40: The Fire That Freed Me: How Letting Go Heals Toxic Patterns and Awakens Self-Love

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A sealed box can hold more than paper, it can hold years of fear, vigilance, and the version of you who survived. I found mine after thirteen years and chose a simple, sacred ritual: burn what no longer serves. As the pages curled, something else unbound, resentment, confusion, even the quiet hope that proof could keep me safe. What rose in the smoke was space: space for peace, honest love, and a life that matches who I’ve become.

We walk through that moment with care, unpacking why “evidence” often keeps old wounds alive and how physical clutter mirrors emotional entanglement. I share the questions that cut through noise..."What am I still keeping that’s ready to burn?", " What does my body know that my mind resists?"; and the deeper layer many of us avoid: our own patterns. Where do we seek validation instead of self-trust? Where do we tolerate half-present love, blurred friendships, or familiar chaos because it feels like home? Clearing the table became my vow to self-devotion, not defiance, and it changed how I choose relationships, work, and daily rhythms.

If your heart wants calm more than closure, this conversation offers practice: ritual release, honest boundaries, slower yeses, and a gentler nervous system. Expect themes of healing, intentional living, emotional decluttering, and aligned partnership, woven with story and grounded guidance. Come for the fire, stay for the peace, and maybe leave with your own ritual to mark the shift from bracing for lessons to welcoming blessings. If it resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s ready to let go, and leave a review so more people can find this space.

Looking for confirmation, guidance, or support in an area of life where you feel stuck, stagnant, or simply unclear of what to do next? Let's connect: book a complimentary Discovery Session with me, today!

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
In today's episode, it's a little out of sync and
not arriving on schedule.
Because every now and thensomething rises within me that
is so powerful that I can't waitfor a planned post or my content
calendar.
It just asks for me to share itin the moment.
While the awareness is stillfresh, the emotion is still

(00:22):
tender, and while the truth isstill resonating deeply in my
heart.
So that's what this episode istoday.
It's an early release, areal-time reflection, a deep aha
that came through this weekendwhile cleaning and aligning my
space and myself.
What began as simply cleaningout old energy turned into a

(00:44):
moment of release that I didn'tsee coming.
And this episode is all aboutthat.
It's about the power of release,the beauty of self-awareness,
and the sacred act of burningthat which no longer serves you.
This episode is about whathappens when you finally clear
your table, metaphoricallyspeaking, and you clear it

(01:08):
emotionally, energetically,spiritually, and then you create
space for the love, peace, andpartnership that one truly
desires and reflects who you'vebecome, not who you were.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to Rooted in Rising.

(01:29):
I'm your host, Tara Michelle,intuitive guide, storyteller,
and fellow traveler on this wildpath of becoming.
This is a space for the soulled, for the ones unraveling old
stories tending to their healingand rising, not perfectly, but
powerfully into who they arehere to be.
Here we explore what it means tolive with intention, to love

(01:52):
with depth, and to trust thateven the hard things are shaping
us.
I'll share pieces of my ownjourney, the cracks, the beauty,
the breakthroughs, and invitevoices who are walking this path
too.
Because I believe life isn'thappening to us, it's happening
for us.
So come as you are, root in andrise up.
And thank you.

(02:13):
Truly thank you for being here.
Welcome back to Rooted inRising.
It's so good to be with all ofyou today.
This episode is near and dear tome because at the moment it's
still very raw, it's still veryfresh.
It just happened this weekend.
You know, sometimes the biggestbreakthroughs don't come from

(02:34):
meditation or journaling, andthey don't even come from
therapy.
They come from a moment whenlife asks you to finally let go
of what you've been holding onto for far too long.
So as I was clearing andupgrading the energy of our
home, I came across the box.
A box that I kept tucked awayfor almost 13 years.

(02:57):
And inside were reminders of oneof the most painful chapters of
my life, remnants from arelationship that had ended not
only in deep heartbreak, butbetrayal.
And I was in complete survivalmode at the time.
I actually thought that I had tokeep all that information for

(03:19):
proof of evidence that I mightneed someday.
But what I realized is thatholding on to that proof, I've
been holding on to the pain, thefear, and the energetic
signature of that chapter thisentire time.
And this weekend, I realized Ihad to choose to let it go.

(03:44):
I had to let it all go.
And I was gonna let it go, as Imentioned, through that sacred
process of burning.
And as those pages burned,unexpected tears came up
shockingly, and it was verycathartic.
Not from my sadness, but it wasmore from this space of feeling

(04:08):
fully liberated as I let it go.
Every flame, it's funny, it'smaking me cry now.
Every flame felt like it wastransmuting years of stored
emotion, fears, resentment,confusion, even love, and all of
that in that moment up in smoke,and in that sacred moment of

(04:33):
surrendering, that's when theshift began to occur within me
yet again.
A new awareness surfaced, andthat awareness is that what we
hold on to physically oftenmirrors what we're still
gripping emotionally.

(04:55):
So that box wasn't just clutterin the RV garage, it was clutter
in my soul, and as it burned, Icould feel myself making space
for peace.
I could feel myself making spacefor love, for forgiveness, and
for whatever's next in the newseason of my life.

(05:20):
There was also a second layer tothis healing as I watched that
fire burn, and that layer thatasked me to look at my own
patterns.
I had to look deeply at my ownpatterns.
When we talk about toxicrelationships, we often think
about the other person, right?

(05:40):
But healing, true healingrequires us to look at our own
participation in these patterns.
We have to look at the ways weseek validation, the ways we
avoid loneliness, or the ways werecreate old pain just because

(06:02):
it's familiar and it's what weknow.
And that's the space I foundmyself in next.
I was looking and gazing deeplyinto the void, the void of my
heart, the space that is thesize of about a softball, of
emptiness, darkness.

(06:26):
I had to look deep in there.
I had to look at my life headon, and what I saw was on my own
table, metaphorically speaking,it was cluttered with emotional
entanglements, people,situations, energies that

(06:46):
represented old cycles.
And what I realized is for me totruly rise into the woman I
become, I had to clear thattable completely.
What that meant was saying no toanything half-present.
No to uncertainty that wasdisguised as connection, no to

(07:09):
friendships that blurred intoconfusion, and no to love that
came with fear instead of peace.
Because standing in your truthsometimes means standing alone
for a while, but in thatsolitude you find your power.

(07:34):
And choosing myself not from aspace of defiance, but in pure
devotion.
Another layer that had beenhidden from my view.
I realized that healing thatlayer of the little girl within
me who once felt so abandonedmeant no longer abandoning
myself.

(07:56):
Not on any level, not foranyone.
So today I stand rooted inself-love, no longer seeking
proof or permission from anyone.
I've cleared the space forwhat's truly aligned, for the
man and the partnership that Iso deeply desire, for the

(08:18):
opportunities and theexperiences that reflect the
love and peace I've cultivatedwithin me.
I'm no longer preparing for thatnext lesson.
Rather, I'm opening myself andinviting in all the blessings in
life.
I invite them in now.

(08:38):
Now, if you are holding on tosomething, an old story, a past
version of self, or even arelationship that mirrors a
familiar wound, I want to inviteyou to pause and ask yourself,
what am I still keeping that'sready to burn?
Ask yourself, what is it?
What are you keeping?

(09:00):
And what is it that your bodyknows that your mind is
resisting?
I just love that question.
I just learned that question acouple weeks ago, and man, it is
a doozy.
You know, what am I stillkeeping that's ready to burn?
And what does my body know thatmy mind keeps resisting?

(09:21):
Because sometimes the fire isn'tdestruction, it's actually
purification.
And on the other side of that,on the other side of that
release is freedom to finallymeet yourself newly, holy, and
more complete.
So if today's conversationstirred anything inside of you,

(09:42):
if you feel that pull to finallyrelease what's been holding you
back, I want you to know youdon't have to do it alone.
I do offer one-on-one coachingand energetic alignment sessions
to help you reconnect to yourtruth, to clear old patterns,
and to step fully into theversion of you that's been
waiting to rise.
You can find a link in the shownotes down below the episode

(10:05):
information.
This episode is still very raw.
And I hope that what I've sharedtoday has made a difference for
someone out there listening.
But I do want all of you to besure to join me on my next
episode, a powerful conversationwith my dear friend Matt Kennedy
as we explore the age ofawakening and what's really
changing, because it's a deepdive into shifts happening

(10:27):
collectively and individuallyand how to navigate them from a
place of awareness, love, andpower.
So until next time, keep rootinginto who you are and rising into
all that you're here to be.
I love you.
Have a blessed week, and we'llsee you in the next episode.
Thank you for rooting in andrising with me today.
If something in this episodestirred something in you, take a

(10:48):
breath, take what you need, andlet the rest soften.
Be sure to follow the show soyou don't miss what's next.
And if you feel called, sharethis episode or leave a review.
It helps the space grow andreach others on the path.
Until next time, may you walkwith trust, speak with love, and
rise in your own time.
I'm so grateful you were herewith us, and thanks for being

(11:09):
here.
We'll see you on the nextepisode.