The Catherine Plano Podcast

Tania Khazaal has built her work around healing families, but she is the first to tell you she did not start there. She was the child who cut off her own mother and went no contact, certain she was protecting herself. She grew up in community housing, later lost her job and her home and lived out of her car, and moved through toxic relationships, heartbreak and health struggles. The turn back was not a single lightning bolt. It came through faith, neuroscience and a slow, deliberate rebuilding of who she believed she was. Her path into this work began with her own mother, who was on her deathbed from years of pharmaceutical dependency. Tania went looking for something natural that might help, and her mother became, in her words, her guinea pig. She came off her narcotics; the doctors could not believe it, and she is still alive today. That experience pulled Tania deep into the mind-body connection, and what she noticed there became the heart of her message. So many people ate well, exercised and did everything right on paper, yet stayed unwell. Again and again the missing piece was emotional: an unspoken resentment, a parent they had not spoken to in years, a wound they did not know how to release. Stop making your parents the villain Much of the conversation centres on what Tania calls Cutoff Culture, which she describes as the new rules of family repair. Language once confined to therapy rooms, words like narcissistic, triggering, trauma and boundaries, has spilled into everyday life, and parents often have no idea what these terms mean. Setting aside genuine abuse, she poses an uncomfortable question: at what point do you stop making your parents the villain and become the victor of your story rather than its permanent victim? Her framework moves through three stages of healing. Stage one is therapy, where wounds are uncovered and named. It is valuable, but many people get stuck there, endlessly rehearsing what happened to them. Stage two is the overlooked step of rewriting the other person’s story. When Tania wrote her mother’s history, one of sixteen children, the second youngest, fatherless at three, emotionally neglected, her resentment turned to compassion. Only then could she reach stage three and rewrite her own story with new meaning. She applied the same process to a former partner who had been violently abusive, not to excuse him, but to release herself from the resentment she had carried. As she puts it, hurt people hurt people, and most of the time they are simply a wounded child deflecting their own pain. Standards, not walls Tania draws a sharp line between protecting yourself and quietly abandoning people you still love. She challenges what she calls fake healing, where protecting your peace becomes an excuse to cut off anyone who activates an unhealed wound. Real peace, she says, is not the absence of chaos but an internal steadiness that outside chaos cannot shake. Boundaries, in her framing, were never about building walls. They are standards, a way of governing your own behaviour rather than controlling someone else. The repair itself happens in conversation. Somatic work, tapping and breathing calm the nervous system, she explains, but they rarely reach the root, which is why the same feelings keep resurfacing. The deeper release comes from leading with curiosity, letting the other person feel heard before explaining your own intention, and refusing to walk in defended and determined to be right. When someone is hurting, she says, your excuse can feel bigger than their pain. Tania leaves the audience with three golden nuggets: When someone tells you they have been hurt, do not defend yourself. Ask questions so they feel heard first, then share your side. Commit to learning one new thing for your own growth, because progress itself makes us happier. Make space for something bigger than yourself through prayer and praise, then do the work to meet it halfway. It is a generous, grounded conversation about

What if the reason you’re exhausted, frustrated, and stuck isn’t because you’re not working hard enough, but because you’re forcing your life instead of flowing with it? In this transformative episode, nationally recognised executive coach Brett Baughman shares 25 years of wisdom about discovering the critical difference between forcing and flowing, and why most people are unknowingly hiring the wrong version of themselves for the life they’re trying to build. The Man Who Lives His Calling Brett Baughman didn’t stumble into peak performance coaching. From a young age, he possessed an innate ability to see people for who they truly are, helping them feel seen, heard, and understood. This gift evolved into his life’s work: helping others discover their passion so they can live with purpose and make a meaningful impact. “I have so much abundance in my life that not only is it a calling, but it pours out of me,” Brett shares. “I have to, right? It’s kind of like my responsibility for giving back for the blessings I’ve had in my life.” The Flow State Formula One of Brett’s most powerful frameworks is recognising when you’re flowing versus when you’re forcing. When you’re in flow, doors open effortlessly. You wake up inspired. Good ideas come naturally. You meet the right people at the right time. Gratitude becomes your default state. Forcing looks completely different. Frustration replaces gratitude. Time feels scarce. You’re pushing against closed doors repeatedly. Your mental, physical, and spiritual wellness starts declining. “When something’s not going the way you want, stop and say, am I forcing things?” Brett advises. “You’re going to be putting too much energy into something and realise like, this is not what I should do. And you have to let go and flow. And as soon as you let go, you’ll start to get clarity and things will start to line up.” The Take Five Method: Transform Emotional Chaos Into Clarity Brett’s signature practice is “Take Five and Come Back Better.” Whether you’re arguing with your partner or spiralling in negative self-talk, this technique will change your life within days. When you notice you’re not being the person you want to be, stop and excuse yourself. Take two to three minutes and do breathwork using the 4-2-6 technique: inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, slowly exhale for 6 seconds. Repeat for two minutes. “If you really breathe and just slow the breathing down, you turn off that emotional thinking,” Brett explains. “The anger, the sadness, the fear, the guilt goes away. You become objective.” Once calm, ask yourself two critical questions: “How is that emotion helping me?” and “What am I supposed to learn from this experience?” These questions transform emotional reactions into growth opportunities. Are You Hiring the Right Person for the Job? Every morning, Brett wants you to ask: Am I the right person for this job I’ve assigned myself today? If you wake up in a terrible mood, lacking confidence, feeling defeated, then you’re not the person to do the job. That version of you will never produce the results you want. “It doesn’t mean don’t do the job,” Brett clarifies. “It means go get aligned first.” Because as Brett powerfully states: “As you build it, so shall it live.” There’s No Such Thing as Failure, Only Feedback Brett calls this philosophy “failing forward.” When something doesn’t work, ask what you learned and what you’ll do differently next time. This removes the fear of mistakes and replaces it with curiosity about growth. About Brett Baughman Brett Baughman is a nationally recognised executive coach, voted Top Business Coach to Work With by Apple News. With over 25 years of experience guiding high-performing executives, CEOs, and leadership teams, Brett is a trusted expert in helping people break through to their next level of success. As the creator of The Ideal You framework, Action Mastery Retreats, and the immersive Breath House Experience, Brett has helped c

What if the reason you feel like a stranger to yourself isn’t that you’re lost, but because you’ve been performing for so long, you forgot what authenticity looks like? From childhood, so many of us learned that success meant following the script: get the degree, climb the ladder, earn the title, achieve the milestones. But somewhere along the way, that external validation became internal disconnection. In this powerful episode, bestselling author and mindfulness expert Case Kenny reveals the truth about modern identity: it’s not about finding yourself once and being done. It’s about constant reinvention through reflection. He explains why “just being yourself” might be the worst advice you’ve ever received, and how the traits you think make you too much are actually what attract the right people to you. This is a conversation for anyone who’s tired of feeling like one person at work and a stranger at home, for anyone questioning whether the life that looks good on paper actually feels good in reality. Because real fulfilment doesn’t come from collecting achievements. It begins the moment you become the same person inside the conference room and outside. The Man Who Walked Away Case Kenny didn’t just study personal development; he lived the crisis that demanded it. At 28, he was the Regional Vice President of Sales at an advertising agency, crushing quotas and living what looked like the professional dream. He knew exactly who he was supposed to be in the office: confident, successful, the man with all the answers. Then he’d go home. “I would go to my job and feel like one person, and then I leave and I don’t know who I am,” Case recalls. “I’m like, I don’t know who I am on a human level, or a boyfriend level, or a partner level, or a son level, or a brother level. And I was like, that’s problematic for me.” This acute disconnect sparked a radical experiment. In 2018, he launched a podcast not to build an audience, but to force himself into self-reflection. Each episode became a laboratory where he’d unpack an emotion, desire, or expectation and “beat it up with mindfulness and logic.” Eight years later, he’s left corporate life entirely and built a career around what he jokingly calls “sharing my feelings for a living.” Why “Just Be Yourself” Is Terrible Advice “I’m really not a big fan of advice that’s like, just be yourself,” Case explains, “because if you decide that when you’re 20, you should not be the same person at 25, 30, 35, 40.” The popular wisdom tells us to discover ourselves and commit to that identity. But Case argues this is a dangerous fallacy. Real wisdom doesn’t come from experience alone; it comes from reflecting on experience. Without constant reflection, we risk living according to outdated beliefs and values that no longer serve us. “We don’t get wisdom from life experience. We get wisdom from reflecting on life experience,” he says, paraphrasing John Dewey. The things that happen to you shape who you are, but it’s reflecting on those experiences that should have the final say in who you become. His background in languages (he double majored in Chinese and Arabic at Notre Dame) resurfaces in his work. Case views personal development through a linguistic lens, believing that the words we use to describe our experiences fundamentally shape our reality. Out-of-Town Confidence: The Framework That Changes Everything One of Case’s most powerful concepts is “out-of-town confidence,” a mental model that reframes how we approach relationships and life goals. Imagine you’re visiting Miami for the first time. You’d probably be more extroverted, more confident, more open to new experiences. Why? Because you’re not fixated on any single person or outcome. The focus is on the experience itself, and if you happen to meet someone amazing along the way, that’s a bonus. “Get the most out of life as possible, not in a crazy, selfish, narcissistic way, but just as the human endeavour,” Case explains. “And then you use that

Have you ever felt like everything in your life was quietly unravelling, and you couldn’t tell if you were transforming or falling apart? What if that restlessness you felt all through 2025 wasn’t you breaking—it was you shedding what no longer fit? In this powerful episode, we explore why 2025 left so many of us feeling raw, done, and ready to walk away from versions of ourselves we’d outgrown. This wasn’t random discomfort—this was a Number 9 year combined with Snake energy, and it arrived to make you honest, not comfortable. While everyone around you was forcing momentum, you were doing something far more powerful: listening to truth you’d been avoiding. Now 2026 has begun as a Number 10 year—new identity with infinite potential—and it’s demanding something completely different from you. This episode reveals three transformative insights about what 2025 revealed and what 2026 actually demands from you now. Honour What the Shedding Revealed: The most important growth of 2025 was completely invisible. It didn’t come with applause or external validation. It came in the middle of the night when you finally admitted the truth you’d been avoiding. It came when you stopped explaining yourself to people who were never going to understand. It came when you let the friendship fade without forcing a dramatic ending. The Snake doesn’t shed loudly—it sheds in private, quietly, completely. You released jobs that drained you, beliefs that limited you, versions of yourself you’d outgrown. And you did it without fanfare, without needing validation, without turning your healing into performance. That wasn’t weakness—that was mastery. Internal work feels like nothing is happening, but it’s everything, because you cannot build a new life on a foundation you’ve outgrown. You Are Standing in Infinite Potential Right Now: Here’s what changes everything about 2026: most people see it as a Number 1 year and think “fresh starts,” but they’re missing the zero. And the zero is where the power lives. Zero represents Source, the unseen, the infinite field of possibility. This isn’t a year where you grind your way to success through willpower alone. This is a year of co-creation. The 1 is you—your vision, your clarity, your choice. The 0 is Source—the universe, the mysterious force that opens doors you didn’t even know existed. Together, they create something neither could accomplish alone. You’re not starting from scratch. You’re starting from clarity, from truth, from the solid ground of knowing who you are and what you will no longer tolerate. Stop carrying the weight of outcomes. Your job is to move, to choose, to act. The rest? That’s where the zero does its work. The Horse Demands You Run: Starting in February, everything shifts again. Horse energy arrives, and the Horse doesn’t tiptoe—the Horse runs. Where the Snake revealed truth, the Horse demands movement, courage, forward motion. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: clarity without action is just comfortable confusion. You know what you know now. 2025 gave you that gift. You see the patterns, understand the lies you believed about yourself, know what needs to change. But knowledge without embodiment is just intellectual entertainment. This year is asking you a different question—not “What do you know?” but “What will you do?” The Horse doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. It runs because running is its nature. And courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage is moving while afraid, choosing freedom over familiarity every single day. Your assignment: identify one truth that 2025 revealed and take one action toward embodying it this week. Not next month. Not when you feel ready. This week. This isn’t just an episode—it’s an invitation to stop rehearsing your life and start living it. The shedding is done. 2025 cleared the way. 2026 is where you run. If you’re standing at the edge of your own expansion, afraid to jump, this one’s for you. You can watch the video of this episode on YouTube. Newsletter:

What if the mental health diagnosis you’ve been told limits you is actually the beginning of your most extraordinary life? What if stability isn’t the ceiling, but just the foundation? What if the system telling you to “just be stable” has been setting the bar far too low? Award-winning speaker and mental health advocate Gabe Howard reveals a truth the mental health system doesn’t want you to hear: people with serious mental illness can do more than survive. They can thrive, build careers, speak at Oxford University, and lead badass lives. The Dreams That Bipolar Disorder Interrupted Gabe Howard grew up dreaming of becoming a tech mogul, the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. It was the mid-90s, the early days of the internet, and he wanted to be an entrepreneur in the public eye. He even considered stand-up comedy. Then bipolar disorder happened. Psychosis happened. Suicidality happened. He was committed to a psychiatric hospital, and everything came crashing down. When he finally reached recovery, Gabe was angry and traumatised. He searched desperately for resources to help himself and his parents, but the harder he looked, the less he found. That’s when he realised something powerful: he wanted somebody to do something, and then he realised he was somebody. He never thought advocacy would become his career. He thought he’d volunteer for his local mental health charity and maybe make a small impact. Now, he’s a Webby Award winner, hosts the Inside Bipolar and Inside Mental Health podcasts, has spoken at Oxford University and the National Press Club in Washington, DC, and wrote a book called Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations. Mental Health Is Identical to Physical Health One of Gabe’s most powerful insights: mental health isn’t like physical health. It’s identical to physical health. Everyone has mental health, just like everyone has physical health. Most people, most of the time, have good mental health. But just like you can catch a cold or break a bone, you can experience mental health challenges. The day after losing a loved one, no one expects you to be at your best mentally. That’s normal. Yet society treats mental health as binary: you’re either “crazy” or “perfectly fine,” with no room for the grey areas where real life actually happens. The System Wants You Stable. Gabe Wants You Thriving. Gabe challenges the mental health establishment’s tendency to set expectations dangerously low. Too often, people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression are told that getting a part-time job and living in a group home means “you’re doing great.” While stability matters, it shouldn’t be the only goal. He’s witnessed people in group homes being told they can’t work full-time or pursue their passions when the real issue is that the system is too scared of relapse to let them try. He shares the inspiring story of Rachel Starr Withers, who lives with schizophrenia yet has hiked volcanoes, appeared in Marvel films, and hosts the Inside Schizophrenia podcast. Her philosophy: “I want to lead a badass life.” No Magic Bullet, Just Consistent Jabs Using boxing as a metaphor, Gabe explains that recovery isn’t about one knockout punch. Everyone loves the idea of that one breakthrough moment, but most fights aren’t won that way. What wins is dozens of small jabs: maintaining sleep hygiene, taking medication as prescribed, keeping mood journals, attending therapy, exercising, eating well, and practicing radical honesty. These seemingly small things add up to sustainable wellness. The key is consistency, not perfection. The Workplace Stigma That Costs Everyone Gabe makes a compelling business case for reducing mental health stigma in the workplace. Companies that create cultures where employees can be honest about their struggles gain productivity. When people feel safe saying they need a mental health hour, they’re more likely to come in later that day rather than calling in sick entirely. This transparency trans