Episode 42: Faith, Ancestry, and Community: A conversation with Aubrey Chaves

Sara Jolena and Aubrey Chaves discuss the importance of understanding one's family history, faith, and its impact on personal identity. More than most of our episodes, this one resembles the kind of conversations that sometimes arise when Sara Jolena does 1-1 spiritual direction work with people. It is tender and exploratory.  We aren't talking "about" something so much as going "into" it in a very personal way.

The two women explore the intergenerational transmission of trauma and resilience, emphasizing the role of social and cultural contexts. Aubrey reflects on the somatic experience of making decisions and the anxiety sometimes associated with aligning personal desires with societal expectations. They highlight the significance of prayer and community support in navigating these challenges and finding inner peace.

As this is an unusual episode, I want to share more about how it came about: 

Sara Jolena met Aubrey at that podcasting conference they both participated in at BYU in Salt Lake City. Aubrey has her own podcast, Faith Matters, which highlights aspects of the Mormon faith. She is an immensely bright, cheerful, and bubbly person. I had mentioned something about my work with legacies and inheritances in one of the sessions. She came up to me during a break, and started asking me questions about multi-generational emotional patterns. As we started talking, it was a clear that this could be one of those really important conversations for her - a conversation that could make a difference. I asked if she'd be open to recording it. She was ecstatic.

Given how vulnerable the conversation ended up being, I asked her at the end of our recording: are you sure you want this to go out there into the world?

And she said, "Sara Jolena, this is the kind of conversation I've been wanting to listen to for years. I crave being able to listen in to these kinds of conversations. If I had heard this a few years ago, it might have helped me. So I want this out there, because maybe another woman, another person, might find it helpful, too."

Well. I can't say no to that!

It's a conversation about working with intergenerational trauma on the feminine/female line; about her grandmother's letters; about what it means to be a woman of her faith; about embodied yeses and nos, about what it means to grow up and to listen to God and to trust her own inner wisdom. About learning to be ok with who she is, even when that's different. Yes, there's tears. And insight. And a lot of beauty.

I hope you enjoy it! 

As always, if you appreciate this episode, please do remember to give us a like, leave us a kind review and to share this episode with others.

Listen to: Faith Matters Podcast

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