You Will Marry the Wrong Person (Couples Therapist Vienna Pharaon)

25 Jun 2026 · 54 min · 24 chapters

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In short

Vienna Ferryang, a licensed marriage and family therapist and author, challenges the idea that people “marry the wrong person.” She argues relationship patterns come from childhood “origin wounds,” not from finding a perfect partner. She explains how couples repeat or oppose familiar dynamics and how “integration” (not repetition or opposition) is the healing goal.

Guest background

Vienna Ferryang is a sought-after licensed marriage and family therapist in Vienna (as referenced in the episode title) and best-selling author of The Origins of You.

Key claims

Most people carry one or more of five origin wounds: worthiness, belonging, prioritization, trust, safety. When attachment is at risk, people trade authenticity for connection. Unwanted patterns today indicate the past is “running the show” (“if it is hysterical, it’s historical”). Healing requires moving from knowing patterns to tolerating consequences of choosing differently. Betrayal recovery is discussed as possible but requires work.

Notable examples

Vienna describes a conflict where she felt “being right” was safety due to her parents’ high-conflict divorce. She uses a “younger self” reminder (a childhood photo contact) to reduce fight/flight. She offers healthy-couple questions (e.g., what you miss, what you need, how to love better). She advises dating to avoid forced early vulnerability and to earn intimacy over time.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Exploring Relationship Patterns

1:15 to 1:33

Discussing the challenges of relationships and the article that inspired the episode.

“Customers will pay$25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.”

Exploring Relationship Patterns

2:57 to 4:51

Discussing the challenges of relationships and the article that inspired the episode.

“I'm journalist Danielle Robay, and each week my guests and I come together to challenge the status quo and our own ways of thinking.”

Introducing Vienna Pharaon

4:51 to 6:15

Introducing therapist Vienna Pharaon and her insights on relationship wounds.

“Vienna Ferryan is one of the most sought-after licensed marriage and family therapists in the country.”

Understanding Relationship Wounds

6:15 to 8:08

Discussion on the five origin wounds that affect relationships.

“So today we're asking, are we choosing our relationships or are our wounds choosing them for us?”

Personal Experiences and Insights

8:08 to 11:40

Vienna shares personal stories and insights into relationship dynamics.

“So are we picking our partners based on love?”

Understanding Childhood Triggers in Relationships

14:00 to 16:24

Learn how unresolved childhood experiences influence adult relationships.

“So fast forward into romantic relationships.”

Exploring the Worthiness Wound

16:24 to 18:04

Discover how feelings of unworthiness manifest in dating and relationships.

“I was going to ask you how you can figure out what your wound is, but I was on your website and you have this amazing quiz that you can take.”

The Belonging Wound and Family Influence

18:04 to 20:21

Examine how family dynamics shape feelings of belonging and authenticity.

“It's like that we're not worthy or valuable without needing to fill some role of perfection, of pleasing, of performing for the other person.”

Loneliness and Emotional Wounds

23:15 to 28:00

Understand how different emotional wounds contribute to feelings of loneliness.

“You're expecting that somewhere and how lonely that must be.”

Navigating Conflict in Relationships

28:00 to 29:48

Learn how to address conflicts in relationships effectively.

“They are fearful of what is attached to their story and experience of what conflict is.”
Show all 24 chapters

The Path of Integration in Love

29:48 to 31:26

Discover the importance of integrating past experiences in relationships.

“So repetition blindly, right, is not what we want unless it's something that's healthy.”

Understanding Consequences of Choices

31:26 to 33:19

Explore how our choices in relationships are influenced by past patterns.

“being aware and when you know, then having the capacity to exit.”

Your Past is Running the Show

33:19 to 35:38

Recognize how unresolved past experiences impact current relationships.

“And that's what expands our ability to move from knowing to showing.”

Vulnerability in Dating

38:28 to 42:06

Discuss the balance of vulnerability and intimacy on first dates.

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Navigating Personal Questions on First Dates

42:06 to 43:58

Discussing the appropriateness of personal questions on first dates and their implications.

“And so, yeah, I think we can give high level stuff, but ultimately you're just placing your whole story on somebody's plate who's like, I don't even know if I want to hold this yet.”

Understanding Emotional Immaturity

43:58 to 48:04

Exploring emotional maturity in relationships and recognizing immaturity in ourselves and partners.

“What are the signs that you are dating or married to an emotionally immature person?”

The Impact of Reactions on Relationships

48:04 to 50:07

Analyzing why overreactions signal deeper issues and how to respond to them.

“You write that a major red flag is when someone consistently overreacts and blows things out of proportion.”

Reality TV and Relationship Reflection

50:07 to 52:16

Discussing how reality dating shows mirror our romantic patterns and behaviors.

“I want to talk to you about some reality shows because I think one of the reasons we love reality TV, particularly dating shows, is we see so many of our romantic patterns play out in real time.”

Modeling Healthy Relationships for Children

52:16 to 54:48

Advice for parents on how to model healthy relationship behaviors for their children.

“I don't know that I'm current, but I have watched both.”

The Misconception of Marrying the Wrong Person

54:48 to 56:00

Challenging the idea of marrying the wrong person and discussing growth through relationships.

“25 years from 20 years from now, 30 years from now.”

Navigating Relationships Through Hardship

56:00 to 58:24

Learn the importance of choosing a partner who can weather life's challenges together.

“If you're with somebody long enough, life is hard.”

Reflecting on Childhood Needs

58:24 to 58:47

Explore the significance of understanding unmet childhood needs in shaping relationships.

Understanding Relationship Dynamics

1:02:39 to 1:04:54

Discuss insights on proposals, gratitude, and maintaining positive relationships.

“There's something called the low negativity threshold in couples research, Gottman's research about how the healthiest couples, they have a low negativity threshold.”

Closing Thoughts and Future Insights

1:04:54 to 1:05:27

Wrap up the discussion with a positive outlook and a teaser for next week.

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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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2:56No one has all the answers, but when we ask the right questions, we get a little closer. Closer to truths. Closer to each other. Even closer to ourselves. I'm journalist Danielle Robay, and each week my guests and I come together to challenge the status quo and our own ways of thinking. by daring to ask, what if? Why not? And who says? So come curious, dig deep, and join the conversation. It's time to question everything. About five years ago, I read an article that was 10 years old, published in 2016 in the New York Times by Alain de Baton. It was called Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person. I was obsessed with it.

3:48I'm still obsessed with it because at first the title feels insane, cynical, almost offensive, right? But the deeper idea underneath it totally captivated me. It's actually oddly liberating. The article asked the question, what if the biggest change in your relationship isn't finding the right person? What if it's understanding the person doing the choosing? So the author or the writer, Debaton, argues that there is no perfect person waiting to complete us. We are all imperfect, evolving humans carrying our own histories and wounds and expectations and blind spots into our relationships. The people we love don't just meet who we are today.

4:28They meet every version of us that is still unfolding. But here's the part he doesn't fully answer in the piece. Why do we keep choosing the same kinds of relationships over and over again? Why do some people feel impossible to get over? Why do we stay too long? And why do we know our patterns and still repeat them? And that's where today's guest comes in.

4:51Vienna Ferryan is one of the most sought-after licensed marriage and family therapists in the country. She's also the best-selling author of The Origins of You. Her work begins with a provocative idea. Your relationships didn't start when you met your partner. They started in your childhood. Long before you knew who you would love, you were learning what love feels like, what conflict feels like, what safety feels like, what belonging feels like, and what you would possibly mistake for connection. When attachment is at risk, we will trade authenticity every single time. Vienna says that almost all of us are carrying one of five origin wounds.

5:31worthiness, belonging, prioritization, trust, or safety. And until we understand those wounds, we keep recreating them. She says, if you have any unwanted patterns in your life today, your past is running the show. If it is hysterical, it's historical. I love that quote. If it's hysterical, it's historical. So in this conversation, we talk about why we mistake the familiar for the right person, how to tell the difference between chemistry and conditioning, the questions that the healthiest couples ask each other that most of us avoid, and whether relationships can truly recover from betrayal. She also shares the one and only sign that you are in a healthy relationship.

6:15So today we're asking, are we choosing our relationships or are our wounds choosing them for us? It's time to question everything with Vienna Ferryang.

6:32Vienna, true or false? Everybody will marry the wrong person. I have to go with false on that. Okay. Say more. Well, I feel like I married the right person. So if I look at my own life, I feel like I have to say no to that. And then I also obviously work with so many couples and individuals in relationships and know their stories so intimately. and I think it probably depends how we're defining right and wrong. So maybe we'll get into that. But it's not that right is easy. It's not that right is without conflict or without hardship or trials and tribulations. But, and I've said this before, there is no one other than Connor who I want to go through the hard with.

7:26That's what I hear from so many people that are happily partnered. Although that article says that we don't really seek happiness, we seek familiarity. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I think unconsciously we're seeking familiarity. And it's the good, it's the not so good. And then the way that we participate with it is that we either do a path of repetition or we do a path of opposition. And until we start to do some of this healing work and awareness work, yeah, then I think it's probably true to say that we're dating, we're partnering with people who are going to contribute and participate in the rewounding of us.

8:09So are we picking our partners based on love? I think both and. I think both and. I think it depends where you are in your awareness journey. Initially, when we connect with someone, it's not based on love. I really think that love is about knowing someone deeply. So that early butterfly stage, the honeymoon stage, the stage that lasts, I think at most, I think they say 18 months, somewhere around there. Sure, we see the hard sometimes in the early parts, but a lot of people don't. Some couples do. Some couples face hardship right away. But many couples don't see the hardship or experience the hardship until later.

9:00And we don't know a person until we've really seen all parts of them, many parts of them. And it's hard for that to happen right out of the gate. It doesn't mean that it can't, right? But I think when you look at your average relationship across the board, most people are not going through hard or having their partner be fully revealed to them for a while. I remember actually when I was dating Connor, it was before we got engaged, when we got into our first conflict, don't know what it was about. But this part of me that came forward was this woman who was doubling down, tripling down, quadrupling down, needing to be right, needing to prove my point.

9:41And I remember having this moment where it's just like, ooh, right, like this part of me is being revealed. He had not seen this part of me before, right? And that part of me had been set aside, tucked aside, right? Because we want to show up in this way. We're likable and lovable. And, you know, I still at that time, I think wanted to be easygoing. And I wore the cool girl persona for a long time. And I remember this moment that really stands out to me where this part of me that felt so unbecoming and was worried that he was going to not want to be in the relationship anymore because this part had come forward.

10:22It was like him seeing me through that moment felt really like there was a shift that took place there. And even though we don't have to get into the whole story, I tell the story a lot on shows. But I think the point that I want to make about this was that there was a data point that got exchanged in that moment where this part of myself that I was judgmental of or critical of, ashamed of, was revealed. And in it, this person across from me was able to walk alongside of me and not run away from it or not criticize it or not reject it, was able to get curious about that part to understand that we make sense with context if we're willing to dig.

11:09And not that context excuses behavior, but relationally, we're going to need to excavate some things and not expect each other to be quote unquote perfect and show up in this perfectly packaged way. And so that moment felt like a moment where a pivot took place of, oh, I revealed this part and it didn't scare you away. It was something that you actually came closer to learning more about and understanding more about. And that really shifted something for me. Would you say that that part of you was coming from a wound? For sure. So much of your work has to do with these five wounds. I kind of want to give everybody the roadmap before we really dig in.

11:54You say that almost everyone is walking around with one of these five. Will you share what those five are? Sure. One of them, many of them, sometimes all five of them. So just to neutralize. Oh, interesting. So you don't have to be one. You don't have to be one. I think we will have a dominant one or two. I have a worthiness wound and a safety wound and a trust one will creep in there sometimes. Sometimes the five are worthiness, belonging, prioritization, trust, and safety. And yeah, in that example, my safety wound was activated. And I'll give you a little context so that it makes sense. I don't know what Connor and I were fighting about, but my assumption is that we disagreed on something because I needed to be right in that moment.

12:36I needed to show him and prove to him that he was wrong. And I needed to really prove my point and get that across. And he actually had surrendered at some point in the conflict where he's like, okay, I get it. I understand. I didn't stop. And I needed to be right because being right was safety for me. I grew up, my parents went through a nine-year divorce process, started when I was in first grade. There was a lot of chaos and high conflict, paranoia, gaslighting, manipulation, psychological abuse that was happening. And I was the observer of it. I'm an only child. And I just was watching it.

13:13back and forth, back and forth. And the manipulation, gaslighting, psychological abuse was towards my mom. And as a little girl watching this go down, how I made sense of it was that if you are right, which my dad was masterful at being right, if you are right, then you are safe. And if you're not right, then you are not safe. Because I saw what that did to my mom. I saw what it looked like to not be able to prove your point, to not be able to explain yourself, to not be able to track all the details and not miss a beat. I saw what it did. And so from my little human position, I had decided really early on that being right and proving your point was where safety resided.

13:58And not being able to do that was the absence of safety. So fast forward into romantic relationships. And here's this moment. Again, I have no clue what we're fighting about. But here's this moment where there is a disagreement. My guess is there's a disagreement about something specific, right, some detail. And automatically, right, my nervous system that's constantly scanning for every data point that's being exchanged here picks up on, wait, you're trying to tell me something that is not true, or you're trying to disagree with something that I saw happen. And so now I need to go into a place of self-protection.

14:30And nine-year-old Vienna shows up. That's right. So I have this thing I do when I'm in relationship with somebody, and it's only when we're in like true relationship. I keep a child, like a children's photo of them on my phone in their contact. So when they call me, it's the five, six, seven-year-old version of them. And I do it because when I am so frustrated or angry, I remind myself that that's the person showing up. and then I'm a little bit kinder. But I do think it's very interesting that we all bring our nine-year-old selves to the equation constantly. Yeah, these younger, when we have ruptures around the wounding or traumas that we experience, these fragmented parts of us, it happens.

15:15There's a fragmentation that happens. And so this younger part of ourselves will show up. I don't encourage you to ask your partner this in a heated moment, but I very lovingly and compassionately inquire with you, the listener, when you think about these moments where you become super activated and you go into this space of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, how old do you feel? When I am really triggered, when I'm activated, when I am no longer anchored and grounded in my place, I don't feel like a 40-year-old woman. No. I feel like I'm in fifth grade. Yeah. I'm either a teen or even younger than that.

15:55It's like these really younger parts that are trying to figure out how to navigate this moment. And it's not this wise, anchored adult self who's in the room. And so I love that you keep that younger picture, and it's a reminder, and not an excuse, but a reminder that, yeah, these younger experiences are present with us in this moment, right? Because if there is a big activation that's happening, as they often say, if it is hysterical, it's historical. Yeah, that's a great saying. Yeah. I was going to ask you how you can figure out what your wound is, but I was on your website and you have this amazing quiz that you can take.

16:39It's like five minutes long. And it tells you what your dominant wound is. Mine came up as worthiness, which you're saying is your dominant one. It's one of them. So how does a worthiness wound in particular show up in dating or relationship? Totally. Okay. So to all my perfectionist pleasers, performers out there, this is one because a worthiness wound often originates because there were conditions to love or connection or presence. So think straight A's or performing well on the field, getting the hat trick or being being the comic relief in the family in order to get connection, validation, attention, praise, et cetera.

17:21You know, a lot of times there are conditions to our love. I need you to be X, Y, and Z in order to get me as your parent or as your caretaker to be connected or loving or present with you. And so, yeah, fast forward, it still shows up a lot of times in that way. So, oh gosh, in the dating space, the worthiness wound, I think it blends sometimes into other wounds too. But this idea of needing to be perfect, whatever that means to you, but needing to be perfect in order to be chosen, needing to be X, Y, Z, fill in the blank with whatever it is, but it's a lot of abandoning what is actually true for us.

18:01It's not believing that we are, I'll put it simply, right? It's like that we're not worthy or valuable without needing to fill some role of perfection, of pleasing, of performing for the other person. And yeah, it's a quick way to move really far away from yourself. I think that for time's sake, trust and safety, I can kind of imagine how that shows up. How does belonging show up? So my work starts at looking at the family of origin. So I'm well aware that we have society and media and school and teachers and coaches, all of that, friends, friends, parents that will influence and shape some of this as well.

18:50But I look at the family of origin first. That's the lens through which I see all of us to begin. And so when I look at the family of origin and the belonging wound, a lot of families have this mantra almost of this is who we are. This is who we are. This is what we believe. This is how we operate in the world. And so you either need to be like us or else. So a lot of times the black sheep of the family will experience this. And I love there's Gabor Mate talks about how authenticity and attachment are our two lifelines as little humans in the world. But when attachment is at risk, we will trade authenticity every single time as children, because we must, right?

19:45We have to. We need a home, we need food, we need some type of connection. And so we don't know how to tolerate being who we are at the risk of losing someone else, especially a family member at the beginning. And sometimes we'll see a rebellion take place at some point. But early, early on, if you have to choose between attachment, quote unquote, attachment, or authenticity, you're going to choose attachment each time.

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23:15which wound creates the most loneliness oh that's a great question i have never thought about it that way before um i think they must all probably have really brush up against that in their own ways i think about a trust wound where you're constantly waiting for something to go wrong, for a lie, for deceit, for betrayal to happen. You're expecting that somewhere and how lonely that must be. I think about a prioritization wound and how you feel deprioritized where the most important people in your life are choosing something other than you chronically and how lonely that must feel. I think about worthiness and belonging and how when you are trading who you are to try to fit in or to try to be accepted and loved and and valued that to even get that, but it's not actually you, that that must feel lonely too.

24:17You know, like all of them, I think will make a really good case for being quite lonely. Yeah, I really do. I think all of them in their own way. And the thing about wounds is that it's how each person internalizes the experience. So it's not that, oh, if you had, let's say your father abandoned you, that doesn't slot you into a worthiness wound automatically, right? It's like how you experience that thing. So for one person, that experience might slot into a worthiness wound and the narrative might be, I am not worthy because you left and you didn't think I was good enough to stick around. For somebody else that might slot in as a trust wound, the most important people in my life will leave me and abandon me and I can't trust those people to stay.

25:13So when I think about it through that lens, I think, okay, yeah, it's how does this experience make each individual person feel lonely? My guess would be - All of them. Yeah. Yeah. You said something earlier about, you had a great phrase, you either are opposing or what is it? Repeating. So opposing or repeating. And it made me think my mom always says when I'm dating, don't look at the guy, just swipe him over and look at his father, which is triggering for me. I get what she's saying. And you write that some of us become our parents and others become the exact opposite of our parents. How do we choose?

25:55How does that happen? Yeah, and I think, lovingly to your mom, I don't know that I would fully agree with it because it really depends on the person's journey from there. If we look at our parents and then just assume that we are simply the extension of them or that we'll get a look into our future by looking at them, I think it falls short and doesn't give us enough credit for the work that many people do. Okay, we all know the path of repetition. It's sort of the, oh, my father was an alcoholic, and now I'm dating an alcoholic. Or maybe it's not even apples to apples. My father was an alcoholic, and now I'm dating somebody who is work-centric.

26:42And so I'm still deprioritized, or I still don't feel worthy in this relationship. But I'll give an example of the path of opposition when it comes to conflict, for example. So maybe you grow up in your family and it's high conflict. And conflict is scary. Maybe there's even abuse. But it's high tempers. You are like, I do not want to be around this. This is scary to my nervous system. I don't like it at all. So you move through life and somewhere along the way you decide, I'm never going to do that again. I don't want to engage in conflict that way. That's not a good way to be. And so you swing that pendulum and now you move through life not engaging in conflict.

27:26Now from the outside looking in, that might objectively look much better to the outside world. You started in a place that was dangerous, that was not, oh gosh, high conflict, high tempers, really scary. And now you don't have conflict. This is amazing. Okay, great. Except if we get a little more curious and we start to peel back some of those layers, what we maybe see here is that this person who doesn't enter into conflict anymore and has a fairly peaceful life is never getting a chance to say what they need to say. They're never getting a chance to be expressed. They are fearful of what is attached to their story and experience of what conflict is.

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28:07So they've swung the pendulum to say, I want to move through life this way because this way seems safer and better. And arguably, maybe it is safer. But is it better? Has it moved you to a place where you feel healthy, where you feel like you get to say what you need to say and have that be something that is heard and understood? It skips over something really important. The path of integration is something I talk about in the book. And I want people to be aware of the ways in which they do swing the pendulum. Oh my gosh, I never want that. I'll never be like that. I'll never recreate that. And we work so hard to do the opposite because we think the opposite is better than the thing that hurt us or harmed us in the first place.

28:56But if you walk through life and relationship with sort of those horse blinders around you, around your eyes, I think we often lead ourselves just to a new position that isn't exactly what we want either. Because we all know that communication is vital in relationships. We all know that to be authentically expressed in relationship is important. We know that the healing part of this is not the avoidance of hard conversations. It's the ability to have a hard conversation and to trust the other person across from you is able to hear it and hold it and get curious with it and meet you in that moment.

29:38That is what is healing. What is healing is not sidestepping it and avoiding it at all costs and creating a life where you never touch the hot coal. right it's that oh i'm not going to touch the hot coal with my hand but i have these tools that help me get close to this thing it's hot it's hard right it's a little scary but i'm going to show myself we are going to show each other how to do this differently than we had been taught or than we had experienced previously but are you saying that that's opposition or repetition The path of integration is the goal. It's neither, right? Yeah. So repetition blindly, right, is not what we want unless it's something that's healthy.

30:22Right. Right. And then opposition is also not what we want. It's integration. Yeah. Wow. So how do you know if you're choosing someone out of familiarity or out of this is actually right for me? I don't think you know it right away. How fun, right? But I remember when I first started dating Connor and right at the beginning, I was like, this is either going to absolutely rewound me or it's going to be the beautiful love story that I want. And I don't know what it is. And I think one of the things about dating that is important for people to hear is that it's not about actually knowing right out of the gates.

30:59Now, there might be some things that are really easy to spot. Right, right. Okay, fine. but but love and relationships are intricate and they're complex and we don't always know all of the things that we need to know right away and so my goal post for you is not about never entering into something that might be a pattern but you're not quite sure it's about being aware and when you know, then having the capacity to exit. Do you understand what I mean? So not staying in it. Yes. Yes. Okay. Can I ask you a question about this? I stay too long. It's a thing that I'm working on. However, I see a lot of, and I know you do too, like a lot of really awesome women who are aware of their patterns, aware of many of the things that they are wounded by, and still continue to make choices that aren't necessarily integrated.

32:02I kind of put myself in that pile. What is that? There's a difference between knowing versus showing yourself a new way and being able to tolerate it. In our minds, we can connect all of the dots. We can have all the light bulb moments. We can know what the pattern is. We can know where it came from. We might even laugh over a coffee about the fact that I have dated my father and my mother for so many times, right? It's like we might find comedy in it at times. The difference is about showing yourself how to choose differently and to tolerate the consequence of that. And when I say the consequence of that, what I mean is to tolerate the relationship ending or to tolerate not being chosen, to tolerate setting a boundary when you normally wouldn't, to tolerate what happens when you choose not to be in a relationship than just being in one because you have identified that being in one is better than being alone, right?

33:08It's the consequence of the things that we know we ought to be doing. That part is so hard for us to tolerate. When we do those things and follow through on them and experience whatever that consequence is, then we are showing ourselves that we can do it. And that's what expands our ability to move from knowing to showing. I like that. I like that better than doing. One line from your book really stayed with me, right? More likely than not, your past is running the show. And if you're not conscious of it, you're likely suffering from it. A lot of your clients come in saying that I know therapists love talking about childhood, but I don't want to talk about that.

33:49I want to talk about this problem. I'm going to put my mom on blast. She won't go to therapy because she's like, I don't need to go through my whole childhood. Why are we so resistant to the idea that our past is shaping us? I don't think we like to feel out of control. I think this idea that something from decades ago somehow has control over us is not a fun idea for us to swallow. I also think that we're afraid of what the excavation might do. What will I find if I start to dig? I think we have narratives around being grateful, and it confuses the idea that looking at your childhood means that you're ungrateful or you're going to place blame instead of just having respect or gratitude for what they did do is something that moves us away from them.

34:44I think we have generational shifts. So my parents were better than their parents were to them. So I don't have a right to say much. We have wound comparison where people say so and so story is so much worse than mine. So I don't have a right to, you know, acknowledge or claim anything. And I like to move people away from that is not a competition. You know, your wounds are not in competition with somebody else's. This is about acknowledging what your experience was. And back to that quote, understanding how it is running the show because it is running the show. If you have any unwanted patterns in your life current day, it's running the show.

35:24If you are good. Wait, say that again. If you have any unwanted patterns in your life today, it's running the show. That's good. It's true. If your life is peaceful and great. Right. But if there's anything where you have an outsized reaction or you are frustrated that you're doing the same thing over and over again and it's not working, your past is running the show. I keep dating the same types of people even though I know better. I can't set the boundary even though I promised I would. I'm people pleasing even though it doesn't feel good. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Those unwanted patterns, the arrow is pointing back to origin wounds that need our attention.

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39:15Okay, so in the article that I love, I don't even know how to pronounce his name, Alain de Botton, I think. He wrote that the standard question on an early dinner date should be, and how are you crazy? with respect to this man, because I love this article. I hate that question. So I want to ask you yours. Is your question, which wound am I and which one are you? I don't know that that would be my recommendation on a first date ever. I think sometimes we jump into the vulnerability space really early on. And you and I actually had a conversation about this off air, off camera before, where this idea of sort of that forced vulnerability really early on before something is earned is a little strange.

40:04And I think there's - You could tell them why, because we'll give them something to hold on to. So it's like a concrete idea. So years ago, I went on a date with this guy who had this like forced intimacy. He was saying these things to me that made me feel like he was so into it. And I was like, you don't even know me. What are you into? So it felt weird. It didn't settle right. Yeah. So sorry, keep going. No, but that's it, right? It's like this forced intimacy, this forced vulnerability. I think there is a light and fun and kind of playful way to get to know each other and to really titrate that experience, little bits of vulnerability, little bits of intimacy to see how that feels and how it's received.

40:47And maybe you talk a little bit about your family, but not the wounding from your childhood. Maybe something that's just about how you spend your holidays together or what summer activity you do. Something that lets you into what your world looks like without it being the darkest, deepest depths of your soul. Because I do think that it's probably a bit too soon. Yeah. Although I think some people as they get older are like, I just want to let you know, like, here's my baggage. I don't even like that word, but here's what's on the table. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. Yeah. Slow and steady wins the race.

41:28Slow and steady wins the race. I know people who just want to get to the point, but also it still takes a little bit to get to that place where it's actually safe to do that. Because where I started around the definition of being able to love someone is to know them well, deeply. And it's like, I want to be loved by you. I'm going to let you know me right away. But knowing someone is not because you just give them the facts of your life and the details of your story. knowing someone is through hours, time spent, experience together. And so, yeah, I think we can give high level stuff, but ultimately you're just placing your whole story on somebody's plate who's like, I don't even know if I want to hold this yet.

42:24I'm not sure I'm ready for that. So, yes, but look, I think that question is funny and I'm sure he meant, I assume he meant it as a just tell me, you know, what's your crazy and what are your wounds? And look, there's certain things that have been so normalized in our culture over time. Like what's your attachment style or what's your love language? I actually think that that has become a question that people are willing to ask and answer on a first date. Wait, can I talk to you about this? I went on a date where someone asked me that and I thought it was really an invasive question. Well, there you have it.

42:58But here's why. And tell me if you think I'm wrong. I'm so open to feedback always. He asked me the question. First of all, I felt like he had gone to his therapist and was like, what questions should I ask on a date? And then was repeating them. However, he asked it and I was like, I don't want to tell someone on a first date that one of my love languages is physical touch. Like, it's not an invitation for that. I don't want you to think I'm like overly sexualized. It just came with all this baggage. And so I actually was like, I don't want to answer that. Sure. I'm glad that you set that boundary.

43:28I do think a lot of these questions are just, again, like I'm saying, things that need to be earned over a little bit of time. That's such a good word. And I think that those first dates should be fun and playful. Yeah. Yes, of course. Like, oh, here's where I grew up. And those types. If you're curious, you will extract so much from a person without it being intrusive. I think people don't like small talk, but I think use small talk so you can earn big talk. Yeah. What are the signs that you are dating or married to an emotionally immature person? Oh, this topic. I think there's a lot of immaturity in the world.

44:11And it's our job. And look, I'm going to flip that question too, because I also want people to think about it within themselves as well. We all have some immaturity to us. And hopefully we also have some maturity as well. But I don't want us to only think about if I'm dating somebody who is emotionally immature. I want you to also think about the ways in which your immaturity comes to the table. That's a great point. Okay. Again, I am always looking at things relationally. And if our spotlight is on the other person and we're not looking at it within ourselves, we are skipping over something really important there.

44:49Okay. Okay. Emotional maturity is about being able to see your part, see their part, discern the difference. Immaturity goes to a place of defensiveness. It goes on the attack. A lot of times it's sort of this manipulative language of, okay, well then I guess I'm the worst, fill in the blank. Mother, father, partner, child, et cetera, right? So when we go to these places that feel a little bit charged with some drama and manipulation, we've lost the thread. We struggle with emotional maturity because we struggle with shame. We struggle with emotional maturity because we can't hold in both hands, we can't hold in both hands our humanness and our compassion and grace.

45:44So when your feedback to me cues some type of threat, I have failed, I'm a letdown, I am unworthy, I'm imperfect, whatever it is, and those things, there's an association with what that means, that I move into a state of self-protection. defensiveness. Maybe I criticize you. Well, you know what you did last week? That sucked. You're not so perfect, are you? It moves into that place, or it moves into the drama that I was talking about, or it gives the explanation. All of those things are emotional immaturity. I cannot hold your emotional experience while holding mine. I had a very outsized reaction.

46:25I was angry, which is not a feeling I have very often a few weeks ago. And I called my therapist to do like a quote unquote emergency session. She walked me through this exercise. I'd never done this before. And I closed my eyes and she asked me a few questions and she said, whose voice is in your head? And it was my dad's voice. And it was basically the idea was that like, I'm not allowed to feel pain or weakness. Like we are strong. And I was experiencing shame. And that was the reaction. It wasn't anger. It wasn't all these other things. And it was just, it kind of like blew the lid off for me because I realized like, oh, this is the, shame is the underlying thing for all of it.

47:08Like all the wounding, all the, anything you're feeling, like the thing below it is usually shame. And it's somebody's voice. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, I think when we start healing those wounds and doing work around it, what happens is that the shame can start to dissipate. And maturity starts to build. And so when someone now tells me that I have hurt them or they didn't like something that I did, when my husband does that, I don't have to go into a state of self-protection. You can sit with the discomfort. Yeah. It's like, oh, okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't, you know, like I hear you. I get it.

47:56Totally. It's the availability to understanding the person, the door opens. It's like the sea really parts because I don't have to protect myself anymore. You write that a major red flag is when someone consistently overreacts and blows things out of proportion. Why is that a red flag? By a red flag, just something, the arrow that points to the wounding, because the big reaction is letting us know that something historical is present. Yeah. Always. Something historical is there. Yeah. You know, it's like, and the big reaction might be appropriate for that moment. Somebody might have crossed a really significant boundary of yours.

48:41There might be something that is really threatening about this moment. So it's not to say don't have the reaction, right? Whatever is there is there, but let that be an arrow for curiosity. Don't just leave it there. One of the things I love from your work is your feedback framework. And you say healthy couples ask questions that most couples avoid. Do you know them off the top of your head? Oh, gosh. I have them right here. Yeah, I'd love for you to say these. Oh, yeah. They're such good questions. And there's things, we forget to ask them. What's something you have been telling me is important to you that I keep missing or overlooking?

49:23Yeah. Yeah. These are so important. What's something you need from me that I struggle to give? What's something you feel I haven't fully accepted about you? Why is it so hard to give? Oh, that's a you question, right? The last one. How do we get better at giving and receiving? In what way? Ah, the last one. In what ways can I love you better? In what ways can I love you better? And look, of course, these questions need to go both ways. A lot of times you have one partner who's asking these questions or thinking about these things and the other person isn't. But for beautiful, thriving relationships, when you have both people asking these questions and really being willing to receive the feedback.

50:06like that the feedback isn't the thing again that you're like oh self-protection oh the way something i keep missing that you're telling me as important as this um like oh i want to be able to talk about my relationship with my parents you're like but i don't want to hear about your parents yeah that's not going to go very far right it's being able to receive we can ask questions all we want we can ask them left right center if you don't have the capacity to receive the answer the needle will not move you know well said and so you have to do your own individual work yeah so that whatever the feedback is is not something that you have to disconnect from in some way that you can stay present with what that feedback is that is the thing that helps relationships thrive and helps you thrive as a human.

50:59I want to talk to you about some reality shows because I think one of the reasons we love reality TV, particularly dating shows, is we see so many of our romantic patterns play out in real time. So Love is Blind and Love Island are the two big ones right now. And it seems like one person's ready for a real partnership and the other is still operating from a place of insecurity, avoidance, ego, maybe a wound. Why do you think that scenario in particular where one person is ready and one person is not continues to play out on screen? Well, I do think you're right that we're seeing the mirror of our own lives and our own experiences.

51:36But here's the thing. If you're actually ready, and you finally realize what I was saying before, that the other person isn't, then your readiness has to meet that moment, which says, then we're not the right match. And I'm not going to keep trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying at the cost and expense of myself. And so it's the, I know better. I know what I ought to do. I'm ready. But you're not ready until your readiness can meet that moment and you can pivot towards what is aligned for you. Like the extension of what your healing is saying, if that makes sense. Do you watch any of these shows?

52:17I have. I don't know that I'm current, but I have watched both. Which makes you eye roll the most? I love them. You do? I do. I love them. I appreciate watching those shows and anything relational I think is interesting to me. Now, some of it is, you know, sometimes you're cheering for someone. Sometimes you're cringing on the sofa and you can see it so clearly, but I appreciate people, you know, some of them, I'm sure they're doing it for different motives, but the people who are really there. Not for the right reasons. Not for the right reasons. Exactly. Do you think they like play out these sort of like toxic patterns or they're just reflecting current dating culture?

53:03I think it's just reflecting dating culture. I'm sure the people who are choosing who's on, you know, they're going for that probably. Yeah. Like I wonder what the casting is like for the show. We have friends of mine and I have joked about throwing myself into the ring and saying that they need a therapist on these shows to actually try to support. They do. They need a therapist in the news to take all the news on CNN and harness it for people. And they need a therapist on these reality shows. You know who does? I've been on Two Black Girls and a Rose, their show. Yes, I love that. Me too. And they do a lot of therapists on the show to break down what's going on.

53:48And I love their material. What would you say to parents who want to model healthy relationships for their kids in their house? Keep doing your own work. You're not going to be perfect ever. Obviously, we've heard that so many times before. A lot of times parents, especially now, are saying, you know, I don't want to pass this pain or I don't want to screw up my kids. And most people will say, well, you will screw up your kids. And there's no way to avoid that. But I think it's about getting to that place where you continue to do your own work. You continue to do your own excavation. You are mature enough as a parent to be able to receive their feedback.

54:25You're able to see your humanness and hold the compassion and grace and accountability, ownership, responsibility. You're willing to apologize, that you're willing to do all of those things to be relational with them. Those are the things that model it. And then relationally, partner to partner, it's like, yeah, you are their model. You are the person I always say to people, the clients of mine who have children, like your kids are going to be on some therapist's sofa 25 years from 20 years from now, 30 years from now. What do you want them to say about their childhood? You know, what are they going to say about their childhood?

55:06And that can be a confronting question, right? That can be a really confronting question. But what needs to shift in order for what you want them to say to be what they say? That's a great question. What needs to shift? That's very cool. So the article says we will marry the wrong person. I feel like listening to you, that's not true. We meet people who hopefully help us pay attention to and heal our wounds. That's right. And it doesn't always happen that way. A lot of times we are in partnership where we're not doing any work. And so it probably does feel, quote unquote, wrong. But I think that relationships, we've heard this before, partnership and children, our greatest teachers, our greatest mirrors.

55:52And if you have people who are willing to roll up their sleeves, then something really beautiful can happen from that space. If you're with somebody long enough, life is hard. There are a lot of challenges. It's not a walk in the park. It's not that honeymoon phase for a very long time. Different chapters of life will have you face lots of different things. And as I said before, choosing someone who you're willing to go through the hard with, I think is one of the great indicators for good success in a relationship. And choosing someone you're willing to go through hard with. the good the easy the fun the light the traveling together all of that of course i wish that upon everyone i hope that you have fun with the person you choose i want you guys to belly laugh i want you to enjoy traveling together i want you to light each other up i want you to support each other's dreams great you are going to face hardship yeah and you need to be able to go through the hard together and come out the other side one of my favorite definitions of secure healthy relationship is from a colleague, Dewey Freeman.

57:00And he says, secure, healthy partnership is about going through hard times, remaining in contact and coming out the other side. Okay. What is one question that every listener should ask themselves tonight about the family that they came from and the love they're trying to build? I'm not even going to preface it. What did you need most in your childhood that you didn't get? wow and let yourself rattle around with it and do your best not to say it's a good one it was great it was amazing i i didn't need they did they did so well right just name it what did you need most that you didn't get no explanation no caveat no nothing just say a sentence put a period at the end and then sit with it and pause with it and notice the sensations in your body as i see in yours.

57:53Just notice what happens there. Be willing if you have it. And look, some people might not be ready to answer that question. Part of this is about capacity. Part of this is about being able to tolerate whatever the answer is, right? That I can actually sit with the answer. But if you answer that question honestly, if you get to a point where you can answer that question, Honestly, it is going to point you to some really beautiful work. You will see that answer showing up in your relationship's present day.

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1:01:42Should you marry the best sex of your life? No. A celebrity couple most likely to make it. Timothee Chalamet and Kylie or Travis and Courtney? Oh my gosh. You're like, I don't care. I don't care. To make it, I'm going to go Kylie and Timothee if I had to choose one. Spinning the block, aka revisiting a relationship, is it wise or a waste of time? Usually a waste of time. Second chances are just patterns if there's been no growth and healing. That's a word. Okay, what do the healthiest couples understand that everybody else misses? Gratitude, appreciation, constantly. I know it seems basic. We forget about it.

1:02:31gratitude, appreciation, acknowledgement, having the conversations, not letting things go on and on and on when you're upset about them, name it. There's something called the low negativity threshold in couples research, Gottman's research about how the healthiest couples, they have a low negativity threshold. It means that the amount of negativity that rises within the relationship is before they say something about it is low and not high. The healthiest couples have a low one. So we don't just kick it down the curb. We don't just brush it off our shoulder when something upsets you, it bothers you, you're upset by something, you say it, you name it, you squash it, you move on from it so that you are not harboring things so that resentment is not building and growing.

1:03:15Okay, last ones. Female proposals, bold or backwards? I mean, do you, but I'd want to know what the reason is behind it. Like, what's, yeah what's driving this because sometimes you know is it is it performative is it coming from a like what's what is driving it it feels important to answer that's a good question what's something every woman should try once whatever first comes to your mind

1:03:47what is something going for their dreams a book you read that changed your life something you think everybody should read? Awareness. I've never heard of it. It's a great book. Okay. And I will revisit it over and over and over again. Yeah. And the question everything question from the card game that I pulled was, what is something about you that sounds made up, but is 100 % true? Oh, I played the violin at Whitney Houston's wedding. I'm sorry. At her wedding? To Bobby Brown. Not made up. I know. That's a good one. That's a really good one. It's a good one. Like if you said that during Two Truths and a Lie, I would think you for sure made that up.

1:04:34That's a lie. I know it's so out there, right? Was it a good wedding? Yeah, I was so young, but it was a very beautiful wedding for the parts that I got to be there for. Vienna, you're amazing. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

1:04:54Okay. You know what time it is. Today's a good day to have a good day. I'll see you next week.

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From the publisher

What if the biggest challenge in your relationships isn't finding the right person, but understanding the person doing the choosing? This week on QUESTION EVERYTHING, relationship therapist and bestselling author Vienna Pharaon joins Danielle to unpack the hidden wounds that shape our dating lives, relationships, and marriages. From the five core origin wounds we all carry to the surprising reason we keep repeating the same patterns, Vienna explains how childhood experiences quietly influence who we're attracted to, what we tolerate, and why some relationships feel impossible to leave. Together, they explore the difference between chemistry and compatibility, why awareness alone isn't enough to create change, how emotional maturity transforms relationships, and the questions healthy couples ask that most people avoid. Plus, Vienna shares her thoughts on modern dating, reality TV relationships, betrayal, healing, and the one question everyone should ask themselves about their childhood. In this episode, you’ll also learn: 

  • Why Vienna believes most relationship problems start long before we meet our partners
  • The five core wounds shaping your dating patterns, relationships, and marriage
  • How childhood experiences influence who you're attracted to and why you stay
  • The surprising reason we often choose familiarity over healthy love
  • Why awareness alone isn't enough to break unhealthy relationship patterns
  • How to identify whether you're choosing someone from love or from a wound
  • The hidden connection between shame, emotional immaturity, and defensiveness
  • Why people-pleasing and shape-shifting can sabotage your relationships
  • How childhood attachment wounds show up in dating and long-term partnerships
  • Why emotionally mature couples handle conflict differently
  • The relationship questions healthy couples ask that most people avoid
  • Vienna's take on Love Island, Love Is Blind, and what reality dating shows reveal about modern relationships
  • Why "if they wanted to, they would" isn't always true
  • Vienna weighs in on Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet's romance and why she thinks they’ll last 
  • The one childhood question that could completely change how you understand yourself and your relationships

 

Make sure to check out Vienna’s book The Origins of You, and follow her on Instagram @mindfulmft 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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