In this episode of the Emerging Women Podcast, the conversation delves into the journey of heartbreak, growth, and healing as shared by Sara Avant Stover, author of “Handbook for the Heartbroken: A Woman’s Path from Devastation to Rebirth.” The discussion touches on various forms of heartbreak, not limited to romantic relationships but also encompassing grief from different life experiences. Sara emphasizes the importance of embracing grief, allowing oneself to fall apart, and connecting with divine order or higher power for healing and resilience. The conversation also explores the interconnectedness between personal trauma, unresolved wounds, entrepreneurial challenges, and how processing grief and trauma can influence one’s journey toward wholeness and self-actualization. The act of forgiveness is acknowledged as a significant part of the healing process, contributing to deep inner transformation and growth. Sara discusses forgiveness as a path to happiness and freedom, highlighting its significance in releasing burdens and finding peace. She emphasizes the gradual nature of the forgiveness process, involving internal spiritual work to attain grace and inner freedom. The conversation also touches on the importance of boundaries, inner alignment, and introspection in healing, using the analogy of a conductor with an orchestra. Sara reflects on the feeling of self-care and friendship post-healing, leading to wholeness and stability. She conveys a message of empowerment, encouraging listeners to embrace their resilience and inner strength to confront challenges. The segment concludes with a reminder that individuals have the resources to navigate their paths with courage and authenticity.
Chantal Pierrat
Chantal Pierrat is the Founder & CEO of Emerging Women, a global network of brilliant women creating new leadership paradigms and supporting the rise of leaders across all sectors of society. Chantal is a celebrated podcast host, speaker, thought leader, coach, and entrepreneur dedicated to advancing conscious leadership and helping women be seen, heard, and led from the truth of who they are. Her ideas have been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, The Street and more. Emerging Women has graduated thousands of women (and men) from peer mentoring and sponsorship programs sponsored by such Fortune 500/100 organizations as HP, Inc., Halliburton, Oracle Corp. and more.
About our Guest
Sara Avant Stover is a leading figure in personal transformation and inner healing. Rooted in the transformative power of forgiveness, she guides others towards happiness and freedom through the teachings of A Course in Miracles. Sara’s emphasis on internal work and practice highlights forgiveness as a path to grace and liberation.
Despite the challenges of forgiveness, Sara champions its potential for inner peace and healing, advocating for healthy boundaries and self-integration. Post-healing, she embodies self-acceptance and alignment, inspiring resilience and trust in one’s journey worldwide.
Resources Mentioned:
— Handbook for the Heartbroken: A Woman’s Path from Devastation to Rebirth
— Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic
Insight from this episode:
— The conversation expands the traditional notion of heartbreak beyond romantic relationships to include various types of loss and trauma, such as abortion, health challenges, refugees in war, and bankruptcies. This broader understanding acknowledges the complexity and depth of women’s experiences.
— Emphasis is placed on allowing oneself to fully experience and process grief, anger, confusion, and other emotions associated with heartbreak. This includes creating space for vulnerability, falling apart, and embracing the depths of one’s feelings rather than suppressing or avoiding them.
— Conversation surrounding navigating resilience with authenticity points out that while resilience is essential, it’s not about simply toughening up and soldiering through. True resilience involves a willingness to allow oneself to break, followed by a process of rebuilding and transformation. This authentic approach to resilience acknowledges the necessity of facing challenges head-on while also recognizing the need for self-compassion and gentleness.
— The interconnectedness between personal and professional growth, especially for women entrepreneurs, is highlighted. Unresolved trauma and grief can impact various aspects of one’s life, including business endeavors, underscoring the importance of addressing these issues holistically.
— The discussion touches upon the concept of the “dark night of the soul,” acknowledging moments of deep darkness and uncertainty. Despite the challenges, there’s an underlying trust in the inevitability of change and the eventual arrival of dawn or transformation.
— Emphasis is placed on forgiveness as a part of the healing process. While forgiveness isn’t explicitly discussed in detail, the mention of forgiveness suggests its importance in the healing journey. Forgiveness, whether directed towards oneself or others, can be a crucial step towards releasing pain, resentment, and moving towards inner peace and healing.
Quotes from the show:
— “This book wouldn’t let me not write it. So it covers serial heartbreaks that I experienced between 2016 and 2020 that I honestly, that many times didn’t think that I was going to live through. I at certain points, it was so dark that I, I didn’t know how I was going to survive it much less be able to write a book about it.” – Sara Avant Stover, Emerging Women Podcast
— “When we engage with it consciously, it’s an opportunity to reach whole new levels of maturity, of wholeness of our own self unencumbered, which is I feel what rebirth is. And so this book is, is it’s like a permission slip to women when you’re going through something challenging. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not in the wrong life. This is part of your journeys. This is part of your curriculum.” – Sara Avant Stover, Emerging Women Podcast
— “Heartbreak, not just for me, but for all of us, is an initiatory experience.” – Sara Avant Stover, Emerging Women Podcast
— “I know that prayer, prayer can be a triggering word for people. If there are religious wounds, I say it in a non-religious way. It’s non denominational. So another way to say prayer could be divine communication, conversation with the universe, talking with your higher self, connecting with your heart. So anyone listening you know, you choose the language that makes sense to you. But when there is so much despair and disarray at the personal level, what I find most helpful is to tune into divine order. And I do that through prayer. But even just energetically holding the intention to align with divine order, to align with a higher order because that exists always, it’s, it’s patterned in everything and every one. And so if we can align with that and just invite that into our psyche, invite that into ourselves into our tissues, invite that into our lives. That’s gonna start to bring like a pattern that might just start with a little thread that we follow.” – Sara Avant Stover, Emerging Women Podcast
— “The degree to which we’re going to be happy is equivalent to the degree to which we have forgiven other people and ourselves.” – Sara Avant Stover, Emerging Women Podcast
— “On the other side of healing, there’s a deep friendship and care for oneself, expanding capacity for compassion and being a resource for others.” – Sara Avant Stover, Emerging Women Podcast
Chantal Pierrat
Twitter: Chantal Pierrat
LinkedIn: Chantal Pierrat
Emerging Women
Website: Emerging Women
Twitter: Emerging Women
Facebook: Emerging Women
Instagram: Emerging Women
LinkedIn: Emerging Women
Youtube: Emerging Women
Sara Avant Stover
Website: Sara Avant Stover
Instagram: Sara Avant Stover
LinkedIn: Sara Avant Stover
Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher and Apple Podcasts.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
