Permission to Love with Jerry Henderson
"Your relationship with yourself determines every other relationship in your life."
When we create a healthy relationship with ourselves, everything in our lives begins to transform.
Join us each week as we discuss topics such as overcoming shame, letting go of limiting beliefs, dealing with imposter syndrome, finding healthy motivators for achievement, transforming trauma, and learning how to practice self-love and self-acceptance.
The Permission to Love Podcast is dedicated to helping people have healthier relationships with themselves and find the permission to fully love and accept themselves.
About Jerry,
“When I realized I was the source of my own suffering, I realized I could also be the source of my own healing.”
Jerry is a Master Certified Transformational Mindset Coach, author, speaker, and host of The Permission to Love Podcast.
He works with high-achievers to help them create a happier, healthier, and more sustainable life grounded in self-acceptance and self-compassion.
Jerry has helped thousands of people have a healthier relationship with themselves and uncover the limiting beliefs keeping them from the life they so deeply desire and deserve.
He uses a combination of transformational mindset coaching, positive psychology, trauma-informed approaches, IFS, and NLP to remove limiting beliefs and connect with their authentic selves.
Jerry has an undergraduate degree in Political Science, an MBA in global business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and is currently completing his Master's degree in Psychology at Harvard University.
Before becoming a Transformational Coach, Jerry spent most of his career in Philanthropy, raising over $1 billion USD for not-for-profits. He is a survivor of childhood trauma and now helps individuals learn how to create the lives they want from a place of healthy motivators and remaining mentally, emotionally, physically, relationally, and spiritually healthy.
New episodes of The Permission to Love Podcast come out every Monday.
To learn more about Jerry, find additional resources, or submit a topic or question, check out: www.jerryhenderson.org
You can also connect with Jerry on Instagram: @jerryahenderson
Permission to Love with Jerry Henderson
From Permission to Love to Personal Mastery: A New Chapter Begins
Today marks a bittersweet and exciting moment: this is the final episode under the Permission to Love name. Starting next week, this podcast will officially become Personal Mastery with Jerry Henderson.
In this episode I reflect on the journey we've taken together — healing shame, cultivating self-love, and building lives aligned from the inside out.
I also shares why self-love remains the foundation of everything moving forward and why giving yourself permission to love yourself might be the bravest thing you ever do.
Join us as we celebrate how far we've come — and step boldly into what's next.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why the podcast name is changing (and why the mission isn't)
- The power of giving yourself permission to love yourself
- How shame keeps you stuck (and how self-love sets you free)
- Why personal mastery starts with radical self-acceptance
- A powerful affirmation you can say today to change your life
If you’ve ever struggled with feeling "not enough" — this episode is for you.
Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome and Major Announcement
01:39 – Why This Podcast Began
03:00 – What Personal Mastery Is About
04:25 – Gratitude for the Journey and Community
05:27 – Invitation to Share Your Story
06:40 – Revisiting the Power of Self-Love
08:12 – The Wiring of Unworthiness
09:04 – The Brave Step of Believing You Are Worthy
10:04 – Identity Work: Choosing a New Story
11:37 – Marianne Williamson's Our Greatest Fear
12:57 – Permission for Self-Expansion
13:58 – A Declaration of Self-Love
14:59 – Excitement for the Next Chapter
16:15 – How to Get Help and Stay Connected
16:53 – Closing Words and Final Invitation
I am grateful you are here,
Jerry
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Website:
www.jerryhenderson.org
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Instagram: @jerryahenderson
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jerryahenderson
Hello everybody and welcome to this episode of the Permission to Love podcast. I'm your host, jerry Henderson, and, as always, I am so grateful that you're here Now. Today's episode has me with mixed emotions, because it's a celebration, but it's also a transition. Why? Because today is the last episode of this podcast under the title Permission to Love. As of next week, we're transitioning to the new name, personal Mastery with Jerry Henderson, and if you're interested in the why behind that change, you can listen to an episode that I did a few weeks ago called Self-Love, the Root From which Personal Mastery Grows. It explains why we're making the transition and how we're honoring the past as we move into the future of what this podcast is about Now. On that note, if you've not yet had a chance to subscribe to or to follow this podcast, I want to encourage you to do that, because as of next week, it's going to be under a different name, as I just shared, which is also going to present a challenge for you if you go and try to search for the Permission to Love podcast. So if you want to be sure that you're updated on when new episodes come out under the name Personal Mastery with Jerry Henderson, take a moment and hit that subscribe or follow button. Now, in today's episode, I really want to take time and focus in on honoring the journey that we've been on together for these last two years, or almost two years together, under the title of the Permission to Love podcast.
Jerry Henderson:Now, as I've shared with you many times, my reason for starting this podcast was because of my own story of learning to heal, of learning to come out of a story of shame and the way that I felt about myself and all of the challenges that that created in my life, and how I learned to heal, how I learned to overcome shame, how I learned to get rid of that feeling that there's something wrong with me, and how to heal my relationship with myself. And that's a key part of the journey that we've been on together, very much in a space of healing, transformation and development, and none of that's changing. As I've said before, that's all going to remain as we move into the next chapter of this podcast, and that's exactly what it is. I don't see the old ending. I just see us turning the page to a next chapter, and that next chapter is even more so about how we can have a healthier relationship with ourselves and, as a result of that, how we can have a healthier relationship with other people and how we can manifest a life that we are truly worthy of. Because shame and that feeling that there's something wrong with you will keep you trapped, it'll keep you limited, it'll keep you from expanding. But when you begin to see yourself as the incredible person that you are, as you begin to see that you're not broken you've never been broken, you've just been carrying a story that is not yours and when you realize that and you begin to anchor into your true identity, it changes everything. And that is what we're going to continue to focus in on and we're going to expand it even more, because here's what personal mastery is about. It is not about perfection. It is about continuing to grow, to become the highest version of ourself. It is about creating a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside side as it looks on the outside, and also creating a life on the outside that begins to align with what's happening with us on the inside. And that is absolutely possible for you, and that's why I started this podcast to get that message out there, to get that message across to people who felt the way that I felt for so many years and learned that they could heal, they could transform. So, whatever's going on in your life right now, I wanna let you know I believe in you. Change is possible. You can transform your relationship with yourself. You can learn to develop the skill because that's exactly what it is the skill of personal mastery.
Jerry Henderson:Now, with all that in mind, I wanna take a moment and I wanna say thank you. Thank you to each and every one of you who's been listening to this podcast, or if you've just discovered this podcast. I want to say thank you for being here, thank you for investing in yourself, thank you for showing up for yourself, thank you for being a part of this community, because that's exactly what it is. We've been building a community together, a community where we're learning to give ourselves the permission to love ourselves, to give ourselves the permission to love ourselves, to give ourselves the permission to have healthy relationships, the permission to allow ourselves to rewrite our story. You know, since this podcast launched in May of 2023, we have reached literally tens of thousands of people with this message about how to have a healthier relationship with yourself. Podcast has been heard in over 126 countries and listeners from 5,475 cities have tuned into this podcast.
Jerry Henderson:So, wherever you're listening to this podcast from, I want to say thank you, and I once again want to say I'm proud of you for showing up and for doing the work, and over these last two years, so many of you have reached out to me and so many of you become clients of mine that I coach as well. It's been an amazing, incredible process to hear your stories, to learn from you what's been working, how you've been showing up for yourself and the skills that you've been putting in place that have been a part of your transformation. So thank you, thank you for sharing those things with me, thank you for contacting me and if you haven't yet, I want to encourage you to do that. I want to invite you to email me. My email is jerry at jerryhendersonorg. Come straight to me, nobody else is going to see it, and I want to invite you to share some of the things that have been impactful for you, what's been meaningful for you as a part of this journey of the Permission to Love podcast, and I'd also love to hear what topics you'd like to hear about as a part of the Personal Mastery podcast and if you have guests that you'd like to hear about as a part of the Personal Mastery Podcast, and if you have guests that you'd like to see on the show, include that in your email as well.
Jerry Henderson:As we make this transition, I want to take a moment and just once again to talk to you about self-love, how powerful it is when you give yourself the permission to love yourself. Now I know for many of you, that feels like a really big leap. The language of self-love might, in and of itself, feel uncomfortable for you, and there's a reason for that, and there's a reason why it was that way for me, and it's because for so many years, we've lived with a feeling that self-love is wrong, self-love is selfish or it's narcissism or whatever. The story is that we've put on the words, the concept, the belief about self-love. But the truth is, self-love should be absolutely normal. It should be something that will often engage in behaviors, under the banner of self-love, that are harmful to other people, that neglect other people or they neglect their own responsibilities, and we've talked about that in other episodes. But I want to bring you back to a very simple truth you are worthy of love and you are worthy of your own love, and I know that things like trauma or other painful life experiences have tried to convince us that we're not worthy of love, let alone our own love. And I know it can be uncomfortable to choose to love yourself. At the nervous system level it can feel very uncomfortable and I want to let you know that's programming.
Jerry Henderson:It's how we got wired. It's how we got wired because of culture. It's how we got wired. It's how we got wired because of culture. It's how we got wired because of experiences. And it's how we got wired in order to stay safe. Somewhere along the line, you made the decision that you're not worthy of love, that there's something wrong with you. Somewhere along the line, you decided that hating yourself or loathing yourself or not accepting yourself or rejecting yourself was more comfortable, more safe than believing that you could love yourself.
Jerry Henderson:Because when we believe that we're worthy of love, when we start to love ourselves, it does change everything. We stop tolerating certain behaviors from other people. We stop tolerating our circumstances the same way that we used to tolerate them. We stop letting people talk to us to tolerate them. We stop letting people talk to us in certain ways. We stop letting people take advantage of us, we stop lowering our worth, we stop choosing or staying in relationships that are toxic.
Jerry Henderson:And so the brave step of saying that you're worthy of love and the brave step of practicing self-love begins to open your eyes. You begin to see in your life where you're tolerating things that are not aligned with that belief, and so it can be a very scary decision to give yourself permission to believe that you're worthy of your own love and to start treating yourself like you're worthy of love. Because when you're faced with that truth, you do start to make different decisions and your outward world starts to change. And it's more comfortable for many people to stay in the narrative, to stay in the story, to stay in the toxic relationship, to stay in what's unhealthy, than to cross the line to say I'm worthy of more. Because when you do believe that you're worthy of more and you start to treat yourself like you're worthy of more, your nervous system starts to change.
Jerry Henderson:As I said before, what you see begins to change, what you accept begins to change, and so for many people, it's a safer decision to believe that they're not worthy of good things, that they're not worthy of love, they're not worthy of their own love, because the choice to believe something different is going to cost us our old identity. You know, I see this a lot in coaching, where people get stuck in a certain identity and it's scary for them to move past that identity into something new. Because it means change, it means letting go of the familiar, it means letting go of the old stories and creating new stories. And actually what it is. It's about choosing to believe the story that's actually true about you, instead of the lie that you're not worthy of love. And making that choice is brave work. And giving yourself the permission to love yourself is identity work. It's saying that I believe I'm worthy of a beautiful life. I believe I'm worthy of treating myself with respect, with kindness, with compassion. It's saying I don't have to believe the old story anymore, that doesn't serve me any longer. It means I can choose a new story. And once again, that is scary to the nervous system, that's scary to the brain because it's going to require change. It's stepping through the threshold of who you really want to be. It's crossing over into a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside.
Jerry Henderson:You know, there's this beautiful quote that I love, that I'm going to share with you right now, and it's by Marianne Williamson, and she says this that our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be? Brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Jerry Henderson:Your playing small does not serve the world. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We're all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. What a beautiful truth.
Jerry Henderson:And the decision to love yourself, to be kind to yourself, to be compassionate to yourself, is to confront and overcome that fear of who you truly are Powerful beyond measure, that you are light, and that you are light and that you are worthy of love, because playing small is simply an attempt to try to keep yourself safe and giving yourself permission to love yourself is making the choice for self-expansion. It's seeing who you authentically are and aligning yourself with the truth of that is who you are and then choosing to live that way. So can I encourage you today, as a part of this episode, to face the truth about yourself, that you're not broken. There isn't anything wrong with you. You are worthy of love. You've always been worthy of love and, most importantly, you've been worthy of your own love. Most importantly, you've been worthy of your own love.
Jerry Henderson:It just hasn't felt safe for you to give yourself the permission to love yourself. And can you do this with me right now? Can you say these words out loud I give myself the permission to love myself. I am worthy of my own love and I want you to hold on to those words. I want you to know that those words are true about you. They're not just true for everybody else.
Jerry Henderson:We can give that grace and compassion to other people all day long, but when we see ourselves and we look at ourselves in the mirror, giving ourselves that permission feels scary, it feels awkward, it feels uncomfortable. Why? Because, once again, it's not because our greatest fear is that we are inadequate. Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. Our greatest fear is that we are actually worthy of love and when we make that choice to say yes to that, life begins to unfold in such a different way, in a beautiful way.
Jerry Henderson:And that is my desire for you. That's always been my desire as a part of this podcast that you would understand just how wonderful you are, just how amazing you are, just how worthy of love and good things you are. And that's part of why we're making this transition and this expansion into personal mastery, all rooted and grounded in self-love, all rooted and grounded of knowing the worthiness that we inherently have and then expanding upon that, how we can grow even more, how we can build a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside, where we can have true fulfillment, true happiness, true alignment, where we can truly enjoy our lives. That we're not just achieving, we're not just going from one thing to the next, but we're becoming the highest and the best version of ourselves. So I don't know about you, but I am really excited to go into this next chapter. I'm really excited for you to come on this journey with me. I'm excited to hear the topics that you're interested in, learning more about, the guests that you'd like to see as a part of this next chapter of the podcast, and I'm excited about what's going to happen in this community as a part of this transition.
Jerry Henderson:And before I end this episode, I want to remind you that if you need help on your journey of having a healthier relationship with yourself, of learning how to create a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside, reach out to me and set up a free strategy. Call to learn more about the one-on-one coaching services that I offer. You can find a link to do that in the show notes of this episode, or you can simply go to my website at jerryhendersonorg. Now, if this episode has had an impact on you, I want to encourage you to do something. I want to invite you to share it with somebody else, because if it's making a difference in your life, it'll make a difference in their life as well.
Jerry Henderson:Well, thank you once again for being here, and next week, the first episode under the title Personal Mastery with Jerry Henderson is going to be released. I'm so excited. I can't wait for you to hear it, and I can't wait to hear your feedback about that first episode. So, remember, hit that follow or subscribe button. So when that new episode comes out next week under the title Personal Mastery with Jerry Henderson, it'll be seamless, flawless for you. It'll just show up, you'll get your notification and you can dive right into that first episode around personal mastery. Well, that's it for today's episode, and I want to remind you, as I always do, that you are worthy of your own love.
