A few years ago, I was feeling lost, lonely, rejected, and dejected.

My inner world just felt fragmented, and I still periodically feel that way.

But this book found me exactly when I needed it, and it completely changed how I understand myself. It's called No Bad Parts by Dr.

Richard Schwartz and I consider it one of the best mental health books that I've probably ever read.

Hi, hello. Welcome to Mary's Cup of Tea, the self-love podcast for women. Though, all self-lovers are welcome here.

I'm Mary.

I write and speak about self-love, and I'm best known for my book, the gift of self-love.

And I also host retreats for women.

And this is the podcast that will inspire you to love yourself.

I won't go into the event that led me into this grim place,

but it took me a full year to crawl out and to regather the courage to do the one thing that is

the biggest challenge for me, but also what I see as the ultimate opportunity for growth,

and that is hosting a self-love retreat. What kept me stuck

for a while is not knowing what the retreat would be about, because again, I felt so insecure.

I felt like I had nothing to offer. I didn't know who would come, especially if I didn't have a

clear purpose and message and teachings to deliver.

And I will be damned if I go into something big like this without having a very clear, strong, heart-centered intention.

So for many months, as I contemplated doing this retreat, I kept talking myself out of it

and falling into self-doubt until it hit me. I felt so lost that the retreat needed to be

about feeling lost. And I actually doubled down on that idea, and I called it get lost on purpose. See what happens

when you deliberately wander, meander, and let yourself be lost. So one of the exercises that I

taught at this retreat, it was like this web that I called parts of self. I invited the attendees

...