Podcasts about caring

What a treat to welcome back Dave Dameshek to the show after far too long. He joins Daniel, Tony and me to talk about our home decor, Benjamin Button, his plans for aging, jeans, the guy who offended Dave's sensibilities, birds, feeding a picky squirrel, verticals and so much more. Plus we did a round of JMOE, HGFY and Podcast Pals Product Picks. Get yourself some new ARIYNBF merch here: https://alison-rosen-shop.fourthwall.com/ Subscribe to my Substack: http://alisonrosen.substack.com Podcast Palz Product Picks: https://www.amazon.com/shop/alisonrosen/list/2CS1QRYTRP6ER?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_aipsfalisonrosen_0K0AJFYP84PF1Z61QW2H Products I Use/Recommend/Love: http://amazon.com/shop/alisonrosen Check us out on Patreon: http://patreon.com/alisonrosen   This episode is brought to you by FACTOR. (Use code alisonrosen50off for 50 percent off and free breakfast for a year) Buy Alison's Fifth Anniversary Edition Book (with new material): Tropical Attire Encouraged (and Other Phrases That Scare Me) https://amzn.to/2JuOqcd You probably need to buy the HGFY ringtone! https://www.alisonrosen.com/store/ Try Amazon Prime Free 30 Day Trial

#370: What does it actually take to stay engaged for the long haul when the world feels overwhelming and the crises keep coming? Showing up once is one thing, but sustaining care and action over months and years is an entirely different challenge. In this episode, I close out our series on how emotional outsourcing shapes our political engagement. We've talked about freeze, rage, and depletion. Now we turn to the long haul: how to remain present and effective without burning out or shutting down. Tune in this week to learn why your nervous system struggles with chronic exposure to distressing news and why activist culture often overlooks the body that is doing the work. You'll learn practical ways to stay engaged for the long haul, including pendulation between activation and resource, titration of how much information you take in, and the importance of co-regulation and community. Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://beatrizalbina.com/370 Order your copy of End Emotional Outsourcing here: https://beatrizalbina.com/book/ Follow me here: https://www.instagram.com/beatrizvictoriaalbinanp/?hl=enMentioned in this episode:Grab my book, End Emotional Outsourcing!Please support my new book, End Emotional Outsourcing, by ordering a copy and reviewing it on Amazon or GoodReads! You can leave a review even if you bought it somewhere else. Bring your screenshot to: https://beatrizalbina.com/book/ for gifts and raffle goodies. Thank you for helping this work ripple out.EEO Pre-Sale

Professor Fred Long reflects on the final weeks of his sabbatical in Mesa, Arizona. After more than 30 years in academia, sabbatical provides a rare chance to slow down, work on meaningful projects, and spend time with family.In this episode, Fred shares highlights from the past 10–11 weeks: finishing major writing projects, helping publish several books, developing new courses, launching the 1 Corinthians series with Dr. T. Michael W. Halcomb, and even unexpected conversations about faith in an online gaming community.He also reflects on caring for his mother during this season, the everyday work that fills academic life, and a powerful biblical insight about widows and justice in the teachings of Jesus.As his time in Arizona comes to a close, Fred looks ahead to returning home to Kentucky—with fishing season just beginning.Watch for a thoughtful look at the real life of a sabbatical: work, family, Scripture, and reflection.

In this episode, Allen Williams shares the powerful story of how a historic ice storm devastated his regenerative farm in Mississippi and the lessons that emerged from the experience. The conversation explores the realities of managing livestock through extreme weather, the importance of preparedness, and the resilience required to keep a farm operating when infrastructure fails. Allen also reflects on the deeper meaning of community support, faith, and the role regenerative agriculture can play in helping landscapes better withstand climate extremes. Through hardship and recovery, this episode highlights both the vulnerability and the strength of modern regenerative farming systems.

Summary In this episode, Andy talks with Brett Harned, founder of the Digital PM Community and the Digital PM Summit, and author of Project Management for Humans: Helping People Get Things Done. Brett has spent years coaching project leaders and helping organizations rethink what project management really is. His core conviction: the human side of the work is not a nice-to-have. It is the work. In this conversation, you'll hear how Brett fell into project management and what early experiences shaped his perspective on people and projects. You'll learn the patterns he sees repeated across teams and industries, practical habits for when projects feel messy or start to drift, and why he believes project management is a leadership role that most organizations still undervalue. Brett also shares his candid take on AI, what it can and cannot do for project leaders, and what advice he would give his younger self. If you lead projects or teams, whether or not you have a PM title, this episode is for you! Sound Bites "Often with PMs, it's finding or receiving or feeling the permission to lead like a human instead of like a machine or a robot." "Projects fail because conversations didn't happen or they happened way too late." "Project management is a leadership role and too often organizations don't see it as a leadership role the way that they should." "Project managers are quietly carrying emotional labor that no one really acknowledges." "You can't earn trust by being invisible." "The role has become less about task tracking and more about judgment, good communication and trust building." "If you call people on your team resources, they have every right to call you overhead." "Slowing conversations down before speeding up the work is like the biggest thing." "Drift isn't usually about effort. It's about misaligned understanding." "AI is not going to replace a really good leader." "AI is great at admin. It's terrible at the leadership stuff. It can't read the room, it can't navigate tension, it can't earn trust." "Say the thing now. Saying something early is almost always safer than saying it too late." "The job of a project manager isn't to absorb chaos. It's to make it a conversation." "Caring about people and building relationships is a skill, and it's a skill that's necessary for this career." Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:52 Start of Interview 01:57 How Brett Describes What He Does 03:29 When the People Side Became Clear 06:52 Patterns Across Teams and Organizations 10:32 How Expectations of the PM Role Have Changed 12:28 The Impact of Remote and Hybrid Work 15:26 Practices for When Projects Feel Messy 18:20 How to Name What Is Happening Out Loud 21:30 A Question for When Projects Start to Drift 23:43 How AI Will and Won't Change the PM Role 25:50 Practical Ways Brett Uses AI 30:21 Advice to Younger Brett 33:40 How PM Skills Show Up Outside of Work 35:58 The PM Squad and Same Team Partners 38:01 End of Interview 38:22 Andy Comments After the Interview 41:30 Outtakes Learn More You can learn more about Brett and his work at SameTeamPartners.com and BrettHarned.com. For more learning on this topic, check out: Episode 336 with Clint Padgett. During the interview with Brett, Andy mentioned the weakness of using only percent complete or status colors. That's something Clint and Andy talked about in episode 336. Episode 99 with Mike Roberto. The topic of conflict came up several times in this discussion. In episode 99, Mike and Andy talk about managing the tension between conflict and consensus. It's a discussion worth hearing, especially if you grew up thinking conflict is mostly a negative. Episode 500 with Steve Brown, former Google DeepMind futurist. Andy and Steve talk about AI and the future of work, and it's a discussion highly recommended for anyone leading projects today. Chat with PMeLa You can chat directly with PMeLa—the podcast's AI persona—to get episode recommendations and answers to your project management and leadership questions. Visit PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com/PMeLa to chat with her. Pass the PMP Exam If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too. It's totally free, and it's a great way to get a head start. Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year! Join Us for LEAD52 I know you want to be a more confident leader–that's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than 5 minutes a week. And it's all for free. Learn more and sign up at GetLEAD52.com. Thanks! Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Talent Triangle: Power Skills Topics: Project Management, Leadership, Team Dynamics, Communication, Emotional Labor, Human-Centered Leadership, Conflict Management, AI, Future of Work, Stakeholder Management, Psychological Safety, Remote Work, Project Recovery The following music was used for this episode: Music: Echo by Alexander Nakarada License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Music: Synthiemania by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Most people don't become leaders because they crave authority. They become leaders because they care. They care about people. They care about doing things well. They care about building environments where others succeed. But there's a pattern I see over and over again with high-performing leaders. The very thing that made them a strong leader in the beginning… can slowly start to get in the way of their leadership. What You'll Hear A leadership tension that shows up when people genuinely care about their teams. Why some leaders quietly begin carrying more responsibility than they should. And the pattern that starts to form when care becomes the driver behind every decision. Leadership Pattern to Notice Leaders who care deeply about people often step in more than they intend to. They absorb responsibility. They soften direction. They carry the emotional weight of the team. Not because they're weak. Because they care. Leadership Noticing The qualities that make someone a trusted leader can also quietly reshape how they lead. Sometimes the weight leaders feel isn't coming from the role itself. It's coming from how much responsibility they've slowly started carrying for everyone else. Concepts Introduced This episode explores the quiet relationship between care and leadership responsibility. Many high-performing leaders step into leadership because they genuinely care about people and the environments they create. Over time, that same care can begin shaping decisions, direction, and the weight leaders carry in ways they don't always notice. Something I Don't Want You to Miss The leaders who care the most often carry the most weight. Enjoyed the Episode? If this spoke to you, I'd love for you to: ✅ Share it with a friend who needs this message! ✅ Leave a quick rating & review to help more people find A Leader's Purpose podcast. ✅ Subscribe so you never miss an episode! Thank you for being here, Friend. You are capable, you are seen, and you are ready to step into your calling. Choose joy until joy chooses you!

What does it really mean to be rich toward God? And what does Jesus have to say about the way we handle money, possessions, and our future?Today, Pastor Aaron McRae explores one of Jesus' most challenging parables in Luke 12 — the story often called the Parable of the Rich Fool. When a man interrupts Jesus with a dispute over inheritance, Jesus uses the moment to expose a deeper issue: greed, misplaced security, and a misunderstanding of what life is truly about.Through this teaching, we wrestle with an uncomfortable but freeing truth: Life is not defined by what we accumulate but by how we relate to God and participate in His kingdom.This message invites us to rethink how we approach stewardship—not as obligation, but as an opportunity to trust God and join His work in the world.You'll discover how intentional planning with our resources can lead to deeper faith, greater joy, and eternal impact.Resources: BooksThe Divine Conspiracy — Dallas WillardLuke: That You May Know the Truth — R. Kent HughesKey Bible Passages (NIV)Luke 12:13–21 — The Parable of the Rich FoolLuke 12:31 — Seek God's KingdomMatthew 6:20–21 — Treasures in HeavenCorinthians 16:1–2 — Planned and Proportional GivingActs11:29–30 — Giving as Each Is AbleProverbs 3:9 — Honor the Lord with Your WealthProverbs 21:20 — Wisdom in SavingProverbs 15:27 — The Cost of GreedProverbs 28:27 — Caring for the PoorTimothy 5:17–18 — Supporting Church LeadershipPhilippians 4:14–16 — Supporting MinistryCorinthians 9:7–11 — Sharing in Spiritual Work1 Chronicles 29:1–20 — Giving for God's HouseNumbers 18:21 — Supporting the LevitesExodus 35:20–29 — Giving Toward God's WorkFor the full gathering of this message which includes worship, visit our Youtube channel. Stay Connected With Hillside Community Church.Youtube | https://www.youtube.com/c/HillsideCommunityChurchInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/hillsidechurches/Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/hillsidechurchesWebsite | https://hillsidechurches.com

Pastor Kirk Hall continues the sermon series entitled, "The Pastoral Epistles: Biblical Ministers & Biblical Ministry." Today's message is entitled "Properly caring for the family of God: Part 1" — focusing on 1 Timothy 5:1-2.

SummaryIn this conversation, CEO of Floyd Consulting Kate Volman (LinkedIn) and Nate Leslie (LinkedIn) discuss what it means to Certify a Dream Manager. They explore the common barriers people face when pursuing their dreams, and the impact this pursuit can have on leadership culture. They face the fear of judgment and self-doubt head on. They emphasize the importance of enjoying the process and learning from experiences rather than focusing solely on outcomes.Kate is the CEO of a company she could once only dream of leading, author, and host of podcasts Create for No Reason, and Lead With Culture.Books on Amazon:Do What You Love: A Guide to Living Your Creative Life Without Leaving Your Job by Kate VolmanThe Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly(Please consider shopping using these links to support this podcast)TakeawaysMany people hesitate to start due to fear.Caring about others' opinions can hinder progress.It's essential to enjoy the journey of creation.Learning and fun should be prioritized over success.Self-expression is crucial in creative moments.The process of creating is more important than the result.Overcoming fear can lead to personal growth.Engagement in activities can lead to unexpected joy.Embracing the journey can transform perspectives.Sound bites"so many people don't start things because of fear.""So what you say you want to start a YouTube channel?""The journey is the thing."

send us a text via Fan Mail!Our final segment in this mini-series, Dr. Deborah and I discuss what discipline is, understanding the developmental milestones of the child and viewing discipline in the context of connection, dignity and growth in maturity.00:53 - Giving a definition to discipline 4:05 - How do we learn our lessons?5:04 - Different perspectives and the root issue 6:15 - Does pain teach you?8:27 - Trust or fear based discipline 10:37 - Take the long view 12:23 - Vulnerability and dignity in relationship  16:42 - Emotional regulation programs, do they work?   22:31 - Big discipline issues and reclaiming the relationship 25:05 - When our caring is gone // taking care of ourselves  Dr. Deborah MacNamara (Website)As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Dr. Gordon Neufeld, Dr. Gabor MateRest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One) by Dr. Deborah MacNamaraNourished: Connection, Food and Caring for Our Kids (And Everyone Else We Love) by Dr. Deborah MacNamaraTry these titles on audiobook with Audible free trial here. if not carrot and stick, then WHAT (blog post)growing things (blog post) Contact On Instagram at @make.joy.normal By email at makejoynormal@gmail.com Search podcast episodes by topic www.bonnielandry.ca Shop my recommended resources Thanks for listening to Make Joy Normal Podcast!

The challenges humankind faces from the climate emergency to species extinction to terminal war may be difficult to comprehend, but we ignore them at our peril. Looking away is a lot easier than facing reality. Viewing the Earth as a giant shopping mall to be exploited is leading us to a literal dead end. The capitalist system solely cares about making money. Can a deep caring for the Earth emerge that is nourishing and sustaining rather than recklessly exploiting it? What creative steps can we undertake to reverse the dangerous course we are on? The clock is ticking as our precious planet takes one hit after another. Can global society wake up to implement policies that will avert catastrophe? If not, Joanna Macy says, “It's curtains.”

This week's special episode features NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan speaking with the co-chairs of the NewDEAL Forum Caring for Families Task Force -- a new initiative to address the cost and accessibility of what Americans need to take care of themselves and their loved ones. It's led by DE Lt. Governor Kyle Gay, MN Senate Assistant Majority Leader Grant Hauschild, WY Vice-Chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners Natalia Macker, and IA State Representative Dr. Megan Srinivas. The co-chairs talk about their approach to advancing pragmatic solutions and what they are hearing from their constituents about cost of living challenges. Hear about their tangible proposals to implement the Great Start Affordability Program, improve child care affordability, advocate for rural healthcare solutions, and promote reproductive and mental health. Tune in to learn more about the task force and follow their work on our website here.

In this episode of the Lose Your Cravings Podcast, we explore what it truly means to care for your body without trying to shrink it, especially in a culture shaped by diet trends, fitness pressure, and unrealistic pop culture ideals. For women struggling with body image and emotional eating, shifting away from weight loss as the main goal can feel deeply challenging—but also incredibly freeing. We discuss how diet culture ties self-worth to size, why this impacts cravings and emotional eating, and what a wellness-focused approach can look and feel like instead. You'll also hear three practical strategies to help you move from body control to body care, redefine success beyond the scale, and begin building a more peaceful, supportive relationship with your body.Join my Nourished Mind + Body Community here!Become a sponsor of the Lose Your Cravings Podcast here!patreon.com/loseyourcravingsGet my FREE Guide: Break Free From Nighttime EatingWant to dive deeper into ending your cravings and overeating once and for all? → Book a call with me! Keysa Amaro helps women manage their emotional eating and cravings without deprivation or complicated meal plans so they can show up fully in their life and career.

This will help your life.

SummaryIn this episode of The Newfangled Lawyer Podcast, host Patrick Patino interviews Masha Polupan, a law student at the University of Illinois College of Law. They discuss Masha's journey to law school, the motivations behind pursuing a legal career, and the evolving culture within the legal profession. Masha shares her experiences as a first-generation law student, the impact of current events on her studies, and her aspirations to make a meaningful difference in society through law. The conversation highlights the importance of community, collaboration, and care in the legal field, as well as the challenges faced by law students today.TakeawaysMasha is a first-generation law student with a passion for the law.The law school experience is often not reflective of the realities of the legal profession.There is a growing desire among law students to care about the community and the legal system.Law school should be viewed as a trade school focused on preparing students for legal careers.Masha emphasizes the importance of mental health and self-care in the legal profession.The legal system is currently facing significant challenges and scrutiny.Community and collaboration among law students are essential for success.Masha's experiences highlight the need for empathy and understanding in the legal field.The future of law may require a reevaluation of traditional practices and norms.Masha looks forward to using her legal education to help others and effect change.

Welcome beautiful witches souls,me ol flowers

SHOW NOTES: At some point in life, the roles within our families begin to shift. The people who once guided us start looking to us for reassurance, support, and leadership. In this episode of Encouragementology, we explore the emotional and meaningful transition that happens when responsibility quietly changes hands. Through personal reflection, research on community and longevity, and a fresh perspective on what these moments can teach us, we look at how life's role reversals can deepen our understanding of family, connection, and the relationships that shape who we become. Here is what we unpack together: How life naturally moves through seasons of changing roles and responsibilities The moment many of us experience when we realize the roles in our family have shifted Why transitions with aging parents can bring both emotional weight and unexpected meaning What research on community and the Blue Zones reveals about connection and longevity How isolation can impact well-being at any stage of life The importance of encouraging connection and engagement during life transitions Why preserving dignity and independence matters when supporting loved ones The perspective shift that allows us to see our parents not just as caregivers, but as people How role reversals can deepen relationships instead of simply changing responsibilities The value of curiosity, compassion, and presence during life's evolving seasons CHALLENGE:  this week to pause and notice the role you are stepping into in your family or in the lives of the people around you. Instead of resisting the shift, lean into it with curiosity. Reach out, start a conversation, ask a question you've never asked before, or spend a little extra time with someone who helped shape the person you've become.   I Know YOU Can Do It!  

TODAY ON THE ROBERT SCOTT BELL SHOW: Bayer Stalemate Strategy, Rand Paul on Vaccine Liability Shield, Katie Asher, Faith & Consciousness, Aquilegia Vulgaris, Food Stamp Punishment, Julian Hagmann, Caring Professionals, Home Care, The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories, and MORE! https://robertscottbell.com/bayer-stalemate-strategy-rand-paul-on-vaccine-liability-shield-katie-asher-faith-consciousness-aquilegia-vulgaris-autistic-barbie-julian-hagmann-the-psychology-of-conspiracy-theories-and-mor/ Purpose and Character The use of copyrighted material on the website is for non-commercial, educational purposes, and is intended to provide benefit to the public through information, critique, teaching, scholarship, or research. Nature of Copyrighted Material Weensure that the copyrighted material used is for supplementary and illustrative purposes and that it contributes significantly to the user's understanding of the content in a non-detrimental way to the commercial value of the original content. Amount and Substantiality Our website uses only the necessary amount of copyrighted material to achieve the intended purpose and does not substitute for the original market of the copyrighted works. Effect on Market Value The use of copyrighted material on our website does not in any way diminish or affect the market value of the original work. We believe that our use constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you believe that any content on the website violates your copyright, please contact us providing the necessary information, and we will take appropriate action to address your concern.

Being Boundless vs. Being “Broken” Why you should accept that you are broken and how that changes everything about the way you pursue health. Episode Summary In this episode, you learn about my lifelong obsession with perfection nearly ruined my ability to enjoy anything—sports, relationships, and even the pursuit of health itself. From golden child syndrome to slowly dropping out of sports I couldn't podium in, to the pain of losing my father, I lay it all out. This episode explains why none of the biohacking matters if you can't first accept that you're broken and find happiness in the journey anyway. Question of the Day

www.tswrightspeaks.comwww.godcenteredconcept.comwww.jesussaid.tvEpisode SummaryThis episode explores the historical context and authorship of the Book of James while examining 12 biblical parallels between James and the teachings of Jesus. Learn how these connections reveal a powerful message about faith expressed through action, spiritual maturity, and authentic Christian discipleship.The Book of James is one of the most practical and challenging books in the New Testament. Often called the “Proverbs of the New Testament,” James emphasizes living out authentic faith through obedience, wisdom, humility, and compassion.DescriptionIn this episode of Kingdom Cross Roads & God Centered Concept, we explore the historical background of the Epistle of James, its likely early date of authorship, and its message to Jewish believers scattered throughout the Roman world.Most importantly, we uncover 12 remarkable parallels between the teachings of James and the words of Jesus. From enduring trials to caring for the poor, James echoes the powerful message of the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings of Christ.Discover how James reinforces Jesus' call to:• Live a faith that produces action • Pursue spiritual maturity • Seek wisdom from God • Care for the vulnerable • Control the tongue and emotions • Become doers of the Word, not just hearersThis episode will help you see how the teachings of Jesus continue through the practical instruction found in the Book of James, offering powerful guidance for Christian discipleship and daily obedience.If you desire a deeper, more authentic walk with God, this teaching will challenge and encourage you to live out your faith with integrity.Key Topics Covered• Historical context of the Book of James • Authorship and early church setting • The practical nature of James' teachings • 12 parallels between James and Jesus • Faith demonstrated through obedience • Spiritual maturity through trials • Caring for widows, orphans, and the vulnerable • Wisdom and humility in Christian lifeChapters (Timestamp Markers)00:00 Introduction to the Series and Book of James 01:09 Authorship and Historical Context of James 02:04 James' Audience and Early Writing Date 03:01 James as the Proverbs of the New Testament 04:00 12 Parallels Between James and Jesus – Overview 04:57 Joy in Trials (James 1:2 & Matthew 5:11–12) 05:24 Spiritual Maturity and Perfection (James 1:4 & Matthew 5:48) 05:54 Asking God for Wisdom (James 1:5 & Matthew 7:7) 06:53 Faith and Doubt in Prayer (James 1:6 & Mark 11:24) 07:23 Humility and Wealth (James 1:9–10 & Luke 6:20, 24) 07:51 Enduring Persecution (James 1:12 & Matthew 5:10) 08:47 God as the Source of Good Gifts (James 1:17 & Matthew 7:11) 09:17 Listening and Obeying God's Word (James 1:19 & Matthew 7:24) 09:45 Controlling Anger (James 1:20 & Matthew 5:22) 10:14 Being Doers of the Word (James 1:22 & Matthew 7:24) 11:09 Caring for Widows, Orphans, and the Least (James 1:27 & Matthew 25:35–40) 12:10 Applying James' Wisdom Today 13:38 Discipleship and Spiritual Growth 14:08 Invitation to Embrace the TruthCall To ActionIf this teaching encouraged you, be sure to:• Follow Kingdom Cross Roads & God Centered Concept • Share this episode with others seeking deeper biblical understanding • Leave a review to help more believers discover this podcast.KeywordsBook of James teachings of Jesus New Testament Bible study faith and works Christian discipleship biblical wisdom Sermon on the Mount spiritual maturity Christian obedience James Bible study biblical parallels Christian podcast practical Christianity New Testament teaching faith in action

In this workshop from the 2024 Rooted Conference, Jonathan Holmes unpacks what it means to pursue true rest in ministry. Framed around four key movements—the problem with rest, the answer to rest, how to rest personally, and how to build cultures of rest—this session offers practical and theological insight for leaders who want to lead from a place of peace rather than burnout. Jonathan Holmes is the Founder and Executive Director of Fieldstone Counseling. He previously served for fifteen years on the pastoral teams of Parkside Church and Parkside Green. Jonathan graduated from The Master's University with degrees in Biblical Counseling and History and his MA from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author and contributor to a number of books including, The Company We Keep, Counsel for Couples, Rescue Skills, and Rescue Plan. He and his wife, Jennifer, have four daughters. When The Fire Goes Out: Finding Comfort in Ministry by Isaiah Marshall Caring for Your Soul as a Youth Minister by Mark Upton Burnout: The Cost of Caring by Christina Maslach Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work by Timothy Keller  Register for Rooted 2026 Conference in Nashville Follow @therootedministry on Instagram for more updates! Follow @therootedministry on Instagram for more updates andSubscribe to Youth Ministry Unscripted wherever you listen to podcasts

Show SummaryOn this episode, we have a conversation with Keith Hotle, the Chief Executive Officer of Stop Soldier Suicide, a nonprofit with the goal of reducing service member and veteran suicide by using enhanced data insights, focused client acquisition, and suicide-specific intervention services.Provide FeedbackAs a dedicated member of the audience, we would like to hear from you. If you PsychArmor has helped you learn, grow, and support those who've served and those who care for them, we would appreciate hearing your story. Please follow this link to share how PsychArmor has helped you in your service journey Share PsychArmor StoriesAbout Today's GuestIn his previous role as Chief Program Officer at Stop Soldier Suicide, Keith was responsible for all programmatic activities and strategic efforts. During his six years with the organization, he has developed, implemented and evaluated a best-in-class clinical service model to deliver suicide prevention and early intervention treatment and support services to veterans and service members. Keith directly oversees our operations for the ROGER wellness service, research and evaluation activities, and community-based suicide prevention efforts including the development of veteran firearm safety teams in three North Carolina counties. Prior to his tenure at Stop Soldier Suicide, Keith was a senior public health administrator at the Wyoming Department of Health for ten years, as well as CEO of the Prevention Management Organization, a statewide public health prevention agency. Keith has a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Wyoming and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas Law School.Links Mentioned During the EpisodeStop Soldier Suicide Web SiteThe ROGER Wellness ProgramThe Black Box Project PsychArmor Resource of the WeekThis week's PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor course The Basics of Veteran Suicide Prevention. This course is designed to equip you with knowledge to make a difference, providing you with essential insights and practical abilities to positively impact your community by nurturing hope, healing, and resilience  You can find the resource here:  https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/basics-of-veteran-suicide-prevention Episode Partner: Are you an organization that engages with or supports the military affiliated community? Would you like to partner with an engaged and dynamic audience of like-minded professionals? Reach out to Inquire about Partnership Opportunities Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media Email PsychArmorPsychArmor on XPsychArmor on FacebookPsychArmor on YouTubePsychArmor on LinkedInPsychArmor on InstagramTheme MusicOur theme music Don't Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

Caring for yourself involves more than just tending to your nails; it's about making sure they're well-groomed, especially those on your toes. Trimming them properly is also key to avoiding painful ingrown nails, but on the other hand going overboard with your clippers can cause problems too. So let's discuss how to find the right middle ground. According to the East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, the best tool for the job is either nail clippers, which are lever-style cutters, or nippers, which have more of a plier style. It may be easiest to cut your nails after you've had a bath, shower, or footbath, as they'lll be slightly softer as a result. What's the best cutting technique then? What if I end up with an ingrown nail? What about if my toenail goes yellow or black? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠⁠What is the 12 week method for achieving your goals?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Can this budgeting method help us save better?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Is taking milk with coffee good for you?⁠⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever been suspicious of a corporation showcasing their commitment to the environment, to marginalized groups of people, or to those suffering through a deadly disease? Dr. Mara Einstein is the author of Compassion, Inc.: How Corporate America Blurs the Line Between What We Buy, Who We Are, and Those We Help. For this episode, ahe explains the history and modern state of cause marketing to show how corporations use tricks like greenwashing and pinkwashing to improve their public profiles and their profits while shifting the responsibility of true change to their loyal customers. Mara's website Hoodwinked podcast Get a copy of Compassion, Inc Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families. Leave us a message on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Urban Legends Hotline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank You To Our Sponsor: Go to ⁠⁠https://surfshark.com/chelsey⁠⁠ or use code CHELSEY at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Additional editing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kaylee Jasperson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taking care of an aging parent is something many of us expect to face someday. But what no one prepares you for is the emotional, physical, and mental toll it can take.In this episode, we talk about caregiver syndrome, something many people experience but rarely talk about. After becoming the primary caregiver for a sick parent, I realized just how overwhelming and isolating that role can be.In this episode we discuss:• What caregiver syndrome actually is• The hidden emotional toll of caregiving• Why many caregivers experience guilt and burnout• How caregiving can affect your health and relationships• The importance of boundaries when caring for a parent• Why taking care of yourself matters just as muchIf this conversation resonates with you, share it with someone who may be going through the same thing.#caregiversyndrome #caregiverburnout #agingparents #midlifewomen #familycaregiver #candidlywithcoffee #podcastJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_8nonbBsA-mTli1KLlHlrA/joinWork with Jeaninehttps://www.jeanineescobar.comMike's YouTube Channel:  @escoelitemindsetMike's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@escoelitemindsetSupport our Sponsors1UP Nutrition Code: JEANINEhttps://www.1upnutrition.com /discount/jeanineMegaFit Meals - Code Jeanine https://megafitmeals.rfrl.co/p75q7Built Bar Code: MRSCEOJhttps://builtbar.com?baapp=MRSCEOJSupport us by following on Social MediaAmazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrsceo_jLTK Fashion Links: https://www.shopLTK.com/explore/MrsCEO_JInstagram: https://instagram.com/mrsceo_jInstagram: https://instagram.com/candidly_withcoffeeWeight Loss IG: https://instagram.com/@jsbodybootcampTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mrsceo_j

Caring for an aging parent: so many of my friends are in this stage right now! If you're also in this season, you understand how emotionally overwhelming it can be to care for an elderly parent. What do we do with the guilt, the grief and the new boundaries we must set as we try to offer support on so many levels, often while also pursuing career and personal goals (and for many of us, still raising kids)? In this episode, I sit down with hospice nurse and author Linda Larson to talk honestly about the emotional tension and the faith-stretching that comes with caring for aging parents. Linda offers not only biblical encouragement but also extremely practical advice for walking through this season well.  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN [00:00] Why Midlife Caregiving Feels So Emotionally Complicated [05:00] What Emotions Are Normal When Caring for Aging Parents? [09:00] Why Role Reversal Creates Grief for Both of You [16:00] What If Your Relationship With Your Parent Wasn't Healthy? [21:00] How Do You Help Without Trying to “Fix” Aging? [26:00] Why You Can't Do Caregiving Alone [32:00] What If You Feel Resentful, Exhausted, or Spiritually Ashamed? [37:00] Where Can You Find Faith-Based and Practical Support? Connect with Linda Larson via email at linda.prepare2care@gmail.com, or check out her book Walk Me Home: A Companion for the Caregiving Journey on Amazon.  JOIN ME IN MARCH/APRIL FOR A 6-WEEK STUDY ON STRESS LESS: If you're exhausted from carrying situations that won't change and feel stuck in stress loops you can't seem to escape, join us for our next 6-week journey inside the Emotional Confidence Club: “Stress Less: A 6-Week Journey to Release Control + Make Peace with What Isn't Changing.” Let's learn how to process the emotions underneath control, release what isn't yours to carry, and experience peace, even when circumstances stay the same. Go to AliciaMichelle.com/club to join the March/April study. RELATED EPISODES: Ep 350 — Why Is It So Hard to Surrender and “Let Them”? Ep 349 — How Can We Stress Less + Find Peace When Nothing Is Changing? Ep 342 — Help for Emotional Overreaction in Relationships Send a text

The senior living referral system is at an inflection point, and Greg Mason of SilverAssist believes it's time for a fundamental shift. In this episode of Bridge the Gap, Greg shares the vision behind SilverAssist's acquisition of Caring.com and how the move expands their digital reach while transforming how families experience the transition into senior living. If you're an operator frustrated with legacy referral models, or a professional navigating care transitions, this episode offers a compelling look at what's next.Key Topics CoveredThe acquisition of Caring.com and what it means for the industryIntegrating digital reach with local senior advisorsThe importance of ADL matching and community fitFinancial consultation as a core part of senior placementVeteran benefits and alternative funding optionsMeet the Hosts:Josh Crisp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshcrispsocial/Lucas McCurdy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasmccurdyseniorlivingfan/Connect with Our GuestGreg Mason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-mason-a026292/ Learn more about SilverAssist: https://www.silverassist.com/ Produced by Grit and Gravel Marketing.Become a sponsor of Bridge the Gap.Connect with BTG on social media:YouTubeInstagramFacebookTwitterLinkedInTikTok

Inspired by Lou Holtz, this episode explores the three pillars that build strong teams and meaningful relationships: trust, commitment, and caring. When people trust each other, stay committed to the mission, and genuinely care about one another, extraordinary things can happen—both in leadership and in life.You Got This, Ryan

The TFG crew takes an honest look at what happens when constantly showing up for others starts to take a toll on your own well-being. The episode explores the emotional, physical, and even financial impact of burnout—and why rest isn't a luxury, but a necessity. Lovely shares thoughtful insights that will help her be for others without losing yourself in the process. Wait, what's a Financial Griot? The Financial Griot is a play on two words (Finance + Griot) that together signify closing the wealth gap while embracing our differences. Alainta Alcin, Lovely Merdelus, and Lawrence Delva-Gonzalez share their perspectives on current events that impact your personal finances and wealth mindset. In the New York Times, Bankrate, and other publications, the hosts share the stories that others don't.  Stories about growth, opportunity, and even Wars. Beyond that, we tie it back to how it reflects on your finances. Specifically, we teach you how to become financially literate, incorporate actionable steps, and ultimately build generational wealth. Can you imagine being a Millionaire in 20 years or less? Yeah, it's possible. Eighty percent of millionaires are first-generation, meaning they didn't inherit wealth. We teach you how. Join a community of subscribers who welcome a fresh take on money. So there you have it, The Financial Griot, or TFG for short. The hosts amassed over $3 million in wealth in about eight years and are on track to retire early. We will gladly share the secrets if you want them, since the opportunity is abundant and a Win-Win. Find the TFG Crew Hosts on Instagram:  Alainta Alcin - Blogger, Travel and Money Enthusiast https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaintaalcin Lawrence Delva-Gonzalez, Financial Foodie and Travel Blogger @theneighborhoodfinanceguy Lovely Merdelus - Entrepreneur and Small Business Growth Specialist @lovelymerdelus Show Less

Bob Galen and Josh Anderson connect two worlds most people keep separate: caregiving and elite organizational leadership. Using 8 skills that dementia caregivers build every day — from rapid decision-making and emotional intelligence to resilience and compassionate leadership — this episode challenges leaders to see themselves through a very different lens. What if the hardest job you'll ever face is also the best leadership school that exists?The Original Post That Sparked This Episode - Samantha Bates (Samantha B.) — Caregiver Coach on LinkedInStay Connected and Informed with Our NewslettersJosh Anderson's "Leadership Lighthouse"Dive deeper into the world of Agile leadership and management with Josh Anderson's "Leadership Lighthouse." This bi-weekly newsletter offers insights, tips, and personal stories to help you navigate the complexities of leadership in today's fast-paced tech environment. Whether you're a new manager or a seasoned leader, you'll find valuable guidance and practical advice to enhance your leadership skills. Subscribe to "Leadership Lighthouse" for the latest articles and exclusive content right to your inbox.Subscribe hereBob Galen's "Agile Moose"Bob Galen's "Agile Moose" is a must-read for anyone interested in Agile practices, team dynamics, and personal growth within the tech industry. The newsletter features in-depth analysis, case studies, and actionable tips to help you excel in your Agile journey. Bob brings his extensive experience and thoughtful perspectives directly to you, covering everything from foundational Agile concepts to advanced techniques. Join a community of Agile enthusiasts and practitioners by subscribing to "Agile Moose."Subscribe hereDo More Than Listen:We publish video versions of every episode and post them on our YouTube page.Help Us Spread The Word: Love our content? Help us out by sharing on social media, rating our podcast/episodes on iTunes, or by giving to our Patreon campaign. Every time you give, in any way, you empower our mission of helping as many agilists as possible. Thanks for sharing!

Taking care of yourself the first few weeks after the birth with good nutrition, rest, and everything else to help you recover best.Thank you to our anonymous sponsor for sponsoring in honor of all mothers and mothers-to-be.

Send a textWhat if the biggest driver of a healthy pregnancy isn't found in a chart, but in a bus schedule, a work shift, or a zip code? In this episode, Cara and Missi pull back the curtain on social determinants of health and talk candidly about why late or no prenatal care rarely means a patient doesn't care—and how midwives can meet these barriers head-on.We break down the big five domains—economic stability, education, healthcare access, neighborhood and environment, and social context—and connect them to preterm birth, preeclampsia, and low birth weight. You'll hear real stories from triage to community clinics that reveal why “proximity” isn't the same as “access,” how immigration fears suppress visits, and how chronic stress leaves a physiologic mark. Then we get tactical: validated screening tools like PRAPARE and the AAFP Social Needs Screening Tool, the three fast questions that catch most needs, and scripts that normalize sensitive topics without stigma.From there, we move into action. Warm handoffs, bedside calls, and referrals that put the follow-up burden on the system—not the patient—turn intentions into impact. We dig into practical documentation with Z codes that make populations visible, and we frame advocacy as a clinical skill that spans workplace notes, hospital policy, and conversations with legislators. Along the way, we draw a bright line between equality and equity and share simple ways to right-size support: flexible hours, interpreters, transportation help, and trauma-informed consent.If you're ready to turn empathy into outcomes, this conversation will give you tools you can use on your next shift. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review with the biggest barrier you see in your community—and how you're tackling it.

In this episode of The Golden Gang, host Phil Rizzo sits down with Arbor Terrace caregiver Joe Beierschmitt, a CNA who has been making a meaningful impact in the community for more than six years.Joe shares how his career in healthcare began, the influence of his mother's lifelong dedication to caring for others, and what ultimately led him to senior living. Along the way, he reflects on the relationships that make his work so rewarding—from building trust with residents and families to working alongside a team committed to providing exceptional care.Joe also offers a candid look at what it was like working in senior living during COVID, how patience and communication shape great caregiving, and why the connections formed with residents are what keep him coming back every day.It's a thoughtful conversation about compassion, resilience, and the small moments that make a big difference in the lives of older adults.

The Brands That Win Care More. In baseball, you can feel when a team cares. You walk into the clubhouse… You watch how players treat the equipment manager… You see the energy in batting practice. You know immediately. The same thing happens in business. Customers can feel when a company actually gives a damn. And when they do… they become your biggest promoters. In this episode of WINNERS FIND A WAY, Trent Clark sits down with Justin Ricklefs, founder of Guild Collective and author of Give a Damn, to talk about the real competitive advantage in business today: human connection. Justin shares how brands win when they stop shouting about their products… and start telling stories that connect with people. This conversation covers: • Why your brand story matters more than your marketing budget • The biggest mistake companies make when communicating with customers • Why Chick-fil-A, Nike, and Apple dominate through emotional connection • How great leaders build companies that people actually care about • The power of customer delight in a noisy marketplace As Justin says: "Your brand is the story people tell about you when you're not in the room." Winners Find a Way_ Guest-Justi… The question every leader should ask is simple: What story are people telling about your company? ABOUT THE GUEST Justin Ricklefs is the Founder and CEO of Guild Collective, a Human-First brand agency helping organizations grow through clarity, connection, and creativity. Before launching Guild Collective, Justin spent years working in sports organizations including the Kansas City Chiefs, helping build partnerships and revenue through strategic storytelling. Justin is also the author of Give a Damn: The Catalyst for Caring Companies, a book that challenges businesses to rediscover the power of caring about customers, employees, and community. He lives in Kansas City with his wife Brooke and their five children. RESOURCES MENTIONED Justin Ricklefs Website: https://guildcollective.com Book: Give a Damn Connect with Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinricklefs/ WATCH / LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

send us a text via Fan Mail!How do we make dealing with our kids behaviour easier? Dr. Deborah and I discuss key principles for strengthening connection and compliance in our children.  1:21 - Resilience is the fruit of good development 4:32 - Tears, sadness and facing futility7:15 - Make it safe to feel 11:46 - How our brain is shaped 15:22 - Show up, care and decide 20:06 - It's a relational problem 24:43 - Avoid coercion // Come alongside the resistance 27:33 - Kids who struggle with transitions 29:54 - Who's in charge? When a child tries to take the lead40:57 - Emotions, instinct and deep capacity to care 42:25 - Working ahead of a problem Dr. Deborah MacNamara (Website)As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Nourished: Connection, Food and Caring for Our Kids (And Everyone Else We Love) by Dr. Deborah MacNamaraRest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One) by Dr. Deborah MacNamara Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Dr. Gordon Neufeld, Dr. Gabor Matecarrot and stick: letting go (blog post) With Audible Standard you can now select one audiobook a month for only $8.99/month and enjoy a free 30-day trial. More on that here.Contact On Instagram at @make.joy.normal By email at makejoynormal@gmail.com Search podcast episodes by topic www.bonnielandry.ca Shop my recommended resources Thanks for listening to Make Joy Normal Podcast!

Today's podcast features 3 amazing guests with professional and/or personal experience in working with children with Down syndrome and Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) and/or Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI).   Maurice Belote has decades of expertise in the field of Deafblindness. Belote is a Deafblind specialist, Co-chair of the National Coalition on Deafblindness, adjunct faculty for two teacher training programs, and retired Project Coordinator for California Deafblind Services. lse Willems is the Senior Director of the CVI Center at Perkins School for the Blind.  She has worked at Perkins since 2010, working with students with visual impairments, dual sensory loss, and multiple disabilities, as both a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI) and a Teacher of the Deafblind.  Jennifer Saenz, DO, MPH, a primary care physician and parent of a child with dual processing challenges and Down syndrome. Suggested Resources: https://www.perkins.org/cvi-now/ https://makeiteasiertosee.co.uk/ Article (available for purchase): Facilitating Listening Skills in Children who are Visually Impaired with Additional Disabilities of Deafblindness   If you would like to suggest a topic for us to cover on the podcast, please send an e-mail to DownSyndromeCenter@chp.edu. If you would like to partner with the Down Syndrome Center, including this podcast, please visit https://givetochildrens.org/downsyndromecenter. We are thankful for the generous donation from Caring for Kids – The Carrie Martin Fund that provides the funding for the podcast recording equipment and hosting costs for this podcast.

Grief can leave your body tense, drained, and stuck. Gentle movement creates small pockets of relief so emotions do not stay locked in your muscles and your chest all day. Short walks, stretching, or easy strength sessions help settle your nervous system, support better sleep, and keep your health from slipping while you heal. Caring for your body in this way lets you honor your loss while still protecting your future energy, one honest move at a time. Help me celebrate 2000 Power Blast Episodes Share any takeaways or shifts that the show has helped you create by leaving a message here: https://www.speakpipe.com/PowerBlastStories Please include your name and where you are from! BOOK A CALL WITH PERRY: http://talktoperry.com TEXT ME: (208) 400-5095 JOIN MY FREE COMMUNITY: http://upsidedownfit.com The Legacy Continues with Syona and Tony Horton: https://sharesyona.co/?url=perrytinsley RESOURCES Best Probiotic for Gut Health: https://bit.ly/probyo Best Focus & Memory Product: https://bit.ly/dryvefocus Daily Success Habits (Free Download): morningsuccesshabits.com Best Home Workouts – Power Nation: https://sharesyona.co/?url=perrytinsley WOW! You made it all the way down here. I'm seriously impressed! Most people stop scrolling way earlier. You officially rock, my friend.

What does it look like to care with intentionality?Job's friends are a fascinating contrast. At first, they do almost everything right. They show up. They stay. They sit in the dirt.And then, later in the book, they say almost everything wrong.This episode focuses on what they did in those first moments of suffering—and how their actions give us a surprisingly clear framework for how to care well when someone is in pain.Visit KeyMinistry.org/Podcast for show notes.

Sharing is Caring

In this episode of Student of Life, I reflect on something many of us experience but rarely talk about—how easy it is to lose ourselves while trying to keep everything else afloat. Leadership, responsibility, and expectations can quietly push us to carry more than we should. When we don't process what's happening inside us, that pressure eventually leaks into the places and people closest to us. This episode explores why guarding our inner life matters and why learning to care for our soul isn't selfish—it's necessary.Student of Life GuideKey IdeaTrying to hold everything together without tending to your inner life eventually leads to emotional leakage and relational strain.3 Big Insights1. Unprocessed pressure doesn't disappear.What we refuse to deal with internally eventually shows up externally.2. The people closest to us often feel what we never processed.Stress and conflict tend to leak where we feel safest.3. Caring for your soul isn't selfish—it's stewardship.Even Jesus stepped away to remain grounded.Reflection QuestionsWhere in my life am I carrying more than I've acknowledged?Who is most likely feeling the overflow of pressure I haven't processed?What would it look like for me to intentionally tend to my soul this week?PracticeTake 30 minutes this week to step away from responsibilities and reflect.Ask:What am I carrying right now?What do I need to process instead of suppress?Bring that honestly before God.Anchor Thought“Sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is make sure you don't lose yourself holding everything else together.”

Key Takeaways: Fundraising rooted in pressure and extraction erodes trust over time. Sustainable support grows from community, shared values, and genuine connection. When relationships lead, generosity follows naturally. Over-following up and manufactured urgency often reveal anxiety, not strategy. Constant pressure weakens credibility and exhausts donors. Abundance thinking creates calmer, more effective leadership. Caring about a mission is not enough to spark giving. Donors contribute when they feel seen, heard, and connected to something meaningful. Relationship transforms passive belief into active generosity. A “no” rarely means disinterest or lack of care. Staying curious and honoring dignity preserves long-term trust. Valuing the person over the transaction builds lasting loyalty.   “Manufactured emergency undermines your credibility. If our relationships are rooted in trust... manufactured urgency breaks that trust, and it is a tool of manipulation.”   “Curiosity keeps relationships alive. Assumptions shut them down.”   “When we stop treating generosity like it's running out, fundraising gets quieter and more effective.”  - Maryanne Dersch     Let's Work Together to Amplify Your Leadership + Influence1. Group Coaching for Nonprofit LeadersWant to lead with more clarity, confidence, and influence? My group coaching program is designed for nonprofit leaders who are ready to communicate more powerfully, navigate challenges with ease, and move their organizations forward. 2. Team Coaching + TrainingI work hands-on with nonprofit teams to strengthen leadership, improve communication, and align around a shared vision. Whether you're growing fast or feeling stuck, we'll create more clarity, collaboration, and momentum—together. 3. Board Retreats + TrainingsYour board has big potential. I'll help you unlock it. My engaging, no-fluff retreats and trainings are built to energize your board, refocus on what matters, and generate real results.Get your free starter kit today at www.theinfluentialnonprofit.comConnect with Maryanne about her coaching programs:https://www.courageouscommunication.com/connect Book Maryanne to speak at your conference:https://www.courageouscommunication.com/nonprofit-keynote-speaker

How could AI shift medical value toward primary care relationships if pattern-recognition specialties are more automatable? What would people prefer if given the choice between discussing their problems with a human or with non-judgmental empathic AI? Allison J. Pugh is a Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and the author of several books. Her most recent works are The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World and The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity. Greg and Allison discuss Allison's newest book and her concept of “connective labor,” defined as the relational practice of seeing another person and having them feel seen. They also contrast this idea with more individual-centered ideas like EQ. Allison argues that this type of work is reciprocal, widespread across roles (therapists, teachers, chaplains, primary care, managers, service work), and increasingly important as the economy shifts toward requiring more “feeling.” Allison also talks about how AI is being used in new ways to help automate different aspects of different jobs, and along with that come connected effects like the rise of automated medical scribes amongst the medical community, but also the drastic reduction of interns and the near elimination of that valuable aspect of education and job training for an intern's future professional life. They also discuss how the different efficiency tools can backfire because of the increased need to oversee and validate automated output. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.* Episode Quotes: Why friction is essential to human connection 17:26: Part of the relationship with another human being involves the friction of not being able to control what they say, of running up against their disagreement or conflict or even tension, or they have their own ideas, their own desires. And that is part of making our way through this world, and it is a really important part of being in community, in relationship with other human beings. And that is what chatbots do not give us. They give us no friction. AI is mirror, not a relationship 17:08: So with chatbots, you are not really experimenting how to be with another human being. You are instead experimenting with a mirror, and that is just not going to have the same powerful impact. Who gets humans, and who gets machines? 12:27: The idea that technology will be better than nothing, I am afraid, will not lead to greater opportunities to be seen, for less advantaged people. Instead, they will just have machines seeing them, and the rich people get humans seeing them, and that is an inequality that I find kind of tragic. Seeing people is a leadership skill 49:52: When people have a chance to kind of express their values at work, figure out who they are and have their values kind of enacted in their work and kind of basically attach a purpose to what they are doing, a more transcendent purpose than just kind of earning the paycheck, it translates into a kind of deep meaningfulness, and that is part of the outcome of connective labor. And so it is really worth it for managers to get good at this because it enables people, the people they are seeing, to figure out what matters to them and to find that in relationships at work. That is a path to meaningfulness that can be very important. Show Links: Recommended Resources: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Automated Medical Scribe Chat Checkout Lanes Unsiloed 469: Matt Beane - The Importance of Learning by Doing Guest Profile: Faculty Profile at Johns Hopkins AllisonPugh.com LinkedIn Profile Social Profile on X Guest Work: Amazon Author Page The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity Beyond the Cubicle: Job Insecurity, Intimacy, and the Flexible Self Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture Google Scholar Page Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Running a dance studio means investing deeply in your students and families. Caring and giving it your all means you also are at risk of feeling betrayed or disappointed when they move on to another studio or step away from dance. In this heartfelt episode of Dance Studio 411, hosts Jill Tirone and Suzanne Blake Gerety explore how to lead with confidence even when loyalty isn't returned or guaranteed. Come away grounded, resilient, and empowered to keep leading with heart no matter what changes come your way. Key Takeaways Strong Systems Build Stronger Connection Personal Connection Matters More Than Ever Flexibility Is Crucial in Recreational Environments

Grief can shake your routines and leave your body tense, tired, and unfocused. Gentle movement gives your nervous system a place to settle so emotions do not sit only in your head and chest. Short walks, simple strength work, or easy stretching help release stress, support sleep, and keep you connected to your own strength while you miss someone you love. Caring for your body in this season protects your health while you move through loss at a pace that feels honest. Help me celebrate 2000 Power Blast Episodes Share any takeaways or shifts that the show has helped you create by leaving a message here: https://www.speakpipe.com/PowerBlastStories Please include your name and where you are from! BOOK A CALL WITH PERRY: http://talktoperry.com TEXT ME: (208) 400-5095 JOIN MY FREE COMMUNITY: http://upsidedownfit.com The Legacy Continues with Syona and Tony Horton: https://sharesyona.co/?url=perrytinsley RESOURCES Best Probiotic for Gut Health: https://bit.ly/probyo Best Focus & Memory Product: https://bit.ly/dryvefocus Daily Success Habits (Free Download): morningsuccesshabits.com Best Home Workouts – Power Nation: https://sharesyona.co/?url=perrytinsley WOW! You made it all the way down here. I'm seriously impressed! Most people stop scrolling way earlier. You officially rock, my friend.

Are you caring for aging parents while still supporting your young adult children? You're not alone. In this episode, Krista and Alex explore the emotional complexity of the sandwich generation — a season marked by grief, shifting roles, guilt, and unexpected growth. They discuss how to manage changing family dynamics, set healthy boundaries, reevaluate expectations, and embrace the opportunity for deeper relationships during this transitional stage of life. If you're feeling stretched between two generations, this conversation offers practical insight, encouragement, and hope. In this episode: Why grief and opportunity often coexist How guilt shows up in caregiving The importance of boundaries and self-care Parenting adult children with clarity and respect Listen in for wisdom and practical tools to help you navigate this complex season with intention. A FEW THINGS MENTIONED Podcast - Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast -Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs with Steve Cuss Book- Managing Leadership Anxiety by Steve Cuss Bible Verses: Exodus 20:12 Ephesians 6:1-3 Mantras *Stay relational, not controlling *Honor without self abandoning LET'S CONNECT! Did you like this episode? Let us know and leave a review on itunes or share it with a friend. Or message us on Instagram – we'd love to hear from you! Get the Daily Dozen Checklist -12 habits that will immediately make you happier and healthier  

Episode #139 - this episode of The Awakened Heart Podcast, I sit down with Steven Kubacki, a clinical psychologist, applied philosopher, and author whose life and work explore the intersection of psychology, consciousness, and lived experience.This episode unfolds in three movements — beginning with Steven's disappearance and non-ordinary experience, expanding into consciousness and the multiverse, and returning to what it all means for authentic connection, community and being human in the world today.Steven shares reflections from his disappearance in 1978—and the decades of silence and integration that followed—offering insight into what it means to live meaningfully after one's understanding of reality has been profoundly altered. Rather than focusing on mystery or spectacle, our conversation centers on integration, responsibility, and the embodiment of insight through praxis.We explore themes of expanded consciousness, identity, and the challenge of navigating certainty in a complex world. Steven also discusses the idea of the multiverse as a lens for understanding interconnectedness, diversity of experience, and the importance of community and care for others.This episode invites listeners into a grounded conversation about spiritual awakening, psychological integration, and what it means to live with an awakened heart—staying human, connected, and compassionate while honoring mystery without losing clarity.Takeaways* Steve Kubacki emphasizes the importance of lived action over mere thought.* His disappearance was a conscious choice to protect others and explore deeper truths.* The multiverse concept suggests infinite possibilities and dimensions of existence.* Kubacki's experiences on the ice led to profound interdimensional insights.* He reflects on the challenges of individualism in a disconnected society.* Listening and caring for others are essential for personal growth and community.* The journey of understanding the multiverse is ongoing and personal.* Certainty can be a delusion that limits our understanding of reality.* Community and connection are vital for overcoming societal challenges.* Living with an awakened heart means embracing flaws and fostering acceptance. Sound bites"We are social creatures.""I think certainty is a delusion.""Caring for others is essential."CONNECT WITH STEVEN:Website:  stevenkubacki.comBook: https://amzn.to/4kdXcwZCHECK OUT MY PODCAST: "The Awakened Heart Podcast" available on all podcast players:Rumblehttps://rumble.com/c/c-2225362Website: https://contactradiantlydi.wixsite.com/awakenedheartLinktreehttps://linktr.ee/awakenedheartcollectiveFOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/awakenedheartcollective/TIK TOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@awakenedheartcollective?Linkedinwww.linkedin.com/in/nancy-walters48307FREE MEDIATION GUIDE https://theawakenedheartcollective.com/awakened-heart-meditationRelocation Mastery Program: https://www.getreadysetmove.com/

How do you build a creative life that spans music, writing, film, and spiritual practice? Alicia Jo Rabins talks about weaving multiple creative strands into a sustainable career and why the best advice for any creator might simply be: just make the thing. In the intro, backlist promotion strategy [Written Word Media]; Successful author business [Novel Marketing Podcast]; Alliance of Independent Authors Indie Author Bookstore; Bones of the Deep – J.F. Penn This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Alicia Jo Rabins is an award-winning writer, musician, performer, as well as a Torah teacher and ritualist. She's the creator of Girls In Trouble, a feminist indie-folk song cycle about biblical women, and the award-winning film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Her latest book is a memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights, and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Building a sustainable multi-disciplinary creative career through teaching, performance, grants, and donations Trusting instinct in the early generative stages of creativity and separating generation from editing Adapting and reimagining religious and cultural source material through music, writing, and performance The challenges of transitioning from poetry to long-form prose memoir, including choosing a lens for your story Making an independent film on a shoestring budget without waiting for Hollywood's permission Finding your creative voice and building confidence by leaning into vulnerability and returning to the practice of making You can find Alicia at AliciaJo.com. Transcript of the interview with Alicia Jo Rabins Joanna: Alicia Jo Rabins is an award-winning writer, musician, performer, as well as a Torah teacher and ritualist. She's the creator of Girls In Trouble, a feminist indie-folk song cycle about biblical women, and the award-winning film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Her latest book is a memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. So welcome to the show, Alicia. Alicia: Thank you so much. I'm delighted to be here. Joanna: There is so much we could talk about. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you've woven so many strands of creativity into your life and career. Alicia: Yes, well, I am a maximalist. What happened in terms of my early life is that I started writing on my own, just extremely young. I'm one of those people who always loved writing, always processed the world and managed my emotions and came to understand myself through writing. So from a very young age, I felt really committed to writing. Then I had the good fortune that my mother saw a talk show about the Suzuki method of learning violin—when you start really young and learn by ear, which is modelled after language learning. It's so much less intellectual and much more instinctual, learning by copying. She was like, that looks like a cool thing. I was three years old at the time and she found out that there was a little local branch of our music conservatory that had a Suzuki violin programme. So when I was three and a half, getting close to four, she took me down and I started playing an extremely tiny violin. Joanna: Oh, cute! Alicia: Yes, and because it was part of this conservatory that was downtown, and we were just starting at the suburban branch where we lived, there was this path that I was able to follow. As I got more and more interested in violin, I could continue basically up through the conservatory level during high school. So I had a really fantastic music education without any pressure, without any expectations or professional goals. I just kept taking these classes and one thing led to another. I grew up being very immersed in both creative writing and music, and I think just having the gift of those two parts of my brain trained and stimulated and delighted so young really changed my brain in some ways. I'll always see the world through this creative lens, which I think I'm also just set up to do personally. Then the last step of my multi-practice career is that in college I got very interested in Jewish spirituality. I'm Jewish, but I didn't grow up very religious. I didn't grow up in a Jewish community really. So I knew some basics, but not a ton. In college I started to study it and also informally learned from other people I met. I ended up going on a pretty intense spiritual quest, going to Jerusalem and immersing myself after college for two years in traditional Jewish study and practice. So that became the third strand of the braid that had already been started with music and writing. Torah study, spiritual study, and teaching became the third, and they all interweave. The last thing I'll say is that because I work in both words and music, and naturally performance because of music, it began to branch a little bit into plays, theatre, and film, just because that's where the intersection of words, performance, and music is. So that's really what brought me into that, as opposed to any specific desire to work in film. It all happened very organically. Joanna: I love this. This is so cool. We are going to circle back to a lot of this, but I have to ask you— What about work for money at any point? How did this turn into more than just hobbies and lifestyle? Alicia: Yes, absolutely. Well, I'm very fortunate that I did not graduate college with loans because my parents were able to pay for college. That was a big privilege that I just want to name, because in the States that's often not the case. So that allowed me to need to support myself, but not also pay loans, which was a real gift. What happened was I went straight from college to that school in Jerusalem, and there I was on loans and scholarship, so I didn't have to worry yet about supporting myself. Then when I came back to the States, I actually found on Craigslist a job teaching remedial Hebrew. It was essentially teaching kids at a Jewish elementary school who either had learning differences or had just entered the school late and needed to be in a different Hebrew class than the other kids in their grade. That was my first experience of really teaching, and I just absolutely fell in love with it. Although in the end, my passion is much more for teaching the text and rituals and the wrestling with the concepts, as opposed to teaching language. So all these years, while doing performance and writing and all these things, I have been teaching Jewish studies. That has essentially supported me, I would say, between 50 and 70 per cent. Then the rest has been paid gigs as a musician, whether as a front person leading a project or as what we call a sideman, playing in someone else's band. Sometimes doing theatre performances, sometimes teaching workshops. That's how I've cobbled it together. I have not had a full-time job all these years and I have supported myself through both earned income and also grants and donations. I've really tried to cultivate a little bit of a donor base, and I took some workshops early on about how to welcome donations. So I definitely try to always welcome that as well. Joanna: That is so interesting that you took a workshop on how to welcome donations. Way back in, I think 2013, I said on this show, I just don't know if I can accept people giving to support the show. Then someone on the podcast challenged me and said, but people want to support creatives. That's when I started Patreon in 2014. It was when The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer came out and— It was this realisation that people do want to support people. So I love that you said that. Alicia: It's not easy. It's still not easy for me, and I have to grit my teeth every time I even put in my end-of-year newsletter. I just say, just a reminder that part of what makes this possible is your generous donations, and I'm so grateful to you. It's not easy. I think some people enjoy fundraising. I certainly don't instinctively enjoy it, but I have learned to think of it exactly the way that you're saying. I mean, I love donating to support other people's projects. Sometimes it's the highlight of my day. If I'm having a bad day and someone asks for help, either to feed a family or to complete a creative project, I just feel like, okay, at least I can give $36 or $25 and feel like I did something positive in the last hour, even if my project is going terribly and I'm in a fight with my kid or something. So I have to keep in mind that it is actually a privilege to give as well as a privilege to receive. Joanna: Absolutely. So let's get back into your various creative projects. The first thing I wanted to ask you, because you do have so many different formats and forms of your creativity—how do you know when an idea that comes to you should be a song, or something you want to do as a performance, or written, or a film? Tell us a bit about your creative process. Because a lot of your projects are also longer-term. Alicia: Yes. It's funny, I love planning and in some ways I'm an extreme planner. I really drive people in my family bonkers with planning, like family vacations a year in advance. In terms of my creativity, I'm very planful towards goals, but in that early generative state, I am actually pure instinct. I don't think I ever sit down and say, “I have this idea, which genre would it match with?” It's more like I sit on my bed and pick up my guitar, which is where I love to do songwriting, just sitting on my bed cross-legged, and I pick up my guitar and something starts coming out. Then I just work with that kernel. So it's very nebulous at first, very innate, and I just follow that creative spirit. Often I don't even know what a project is, sometimes if it's a larger project, until a year or two in. Once things emerge and take shape, then my planning brain and my strategy brain can jump on it and say, “Okay, we need three more songs to fill out the album, and we need to plan the fundraising and the scheduling.” Then I might take more of an outside-in approach. At the beginning it's just all instinct. Joanna: So if you pick up your guitar, does that mean it always starts in music and then goes into writing? Or is that you only pick up a guitar if it's going to be musical? Alicia: I think I'm responding to what's inside me. It's almost like a need, as opposed to, “I'm going to sit down and work.” I mean, obviously I sit down and work a lot, but I think in that early stage of anything, it's more like my fingers are itching to play something, and so I sit down and pick up my guitar. Sometimes nothing comes out and sometimes the kernel of a song comes out. Or I'm at a café, and I often like to write when I'm feeling a little bit discombobulated, just to go into the complexity of things or use challenging emotions as fuel. I really do use it as a—I don't know if therapeutic is the word, but I think it maybe is. I write often, as I always have, as I said before, to understand what I'm thinking. Like Joan Didion said—to process difficult emotions, to let go of stuck places. So I think I create almost more out of a sense of just what I need in the moment. Sometimes it's just for fun. Sometimes picking up a guitar, I just have a moment so I sit down and mess around. Sometimes it's to help me struggle with something. It doesn't always start in music. That was a random example. I might sit down to write because I have an hour and I think, I haven't written in a while. Or I do have an informal daily writing thing where I'll try to generate one loose draft of something a day, even if it's only ten pages. I mean, sorry, ten words. Joanna: I was going to say! Alicia: No, no. Ten words. I'm sorry. It's often poetry, so it feels like a lot when it's ten words. I'll just sit down with no pressure, no goal, no intention to make anything specific. Just open the floodgates and see what comes out. That's where every single project of mine has started. Joanna: Yes, I do love that. Obviously, I'm a discovery writer and intuitive, same as you. I think very much this idea of, especially when you said you feel discombobulated, that's when you write. I almost feel like I need that. I'm not someone who writes every day. I don't do ten lines or whatever. It's that I'll feel that sense of pressure building up into “this is going to be something.” I will really only write or journal when that spills over into— “I now need to write and figure out what this is.” Alicia: Yes. It's almost a form of hunger. It feels to me similar to when you eat a great meal and then you're good for a while. You're not really thinking of it, and then it builds up, like you said, and then there's a need—at least the first half of creativity. I really separate my generation and my editing. So my generative practice is all openness, no critique, just this maybe therapeutic, maybe curious, wandering and seeing what happens. Then once I have a draft, my incisive editing mind is welcome back in, which has been shut out from that early process. So that's a really different experience. Those early stages of creativity are almost out of need more than obligation. Joanna: Well, just staying with that generative practice. Obviously you've mentioned your study of and practice of Jewish tradition and Jewish spirituality. Steven Pressfield in his books has talked about his prayer to the muse, and I've got on my wall here—I don't talk about this very often, actually — I have a muse picture, a painting of what I think of as a muse spirit in some form. So do you have any spiritual practices around your generative practice and that phase of coming up with ideas? Alicia: I love that question, and I wish I had a beautiful, intentional answer. My answer is no. I think I experience creativity as its own spiritual practice itself. I do love individual prayer and meditation and things like that, but for me those are more to address my specifically spiritual health and happiness and connectedness. I'm just a dive-in kind of person. As a musician, I have friends who have elaborate backstage rituals. I have to do certain things to take care of my voice, but even that, it's mostly vocal rest as opposed to actively doing things. There's a bit of an on/off switch for me. Joanna: That's interesting. Well, I do want to ask you about one of your projects, this collaboration with a high school on a musical performance, I Was a Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs, and also your Girls in Trouble songs about women in the Torah. On your website, I had a look at the school, the high school, and the musical performance. It was extraordinary. I was watching you in the school there and it's just such extraordinary work. It very much inspired me—not to do it myself, but it was just so wonderful. I do urge people to go to your website and just watch a few minutes of it. I'm inspired by elements of religion, Christian and Jewish, but I wondered if you've come up against any issues with adaptation—respecting your heritage but also reinventing it. How has this gone for you. Any advice for people who want to incorporate aspects of religion they love but are worried about responses? Alicia: Well, I have to say, coming from the Jewish tradition, that is a core practice of Judaism—reinterpreting our texts and traditions, wrestling with them, arguing with them, reimagining them. I don't know if you're familiar with Midrash, but just in case some of your listeners aren't sure I'll explain it. There's essentially an ancient form of fanfic called Midrash, which was the ancient rabbis, and we still do it today, taking a biblical story that seems to have some kind of gap or inconsistency or question in it and writing a story to fill that gap or recast the story in an interestingly different light. So we have this whole body of literature over thousands of years that are these alternate or added-on adventures, side quests of the biblical characters. What I'm doing from a Jewish perspective is very much in line with a traditional way of interacting with text. I've certainly never gotten any pushback, especially as I work in progressive Jewish communities. I think if I were in an extremely fundamentalist community, there would be a lot of different issues around gender and things like that. The interpretive process, even in those communities, is part of how we show respect for the text. When I was working with the high school—and I just want to call out the choir director, Ethan Chen, who has an incredible project where he brings in a different artist every two years to work with the choir, and they tend to have a different cultural focus each time. He invited me specifically to integrate my songwriting about biblical women with his amazing high school choir. I was really worried at first because most of them are not Jewish—very few of them, if any. I wanted to respect their spiritual paths and their religious heritages and not impose mine on them. So I spent a lot of time at the beginning saying, this project has religious source material, but essentially it is a creative reinterpretive project. I am not coming to you to bring the religious material to you. I'm coming to take the shared Hebrew Bible myths and then reinterpret those myths through a lens of how they might reflect our own personal struggles, because that's always my approach to these ancient stories. I wanted to really make that clear to the students. It was such a joy to work with them. Joanna: It's such an interesting project. Also, I find with musicians in general this idea of performance. You've written this thing—or this thing specifically with the school—and it doesn't exist again, right? You're not selling CDs of that, I presume. Whereas compared to a book, when we write a book, we can sell it forever. It doesn't exist as a performance generally for an author of a memoir or a novel. It carries on existing. So how does that feel, the performance idea versus the longer-lasting thing? I mean, I guess the video's there, but the performance itself happened. Alicia: I do know what you mean. Absolutely. We did, for that reason, record it professionally. We had the sound person record it and mix it, so it is available to stream. I'm not selling CDs, but it's out there on all the streaming services, if people want to listen. I do also have the scores, so if a choir wanted to sing it. The main point that you're making is so true. I think there's actually something very sacred about live performance—that we're all in the moment together and then the moment is over. I love the artefacts of the writing life. I love writing books. I love buying and reading books and having them around, and there's piles of them everywhere in this room I'm standing in. I feel like being on stage, or even teaching, is a very spiritual practice for me, because it's in some ways the most in-the-moment I ever am. The only thing that matters is what's happening right then in that room. It's fleeting as it goes. I'm working with the energy in the room while we're there. It's different every time because I'm different, the atmosphere is different, the people are different. There's no way to plan it. The kind of micro precision that we all try to bring to our editing—you can't do that. You can practice all you want and you should, but in the moment, who knows? A string breaks or there's loud sound coming from the other room. It is just one of those things. I love being reminded over and over again of the truth that we really don't control what happens. The best that we can do is ride it, surf it, be in it, appreciate it, and then let it go. Joanna: I think maybe I get a glimpse of that when I speak professionally, but I'm far more in control in that situation than I guess you were with—I don't know how many—was it a hundred kids in that choir? It looked pretty big. Alicia: It was amazing. It was 130 kids. Yes. Joanna: 130 kids! I mean, it was magic listening to it. And yes, of course, showing my age there with buying a CD, aren't I? Alicia: Well, I do still sell some CDs of Girls in Trouble on tour, because I have a bunch of them and people still buy them. I'm always so grateful because it was an easier life for touring musicians when we could just bring CDs. Now we have to be very creative about our merch. Joanna: Yes, that's a good point because people are like, “Oh yes, I'll scan your QR code and stream it,” but you might not get the money for that for ages, and it might just be five cents or whatever. Alicia: Streaming is terrible for live musicians. I mean, I don't know if you know the site Bandcamp, but it's essentially self-publishing for musicians. Bandcamp is a great way around that, and a lot of independent musicians use it because that's a place you can upload your music and people can pay $8 for an album. They can stream it on there if they want, or they can download it and have it. But, yes, it's hard out there for touring musicians. Joanna: Yes, for sure. Well, let's come to the book then. Your memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. Tell us about some of the challenges of a book as opposed to these other types of performances. Alicia: Well, I come out of poetry, so that was my first love. That's what I majored in in college. That's what my MFA is in. Poetry is famously short, and I'm not one of those long-form poets. I have been trained for many years to think in terms of a one-page arc, if at all. Arc isn't even really a word that we use in poetry. So to write a full-length prose book was really an incredible education. Writing it basically took ten years from writing to publication, so probably seven years of writing and editing. I felt like there was an MFA-equivalent process in the number of classes I took, books I read, and work that went into it. So that was one of my main joys and challenges, really learning on the job to write long-form prose coming out of poetry. How to keep the engine going, how to think about ending one chapter in a way that leaves you with some torque or momentum so that you want to go into the next chapter. How many characters is too many? Who gets names and who doesn't? Some of these things that are probably pretty basic for fiction writers were all very new to me. That was a big part of my process. Then, of course, poets don't usually have agents. So once it was done, I began to query agents. It was the normal sort of 39 rejections and then one agent who really understood what I was trying to do. She's incredible, and she was able to sell the book. The longevity of just working on something for that long—I have a lot of joy in that longevity—but it does sometimes feel like, is this ever going to happen, or am I on a fool's errand? Joanna: I guess, again, the difference with performance is you have a date for the performance and it's done then. I suppose once you get a contract, then for sure it has to be done. But memoir in particular, you do have to set boundaries, because of course your life continues, doesn't it? So what were the challenges in curating what went into the book? Because many people listening know memoir is very challenging in terms of how personal it can be. Alicia: Yes, and one thing I think is so fascinating about memoir is choosing which lens to put on your story, on your own story. I heard early on that the difference between autobiography and memoir is that autobiography tries to give a really comprehensive view of a life, and memoir is choosing one lens and telling the story of a life through that lens, which is such a beautiful creative concept. I knew early on that I wanted this to be primarily a spiritual memoir, and also somewhat of an artistic memoir, because my creativity and my spirituality are so intertwined. It started off being spiritual, and also about my musical life, and also about my writing life. In the end, I edited out the part about my writing life, because writing about writing was just too navel-gazing. So there's nothing in there about me coming of age as a writer, which used to be in there, but that whole thing got taken out. Now it's spiritual and musical. For me, it really helped to start with those focuses, because I knew there may be things that were hugely important in my life, absolutely foundational, that were not really going to be either mentioned or gone deeply into in the book. For example, my husband teases me a lot about how few pages and words he gets. He's very important in my life, but I actually met him when I was 29, and this book really mainly takes place in the years leading up to that. There's a little bit of winding down in the first few years of my thirties, but this is not a book about my life with him. He is mentioned in it. That story is in there. Having those kinds of limitations around the canvas—there's a quote, I forget if it was Miranda July, but somebody said something like, basically when you put a limitation on your project, that's when it starts to be a work of art. Whatever it is, if you say, “I'm taking this canvas and I'm using these colours,” that's when it really begins, that initial limitation. That was very helpful. Joanna: It's also the beauty of memoir, because of course you can write different memoirs at different times. You can write something about your writing life. You can write something else about your marriage and your family later on. That doesn't all have to be in one book. I think that's actually something I found interesting. And I would also say in my memoir, Pilgrimage, my husband is barely mentioned either. Alicia: Does he tease you too? Joanna: No, I think he's grateful. He is grateful for the privacy. Alicia: That's why I keep saying, you should be grateful! Joanna: Yes. You really should. Like, maybe stop talking now. Alicia: Yes, exactly. I know. Marriage, memoir—those words should strike fear into his heart. Joanna: They definitely should. But let's just come back. When I look at your career— You just seem such an independent creative, and so I wondered why you decided to work with a traditional publisher instead of being an independent. How are you finding it as someone who's not in charge of everything? Alicia: It's a great question. The origin story for this memoir is that I was actually reading poetry at a writing conference called Bread Loaf in the States. This was 16 years ago or something. I was giving a poetry reading and afterwards an agent, not my agent, came up to me and said, you know, you have a voice. You should try writing nonfiction because you could probably sell it. Back to your question about how I support myself, I am always really hustling to make a living. It's not like I have some separate well-paying job and the writing has no pressure on it. So my ears kind of perked up. I thought, wait, getting paid for writing? Because poetry is literally not in the world. It's just not a concept for poets. That's not why we write and it's not a possibility. So a little light turned on in my brain. I thought, wow, that could be a really interesting element to add to my income stream, and it would be flexible and it would be meaningful. For a few years I thought, what nonfiction could I write? And I came up with the idea of writing a book about biblical women from a more scholarly perspective, because I teach that material and I've studied it. I went to speak to another agent and she said, well, you could do that, but if you actually want to sell a book, it's going to have to be more of a trade book. So if you don't want an academic press, which wouldn't pay very much, you would have to have some kind of memoir-like stories in there to just sweeten it so it doesn't feel academic. So then I began writing a little bit of spiritual memoir. I thought, okay, well, I'll write about a few moments. Then once I started writing, I couldn't stop. The floodgates really opened. That's how it ended up being a spiritual memoir with interwoven stories of biblical women. It became a hybrid in that sense. I knew from the beginning that this project—for all my saying earlier that I never plan anything and only work on instinct, I was thinking as I said that, that cannot be true. This time, I actually thought, what if, instead of coming from this pure, heart-focused place of poetry, I began writing with the intention of potentially selling a book? The way my fiction writer friends talked about selling their books. So that was always in my mind. I knew I would continue writing poetry, continue publishing with small presses, continue putting my own music out there independently, but this was a bit of an experiment. What if I try to interface with the publishing world, in part for financial sustainability? And because I had a full draft before I queried, I never felt like anyone was telling me what to write. I can't imagine personally selling a book on proposal, because I do need that full capacity to just swerve, change directions, be responsive to what the project is teaching me. I can't imagine promising that I'll write something, because I never know what I'll write. But writing at least a very solid draft first, I'm always delighted to get notes and make polish and rewrite and make things better. I took care of that freedom in the first seven years of writing and then I interfaced with the agent and publisher. Joanna: I was going to say, given that it's taken you seven to ten years to do this and I can't imagine that you're suddenly a multimillionaire from this book. It probably hasn't fulfilled the hourly rate that perhaps you were thinking of in terms of being paid for your work. I think some people think that everyone's going to end up with the massive book deal that pays for the rest of their life. I guess this book does just fit into the rest of your portfolio career. Alicia: Yes. One of the benefits of these long arcs that I like to work on is, one of them—and probably the primary one—is that the project gets to unfold on its own time. I don't think I could have rushed it if I wanted. The other is that it never really stopped me from doing any of my other work. Joanna: Mm-hmm. Alicia: So it's not like, oh, I gave up months of my life and all I got was this advance or something. It's like, I was living my life and then when I had a little bit of writing time—and I will say, it impacted my poetry. I haven't written as much poetry because I was working on this. So it wasn't like I just added it on top of everything I was already doing, but it was a pleasure to just switch to prose for a while. It was just woven into my life. I appreciated having this side project where no one was waiting for it. There were no deadlines, there was no stress around it, because I always have performances to promote and due dates for all kinds of work. It was just this really lovely arena of slow growth and play. When I wanted a reader, I could do a swap with a writer friend, but no one was ever waiting for it on deadline. So there's actually a lot of pleasure in that. Then I will say, I think I've made more from selling this than my poetry. Probably close to ten times more than I've ever made from any of my poetry. So on a poetry scale, it's certainly not going to pay for my life, but it actually does make a true financial difference in a way that much of my other work is a little more bit by bit by bit. It's actually a different scale. Joanna: Well, that's really good. I'm glad to hear that. I also want to ask you, because you've done so many things, and— I'm fascinated by your independent film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. I have only watched the trailer. You are in it, you wrote it, directed it, and it's also obviously got other people in, and it's fascinating. It's about this particular point in history. I've written quite a lot of screenplay adaptations of my novels, and I've had some various amounts of interest, but the whole film industry to me is just a complete nightmare, far bigger nightmare than the book industry. So I wonder if you could maybe talk about this, because it just seems like you made a film, which is so cool. Alicia: Oh yes, thank you. Joanna: And it won awards, yes, we should say. Alicia: Did we win awards? Yes. It really, for an extremely low-budget indie film, went far further than my team and I could ever have imagined. I will say I never intended to make a film. Like most of the best things in my life, it really happened by accident. When I was living in New York— I lived there for many years—the 2008 financial collapse happened and I happened to have an arts grant that gave a bunch of artists workspace, studio space, in essentially an abandoned building in the financial district. It was an empty floor of a building. The floor had been left by the previous tenant, and there's a nonprofit that takes unused real estate in the financial district and lets artists work in it for a while. So I was on Wall Street, which was very rare for me, but for this year I was working on Wall Street. Even though I was working on poems, the financial collapse happened around me, and I did get inspired by that to create a one-woman show, which was more of a theatre show. That was already a huge leap for me because I had no real theatre experience, but it was experimental and growing out of my poetry practice and my music. It was a musical one-woman show about the financial collapse from a spiritual perspective, apparently. So I performed that. I documented it, and then a friend who lives in Portland, Oregon, where I now live, said, “I'm a theatre producer, I'd like to produce it here.” So then I rewrote it and did a run here in Portland of that show. Essentially, I started to tour it a little bit, but I got tired of it. It was too much work and it never really paid very much, and I thought, this is impacting my life negatively. I just want to do a really good documentation of the show. So I wanted to hire a theatre documentarian to just document the show so that it didn't disappear, like you were saying before about live performance. But one of the people I talked to actually ended up being an artistic filmmaker, as opposed to a documentarian. She watched the archival footage, just a single camera of the show, and said, “I don't think you should do this again and film it with three cameras. I think you should make it into a feature film. And in fact, I think maybe I should direct it, because there's all this music in it and I also direct music videos.” We had this kind of mind meld. Joanna: Mm. Alicia: I never intended to make a film, but she is a visionary director and I had this piece of IP essentially, and all the music and the writing. We adapted it together. We did it here in Portland. We did all the fundraising ourselves. We did not interface with Hollywood really. I think that would be, I just can't imagine. I love Hollywood, but I'm not really connected, and I can't imagine waiting for someone to give us permission or a green light to make this. It was experimental and indie, so we just really did it on the cheap. We had an amazing producer who helped us figure out how to do it with the budget that we had. We worked really hard fundraising, crowdfunding, asking for donations, having parties to raise money, and then we just did it and put it out there. I think my main advice—and I hear this a lot on screenwriting podcasts—is just make the thing. Make something, as opposed to trying to get permission to make something. Because unless you're already in that system, it's going to be really hard to get permission to make it. Once you make something, that leads to something else, which leads to something else. So even if it's a very short thing, or even if it's filmed on your phone, just actually make the thing. That turned out to be the right thing for us. Joanna: Yes, I mean, I feel like that is what underpins us as independent creatives in general. As an independent author, I feel the same way. I'm never asking permission to put a book in the world. No, thank you. Alicia: Exactly. We have a vision and we do it. It's harder in some ways, but that liberation of being able to really fully create our vision without having to compromise it or wait for permission, I think it's such a beautiful thing. Joanna: Well, we're almost out of time, but I do want to ask you about creative confidence. Alicia: Hmm. Joanna: I feel I'm getting a lot of sense about this at the moment, with all the AI stuff that's happening. When you've been creating a long time, like you and I have, we know our voice and we can lean into our voice. We are creatively confident. We'll fail a lot, but we'll just push on and try things and see what happens. Newer creators are struggling with this kind of confidence. How do I know what is my voice? How do I know what I like? How do I lean into this? So give us some thoughts about how to find your voice and how to find that creative confidence if you don't feel you have it. Alicia: I love that. One thing I will say is that I always think whatever is arising is powerful material to create from. So if a lack of confidence is arising, that's a really powerful feeling to directly explore and not just try to ignore. Although sometimes one has to just ignore those feelings. But to actually explore that feeling, because AI can't have that, right? AI can't really feel a crisis of confidence, and humans can. So that's a gift that we have, those kinds of sensitivities. I think to go really deep into whatever is arising, including the sense that we don't have the right to be creating, or we're not good enough, or whatever it is. Then I always do come back to a quote. I think it might have been John Berryman, but I'm forgetting which poet said it. A younger poet said, “How will I ever know if I'm any good?” And this famous poet said something like—I'm paraphrasing—”You'll never know if you're any good. If you have to know, don't write.” That has been really liberating to me, actually. It sounds a little harsh, but it's been really liberating to just let go of a sense of “good enough.” There is no good enough. The great writers never know if they're good enough. Coming back to this idea of just making without permission—the practice of doing the thing is being a writer. Caring and trying to improve our craft, that's the best that we can have. There's never going to be a moment where we're like, yes, I've nailed this. I am truly a hundred per cent a writer and I have found my voice. Everything's always changing anyway. I would say, either go into those feelings or let those feelings be there. Give them a little tea. Tell them, okay, you're welcome to be here, but you don't get to drive the boat. And then return to the practice of making. Joanna: Absolutely. Great. So where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Alicia: Everything is on my website, which is AliciaJo.com, and also on Instagram at @ohaliciajo. I'd love to say hello to anyone who's interested in similar topics. Joanna: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Alicia. That was great. Alicia: Thank you. I love your podcast. I'm so grateful for all that you've given the writing world, Jo.The post Creative Confidence, Portfolio Careers, And Making Without Permission with Alicia Jo Rabins first appeared on The Creative Penn.

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