In Part 2 of the Cult of Self-help, I spill the tea on something that the self-help world conveniently forgets to mention: the Main Character Syndrome (MCS). You know that feeling when you think your life's a romcom, and you're the star, director, and producer all in one? That's MCS, where you're the protagonist of your own epic saga. Our cultural obsession with the hero’s journey like Eat, Pray, Love is just one small reflection of that. Self-help often encourages us to reflect and grow, but it conveniently sweeps under the rug the potential dark side of MCS, which is a cult of personality of ..read more

Cults x Cons x Capitalism: The Cult of Self-Help Are you ready to unravel the layers of the self-industry to reveal the cult tactics underneath? Ever wondered about the driving force behind our collective conversations about self-help, and where these ideas originated from? Buckle up, because in the 1st of this 2-part solo episode, I’m taking you through my journey as a recovering self-help junkie— and the insights that have helped me redefine what authentic growth means beyond commercialized interests of a capitalist industry. We can’t talk about the self-help industry (or any other capitalis ..read more

Hold onto your overpriced healing crystals cause this episode is gonna blow the lid right off the online coaching industry. Its been a WILD RIDE of exposing the dark side of the online coaching industry and perhaps no one has had a better front row seat like my guest today, Eva Collins. Eva’s journey into the coaching industry began over 10 years ago. She has had first-hand experience working with some of the biggest names in the coaching industry. As a former manifestation coach-turned-activist, Eva’s parody Instagram account, WhyDontYouSaySomething played a pivotal role in popping the coachi ..read more

Can we capitalism our way out of capitalism? Welcome to another thought-provoking episode on the intersection of cults, cons, and capitalism. This episode explores a topic that is probably relevant to most people in this audience: the intersection of capitalism and self-help. You’ve often heard me talk about the ‘money cult’ in my critique of new-age spirituality. If you enjoy this topic, you’re in for a real treat. One of the most prevalent narratives that we hear by money cult ambassadors is that "good money in the hands of good people" can be the solution to the world's problems. But is tha ..read more

Last year, I polled my audience to ask them if they thought Eckhart Tolle was a cult leader. Most people said Yes, which confirmed my own beliefs about the influential spiritual teacher and self-help author. I’ve been studying Eckhart Tolle for over 5 years. I never really bought into the hype around The Power of Now—partially because I didn’t think he was saying anything new, and partially because I was a spiritual elitist. By the time I read his best-seller, I was already familiar enough with the spiritual philosophies of Hinduism and Buddhism to recognize the watered-down version of these t ..read more

Have you ever worked in a high-control environment? Do you know how to spot the signs of a healthy v.s. culty workplace? Firstly, I’m so excited to announce the rebranding of my podcast, with a new mission and focus! In this episode, I have the pleasure of talking with Ash Riley, a trained journalist and business consultant with a focus on trauma-informed and ethical business practices. In this interview, we dive into a paradoxical situation that many people find themselves in—being stuck in toxic and harmful companies. We want to help you recognize the red flags to watch out for when consider ..read more

This episode is comin' in hot after a few weeks of critical discussion around the questionable price points that we see in the coaching industry. Needless to say, opening up that conversation has lead to an influx of coaches into my corner of the internet who are also wondering: WTF is going on?! There's been a lot of pushback from those who feel triggered by this conversation and it's been pretty disappointing to see the level of gaslighting, silencing, dismissing, and victim-blaming that has transpired but I'm trying to focus less on that and more on the incredible humans that are organizing ..read more

In cult deprogramming work, it's important to learn the skill of reality-testing your truth v.s. your beliefs v.s. your opinions so you can DISCERN reality from illusion (which is the whole point of Awakening).  In this episode, I provide a framework for critically examining our thoughts from a nondualism and scientific perspective. This is episode will add value to anyone who is interested in developing critical thinking + media literacy skills. Enjoy! Topics covered: How new-age spirituality has co-opted the concept of "Truth" to become a buzzword (and why it has created so much con ..read more

This episode is the first of many on political awakening. Political awakening is the part of our spiritual awakening journey where we critically examine the sociopolitical, cultural, and economical zeitgeist of our time. This sets the stage for deeper inquiry into who we are, as we begin to define ourselves outside the social and political systems that infiltrate every aspect of our culture & consciousness.   Show notes & Breakdown:   5:09- My political awakening journey. How privilege makes us ignorant and politically disengaged (especially the Millennial generation) &n ..read more

This episode is about how science gets weaponized by charlatans to manipulate the masses.  I talk about: How to discern between bad science and good science, even if you're not a scientist (4 conditions) 5 elements of pseudoscience (the red flags to look out for) 4 quick-n-dirty deception tactics used by Law of Attraction & other culty paradigms.  Enjoy!!!    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit seekwithser.substack.com ..read more