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If a large part of being human involves an importance on relationships because we so deeply need connection to thrive, what happens when one of the most important relationships in a human life is purposefully absent?

In this episode, Mal shows us the answer to this question by so eloquently and clearly connecting the dots in his own life and journey with abandonment - he shows us how the initial trauma event evolves and plays out in negative cycles as well as how to turn those patterns around and love yourself.

On the surface, this episode is about dealing with complex parental relationships and the far reaching impact they have. But, underneath, we really dig deep into what it looks like to choose self destruction when your self worth is tied to the love or lack of love you receive from a parent, especially when you equate love and caring with presence. Then, we explore the turning point when Mal realized he could keep going down the path of self destruction, or he could choose to start healing, mentally and physically.

So many times in our society, we consider things that come up, such as health issues or events that happen to us, for example, to all be disparate entities, ignoring how one stepping stone leads to another - cause and effect - because the bigger picture isn’t always immediately clear as life unfolds in front of us. When we look back with hindsight, we can then see how intertwined each event was and how each culminates into your present moment.

Mal so generously presents this hindsight view to us, so we can see a holistic experience, or in other words, the bigger picture of how cause and effect played out in his life. And not only does it become clear how Mal’s life events fit together, but he even expresses how necessary each stepping stone was. He says, “For better or worse, the path I’ve ended up going down, the ups the downs, the dips, the valleys, have been necessary in some way.”