VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

  By Virginia Grenier I’ve long believed that healing is more than just symptom reduction. It’s not just about coping skills or cognitive restructuring—it’s about uncovering the deeper threads that shape who we are and how we move through the world. That belief is exactly why this latest episode of Language of the Soul resonated so deeply with me. Our guest, Carolyn Coleridge, is a psychotherapist, intuitive, and healer who has spent over 30 years at the intersection of traditional therapy and spiritual insight. In our conversation, Carolyn shared something that’s stuck with me since we recorded: “We’re all souls. That’s my premise.” It sounds simple, but when you really sit with it, that one sentence flips the entire clinical model on its head. What if instead of viewing our clients—or ourselves—as broken minds to be fixed, we saw each of us as whole souls navigating a very human experience? That’s the lens Carolyn brings into her work and into this conversation. And honestl...

  When I first sat down with Dominick to interview Stuart Wood, neuroscientist and author of Escaping the Void: How to Support Victims Out of Emotionally Abusive Relationships , I thought I knew what to expect. I’ve been a victim advocate for years. I’ve sat with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and I’ve seen the way emotional abuse erodes someone from the inside out. But there was something about this conversation—something about tying narcissism not just to relationships, but to culture at large—that resonated with me on a personal and professional level. Stuart came to the topic of narcissism the way so many of us do—not through clinical theory at first, but through experience. He supported a friend through four years of leaving and healing after an abusive narcissistic marriage. And from there, he wrote a book that demystifies the confusing behaviors and manipulations so often minimized or dismissed, even by victims themselves. Why Narcissism Hits Home I come ...

  There’s something undeniably powerful about being reminded that we all have intuition—that inner voice whispering before our louder, analytical minds have time to doubt or override it. Our recent Language of the Soul episode with evidential medium and psychic Cheryl Murphy became a deeply affirming conversation about that voice, what it means to trust it, and how tuning into it changes not just how we see the world, but how we live in it. Cheryl has studied metaphysics for more than 20 years, channeling departed loved ones and helping people navigate life’s turning points. She calls herself a clairvoyant psychic medium—meaning she works with three distinct, yet interconnected gifts: clairvoyance (seeing information as images, colors, or visions), psychic energy reading (sensing the auric field), and mediumship (connecting with those who have crossed over). For Cheryl, this work isn’t about wielding power or sensationalized spectacle; it’s about service and connection, meeting p...

Sometimes, we wake up to find the world changed overnight. At least, it feels that way. In reality, shifts like the ones we’ve been living through don’t happen in an instant—they build over years, quietly at first, until one day it’s undeniable. We find ourselves staring at headlines that make us feel like we’ve stepped into an alternate reality, and the shock is so great we don’t even know how to respond. That’s where this episode of Language of the Soul began: with the feeling of paralysis. Dominick called it out plainly—this chaos is not accidental. It’s part of a strategy as old as authoritarianism itself: overwhelm the public so thoroughly that the shock itself prevents action. When the headlines are one absurdity after another, people shut down. That’s when it becomes easiest to normalize what should never be normalized. I think most of us have felt that paralysis at some point over the past weeks. Whether you lean left, right, or somewhere in between, fear and exhaustion wear...

Every time I sit down to write, I’m reminded that story is more than entertainment—it’s a mirror. Sometimes it’s a clear reflection; other times it’s warped, holding up the parts of us we’d rather not acknowledge. That tension between what we show the world and what we keep hidden is what keeps me coming back to the page. When I interviewed author John Bukowski for our Language of the Soul podcast, we spent as much time exploring that concept as we did talking about his thrillers ( Project Suicide and Checkout Time ). John’s writing is rooted in science and history, and yet he’s quick to admit that fiction—especially thrillers—offers a safe place to grapple with things that would otherwise be too unsettling to face head-on. He reminded me of something I first learned reading Stephen King as a teenager: good stories don’t just entertain; they confront us with our shadow side. King famously said that writers must let out the “dark half” of themselves—the primal thoughts and impulses...

 Grief has a way of pulling the air out of the room. It changes you—physically, emotionally, spiritually—and it doesn’t follow any neat, linear path, no matter how many well-intentioned people tell you it has “stages.” I know this not only from my studies as a counselor but also from personal experience. Losing a parent, or anyone who is part of the fabric of your everyday life, tears at the narrative of who we are and how we exist in the world. When I spoke with Debbie Heisler on our Language of the Soul podcast, I was struck by how her own story of unimaginable loss led her to the very work that now helps others heal. Debbie is an author ( Faith in the Middle , Whispers of Healing and Hope Grief Journal ), a grief coach, and a community advocate who has transformed deep personal pain into a source of connection and hope for others. Her story is tragic—her son was murdered in a custody dispute—but what stood out to me wasn’t just the loss itself. It was what she chose to do wit...

In a time when artificial intelligence is advancing at lightning speed, many of us find ourselves quietly asking: What does it mean to be human? Amidst the algorithms, the data, and the drive for efficiency, how do we stay connected to the qualities that make our lives rich with meaning? One timeless answer lies in something we’ve carried with us since the dawn of time: the stories we tell. Stories are more than entertainment. They are the glue that binds us to one another, the mirrors in which we glimpse our purpose, and the maps that help us navigate life’s complexities. In our latest Language of the Soul conversation, we sit down with Denise Piles—mindfulness coach, former nun, and seasoned corporate professional—to reflect on how storytelling and mindfulness can help us stay rooted in our shared humanity, even in the fast-paced world of technology. Denise’s journey is remarkable. From a life shaped by faith and service to a career at Microsoft, she has walked two seemingly diff...