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In a world where AI is ever-present, information never stops, and external opinions flood our feeds, it’s easy to lose touch with the one voice that truly knows: your own.
Return to Intuition is a podcast for conscious leaders, working parents, creatives, and seekers who are ready to pause the noise and tune back in. Hosted by Erin McMahon—marketing executive, mother of two, and intuitive seeker—this show explores how reconnecting with your inner voice can transform the way you lead, parent, create, and live.
Each episode offers grounded insight, personal reflection, and meaningful conversations with founders, intuitive leaders, and thoughtful creators navigating growth, ambition, and soul-aligned choices in a fast-changing world.
Let’s face the future knowing our greatest guide is within—and talk to each other about how to use the world around us to build the best every day and an even better future.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;34;11
Unknown
Hello, this is Erin, and welcome to Seek the Magic, where we uncover the magic in the every day. This morning, while I was working on, I was listening to another podcast by a psychologist and his son, and they were talking about shadow work, which, if you're familiar with Carl Jung, he established shadow work. Is that exploring the part of ourselves that is hidden and or suppressed and we feel ashamed of, or we don't think is good for society to see?
00;00;34;11 - 00;01;13;11
Unknown
And that part is identified because it's an important part for us to explore. If we really want to feel whole and if we do not explore and reconcile ourselves with that, then we will often be confronted with our shadow and painful or not as manageable ways such as, you know, getting triggered by something, or being in a situation where we feel like we can't fully be ourselves, be vulnerable, and it's important for us to explore that within ourselves, the parts of us that may not have been as accepted by society when we were kids, and therefore we suppress.
00;01;13;11 - 00;01;37;08
Unknown
That part is typically thinking, you know, don't cry right now, don't be mad, that sort of thing. And, you know, those parts are important to think about, acknowledge and hopefully get to a point to be able to share with others and explore and accept that part of ourselves. Because when we truly accept it, then we can be more fully ourselves and lead more fulfilling lives.
00;01;37;10 - 00;02;06;27
Unknown
So I listened to the podcast this morning, and then when I was driving to drop my kids off at school, I was listening to music, specifically Bruce Springsteen, which I'm seeing the Bruce Springsteen concert in a little bit less than a month. Very exciting. And basically my my song knowledge and depth extent goes to knowing a lot of Bruce Springsteen lyrics and music, and that's basically all I know, and everything else is just additive on top of that.
00;02;06;27 - 00;02;34;29
Unknown
And when I heard from others. But anyway, I was listening to the song Brilliant Disguise and that song talks a lot about relationship between a man and woman and whether they're truly seeing each other. But I really connected it to shadow work because this whole time he is looking at another person that he loves and he's being vulnerable and he's saying, am I really seeing you or am I seeing something else?
00;02;35;00 - 00;03;12;15
Unknown
And can I trust that? And can I even trust myself? And that really connected to me in terms of how we think about ourselves, look at ourselves, project to others and, you know, also engage in relationships with others. It's just it's such a complicated thing when we're exploring not only ourselves and the evolving nature of who we are, but then also, you know, how that evolving person interacts with other people, whether it be in a marriage relationship or, you know, a friendship or any sort of other relationship.
00;03;12;15 - 00;03;38;26
Unknown
It's it's it's just a complicated, evolving dynamic. And I think music just can get to the core of that. And I would say I am extreme Bruce Springsteen fan. I think he's absolutely brilliant in terms of his work and how he expresses things. Any reason, you know, religion and his past and all these different things. So there were a few lyrics that absolutely stood out to me.
00;03;38;26 - 00;04;12;16
Unknown
First of all, just is it you, baby or is it a brilliant disguise when you're looking at another person, are you really thinking, or are you really seeing who they are? Or are you seeing part of them? Are you truly seeing the core of them or just a projection? And, you know, can you really trust that, especially in a love relationship, but really in any relationship, you, when you're looking at another person and making a connection, you're you're being vulnerable and you're putting yourself out there and you're exposing part of part of yourself.
00;04;12;16 - 00;04;35;22
Unknown
And, you know, the question is, are you really seeing the other person for who they are? Do they feel secure enough about themselves to share that with you? And how does that process evolve throughout the relationship? And he starts out by asking the woman whether this is her or a brilliant disguise, and then at the end, he flips it around and says, is it me, baby?
00;04;35;22 - 00;04;57;02
Unknown
Or is it a brilliant disguise? Like, am I really? Am I really showing myself or am I showing a projection of myself? And you know, is that a question for her? Is it a question for him or is a question for both? But I think that that's beautiful and striking as well, because, you know, there are moments where we're questioning, are we really showing our our full selves to the other person?
00;04;57;05 - 00;05;24;13
Unknown
How can we show more of our full selves? What will that do to the relationship? How will that help us evolve? And ideally, you know, in in a world where we are dynamic and helping each other grow and evolve, that those things will be accepted and we can reveal more parts of our true selves or reveal, you know, ways that we want to grow and talk about our dreams and aspirations.
00;05;24;13 - 00;05;47;01
Unknown
But also, you know, things that came from childhood wounds or whatever. But you know, how much of that can we reveal? And how much do we want to reveal that to our significant others, to our friends, to family, that sort of thing? So that really struck me as a related to shadow work and exploring different parts of us, and of course, the core lyrics.
00;05;47;01 - 00;06;10;22
Unknown
And one of the other things he says is look at me struggling to do everything right, and then it all falls apart in the moonlight, you know, talking about the pressure to be perfect or the pressure to try to do the right thing in order to, you know, follow what we predict for the future of our lives. And then realizing that perfect thing that we built up doesn't exactly come to be.
00;06;10;22 - 00;06;42;04
Unknown
And how do we reconcile that? So talking about, you know, wanting to be loved, to be accepted, but then, you know, things happen that are unexpected and how those things, it's a dual part of the relationship. And we need to accept that we all have imperfections and that that is just a normal part of life. And then there is a part of it that goes, I want to know if it's you I can trust, because I damn sure don't trust myself.
00;06;42;06 - 00;07;20;00
Unknown
And I think that that is a beautiful and striking line, too, because it goes to the core of growing is exploring ourselves and addition to these dynamics of relationships. So we look for external places of connection and trust even when we aren't as sure of ourselves. And that's like a beautiful and dynamic interplay, because we are constantly growing, evolving, and, you know, in order to lead fulfilling lives, it's important for us to grow and explore new things.
00;07;20;00 - 00;07;42;16
Unknown
And it's just part of the life process. But as a result, there are moments of insecurity. There are moments of questioning what we're doing. Are we on the right path? Who are we right now? Who were we? Who are we going to be? And in those moments, you know, as the lyric says, are you you really trust all parts of yourself.
00;07;42;16 - 00;08;11;07
Unknown
And, you know, if that is not completely sure, you know, can we rely on other people and the ideally, the beauty is, yes, we can rely on other people, hopefully either, you know, a partner or family or friends or something like that, a trust, a relationship that can help us remind ourselves who we are even in the face of us, not necessarily being completely sure of who we are.
00;08;11;07 - 00;08;33;25
Unknown
And that other person and or people can remind us of who we are. But I think that that line is very poignant because it talks about, you know, looking for that in a trust, a relationship, another people obviously in this moment, if you're talking about a new love relationship and not really knowing who you are, it's hard and difficult to seek that, you know, in another person.
00;08;33;25 - 00;08;58;22
Unknown
But if you have a trusted, loving relationship, then, you know, ideally, as you're growing and evolving, there's a person that you can trust and can help reflect. You know, the true essence of who you are and how you're evolving. So I love that line. And the line at the end in concluding is, God have mercy on the man who doubts what he is sure of.
00;08;58;24 - 00;09;34;19
Unknown
And I think that is a beautiful, obviously spiritual reflects the typical nature of Bruce Springsteen too. We've seen religion into his lyrics as he was raised and strict Catholic upbringing, school, etc. and so he uses that and infuses it as a beautiful yet ironic way, both analyzing it, but then also, you know, showing that that still part of his belief system and the way that he connects with others, but have mercy on the man who doubts what he's sure of.
00;09;34;20 - 00;10;15;04
Unknown
Obviously, it's quite a matter of human nature to doubt what we think we know. And you know, if we don't outwardly doubt and or question, it comes up in some other parts of our lives, either how we relate to other people or, you know what we see doubts pop up. It's just a part of human nature. And so I think by saying, God, have mercy on that man or, you know, the human, it's saying, you know, whether you believe in spirit or not, forgive yourself for for doubting some things and forgive yourself for questioning things because it's completely normal.
00;10;15;06 - 00;11;03;01
Unknown
And in that I would also say back to this other work, it's important to accept that there are parts of yourself that you know you don't necessarily want to present to the world that you're ashamed of, and that it's okay to accept that part of yourself, too. And I think that that acceptance, that feeling of mercy for ourselves and then how we engage with others is really important, and that will help us hopefully reveal more of our true selves and be accepting and more of our true selves, and therefore accepting of others that we can truly be with in this, you know, dynamic world of ever evolving humans that are living life and trying to
00;11;03;01 - 00;11;28;18
Unknown
figure out what they're doing. I think the mind would want everything to be, you know, guaranteed and predictable. And I know who this person is, and I know who I am, and I'm on this path and this is predictable and acceptable. And, you know, that's that's what the risk averse ego desires, because that is how we survive and stay safe.
00;11;28;18 - 00;12;16;12
Unknown
However, there are other aspects of who we are as humans that desire the beauty and the unexpected. And I think both of those things are important to accept and cherish. Even though it may be difficult for our minds to consider that. So finding magic today is about seeking a place that doesn't seem to be so magical, which is the parts of yourself that you may be ashamed of, or you know, the part of you as a kid that you, you know, were asked to suppress or change, like showing your emotions or things like that and just being in tune with that part of you and realizing that the whole view is magical and acknowledging that
00;12;16;12 - 00;12;45;12
Unknown
part of you will help you be a better, stronger, and more powerful than enlightened person. And and, you know, brilliant disguise will help you make better connections with other people. And however you feel like you can show up for them in what you're doing. So brilliant. Disguise aligns with shadow work, because what we're projecting out to people is this brilliant disguise, and it is an ever evolving, brilliant disguise.
00;12;45;12 - 00;13;01;17
Unknown
But, the more we can show our true selves, the more we will be connecting with the world authentically. So I hope you enjoyed this discussion about shadow work, and I hope you can see the magic in your day to day. Thank you. Bye.