A Thinker's Guide To...

In our final episode of this season, we are attempting to wrap things up. Although, the Apocalypse is far from over. If we are going to get through it, we have to do the work.    So the call remains, the question remains - will you continue to change? Or will you go back to sleep? I promise you that the world won't always be this bad. But in some ways, that's the whole problem. When you're in this trauma of 2020, as awful as it is, at least it's clear what the issues are.   At the time of this recording, the world, as always, is brutal. I choose to stay in reality. I hope, I try, to stay awake to the beauty too.  It's a difficult paradox to hold. I think until we learn to integrate it, Apocalypse will continue to come.   It has been my goal this season to help you create a path in which you can awaken to your own depth. I'll be back with a new season in 2021. Until then, you can connect with me on Instagram @athinkersguide or on my website therapyforthinkers.com.   

When I was 12, I made myself a promise that I would be perfect. I'd be a perfect daughter, sister, wife, student, and Christian. I told myself that if I could do that, then I could be loved.     For years, I've been trying to make sense of these many promises I was taught to make in childhood, and the precious few I've remained determined to keep. In today's episode, we're letting ourselves open up to the possibility of the promise of the Apocalypse, and what it will mean to keep promises that we've been made to keep along this journey.     What promises do you make to soothe yourself? What promises do you make to challenge yourself? What promises don't you make, but you feel like you ought to?      Head to therapyforthinkers.com for full show notes and to explore more resources for the curious.   

In this week's episode, we're journeying to the stage where most of my curiosities and dilemmas have arisen...the classroom. Specifically, we're thinking about what it means to take your heart out to examine it, and what happens when you put it back inside again.   I'm sharing the story of when I attended grad school, and the professor that changed me life. He taught me about theology, about the puzzle of our hearts. While I learned a great deal, the heart is still a puzzle to me.   The dilemma of the Apocalypse is, in many ways, to pretend that things haven't actually happened. To have taken your heart out, to have examined it, and to put it back with absolutely no changes made. While tempting, choosing ignorance will never allow us to move forward.   Head to therapyforthinkers.com/podcast for full show notes and more resources.

Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see.   I disagree. Whatever will be, will only be if you allow it to. In our twelfth episode of the season, I'm asking the questions: who are you? Who do you want to be? What lies ahead?    We may not know the future, but one thing we can know is how we want to show up in the world for ourselves and for others.  First, we must learn how to bring our shadow into the light. As we near the end of this Apocalypse, join me in beginning to see the good that this journey has uncovered as much as the painful, and in celebrating the defeat of what came before.   Head to therapyforthinkers.com/podcast for full show notes and more resources for the curious.   

I've told myself many stories over the years. About the boys who would never love me, the jobs that would never fulfill me, and the people who never quite understood me. I even have stories I tell myself about you.  I have many questions about who you are and why you're here. I'm someone who likes to imagine the possibilities. But today isn't about possibilities. Instead it's about the defeat of our illusions, and how hard it is to let go of what we've projected onto others. More importantly, how we long to be seen for who we really are.   In our eleventh episode of the season, we're exploring why we tell ourselves these stories and play out the same old patterns that we're bound to regret. It begins with unmasking our patterns and recognizing them for what they are. This requires you to be able to both truly be in your subjectiveness, while also stepping outside of it to get a more objective view.   For full show notes, head to therapyforthinkers.com/podcast. You can connect with me on Instagram @therapyforthinkers.

There are many ways to unveil your inner world, many paths to do so. Some meditate, others write. I chose therapy. In our tenth episode of the season, we're exploring what it means to allow our depth and mystery to be unveiled.   Today I'm going to share the story of how I became a therapy client. I've always been way more comfortable alone than being connected. I learned a long time ago how to create a sort of pseudo intimacy with others, so they would only know the surface of me, but never truly know me. Many of us are this way. We need someone to break our heart's wide open and get curious about who we are.    Therapy can change your life in more way than one. The right therapist can help you find love, happiness, and depth. Despite what many people believe, therapy itself is not a step by step process. Rather, it's a deep dive into the ocean of you. However, finding a therapist that really gets you can be a step by step process. If you are ready to choose therapy, head to athinkersguide.com/findatherapist to join the waitlist for my free guide on finding a therapist.    For full show notes, head to theapyforthinkers.com/podcast. You can connect with me on Instagram @therapyforthinkers! 

We are meaning making creatures. We want to know what the future holds while also craving to decode the past. You've heard me talk a great deal about the Bible. This, and other sacred literature, offers a key not only to the past, but to the future.  Today we're talking specifically of Babylon. Babylon offered a key to make sense of what had been done to me, but also what I did and do to others. It's very likely that you may not know the story of Babylon, and if this is indeed the case, I'm sharing the cliff notes version in this episode. Who was Babylon? And why does she matter so much? I think she matters because she is the enemy. She's the one who holds our projections just as much as the hero does. But whereas the hero takes in our projections and transforms them, the enemy rejects them and casts them back at us. If we are going to understand what we hate so much about our enemies, we also have to understand why other's love them. That's a complicated thing to do. So, who is your enemy? What do you project onto them?   For full show notes, head to theapyforthinkers.com/podcast. You can connect with me on Instagram @therapyforthinkers! 

Jesus has always been a conundrum to me. Growing up, I was always told he was our Hero. Truthfully, I've never been able to quite shake the feeling of him being my enemy. The relationship I was taught to have with him is strange. This hero that was suppose to save me from everything, somehow became tied to the hell that is in my soul.  I think of Jesus as both my opposite and the same. To me, he is not just the benchmark, but the framework, of who I ought to be and who I don't want to be. Today I'm telling you all about the hero I was taught to worship long before I was even born. It all begins with the promise of being born.    The question remains...what does it really mean to be a hero? What do we actually need rescuing from?    Head to therapyforthinkers.com to explore more resources for the deep thinker.

My family history would intrigue you if you are a therapist, or if you are interested in dysfunctional family dynamics (aren't we all?).  Growing up in a family of fundamentalists, there was no room for poetry or imagination. It was all black and white. It's words on the page that you must take for what they say. Can you guess what happens when you admit that the bible can't be read 100% literally? When you forgo literalism, you forgo your claim to innocence. So settle in, because today I'm telling you a story about a holiday family party that began with shrimp dip and Stouffer's macaroni and cheese, and ended with my aunt telling me that I was following Satan and going straight to hell. By now you know that I talk about hell quite a bit. I've told you how I spent far too much time avoiding it, running from it...terrified of it.  This story I'm telling you today is the exact moment I realized I wasn't heading for hell. I was already there, and it was a pleasure to burn. In our seventh episode, we are are going to discover what happens when despair and hope battle for the fate of our sanity. Head to therapyforthinkers.com or connect with me on Instagram @therapyforthinkers to explore more resources for the curious. 

"Go, go, go, said the bird: Human kind cannot bear very much reality. Time past and time future. What might have been and what has been. Point to one end, which is always present." -T.S. Eliot   Whether we like to admit it or not, we have many ways of avoiding reality. We have intricate ways of shielding ourselves from what's real. We're getting to the heart of the matter in our sixth episode. It's the part of the Apocalypse that we fear the most...the horror.  We're exploring the horror we've experienced in our past, as well as the present, and how it can surface even on the most ordinary of days.   It can take awhile to notice the horrific in the familiar. Even today, I constantly look back at my childhood and uncover that something which passed as normal then, is actually far less usual that I'd realized. Today, I'm telling you about a specific moment in my childhood where I experienced seeing horror. It started as a seemingly normal day, and now it is a traumatic memory that will forever be ingrained in my mind. Perhaps it is a horrific memory that you have as well.   Join me as we dive into a psychological look at the four horses of the Apocalypse. They are familiar to me, as I've heard them in many sermons from my childhood. Yet again, they are signs of the times, even if we don't want to see them. Each horse in the Apocalypse carries a different disaster: conquest, war, famine, and death. We'll look at each in the face.  These are the horsemen of my childhood. These are the horsemen of our year. If you're like me, you've been running from them far longer than you can remember.   Head to therapyforthinkers.com or Instagram @therapyforthinkers to explore more resources for the curious. 

Death has a way of sharpening things, it makes everything come more alive...even as we approach the end. I think that panic can actually teach us a great deal about death.   Did you know that most people will experience 1-2 panic attacks in their lifetime? Panic attacks are signs of underlying issues that need to be resolved. Right now, our country is in the midst of a panic attack. This is why today, you and I will be exploring the psychological meaning of panic. Specifically, we're diving into how panic attacks us from both within and how it plays out in our life.   What is your panic? What is the World's panic? What does both have to teach us?   Head to therapyforthinkers.com for show notes and more resources.

I've been thinking about how to avoid Hell for over 30 years now. See, I have this painful memory when I first discovered the idea of Hell that still tears me apart.   You and I, we find a multitude of ways to avoid our memories. We speed through life, and focus on everything but our pain. Even when we sink into our memories, we have an interesting way of rewriting them. Anything to obscure both the ordinary and the horrific.    When life comes to a standstill, and we're forced to slow down, our memories come to the surface. So today, in our fourth episode, we're paying attention to what happens when survival demands stillness; when our fears begin to make themselves known.   We're talking about the painful memories.  After much debate, I've mustered the courage to allow myself to be very vulnerable with you and share the edges of my own trauma.    To dig deeper, head to therapyforthinkers.com

Who cares for distressing warnings, predicting discomfort when it's easier to just show up and pretend things aren't as bad as you've worried they'd be? The truth is, we ignore warnings that are often right in front of our face, myself included. Although, the warnings that you and I receive throughout our lives are really only clear in retrospect.   In episode 3 of A Thinker's Guide to the Apocalypse, we're contemplating the obvious clues that we miss that prevent us from being able to read the signs of the times and inhibit us from being able to navigate uncharted territory.    Specifically, I'm wanting to talk to you about the seven warnings offered in the Book of Revelation.  These warnings have to do with all of us, as well as the seven churches in seven cities, which represent seven ways to defend against the dismantling of Apocalypse.  As you listen, consider which of these seven places you and your psyche reside. Which warning do you need to listen most carefully to?    Head to therapyforthinkers.com for show notes and more resources.

The late summer of the beginning of freshman year, I was still somewhere between admitting that I wasn't a fundamentalist anymore and becoming something entirely different than what I always thought I'd be. I looked innocent at this time. Things are rarely as they appear though.   For me, the past has folded and unfolded, showing me things I'd prefer not to see. It may be a kind of innocence to think that you know all there is to know; that you have simple answers for complex questions. The way we think of innocence is just a way to gloss over our own privilege and innocence. Which is really just yet another way to stay asleep to reality.    This episode is really more about the shattering of ignorance than the loss of innocence. So today, you and I are going to explore what it means to shed the veil of not knowing.  Ignorance and innocence look so similar, but they're not.    How do you distinguish ignorance from innocence? Head to therapyforthinkers.com or @therapyforthinkers on Instagram to connect. 

Welcome to the Thinker's Guide to the Apocalypse. At its literal Greek root, apocalypse means to uncover, to  reveal, or to unveil. Generally the shit we cover up is painful to reveal. AKA, an apocalypse is the means in which we unveil what we most want to hide, and what we most need to know if we're really going to live life.   This season is an invitation to wake the fuck up to your own apocalypse, the changes it will demand of you, and the potential to live life in a new way. Today, I'm giving you a map to the journey we'll be undertaking in this season.   So stop what you're doing, sit down, and listen. Listen to what the apocalypse has been saying to you ever since you entered the gate of existence.   Head to therapyforthinkers.com/readinghabit to learn how to enter for your chance to win my 7 favorite books for the existentially curious. Giveaway ends July 12th, 2020!   Resources for the deep thinker: Therapyforthinkers.com Instagram Facebook A Thinker's Guide to Finding a Therapist

Welcome to A Thinker's Guide to the Apocalypse. In this season, you are I are uncovering what the Apocalypse has to teach us, particularly in these times of disruption and uncertainty.    As we explore the psychological meaning, we're going to dive deep into your inner world so you can discover why and how you need to grow.   Want a chance to win my 7 favorite books for the existentially curious? You'll find all the details at therapyforthinkers.com/readinghabit   Tune into a new episode every Sunday morning. Head to therapyforthinkers.com and follow me on Instagram @therapyforthinkers for more resources for the curious.  

A Thinker's Guide To... is more than just a podcast. It's a community of people who long to connect, and who know that being alive is pretty fucking weird.    What's more, we find that weirdness both appealing and heartbreaking. We aim to be more present and live more fully. There's only so far you can go on your own though. Life is not a solo adventure.   Join me me in this preseason of A Thinker's Guide to the Beginning. In this mini-season, you and I are focusing on who we are, why we're here, and what the hell we want to to about all of that. We'll explore what it means to be alive, as we ponder the mysteries of your heart.    Want a chance to win my 7 favorite books for the existentially curious? You'll find all the details at therapyforthinkers.com/readinghabit   Head to therapyforthinkers.com to explore more resources for the curious. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to stay up to date on all new episodes!

Today my friend, we are going to consider what it means to drink in the mysteries of our heart, particularly when they appear to us through messages from the unconscious.   In this particular dream, I am in Scotland with a group of travelers. The scene is set in a moody bar. When the bartender asks what I want, I confidently answer - “Give me a drink of my people”. It tastes like complexity.What does it mean, I wonder?   A dream, much like visions and any other kind of story, offers a myriad of interpretations. I invite you to dive into this dream, to make sense of it, for you and for me. You see, each taste of the drink in which the dreamer sips represents a specific wisdom.   Drink when you feel ready. Drink even if you do not. -Danielle Boo-Doo Fortune  Resources from the episode: Uisce Beatha (Ishka Baha): meaning 'Water of Life'. Petrichor: the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Greek petra, "rock", or petros, "stone", and īchōr, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology. How to Break a Curse   Head to therapyforthinkers.com/readinghabit to learn how to enter to win my 7 favorite books for the existentially curious. Giveaway ends July 12th, 2020!   Resources for the Deep Thinker: therapyforthinkers.com Instagram Facebook

You may not know this, but I only moonlight as a podcaster. I'm a psychotherapist by day, or, when I'm feeling particularly cheesy: a professional heartbreaker. We all keep so much buried and defended against, that it's hard to get to our most beautiful pieces without breaking ourselves open. I'm often pointing out, for myself and for others, where the pieces have landed so we can begin together how to fit them back together  like a puzzle.   Today I want to tell you a story about a complicated man named Oliver, a fictive (aka not real) therapy client of mine.  It starts with a phone call to feel each other out, and leads to years of therapy together.  Join with me, as we follow the winding path of therapy and relationship.   How do you make sense of your own complexity and the complexity of the world? I genuinely want to know. Head to therapyforthinkers.com or @therapyforthinkers on Instagram to fill me in.   Head to therapyforthinkers.com/readinghabit to learn how to enter to win my 7 favorite books for the existentially curious. Giveaway ends July 12th!   Resources: therapyforthinkers.com Instagram Facebook

The first thing you need to know about me is that stories matter to me. They have saved me from so many things. When it comes to stories, I want to know every excruciating detail. I want you to tell me absolutely everything. And because fair is fair, today, I'm going to tell you a story.   The second thing you need to know about me is that once upon a time I was a fundamentalist.  Living in this world had a lot of rules. Our story begins when I started to feel uneasy about the rules. Because that, my friends, is when the real trouble began. You and I are going to go back to the beginning, or really more the middle of my beginning. It's a story that I carry with me and perhaps could be a story of you too.   Head to therapyforthinkers.com/readinghabit to learn how to enter to win my 7 favorite books for the existentially curious. Giveaway ends July 12th!   Resources: therapyforthinkers.com Instagram Facebook