When the Body Remembers
Unconscious memories can shape reactions without recall.
Sep 15, 2026 · 58 min · 16 segments
In this episode, Dr. Marisa G. Franco explores why feeling insecure doesn’t mean you’re back at the beginning, and how real self-worth may come from learning to make room for every part of yourself…
Marisa G. FrancoGuestEric ZimmerHostI'm terrible with time, so I don't know when we last talked, but it's been several years, and in the interim, you've written a new book, which is called Worth: The New Science of Self-Esteem and Secure Attachment, which we're gonna get into in a minute, but we'll start in the way that we always do, which is with the parable.
And in the parable, there's a grandparent who's talking with their grandchild, and they say, "In life, there are two wolves inside of us that are always at battle.
One is a good wolf, which represents things like kindness and bravery and love, and the other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed and hatred and fear."
And the grandchild stops, they think about it for a second, they look up at their grandparent, and they say, "Well, which one wins?" And the grandparent says, "The one you feed."
So I'd like to start off by asking you what that parable means to you in your life and in the work that you do.

It's such a deep, profound parable, and what I like about it is it really normalizes the wolves within all of us, and it allows us to acknowledge that all of us are greedy sometimes, are antagonistic sometimes, or may be aggressive sometimes, and that doesn't mean that you're less of a person or something is wrong with you.

And I think a lot of worth is about acknowledging the feelings we'd rather not feel-

... and normalizing that they're within us, and learning what to do with that, and not just trying to sh- to shame ourselves or suppress them.
But the, the essence is yes, there are all these competing things going on inside of us-
I'm terrible with time, so I don't know when we last talked, but it's been several years, and in the interim, you've written a new book, which is called Worth: The New Science of Self-Esteem and Secure Attachment, which we're gonna get into in a minute, but we'll start in the way that we always do, which is with the parable.
And in the parable, there's a grandparent who's talking with their grandchild, and they say, "In life, there are two wolves inside of us that are always at battle.
One is a good wolf, which represents things like kindness and bravery and love, and the other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed and hatred and fear."
And the grandchild stops, they think about it for a second, they look up at their grandparent, and they say, "Well, which one wins?" And the grandparent says, "The one you feed."
So I'd like to start off by asking you what that parable means to you in your life and in the work that you do.

It's such a deep, profound parable, and what I like about it is it really normalizes the wolves within all of us, and it allows us to acknowledge that all of us are greedy sometimes, are antagonistic sometimes, or may be aggressive sometimes, and that doesn't mean that you're less of a person or something is wrong with you.

And I think a lot of worth is about acknowledging the feelings we'd rather not feel-

... and normalizing that they're within us, and learning what to do with that, and not just trying to sh- to shame ourselves or suppress them.
But the, the essence is yes, there are all these competing things going on inside of us-
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3 of 12
When the Body Remembers
Unconscious memories can shape reactions without recall.
Rewriting Painful Memories
Memories can change when we revisit them.
Why Tetris Might Help Trauma
Tetris can help weaken some traumatic memories.
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