The Inner Compass Podcast with Vanessa Bennett

We’re in a radical shift in how we understand relationships, and it’s bigger than romance: the same reflex lives everywhere we attach, the hope that if you do it right, someone will keep you safe, approve of you, choose you, or tell you who to be.
In this episode, Vanessa explores how we outsource our center to partners, groups, institutions, and algorithms, and why certainty becomes addictive when the world feels chaotic. This new model of intimacy isn’t rescue, it’s witness, and it asks for personal responsibility, self-regulation, and the capacity to stay in truth even when you’re afraid.
Take this question with you: What do you want someone else to provide for you right now that you’re avoiding providing for yourself?

Additional Resources
Explore: VanessaBennett.com
Book: The Motherhood Myth
Community: Inner Compass Collective
Training: Inner Compass Academy

Connect with Inner Compass
Follow on Instagram
Connect with Vanessa Bennett:

Follow on Instagram
Follow on TikTok
Learn more on Substack
Connect with Vanessa Bennett on LinkedIn

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

When the world feels like it’s on fire, codependency can look like “staying informed,” “staying useful,” and carrying everyone else’s feelings, but it’s often just overfunctioning in the face of chaos. And collapsing doesn’t make you more compassionate.
In Episode 3, Vanessa Bennett, LMFT offers a grounding reset for anxious times: you are not required to carry the whole world to prove your goodness, your compassion, or your worth. You’re allowed to pause, breathe, hydrate, sleep, laugh, and step away from doomscrolling long enough to come back intact. Recovery isn’t disengagement. It’s learning how to hold yourself in the storm so you can act from integrity instead of urgency, and show up for others from a rooted place.
If this landed, follow the show, share it, and leave a rating or review.

Additional Resources
Explore: VanessaBennett.com
Book: The Motherhood Myth
Community: Inner Compass Collective
Training: Inner Compass Academy

Connect with Inner Compass
Follow on Instagram

Connect with Vanessa Bennett:
Follow on Instagram
Follow on TikTok
Learn more on Substack
Connect with Vanessa Bennett on LinkedIn
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There’s a version of love many of us were trained into: the kind you earn. Be agreeable, be impressive, don’t need too much, don’t make waves. When belonging becomes conditional, love becomes performance, and shame becomes the inner enforcer that keeps you “good,” useful, and exhausted.
In Episode 2, Vanessa Bennett, LMFT explores how conditional belonging turns intimacy into obedience and management, why being “low maintenance” is often a survival strategy, and how over-attunement (often mislabeled as being an “empath”) can be a trauma response rooted in vigilance. You’ll learn the difference between healthy empathy vs trauma empathy, how to spot the somatic signs you’re performing safety, and two experiments to move from performance to presence: the pause and one honest sentence.
If this landed, follow the show, share it, and leave a rating or review.

Additional Resources
Explore: VanessaBennett.com
Book: The Motherhood Myth
Community: Inner Compass Collective
Training: Inner Compass Academy

Connect with Inner Compass
Follow on Instagram

Connect with Vanessa Bennett:
Follow on Instagram
Follow on TikTok
Learn more on Substack
Connect with Vanessa Bennett on LinkedIn
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most of us were raised inside an invisible contract: if you try hard enough, improve yourself enough, and play your role well enough, you’ll be loved, safe, and chosen. So we become diligent students of “better.” Better habits. Better productivity. Better mindset. Better communication.
But when that contract stops working, it’s not a personal failure. It’s often the psyche refusing to keep participating. In Episode 1, Vanessa Bennett, LMFT explores the difference between growth and self-optimization as a survival strategy, how people-pleasing and overfunctioning once kept you attached, and why your anxiety, burnout, or identity unraveling may be a threshold into something more honest. You’ll leave with prompts and one “micro-moment” practice to start rebuilding an inner compass you can trust.
If this landed, follow the show, share it, and leave a rating or review.

Additional Resources
Explore: VanessaBennett.com
Book: The Motherhood Myth
Community: Inner Compass Collective
Training: Inner Compass Academy
Connect with Inner Compass
Follow on Instagram
Connect with Vanessa Bennett:
Follow on Instagram
Follow on TikTok
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Inner Compass is a depth psychology and relationships podcast with Vanessa Bennett, LMFT, for people who are tired of self-improvement that leaves their lives unchanged.
Each episode explores codependency, attachment, boundaries, intimacy, shame, desire, resentment, and nervous system patterns - alongside the cultural myths shaping love, worth, womanhood, and power.
Grounded, direct, and reflective, Inner Compass bridges depth psychology, lived experience, and cultural analysis without reducing healing to “tools and tips.” This is a space for honest inquiry, not performance - and for rebuilding an inner compass you can actually trust.
Follow the show to receive new episodes weekly.

For educational purposes only. This podcast is not therapy.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.