Épisodes

  • Hope That Isn’t Fragile

    Hope That Isn’t Fragile
    Feb 22 2026
    What if hope isn’t supposed to be light and shiny? What if it’s supposed to have muscle?
    In this episode of Making Sense of It with Rachelle, we talk about the kind of hope that doesn’t ignore what’s happening in the world but stays awake inside it. The kind that acknowledges the exhaustion of constant headlines, the toll of always witnessing, and the way it all settles into the body. This isn’t about “just staying positive.” It’s about building a steadier, more grounded way to live with what we know. If you’ve been feeling worn down, restless, or quietly overwhelmed, this conversation might feel like a deep breath.

    Download the episode and sit with me for a little while.

    I would love for you to share your thoughts, comments, or episode ideas. Email support@cognizantascent.com.
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    33 min
  • Rural Life: What Holds Us, What Hurts Us

    Rural Life: What Holds Us, What Hurts Us
    Feb 1 2026
    Rural life can feel like home in your bones, a deep connection, shared survival, and belonging that runs generations deep. It can also carry silence, conditions, and limits we don’t always see until we grow up inside them. In this episode, we sit down with special guest Willie Carver Jr. to explore how place shapes us long before we have language for it, and what happens when the belonging we love turns out to be complicated.

    Through personal stories and reflection, this conversation holds both tenderness and grief, especially when loving where you come from means confronting racism, exclusion, or harm while trying to build a different future for your children. This isn’t about rejecting home. It’s about telling the truth about it, together. You can love a place fiercely without staying where you were wounded. This episode invites you to sit inside that tension and listen to what this season of your life might be asking.

    Connect with us at support@cognizantascent.com. We want to hear your stories, questions, and show ideas.
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    1 h et 8 min
  • January 25, 2026

    January 25, 2026
    Jan 25 2026
    Join us for a new episode on Feburary 1st with special guest Willie Carver Jr.
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    3 min
  • Grief that has no timeline

    Grief that has no timeline
    Jan 18 2026
    In this episode of Making Sense of It With Rachelle, Rachelle explores grief not as something we “get over,” but as something we learn to live with. Through personal storytelling and reflection, the episode looks at how grief appears in many forms, through death, broken relationships, lost futures, and the quiet ache of what never came to be.
    Drawing from her own experiences of loss, including watching her mother bury a child and later carrying her own devastating grief, Rachelle reflects on how we are taught to survive through strength and service, and how healing sometimes means learning to soften. A powerful moment from an Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert conversation on suffering weaves through the episode, naming grief as an unwelcome but lasting teacher that deepens our capacity for love, presence, and connection.
    The episode also speaks to the collective grief many are carrying right now, grief for safety, trust, and stability, and invites listeners to sit with loss not in isolation, but in shared humanity. In a culture that rushes past pain, this conversation offers space to pause, reflect, and remember that grief, when carried together, can lead us toward greater compassion and a deeper way of living.

    Connect with us by emailing support@cognizantascent.com.
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    22 min
  • January 11, 2026

    January 11, 2026
    Jan 11 2026
    Reach out to us with your comments or topic suggests at support@cogizantascent.com.
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    3 min
  • Making Sense of Who We Are

    Making Sense of Who We Are
    Jan 4 2026
    Making Sense of Who We Are explores identity not as a fixed label, but as something living and evolving. This episode explores how we learn to be who we are to belong, through family roles, expectations, survival, and adaptation, and what happens when those identities no longer fit. Through reflection and conversation, we name the quiet grief, courage, and relief that come with outgrowing versions of ourselves that once kept us safe. This is an invitation to notice who you’ve been, who you’re becoming, and to remember that becoming yourself is not betrayal, it’s an endless return.

    Connect with us by email at support@cognizantascent.com.
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    24 min
  • Introduction to Season 2

    Introduction to Season 2
    Jan 1 2026
    Making Sense of It with Rachelle is a conversation-centered podcast about the things that shape our lives. This podcast isn’t about fixing people or offering advice. It’s about slowing down, listening closely, and staying human in complex conversations. Some episodes include guests; others are reflective monologues. All are grounded in care, curiosity, and lived experience.

    This podcast is for anyone who has ever felt like their life was complicated, unfinished, or hard to explain, and wanted a place where that complexity is allowed.

    You don’t have to have it all figured out to be here.
    You’re welcome just as you are.

    Connect with us by emailing support@cognizantascent.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
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    2 min
  • Episode 6: Filling Your Cup

    Episode 6: Filling Your Cup
    Mar 20 2022
    We all find a million reasons not to practice it, we guilt, shame and dismiss our way out of it. Without it we will never be at our full potential...we can dream more, do more, and love more effectively. Self-care...listen in and then get out there and do it. Join the conversation by emailing your thoughts to support@cognizantascent.com.
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    34 min