The Truth Is with Kathryn Flaschner

Kathryn Flaschner
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The truth is something we all carry, but don’t always speak—or step into. The Truth Is explores what becomes possible when we do, with ourselves and with each other. Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner, it’s a space to listen more closely, trust what we know, and find our own way forward. Each week, we explore what opens through honesty: deeper connection, greater clarity, and a life that feels real. New episodes return September 17 and drop every Wednesday.

  1. Cindy Scharkey: On Permission for Pleasure — and Why You’re Worthy of It

    1D AGO

    Cindy Scharkey: On Permission for Pleasure — and Why You’re Worthy of It

    What would change if you believed you were worthy of pleasure? In this episode of The Truth Is, I sit down with Cindy Scharkey — Registered Nurse, OB/GYN nurse, Certified Childbirth Educator, and host of the podcast and author of Permission for Pleasure. With nearly 40 years in women’s health, Cindy has witnessed how silence and shame shape women’s relationship with their bodies, sex, and desire. Many women come to her with questions about sex and desire. What they often uncover is something deeper: a relationship with themselves that was never fully examined. We talk about inherited narratives around purity, modesty, and worth. The belief that pleasure must be earned. Why what we call a “desire problem” is often a pleasure problem. And how difficult it can be to admit we were never taught to truly listen to our own bodies. This conversation, and Cindy's work, goes beyond sex. It’s about permission — to feel, to listen, and to stay in relationship with yourself. And part of that practice is allowing what is present, without polishing it or performing. At its core, this episode asks what happens when we stop living from inherited assumptions and start listening to what is actually true. In this episode, we explore: The idea of a “pleasure crisis” — and what it feels like in real lifeCuriosity as a way back into relationship with your bodyWhy what we call a “desire problem” may actually be a pleasure problemWhat happens when we override sensation — and what shifts when we listenThe courage it takes to question what we were taught about sex and worthPermission not to manufacture meaning — but to be in the truth of the momentHow pleasure, grief, and aliveness can coexistSmall, embodied practices — from dancing naked to finding “sips of joy” — that keep us connected  Connect with Cindy:  Website: www.cindyscharkey.com Listen to her podcast: Permission for Pleasure Explore her book: Permission for Pleasure Follow Cindy on Instagram: @cindyscharkey   Connect with The Truth Is: @thetruthis_podcast   Credits Hosted by Kathryn FlaschnerVideo Production & Editing by Anton LaPlumeEdited by Dan CrollMusic by Will Savino → wsavino.comVisual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan BushAdvised by Natalie Tulloch

    56 min
  2. Sam Bianchini: Rest as a Return to Self — On Ritual, Worthiness, and Remembering

    FEB 4

    Sam Bianchini: Rest as a Return to Self — On Ritual, Worthiness, and Remembering

    Rest isn’t just about slowing down. It’s about remembering who you are. This conversation begins there. My guest is Sam Bianchini, an international yoga teacher, psychedelic therapist, and artist. Sam led a Yoga Nidra training I took during a season of deep burnout — a moment when I didn’t yet know what was next, but knew I couldn’t keep moving the same way. In this conversation, we talk about the ancient ritual she guided us through: Yoga Nidra — a deep form of rest that Sam teaches not as a technique to master, but as a state of consciousness. One that extends beyond the ritual itself, and offers a different way of relating to rest, clarity, and worth in today’s culture. What unfolded — both that weekend and here — wasn’t a lesson in rest as recovery or self-care. It was an invitation to relate to rest as a return. To the body. To intuition. To an inherent sense of worth that exists before productivity or achievement. We talk about why clarity requires nervous system regulation. About how many of us were taught — subtly or explicitly — that our value is tied to output, endurance, or optimization. And about what becomes possible when we slow down enough to hear what’s actually true. This isn’t an episode about doing less so you can do more. It’s about remembering who you are — and learning to move from that place. In This Conversation, We ExploreRest as a return to self, not a reward for productivityYoga Nidra as an ancient ritual and a state of consciousnessHow practices of rest can extend beyond the mat and into daily lifeWorthiness beyond achievementNervous system regulation and clarityCeremony, ritual, and remembrance as pathways back to truthWhy we are designed to regulate and heal in communityConnect with Sam BianchiniWebsite: https://sambianchini.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samdarlin/?hl=enConnect with The Truth IsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetruthis_podcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetruthis_podCreditsHosted by Kathryn FlaschnerVideo Production & Editing by Anton LaPlumeEdited by Dan CrollMusic by Will Savino — https://wsavino.comVisual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan BushAdvised by Natalie Tulloch

    53 min
  3. David Neimanis: The Hour You Don’t Have to Earn

    JAN 14

    David Neimanis: The Hour You Don’t Have to Earn

    In Spain, there’s a ritual called La Hora del Vermut — a pause in the middle of the day that isn’t about winding down or earning rest. It’s a celebration of the day itself. This conversation starts there — with vermut, salty snacks, and a toast. My guest is David Neimanis, a maker I grew up down the street from, whose life has moved through music, writing, food, and now building a Spanish vermouth brand called Cueva Nueva while living in Valencia. What I loved about this conversation is that it isn’t a tidy story about one big pivot. It’s about a quieter shift — learning not to defer living to some future moment. We talk about: what La Hora del Vermut reveals about pleasure, community, and pace — and what it feels like to live inside a different relationship to timethe difference between freedom and autonomy, and how Dave came to understand both through life on the roadredefining success — not as exits or endless scale, but as something livable, human, and sustainablehow different environments shape attention, pace, and conversationwhat it takes to stay grounded in your “why,” especially when the culture around you keeps moving the goalpostsThis isn’t an episode about slowing down to get more done. It’s about learning how to enjoy the day without waiting for permission — and telling the truth when what you wanted stops fitting. Connect with David Neimanis + Cueva NuevaFind where you can drink and purchase a bottle of Cueva Nueva near you: https://www.cuevanueva.com/find-us Follow Cueva Nueva: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuevanueva/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cueva_nueva Follow David Neimanis: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidneimanis/ Connect with The Truth IsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetruthis_podcast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetruthis_pod CreditsHosted by Kathryn Flaschner Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume Edited by Dan Croll Music by Will Savino — wsavino.com Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush Advised by Natalie Tulloch

    1h 3m
  4. Samantha Abrams: From Love, Not For Love

    JAN 7

    Samantha Abrams: From Love, Not For Love

    What does it mean to make decisions from love instead of for love?In this conversation, I sit down with Samantha Abrams to explore how that distinction quietly shapes our work, our relationships, and the lives we build—and why it takes real courage to live it. Samantha is a transformational guide and entrepreneur whose work centers on embodiment, self-trust, and aliveness. Many people first come to know her as the co-founder of Emmy’s Organics, a nationally beloved natural foods brand she built in her early twenties and grew for over a decade. What makes her story compelling isn’t reinvention, but continuity. The same intuition and devotion that built a successful company continue to guide her life and work today. We talk about the subtle ways we abandon ourselves to be chosen or to feel worthy. About why it can be tempting to rewrite the past as “misaligned” instead of honoring that it once fit. And about the courage it takes to leave a life that is beautiful—not because it was wrong, but because you’ve changed. At the heart of this conversation is a simple but clarifying idea: when we act for love, we contort ourselves to earn it. When we act from love, we move from fullness. Not urgency. Not performance. But aliveness. This is not a conversation about reinvention or arrival. It’s about staying in relationship with yourself as life unfolds—letting discomfort inform you, letting trust build slowly, and allowing what feels alive to lead.   In This Episode, We Talk AboutThe difference between doing things from love and for loveWhy leaving something good can be harder than leaving something bad“It was aligned—until it wasn’t” as a truer way to name changeThe quiet ways we abandon ourselves in relationships and workFollowing aliveness instead of certainty as a compass forwardWhy moving on doesn’t mean you didn’t love what came before  About Samantha AbramsSamantha Abrams is a transformational guide and entrepreneur whose work focuses on embodiment, self-trust, and aliveness. She is the co-founder of Emmy’s Organics and now supports people through deep listening, embodied practice, and honest inquiry. Website: https://www.samanthaabrams.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthaabrams/Substack: https://samanthaabrams.substack.com/Podcast — I’m Just Listening: https://open.spotify.com/show/3FffNb8xRXYi6xZqW9UL0s?si=b0e384c850424ccf  Connect with The Truth IsFollow The Truth Is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetruthis_podcast/Watch The Truth Is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetruthis_pod  CreditsHosted by Kathryn FlaschnerVideo Production & Editing by Anton LaPlumeEdited by Dan CrollMusic by Will Savino → wsavino.comVisual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan BushAdvised by Natalie Tulloch

    1h 2m
  5. Year-End Reflections: On Truth, Identity, and Curiosity

    12/31/2025

    Year-End Reflections: On Truth, Identity, and Curiosity

    A year-end solo reflection drawing three throughlines from the season: telling yourself the truth, loosening the grip of identity, and orienting toward curiosity. Featuring moments from conversations with Joanne Molinaro, John Markland, and Jedidiah Jenkins. This episode gathers what emerged, without conclusions, as the show steps into a new year. We Revisit:  Telling yourself the truth as a daily practice, not a single revealIdentity as protection, and what becomes possible when it loosensCuriosity as an orientation, trusting the authority of your own questionsReferenced Episodes & Video Joanne Molinaro — Listen to the full episodeJohn Markland — Listen to the full episodeJedidiah Jenkins — Listen to the full episodeWatch this episode on YouTubeConnect with The Truth Is on Instagram @thetruthis_podcast

    23 min
  6. Megan Hellerer: When Achievement Stops Working — Reorienting Around Curiosity

    12/17/2025

    Megan Hellerer: When Achievement Stops Working — Reorienting Around Curiosity

    What happens when achievement delivers everything it promised, except fulfillment? In this episode, Kathryn sits down with Megan Hellerer to examine the quiet crisis many high-achieving people experience: success on paper, disconnection inside. Megan shares the moment when the old rules stopped working — and how that reckoning led her to develop a different way of living and working she calls Directional Living. Together, they unpack why hustle culture’s central promise falls apart, why ambition itself isn’t the problem, and what it looks like to rebuild a life from alignment rather than external expectations. This conversation stays with the deeper questions beneath burnout and reinvention: how clarity actually forms, why curiosity matters more than certainty, and what becomes possible when we stop organizing our lives around destinations. In this episode, we explore:Why success and fulfillment are not the sameThe limits of achievement as a life strategyAmbition vs. aligned ambitionHow clarity emerges through action, not planningWhy not knowing can reduce anxiety rather than increase itThe cultural reckoning beneath hustle cultureHow truth-telling creates collective permissionWhat it means to live directionally in an unpredictable worldAbout Megan Megan Hellerer is a coach, speaker, and author whose work centers on helping people unlearn inherited definitions of success and build lives rooted in alignment rather than expectation. She is the creator of the Directional Living framework and works with individuals navigating burnout, career transitions, and reinvention. Megan’s book Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life Amazon Bookshop.org Learn more on her website Follow Megan Instagram: @meganhellerer Website: meganhellerer.com Connect with The Truth Is Watch full episodes on YouTube: youtube.com/@thetruthispodcast Follow along on Instagram for clips, reflections, and episode highlights: instagram.com/thetruthis.podcast

    1h 17m
  7. Jen Randle: Personal Truth, Collective Trust, and the Reimagining Ahead

    12/10/2025

    Jen Randle: Personal Truth, Collective Trust, and the Reimagining Ahead

    This week’s conversation widens the frame. The Truth Is has always centered the internal work—alignment, reckoning, truth-telling, and the quiet process of returning to ourselves. But for many of us, the tension isn’t only personal. It’s structural. The friction we feel inside is often a response to the systems, workplaces, and expectations we’ve been moving through. My guest today, Jen Randle, co-founder of SGNL, names that intersection with clarity. Her work maps trust across three levels: the micro (self), the meso (teams and relationships), and the macro (organizations and institutions). Through that lens, our personal misalignment becomes inseparable from the collective dynamics shaping our lived experience. We talk about the “season of sitting in it”—the pause, the discomfort, the in-between so many of us find ourselves in. We explore why hustle culture is losing its hold, why mistrust is surfacing everywhere, and what it takes to rebuild environments where trust isn’t performative, but practiced. Jen’s framework gives language to what so many are sensing: the world as it was built no longer fits, and the work now is to reimagine, not just endure. We talk through: How post-2020 life reshaped our relationship to time, work, and what we’re willing to sacrificeWhy so many high performers hit the wall at the same momentThe micro: aligning head, heart, and gut—and why most of us have been over-relying on the headTurning everyday habits into rituals that reopen intuitive and emotional accessShifting from “purpose” as a pressure-filled destination to “contribution” as a grounded way of movingThe truths we inherited or internalized about success—and how to begin unwinding themThe meso: the relational tissue between teams and why most friction stems from fractures in trustThe macro: what happens to an organization when its outsides stop matching its insidesCongruency, stewardship, and why accountability—not branding—determines real cultureThe coming wealth transfer to women and what becomes possible when new worlds are built with intentionWhy we may need to stop fighting for a seat at old tables and imagine entirely new onesIf you’re in a pivot, a pause, a burnout, or a quiet questioning, this conversation offers perspective and orientation. A reminder that the season you’re in isn’t regression—it’s data. It’s part of the process of getting clear about who you are, what you value, and what no longer fits. More from Jen Randle • Website — www.sgnladvisory.com • Jen on LinkedIn — www.linkedin.com/in/jenrandle • Jen’s Substack — thetrustsgnl.substack.com Connect with The Truth Is Full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast Credits Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner Edited by Dan Croll Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush Advised by Natalie Tulloch

    1h 2m
  8. Jedidiah Jenkins: The Authority of Your Own Questions

    12/03/2025

    Jedidiah Jenkins: The Authority of Your Own Questions

    What if the clarity you’re looking for isn’t “out there” at all, but already inside you — waiting for the moment it comes into view? In this conversation, NYT bestselling author and adventurer Jedidiah Jenkins sits down with us to talk about revelation, habituation, aging, and what it means to build a life you’re actually comfortable being yourself in. Jed talks about how his books — from To Shake the Sleeping Self through Mother, Nature and now his upcoming fourth — trace the long arc of becoming, moving through the mother wound, his religious upbringing, and the early experiences that sharpened his curiosity. He shares why he sees revelation as the moment when previously collected pieces finally organize into clarity, and how trusting the authority of his own questions has guided his life and work. We talk through: Revelation vs. information — why most “aha” moments are old truths finally landing in the right orderHabituation and the hedonic treadmill — how we get used to everything, even the life we once wanted, and how Jed disrupts that patternHow he now makes sense of the 30-year-old who biked from Oregon to Patagonia — and the life that opened because of itHow his first three books became a trilogy of healing the mother woundWhy living fully as yourself quietly liberates other people to do the sameHis eight-week, no-phone sabbatical in rural Colorado during the election — and what surfaced when the noise stoppedWhy he believes many of us are one sabbatical away from a breakthroughEntering the “youngest old person” season of life and finding a beginner’s mindset again in midlifeWe also talk about the truth of the moment — how naming what’s real as it arises becomes its own form of presence — and how Jed has had to rebuild his sense of truth from the inside out after growing up inside a religious system that defined it for him. He reflects on learning to trust the authority of his own questions, and why that practice continues to shape his life and his work. And yes — we talk about the leaf. The one Kathryn caught during a silent walk at Jed’s retreat, the one that never touched the ground. Jed wrote on it: What falls will feed the new. It becomes a quiet throughline for this conversation about clarity, courage, and letting what’s no longer true fall away so something more honest can grow. More from Jedidiah Jenkins: • Website — www.jedidiahjenkins.com • Instagram — @jedidiahjenkins • Substack — jedidiahjenkins.substack.com • Forthcoming fourth book — out fall 2026 (fun sneak peek at the process mentioned in the episode) Connect with The Truth Is: 🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod 📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast Credits Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner Edited by Dan Croll Music by Will Savino Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush Advised by Natalie Tulloch

    1h 22m
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The truth is something we all carry, but don’t always speak—or step into. The Truth Is explores what becomes possible when we do, with ourselves and with each other. Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner, it’s a space to listen more closely, trust what we know, and find our own way forward. Each week, we explore what opens through honesty: deeper connection, greater clarity, and a life that feels real. New episodes return September 17 and drop every Wednesday.

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