
Soul & Soma Talk
Why we care so much about what other people think of us
In this episode I dive deep into something almost all of us wrestle with, the craving for validation. From childhood praise to social media likes, we’ve been conditioned to measure our worth through other people’s approval. But when does that desire cross the line into people pleasing, self abandonment and exhaustion?
I share stories from my own life, the hidden costs of chasing approval and why rejection feels so painful even as adults. Together, we explore the cycle of people pleasing, how it disconnects us from our true selves and how to shift the pattern.
✨ Why external validation feels so addictive
✨ The emotional toll of people pleasing
✨ How to start giving yourself the approval you crave
✨ Simple practices to anchor your worth from within
