29 September 2026

Stop Earning Love: How to Break Unconscious Relationship Patterns | Alfina Lofaro

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Key topicsYou do not trust someone with your relationship struggles until they sound human enough to understand themRelationship advice often sounds too polished to trust, and that polish is the real barrier. Would you open up to an adviser who has never admitted a single mistake? Years as a coach and kinesiologist showed Alfina that honesty about struggles builds the trust advice needs. More than 20 years of practice as a kinesiologist, coach, educator and speaker gives the advice its weight. Share one real struggle with your listeners before you hand them the solution. Imagine a listener hearing a host admit a marriage nearly ended, then ask a question about their own. Sound human first, and people will trust your advice enough to use it.The Relationship You Have With Yourself Changes Every Other RelationshipRelationships are usually seen as being about other people, but the one with yourself sets the rest. Would you say to a friend the things you tell yourself in your own head? Overgiving at work taught Alfina, a coach and author, that saying yes can cost a family its time. Over two decades in practice, the same pattern repeats across work, home and money. Ask how you behave in each relationship, and set aside what the other person is doing. Think of a parent who says yes to every favour at work, then arrives home too drained to listen to the kids. Change your side of the relationship with yourself, and every other one moves with it.One Yes at a Time: How We Give Ourselves Away Without Even Realising ItMost people who keep saying yes believe they are just being helpful, until their own time runs out. How many yeses this week did you really mean as no? Giving time away is a habit that can be unlearned, Alfina found as a kinesiologist and facilitator. 35% of Americans say they somewhat often feel like they can't say no when someone asks for something. Pause before agreeing to the next request, and check whether you truly have the time. Someone agrees to one more task every Friday, then misses the same family dinner month after month. Give each yes on purpose, one at a time, and your time starts to come back.View all topics →

About Alfina Lofaro

Alfina Lofaro, podcast guest

Kinesiologist, Coach & Author of Love Deliberately

20+ years Experience in education, coaching & kinesiology2 Amazon bestselling books2 Awards & grants won in 2026BA (Honours) Australian Catholic University, 2002

Alfina Lofaro is an author, speaker, kinesiologist, coach and leadership facilitator who helps people understand the unconscious patterns shaping the way they love, communicate and show up in their relationships.

Growing up on a 300-acre farm in rural Queensland as the daughter of Italian migrants, Alfina learned early that belonging could feel conditional - and that being good, helpful and dependable could be a way of earning love. For much of her life, she responded by doing more, giving more and becoming the person everyone could rely on.

It took years, and a painful chapter of her own life, for Alfina to recognise the cost of continually saying yes when she meant no, putting other people's needs first and giving away her time, energy and attention without realising what was driving the pattern.

That experience became a turning point.

Today, Alfina speaks to a powerful and often overlooked truth: knowing what you should do is not always enough to change what you actually do. Beneath conscious beliefs are unconscious programs that can influence how we communicate, avoid conflict, seek approval, tolerate unhealthy dynamics and repeatedly give ourselves away - sometimes one small yes at a time.

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