liberated

david michael titeu

welcome to liberated. this is your space to pause, let go of who you think you need to be and feel at peace with who you are. i’m david michael titeu, mindset coach and recovering hustler. each week, we unpack what’s beneath success and why it never feels like enough. we’ll dive deep into psychology, identity, purpose, philosophy and healing - the deeper human stuff that shapes how you lead, love and live. this isn’t another grind podcast. whew. it’s a sanctuary to slow down, explore the inner work behind self-worth and help you remember there was never anything wrong with you to begin with.

  1. 5d ago

    ep 33: why do you feel stuck when your life looks fine?

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube i had a job, good salary and relationship and by every conventional measure my life looked fine. and yet underneath all of it i felt completely frozen internally. not necessarily sad but just flat, disconnected and like i was watching my own life happen from slightly outside it. there was no obvious crisis to point to, which made it almost impossible to name or justify. in this episode, i get into the subtle and insidious experience of feeling stuck when nothing is technically going wrong, what is actually happening in your nervous system, why it hides so easily behind a life that looks like it's working and also a gentle, practical path to begin coming out of it. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 the job, salary and relationship 03:30 the guilt of feeling stuck when nothing is wrong 06:45 numbing the stuckness  10:07 what stuckness actually is 13:00 why high functioning people are so good at masking 15:45 when you can't even name what you're feeling 17:00 the real cost of staying frozen  18:52 why you can't force your way out of freeze 20:00 a gentle six step path back to safety and presence 24:00 coming back online show notes — research references and thought leaders Stephen Porges — developer of Polyvagal Theory. The dorsal vagal state produces immobilisation and disconnection when fight or flight isn't available or useful. → www.stephenporges.com Peter Levine — founder of Somatic Experiencing. Freeze is a last-resort survival strategy, meant to be temporary. Coming out of it happens through titration — small, gradual increments. → www.somaticexperiencing.com Bessel van der Kolk — author of The Body Keeps the Score. The body responds to the present as if it carries the danger of unresolved past experiences. → www.besselvanderkolk.com Alexithymia — difficulty identifying and describing one's own emotional states, common in those raised in environments where emotional expression was discouraged or unsafe. Allostatic load research — chronic, sustained pressure over years can dysregulate the body's stress systems, eventually tipping into shutdown as a form of self protection. connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    36 min
  2. Jun 18

    ep 32: the executive's hidden anxiety

    Dr. Carlo Blanco is an Anxiety Specialist who works with high-level executives, founders, and leaders to eliminate the internal pressure that success often hides. Through his work and his podcast, The Private Boardroom, he helps high performers gain control over their mind, break patterns of overthinking, and finally experience the freedom their success was supposed to give them. connect with Dr. Carlo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.carloblanco/  Podcast: The Private Boardoom (available on all podcast platforms) ~ 📺watch and subscribe on youtube Dr Carlo works privately with CEOs, founders and senior executives to eliminate anxiety without medication. he has spent over 12 years across psychology, life coaching and hypnosis and he developed his own panic attacks and anxiety during his doctorate, when neither medication nor conventional therapy gave him real relief. in this episode we get into why the most successful people on the planet are often the last to admit something is wrong, why power has nothing to do with money or status, what mind programming actually is and why hypnosis worked where everything else failed him, and what it really means to be liberated. this one is honest, generous and genuinely useful. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 why leaders hide their pain and self medicate instead of seeking help 10:53 the shame of breaking down internally 15:18 why men talk numbers and sports instead of feelings 15:56 what power actually means 21:37 the repetitive thoughts running on a loop in your mind 24:22 the hundred million dollar client who still couldn't sleep 25:04 why medication + therapy didn't work for carlo’s panic attacks 26:22 falling in love with mind programming 34:57 turning his own hell into the foundation for serving others 38:33 why therapy and mindfulness often only scratch the surface 43:26 weight gain, divorce, addiction and illness 49:49 the pain has to outweigh the fear of change 46:04 what being truly liberated means to carlo some takeaways the most successful leaders are often the most isolated with their pain.power is not the car, the house, or the bank balance.  if thoughts are rooted in fear and unworthiness, no amount of external success will make you feel free vulnerability is often the very thing that built carlo's credibility and depth as a practitioner — he lived through what he now helps others heal conventional therapy and medication have real value but often work at the surface. lasting change happens when you work directly with the subconscious mind's programming the cost of ignoring the inner work is not hypothetical. it shows up as weight gain, broken relationships, addiction, and physical illness people change when the pain of staying the same finally outweighs the discomfort of doing the work nobody else can liberate you. not a partner, not a parent, not a coach. the work is yours, and the power has always been within you connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    56 min
  3. Jun 11

    ep 31: why do old wounds keep resurfacing?

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube have you ever left a relationship, a job or a city and somehow ended up in the exact same situation with a different face? same dynamic, same feeling and the same damn ceiling. in this episode i get into why that happens and what it actually means. nothing is wrong with you and you don’t have bad luck - your old wounds resurface (again and again) until you finally turn around and face them. i share my own deepest wound, the self-abandonment pattern that followed me through workplaces, relationships, family and my own internal dialogue, and what it took to finally break the cycle. as always, grounded in science, trauma research and real practical steps you can take. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 welcome welcome! 01:24 why your life keeps repeating itself 03:40 my self-abandonment wound 08:34 the common thread beneath it all 11:01 what a wound actually is 13:24 how wounds get stored in the body 16:54 why the same patterns keep finding you 20:24 the most common wounds and how they show up 24:24 why we unconsciously recreate familiar pain 26:54 why we don't remember the wound (we re-live it) 28:57 how to actually break the cycle (six practical steps) 36:02 nothing is wrong with you some takeaways knowing a wound cognitively is not the same as healing it. a wound is a specific event in which an emotional need went unmet the nervous system cannot distinguish between a past threat and a present one if the emotional residue is still stored in the body. your external reality is always reflecting back what is still waiting to be healed internally.  the most skipped and most necessary step in healing is grief when the wound heals, the attraction changes.  your patterns are not evidence that you are broken. they are evidence that healing is not yet complete. and some part of you is still trying to get there references and thought leaders Bruce Perry — The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog. Early adverse experiences shape the architecture of the nervous system. The brain is experience-dependent. → www.neurosequential.com Bessel van der Kolk — The Body Keeps the Score. Wounds are encoded in the body's sensory motor systems, not just in narrative memory. → www.besselvanderkolk.com Stephen Porges — Polyvagal Theory. The nervous system constantly scans for cues of safety or danger, far beneath conscious awareness. → www.stephenporges.com Peter Levine — Somatic Experiencing. Titration and pendulation — healing happens in small doses, moving between activation and safety. → www.somaticexperiencing.com Dan Siegel — implicit memory. Wounds surface not as clear recollections but as feelings, sensations, and automatic responses. → www.drdansiegel.com Richard Schwartz — IFS, No Bad Parts. Parts carrying the wound's burden can be approached with curiosity and compassion, and the burden released. → www.ifs-institute.com Parag Lokhande — grief as the price of love, and unspent love as the emotion beneath our deepest wounds. → www.metromunk.com.au connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    36 min
  4. Jun 4

    ep 30: why saying yes to everything is slowly killing you

    Kate Whelan is an educator, author, artist, and facilitator whose work explores boundaries, self-trust, emotional healing, and personal transformation. For more than 20 years, she has worked with children, teens, and adults through education, music, creativity, communication, and well-being practices, helping people reconnect to the parts of themselves they learned to suppress in order to survive.  With a background in teaching, mindfulness education, communication, leadership development, and trauma-aware facilitation, Kate bridges expressive arts, emotional awareness, somatic insight, and honest conversation in a way that is both grounded and deeply transformative. She is the creator of The Sacred No - a body of work centered on ending self-abandonment, rebuilding self-trust, and learning how to honour the inner voice before burnout, resentment, or collapse force the change. connect with Kate Kate’s website: https://www.katewhelan.com.au/  Kate’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katewhelan1111/ The Sacred No Book: www.thesacredno.com The Sacred No instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacrednoreclammation/ ~ 📺watch and subscribe on youtube Kate Whelan spent decades being the good girl, the life of the party, the teacher who showed up for everyone and the person who said yes when every cell in her body was screaming no. she numbed it with alcohol, with drugs, with keeping busy, with over-giving.. until the cost became impossible to ignore. in this episode we get into the childhood wound that made saying no feel dangerous, what people pleasing actually costs you in your body, your relationships and your sense of self, why the sacred no is not about being selfish but about being honest, the creative healing journey that changed everything for Kate, and what it actually feels like in the nervous system when you finally start choosing yourself. this one will stay with you. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 why saying yes to everything is costing you 03:10 where the belief that something was wrong with her began 06:55 the moment she started abandoning herself 09:03 being bullied at six foot tall in year seven and starting to smoke just to belong 11:30 fifteen years of numbing 14:20 standing in front of children every day and the big realisation 17:00 the abortion at 34 and untangling the christmas lights 22:00 creative expression was a doorway to healing! 26:30 writing the book without a single like or comment 31:15 what actually changed when she started saying the sacred no 37:00 the one question you can ask yourself in any situation right now 42:10 what the sacred no actually is 46:00 the project connecting David and Kate 48:30 what liberation means to Kate  connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    51 min
  5. May 28

    ep 29: why do you resist feeling your feelings?

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube there's a message most of us received early in life.. it sounds like “toughen up. don't cry. push through. get on with it.” and for me it was direct - i was told to “put up, shut up and get on with it.” and i did.. i got very good at it. i pushed through school, university, relationships, career failures and family pain. i kept moving and kept achieving. and underneath all of it, there was a whole world of feeling i had learned to lock the door on. in this episode i get into why so many of us (and men especially) resist feeling our feelings, where that resistance actually comes from, what it costs us biologically and psychologically, what ancient wisdom traditions have known for thousands of years that modern culture keeps forgetting and a clear practical guide to begin (gently, without needing to rip yourself open). this one's close to my heart. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 welcome welcome! 01:24 put up, shut up and get on with it 03:54 how suppression followed me through school, uni, career and business 06:39 dr jekyll and mr hyde 08:24 8 years of therapy and still not breaking the resistance 10:58 masculine conditioning and the damage it's doing 13:14 the productivity industrial complex 14:44 brené brown and shame 18:16 what actually happens in the body when you suppress emotion 20:54 ancient wisdom on feeling your feelings 23:24 the cruel irony 25:34 why feeling an emotion fully is what allows it to complete and release 27:50 the window of tolerance and the fear of falling apart 29:24 step by step (a practical guide to beginning) 32:07 coming home to yourself research references and thought leaders Terrence Real — author of I Don't Want to Talk About It. Boys are socialised to treat vulnerability as unsafe and feelings as a liability. Brené Brown — author of Daring Greatly. Shame is the fear of disconnection and the primary reason people suppress emotion. Candace Pert — author of Molecules of Emotion. Suppressed emotions continue circulating as neuropeptides, affecting immune function, hormones, and digestion. Bessel van der Kolk — author of The Body Keeps the Score. Suppressed emotion gets encoded in the body's fascia, musculature, and organs.→ www.besselvanderkolk.com Stephen Porges — developer of Polyvagal Theory. Chronic suppression locks the nervous system in survival mode.→ www.stephenporges.com Peter Levine — founder of Somatic Experiencing. Incomplete emotional responses create frozen residue of energy stored in the body.→ www.somaticexperiencing.com HeartMath Institute — research on cardiac coherence. Processing emotion makes the body more intelligent, resilient, and capable.→ www.heartmath.org Dan Siegel — author of Mindsight. Name it to tame it — labelling an emotion reduces amygdala activation and calms the nervous system.→ www.drdansiegel.com Richard Schwartz — developer of IFS. Turning toward a feeling with curiosity rather than judgment reduces its intensity.→ www.ifs-institute.com Ancient wisdom — Buddhism, Hinduism, Kabbalah, and Stoicism all point to the same truth: suppression is avoidance. The path to freedom runs through the feeling, not around it. connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    35 min
  6. May 22

    ep 28: nothing is wasted - on grief, loss and finding your way

    Sandeep Adnani is an Amazon number one bestselling author, mental health counsellor, and life coach based in Dubai. He spent years working as a director of media before following a quiet calling into psychology and counselling, completing an 18-month course in nine months and building an online practice that he has run since 2018. He is the author of eight published books across multiple genres — from the award-winning Exiled Rogue Trilogy, a metaphysical and transformational fiction series about the purpose and meaning of life, to the You Decide nonfiction series drawn from his years in the counselling room. His first nonfiction book Wounded or Wise opened at number five in the Counselling category on Amazon Australia. The omnibus of his trilogy won the Silver Medal at the 2022 Global Book Awards. He writes with the heart of a seeker and the precision of someone who has spent years listening deeply to other people's pain — and his own. connect with Sandeep Sandy’s website: https://sandeepadnani.com/  Sandy’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepadnani11/  Sandy’s counselling: https://www.instagram.com/counsellinglife/  ~ 📺watch and subscribe on youtube Sandeep Adnani left a successful career as a director of media in dubai to become a counsellor. he wrote six books across completely different genres. he lost his mother.. and found her again in a whole new way. in this conversation we get into what it actually looks like to walk away from a path that no longer fits, why listening to your body is one of the most radical acts you can do, how creative expression becomes a doorway to healing, what grief really is beneath all the pain and what it means to be liberated when only you know your journey. this one is warm, wise and deeply human. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 the career pivot that was always waiting 03:56 the obstacles (redirections in disguise) 08:58 why listening to your body terrifies most high achievers 18:58 three trips to the emergency room 24:23 junk data 27:15 we are all children walking around looking for validation 32:43 wounded or wise 36:19 alchemising pain into creative expression 40:14 we don't want things for the thing itself 42:34 the 60th anniversary and the moment his mother passed 44:15 changing the whatsapp group name 47:17 what to do with all the unspent love 50:56 it's okay not to know if any of this is real 55:28 if you chose this, why did you choose this? 56:28 your value is not determined by what someone else says about you 57:41 what liberation actually means to Sandy connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    1h 2m
  7. May 14

    ep 27: your body remembers everything you refused to feel

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube this is an episode dedicated to the tightness in your jaw, the pressure in your chest, the hips that seize up and the stomach that knots before difficult conversations. you've probably tried to address it the conventional way.. physio, massage, stretching, yoga, medication.. and it may help temporarily.. and then it comes back. in this episode i get into why. the body is not breaking down randomly… it is communicating to you - and until we learn to listen, the signals get louder. i share my own decade-long journey with hip and leg tension that nothing physical could resolve, what traditional chinese medicine has known about the body's emotional map for over 2500 years, what modern neuroscience is now confirming and a simple, grounded practice you can do right now to begin listening to what your body has been waiting to say. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 welcome welcome! 01:24 what conventional medicine never fully resolves 04:04 what gets stored when emotion can't be felt 07:39 why you constantly feel on edge 09:54 your body’s survival program 12:25 2500 years of wisdom modern science is catching up to 14:44 the lungs and grief, the liver and anger, the kidneys and fear 17:32 no one will love you the way you need to be loved but you 21:09 why old patterns keep repeating 24:33 a grounded body scan practice research references and thought leaders Bessel van der Kolk — author of The Body Keeps the Score. Trauma lives in the body's fascia, organs, and sensory motor systems — not in narrative memory. → www.besselvanderkolk.com Peter Levine — founder of Somatic Experiencing, author of Waking the Tiger. When a stress response can't complete, the energy freezes in the body as unfinished biological business. → www.somaticexperiencing.com Stephen Porges — developer of Polyvagal Theory. The nervous system can't distinguish between a past threat and a present one if the emotional residue is still stored in the body. → www.stephenporges.com HeartMath Institute — research on cardiac coherence. Suppressed emotion drops heart rate variability, raises stress hormones, and diminishes capacity for clear thinking and connection. → www.heartmath.org Bruce Perry — author of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog. The nervous system is experience-dependent. Unprocessed experiences keep shaping behavior until they are metabolised. → www.neurosequential.com Candace Pert — author of Molecules of Emotion. Suppressed emotions circulate as neuropeptides, influencing immune function, hormones, digestion, and heart health. Dan Siegel — author of Mindsight. Healing happens within the window of tolerance — present with sensation, without numbing out or being overwhelmed. → www.drdansiegel.com Traditional Chinese Medicine — organ emotion map — 2500 years of documented practice recognised by the WHO. Lungs correspond to grief. Liver to anger. Kidneys to fear. Stomach to worry. Heart to emotional shock. Parag Lokhande — shadow coach and somatic practitioner. Listen to the full conversation on a previous episode of Liberated. → www.metromunk.com.au connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    31 min
  8. May 7

    ep 26: why everything you're chasing won't make you feel enough

    📺watch and subscribe on youtube this one's a little different. i'm on the other side of the microphone. Creighton Bertrand invited me onto his podcast and what unfolded was one of the most honest conversations i've had about my own journey. we got into growing up in a migrant household and making achievement mean safety from the age of five or six. failing to get into medical school after four years of trying. the drug use, the court date, the rock bottom. building a mental health company while still struggling with my own. and what finally shifted when i stopped coping and started healing. if you've ever tied your worth to what you do, what you produce, or what you achieve, this one will hit close to home. enjoy 💙 what we explored this episode 00:00 growing up in a migrant household 04:15 chasing medical school for four years  08:30 self-loathing, blame and the question that changed everything 12:45 bouncing between career roles 16:20 the pressure of not knowing who i am or what i'm for 19:40 the moment i felt like a criminal and a degenerate 23:00 building a mental health company while still struggling with my own mental health 26:10 why awareness alone never healed anything 29:45 pain versus suffering  33:30 creighton's story - holding his daughter and feeling enough for the first time 38:00 how men cut themselves off from the full spectrum of emotion 43:15 what it actually means to coach someone versus fixing or rescuing them 47:30 coming from power versus coming from force 52:00 what terrifies most high achievers 57:10 tying your identity to your achievements 01:01:30 you are enough exactly as you are some takeaways the belief that achievement equals love, approval, and safety gets formed as young as five or six years old. and it runs your life until you look at it directly you can be deeply aware of a pattern and still be unable to change it. awareness is not transformation. healing is building a mental health company while still struggling with your own mental health is not hypocrisy. it is the human condition. coping gets you through. healing gets you free the drug, the scroll, the overwork, the achievement chase — they are all the same thing. an escape from a feeling that hasn't been fully felt yet pain is inevitable. suffering is the story you tell about the pain. and that distinction changes everything anger can be a powerful motivator. but operating from force always produces forceful results — stress, burnout, and a bank account full of emptiness safety is not weakness. it is the physiological precondition for healing, for creativity, for genuine connection, and for sustainable success when your identity is tied to what you do, you will never feel peace. when you come back to who you are, you can finally play with house money you are enough exactly as you are. the work is just learning to believe it — and then taking action from that place connect with me 👉take the root cause audit free five minute assessment - answer a few honest questions about what's showing up in your life right now. i'll personally review your responses and send you back a detailed breakdown of the specific emotional pattern driving your behaviour within 48 hours. no call and no pitch. just clarity on what's actually keeping you stuck. 👉free resources practical tools, guided practices and resources to help you create more clarity, confidence and alignment - all 100% free. no catch - just high-impact support for high performers & purpose-driven humans ready to grow. enjoy!  👉need more support? if you’re interested in coaching programs and more support. 👉linkedin 👉facebook 👉instagram 👉tiktok 👉youtube 👉website lots of love, david 💙

    1h 4m

About

welcome to liberated. this is your space to pause, let go of who you think you need to be and feel at peace with who you are. i’m david michael titeu, mindset coach and recovering hustler. each week, we unpack what’s beneath success and why it never feels like enough. we’ll dive deep into psychology, identity, purpose, philosophy and healing - the deeper human stuff that shapes how you lead, love and live. this isn’t another grind podcast. whew. it’s a sanctuary to slow down, explore the inner work behind self-worth and help you remember there was never anything wrong with you to begin with.