Wounds to Wisdom Podcast with Rhonda Sciortino

What are we excusing that may be stealing our peace and joy?

A little too much wine. A story that wasn’t ours to tell. A private exchange we wouldn’t want our spouse to read. Another purchase we hide. Repeating our grievances until anger becomes our constant companion.

Nothing dramatic happens. No lightning bolt. No immediate exposure. So we dismiss the nudge of conscience: It’s no big deal. Everyone does it.

The abs...

Have you been told that you’retoo loud? Too sensitive? Too intense? Too stubborn? Too ambitious? Too emotional? Too strong?

Maybe you’ve been told that you’re too quiet. Too wimpy. Too weak. Unfeeling. Uncaring. Or you’ve heard that you’re too fat, too skinny, too dumb, too … fill in the blank on whatever ugly words that have been directed at you.

But wait, stop, don’t.

These kinds of words ...

Some of the people we’ve lost are still alive. There was no argument, betrayal or final goodbye. No one decided that the relationship no longer mattered. Life simply carried people in different directions until someone who had once been part of every ordinary day became someone remembered mostly through memories.

The relationship did not necessarily end. It just stopped being current because the person is no longer in close en...

We insure houses that may never burn, plan vacations, and agonize over what to wear to soon-forgotten events. Yet we give little thought to the one appointment none of us can cancel: the end of this life.

There is a 100% chance that each of us will leave this earth. Our possessions, titles, and accomplishments will remain behind. What will matter is whether this life was all there was—and, if not, what comes next.

Standing at t...

We’ve all experienced times when we feel like we’re in the center of a storm that is completely outside of our control. (If you haven’t yet, chances are you will.)

We wish the storm would end. We wonder when it will end. We may ask if it will ever end. But perhaps the better question is, “Who am I becoming while I’m in the midst of the storm?”

That is where the story of Captain Joshua Slocum comes ...

There are people who will do almost anything to avoid conflict. They change the subject. They keep their opinions to themselves. They let things slide. They nod in agreement when they don’t really agree at all. They hide hurt feelings rather than risk an argument. They tell themselves that being the bigger person means staying quiet.

From the outside, this can look peaceful, mature and even loving. But sometimes it is none of ...

I emancipated from the child welfare system at 16 with nothing.

Years later, I returned to my high school reunion as a successful business owner, real estate investor, national child advocate, professional speaker, author of 15 books, founder of Successful Survivors Foundation, and a woman on a mission to help others, especially survivors of childhood trauma, find and fulfill their purpose and experience their own authentic success.

...

For most of my life, I held on tightly.

I wanted more time. More accomplishments. To help more people. To advocate for more children. To protect more children from abuse. More security. More certainty. I wanted the people I loved to stay safe, healthy, and close. I wanted to protect them from pain, from loss, from bad decisions, and from all the things that can wound a human heart.

I also cared far too much about things that, in the ...

One day, a little boy became separated from his parents in a crowded store.

Within minutes, he was frightened and confused.

A store employee noticed him crying and knelt beside him. “What happened?” she asked.

“I can’t find my mom and dad,” he said.

She gently asked, “What’s your name?”

He answered.

Then she asked, “Who do you belong to?”

The boy immediately said his parents&rsqu...

IN THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTICES CATEGORY…

One of the most painful experiences of my professional life happened when I allowed comparison and jealousy to tear down my self-worth.

Many of us have lost someone we loved when they left us for someone else. We’ve seen others get the promotion we were hoping for. For me, it happened on the day one of my favorite clients moved his business to my competitor.

It might not sound terri...

What we say about people when they aren’t there reveals a great deal about our character.

We’ve all known people who “dish” about others who aren’t in the room. Sometimes they’re trying to be funny. Sometimes it’s a way to fit in. Others claim they’re just “venting” or “sharing.”

But regardless of the justification, gossip is unfair, potentially damaging, and wro...

There comes a point when the relentless motion of life—the notifications, the arguments, the outrages of the day—begin to corrode your peace. We live in an age of unprecedented noise. Not merely the sound of machines, but the clamor of minds that cannot stop thinking, scrolling, calculating, fearing. The modern disease is not scarcity of information but the overload of it, and the anxiety that comes from believing that ...

There is no greater scandal than evil. I’m not referring to the petty troubles of daily life, but to the monumental horrors that scar the human story: Auschwitz. The killing fields. Children sold into slavery in the shadows of our cities. These are not mere inconveniences or unfortunate accidents. These are intentional, cataclysmic denials of human dignity. And they pose, inescapably, the ancient question: If God there is a G...

Once upon a time, we called this tolerance. Live and let live. That quaint notion has apparently been retired. Consider the reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk—and, in another case, of Iryna Zarutska. The most disturbing thing is not only that such murders occurred, but that there are those who rush to justify them. Worse still, some celebrate.

The rationale? That Kirk’s words—labeled “hate speech&r...

It's been awhile, and for that I apologize. This episode is about what I've been doing you're doing and what I hope you will do to be the agent of your own uplift in the pursuit of your higher calling. That's what your purpose really is--it's your higher calling. I hope you'll dial down the noise of the world around you and give yourself a mini-vacay of about 30 minutes, and listen to this and consider what you can do to come up hi...

This is the third in a series of questions you can ask yourself that will lead you down a path of self-exploration, the purpose of which is to discover the clues to your authentic identity and the unique purpose for your life.

I encourage you to give yourself permission to take time to really contemplate these questions because your responses may uncover clues to your purpose that are waiting to be found,

Your purpo...

This is the third in a series of questions you can ask yourself that will lead you down a path of self-exploration, the purpose of which is to discover the clues to your authentic identity and the unique purpose for your life.

I encourage you to give yourself permission to take time to really contemplate these questions because your responses may uncover clues to your purpose that are waiting to be found,

Your purpo...

Every day that goes by, you hear new information that forms opinions and perspectives and informs your attitude, words and actions.

Think of the things that you take into your eyes and ears as lenses through which you see the world.

As the days, weeks, months and years pass, you continue to take in new information which changes you and the way you see the world. You learn and grow.

So, what does all this hav...

It's time to revisit the things we're interested in, our opinions, judgments and about specific details about yourself.

Before you swipe away thinking this isn't necessary, consider that you know more now than you ever have. You've changed. You've grown. You've learned some things you didn't know before. You've experienced some things that changed your perspective and put context around things that didn't make sense when yo...