Podcast appearances and mentions of chip dodd

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Addiction isn’t just about substances—it’s about the ways we cope with pain, stress, and unmet needs. In this episode, Chip Dodd and Leanne unpack how behaviors like emotional eating, over-exercising, workaholism, and social media addiction follow the same addictive patterns as substances. They explore the difference between coping mechanisms that help us heal versus those that keep us stuck, and how the brain wires itself for addiction. If you’ve ever felt caught in a cycle of numbing or self-sabotage, this episode will help you understand why—and what you can do about it. Visit Chip's website at: ChipDodd.com You can order your copy of Chip's book, The Voice of the Heart: A Call To Full Living HERE. Listen to the Living With Heart Podcast HERE. HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.Follow Leanne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanneellington/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   Relationship with God Episode 115 tells the story of a survivor from Auschwitz and the miraculous connection and marriage he makes with the young woman who saved his life after the Allied Forces came into the concentration camps at the end of WWII.    The story reveals: It reveals the power and presence of God in our lives.  It reveals the mercy of God amidst the tragedy that we humans have created. It reveals the continuing witness to how a story can affect us when we hear something that seems to “break through the reality of tragedy” and we find that “hope” is what we cannot escape.   We hope for something that pierces darkness, destruction, despair and death.   God's Greatness God has conquered and continues to conquer all four forces that have come against His light, creative nature, hope, and life itself.  His light pierces darkness. His creative nature steps into destruction. His unyielding presence defeats despair. His resurrection power conquers death.   The Deceiver cannot conquer God's goodness, love, power and presence in our lives.    Jesus calls us to him as the Shepherd and we the sheep who cannot live without the Good Shepherd: I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy' I hve come that they may have life, and it to the full. I am the good shepherd.” John 10:9-11   Dr. Chip Dodd  Website  Chip's Free Resources link  Subscribe to Chip's website Follow Chip on Instagram  Substack Facebook Link  Linked In  Find Chip on YouTube Chip's Amazon Author Page     Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   What is a friend?    A friend is someone who cuts your sorrows in half and doubles your joy.  A friend is someone whose sorrows you cut in half and you double their joy.   If a person has three people in their life right now who fit this description, that person is very blessed.   You cannot have too many genuine friends.    For friendship to develop, it requires: time truth-telling trust experiences   You cannot develop friendships with a lot of people because of the limitations of time and the requirements of daily life.   You can be a pastor, politician, or public figure and have thousands of acquaintances, experiences, and do a lot of good, and still not have that confidant, the person in the night you can reach out to.   You can have lots of genuine friends over a lifetime, and if you live long enough, you will have many people you carry in your heart who are friends. You remember them, and can recall life together if you ever meet again.   You have friends if you are available in heart to have them.   Ultimately, a friend is a person who desires your good. If you desire others' good, you are available to have a lot of friends over a lifetime.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   Relationship with others   Neuroscience research points out very clearly that we are connection seeking creatures. We are born to “look for who is looking for us.”    In the Voice of the Heart, which came out years before neuroscience research validated Dr Dodd's work, he writes that we are created by God to seek life to the full, but we can only find that fulfillment in relationship with ourselves (head and heart connected), with other, and with God.    Relational fulfillment is a dictate of our emotional and spiritual genetics. This genetic makeup is so powerful that we will seek a sense of connection that relationship brings in legitimate forms or in illegitimate ways as other episodes have explained, like the recent Addiction Series, Episodes 97-110.   So much of life is about the benefits of relational fulfillment that even the word share means that you receive from others initially, so that you can offer the gifts you have to others—whether that be the flowers you have grown; the experiences you have had; or the love you have received.   We cannot give what we do not have; therefore, we must be open to all that relational fulfillment can offer us, so that we have much to offer others.    Research has shown that gratitude for receiving allows a person to increase their sense of gratitude by giving.   There exists a “child-like” willingness that a person must have to live fully, because relational fulfillment with another person requires that we be: Truthful enough to be trustworthy. Teachable enough to learn how to care well. Humble enough to be open to being relational. Brave enough to face our needs.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

This week we're discussing Emotional Stability with Dr. Chip Dodd When you are the only adult in the house, pushing through stops being a choice and starts being a reflex. Feelings get quieted because there is no margin for them. But survival mode and actually living are two very different things. One keeps you functional. The other is what you were made for. And until you understand the difference, it is easy to mistake getting through the day for being okay. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, and Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, sit down with Dr. Chip Dodd, a counselor, speaker, and author with over 30 years of experience serving others through emotional health and recovery. His book Voice of the Heart has become foundational for many solo parents trying to understand their own emotional landscape. Together they walk through all eight core feelings, not as burdens to manage, but as gifts that, when understood, move us toward healing, connection, and a fuller life. Key Insights from This Episode Survival mode is not a failure, but staying there keeps you from the life you were made for. Reducing emotion to get through the day is a natural grief response, but remaining in that place over time recreates the very isolation you are trying to escape. Your feelings, even the painful ones, are not signs of weakness. Each of the eight core emotions has a purpose and a direction, designed to move you toward healing, connection, and ultimately a life lived more fully. Needing other people is not a liability. Dependency resilience, the capacity to lean on others and on God, is one of the most powerful qualities a human being can develop, and it grows in community. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Dr. Chip Dodd Voice of the Heart Living With Heart Podcast The Voice of the Heart Center "How Are You Feeling Today?" Podcast hosted by Alex Courington Solo Parent previous episode Courage to be Angry with Dr. Chip Dodd  Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram  

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   Relationship with yourself These questions can help you become response-able for yourself: What kind of person am I? Who knows me? Who do I love, and how vulnerably do I love? Am I emotionally and spiritually genuine with God and a few others? Do I use my mind to articulate the truths of my own heart? Can I seek forgiveness, offer mercy, and forgive?   Christianity is truly a religion of growth. Jesus said, “The thief come only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10, NIV)   Christianity is a religion of living fully. This is unlike other religions in the world: Jesus refers to Himself as a “Good Shepherd” in John 10.  Jesus will lead us and grow us into becoming shepherds, ourselves.  Through Jesus we give our hands, heads, and hearts to a “mission” that is worth whatever is required to live fully.  Through the Spirit of God that indwells Christians, we can live fully through loving fully and leading well. This life leaves plenty of fruit behind.   Relationship with one's self refers to the connection between the “heart” and “head.”    Sadly, many of us are taught to defend ourselves rather than become ourselves.    We use our thinking and reactions to hide the truth of our feelings, needs, desire, longings, and hope, rather than use the development of our minds to identify, explore, and express “truth in the inner parts . . . wisdom in the inmost place,” (Psalm 51:6, NIV)   We are created to live fully, but to do so, we must feed the roots, so that the fruits can grow in abundance.  Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Sydney Taylor preaches out of John 11 on Jesus mourning with His friends Mary and Martha and on the command for Christians to mourn with those who mourn. Additional resource: _The Voice of the Heart by Chip Dodd

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   Recover is not a pill > Recovery is a path. Recovery is not a quick fix  >  Recovery is a lifestyle, lived one day at a time.   Recovery allows us to live with a “new set of glasses.”   People in recovery no longer see life through the “tinted glasses” that denial gives them, but they begin to live in clear reality.   A person no longer sees life through the “foggy” glasses of denial, but a person begins to live in reality.   While recovery has thousands upon thousands of personal benefits, the personal benefits do not mean that you're the loved ones will change along with you, join you, or even be willing to participate with you. This reality is called resistance to change.   Resistant to change can be in the “main person” who has a clear and primary addiction, or it can be in the “co-addict,” or the one who has enabled, adjusted to, joined in, or “put up with” the primary addiction.    The condition of a “co-addict” is addressed in the Codependency Episodes, 32-44.   The question becomes, “How do I do relationship with someone who doesn't want to join me in this new way of living?”    Recovery From addiction processes and recovery OF who I am created to be is a genuine form of authentic life, without running from one's own heart.    Resistance to change, then, is a heart problem.   Addiction in and of itself is rooted in denial, which requires that the status quo becomes the primary focus in relational life, not the capacity to adjust to change.   Acceptance of and willingness to change requires the ability to “deny” denial. Addiction is founded in denial. Change is founded on “denying” denial.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   Recover is not a pill > Recovery is a path. Recovery is not a quick fix  >  Recovery is a lifestyle, lived one day at a time.   Recovery allows us to live with a “new set of glasses.”   People in recovery no longer see life through the “tinted glasses” that denial gives them, but they begin to live in clear reality.   This clear reality contains a new hope that is the soil out of which the ability to live will fully grow.    Recovery provides so much more than abstinence FROM what was harmful. It allows a person to get recovery OF.   Not only does admission of powerlessness (The First Step, episode #106) open the door to recovery, it “admits” a person onto the path of healing and liberation. Admission is an entrance. The healing is in the “connection rupture” from childhood development that blocks the empowerment of dependency resilience. The liberation is in reclaiming the Six Freedoms (Free Resource at chipdodd.com).   There are three steps to begin recovery. The first three steps, however, are just the beginning.  We admit we were powerless over __________ (addiction) and that our lives have become unmanageable. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. We make a decision to turn our lives and will over to the care of God as we understand Him. These three steps are from the 12-Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and yet they apply to all addiction and recovery. The primary addiction of all people addicted is control addiction.   Basically, a person who lives in recovery recommits to these three steps every morning for the rest of his/her life.    Here are the first three steps in a nutshell: I can't He can I will let Him.   Click here to continue reading episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   FREE RESOURCE: Six Freedoms from Birth   The Power of Admission:   When we admit we have a problem that we cannot stop repeating and this problem creates negative consequences, we have begun the first movement of  recovery.   Admission is often mistakenly related to losing, or what is associated with being a “loser.”     Addiction is fueled by toxic shame. This toxic shame “ranks” everything being about winners and losers, a scoreboard, comparison, ranking, excluding/including and worth.    Our toxic shame mistakenly identifies our admission as being a failure or worthless.   Most recovering people who recount their stories will agree that admission of a problem is very often experienced as relief.    People who are addicted are often tired of being enslaved by the addiction.   Recovery ultimately moves a person away from “ranking” themselves over and over again to recognizing a new way of seeing success.   Success is having a passion plus pursuit that will contend with obstacles and challenges. There is no ranking or even competition. The only focus is keeping the passion fueled.   Success, then, comes in many packages, from planting flowers every spring and “feeding” bees and butterflies, to becoming a neurosurgeon who discovers a new method for brain surgery.   The power of admitting addiction is the first step towards returning to and then becoming “whole” again.    Admission moves a person into their “Six Freedoms from Birth” journey.   Recovery from the sickness of addiction moves us toward recovery of who we were created to become.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.  Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com. FREE RESOURCE:  Relinquishing Your Defenses   Ultimately, every person who becomes addicted to any substance or behavioral process is running from knowing how to or being willing to contend with four realities and four promises (from episode #104), which requires that we know what to do with our feelings and needs.    We must become “response-able” to contend with life on life's terms. While life is wonderful, it is also very painful. Even love, which is what we most desire, is very painful.    We are emotional and spiritual creatures, and we are created to live fully. We are created to find fulfillment in relationship with ourselves, others and God.   If we run from feelings and needs and the responsibility, we have to deal with them as emotional and spiritual creatures, we cannot fulfil our desire to live fully and love deeply.   On my website, chipdodd.com, you will find a FREE RESOURCE called, Relinquishing Your Defenses.  This resource uses a triangle diagram to show the trap we can get caught in if we run from feelings and needs.  We can become trapped in a never-ending cycle of avoidance and projection, “mind-reading,” and judgmental conclusions about everyone (Codependency Episodes, 32-44, Season 4).    People can get trapped in the victim-martyr-persecutor roles that become a person's reaction to any forms of vulnerability that produce emotional arousal.   Anxiety fuels the defensive roles.    Judgmentalism creates a repetition of behaviors that a person uses to block or defend themselves from perceived threat.   The Victim - The victim role is not about being immature or weak.   It is about life experiences in which a child “discovers” that their feeling responses to life are ignored or negated in some other form.    The experience creates a sense of helplessness, which means “no help is coming.”    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.  You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.  You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.  You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.  What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers' inboxes. The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   In this new season, “What is Addiction” we will focus on three main aspects of addiction: what addiction is how addiction operates what recovery entails   The pervasive impact of addiction   The pervasiveness of addiction and its impact makes it a pandemic, perhaps the deadliest human beings have ever experienced.   A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (continents in the case of addiction.) It affects a significant proportion of the population.  An epidemic is localized.  A pandemic refers to “all demographics.”   Tragically, Addiction impairs the addict's ability to see the impact of their addiction.  This impairment is called denial. It prevents the addict from seeing clearly and accurately the consequences of his/her addiction.     We have 30+ million alcoholics in this country and 15+ million people addicted to illegal drugs.    For every one person chemically dependent on alcohol or illegal drugs, 3 to 4 other people are emotionally, mentally, if not physically harmed.    These addictions result in emotional trauma, setting up the high probability of tendency toward addiction.    Adding up the numbers using only the impact of addiction upon 3 people is 135 million people in this nation harmed. When the addicted person is added to the number, the impact is monstrous.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd's new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.  What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers' inboxes. The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   In this new season, “What is Addiction” we will focus on three main aspects of addiction: what addiction is how addiction operates what recovery entails   How Addiction Operates   Addiction as a feelings problem   Addiction is a “feelings” disorder. A disorder of not knowing how to face, feel, and deal with the feelings that come with living life on life's terms.    Life is a “feelings” experience, one we don't control as much as we must face, feel, and deal with as wisely and productively as we possibly can.   To face life wisely and productively requires that we live in connection with others and God in an intimate way.    The substitute for living relationally connected is to distract ourselves from our own needs. This means that we attempt to find a counterfeit connection that offers a relief, but not what we genuinely need.   The distraction from our own hearts becomes the addictive process. Addiction is marked by negative consequences for the addicted person, but their actions don't change.   Addiction also has its foundation on the defense of denial.   Denial has five characteristics: Denial of facing the reality of what is occurring. Denial of the feelings related to reality. Denial of the needs related to the feelings. Denial about talking about the first three characteristics. Denial of the need to trust that things can actually be different.   Addiction is rooted in toxic shame.   Toxic shame is the internal sense of contempt a person has towards  their feelings and needs the “clumsiness” of being human  the reality of imperfection Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.   

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.  Dr. Chip Dodd and Bryan close out 2025 with a reflective episode that centers on a short reading called "I Believe It Like Air," Christmas hope, and the call to grow into who we were made to be. They explore childlike faith, the healing of broken hearts, and the spiritual task of becoming caregivers and sources of hope. Drawing on Psalm 8 and Isaiah 61, the hosts encourage listeners to ask, seek, and knock—returning to honest feeling, humility, and generosity so they can give themselves away in service to others. The episode invites rest for the holidays and dares listeners to reclaim longing, hope, and the courage to grow, offering a gentle challenge to live with heart in the coming year.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    It is amost Thanksgiving, and Christmas is just around the corner. How are you going to keep Christ in Christmas this year? I recommend spending a few minutes each day in December reading The Jesse Tree: A Christmas Devotional.  This devotional will take you through the Bible, from Genesis to the birth of Jesus. Each day focuses on God's protection of the royal line of Jesus and God's plan of redemption for His people.   We are made for more October to April opens up the most magical time of the year and potentially the most painful.   As the fall approaches and the “harvest” season settles into our consciousness, we begin to long for what the holidays are created to offer, family, friends, and fellowship.    The windows of the “soul” open to our heavenly longings as the holiday season of anticipation begins. The window remains open until the new year begins, our resolutions have turned back into daily life, and we lift the “heavy burden” of getting back to work—we prepare to pay our taxes in April!   If we allow ourselves to long for what we dream the holidays can offer, we will also need to allow ourselves to grieve what they cannot give us—heavenly completion on earth:    It is okay to grieve The family gatherings will not live up to what we dream at the worst, and they will end with departures at their best.   The friends we love to be with will need to return to their places of other purposes.   The fellowship that blesses us will also come to an end.   We can experience heavenly hints of completion, but not get to remain in the place of completion.    The holidays awaken us to holy moments of seeing how life could be, or is created to be, but this is still not heaven.    In the movie “Field of Dreams” a character asks, “Is this heaven?” The answer to the beautiful question of hope is, “No, this is Iowa.” We can taste heaven here during the holiday season, but not keep it or possess it; we can only take time to live it by bringing family and friends together in fellowship.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

What if your kid's "selfishness" is actually developmentally normal?

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    It is already November, and Christmas is just around the corner. How are you going to keep Christ in Christmas this year? I recommend spending a few minutes each day in December reading The Jesse Tree: A Christmas Devotional.  This devotional will take you through the Bible, from Genesis to the birth of Jesus. Each day focuses on God's protection of the royal line of Jesus and God's plan of redemption for His people. 2 Helpful and free resources along your parenting journey: Characteristics of a Functional Family 8 Feelings for Children Chart   I recommend purchasing a copy of How Are You Feeling Today?  This children's book about feelings will help you get started in guiding your children to understand express their feelings. This would be a great Christmas present for the children in your lives. The Remaining 6 Characteristics of a Healthy Family:   Family members can be different. Parents do what they say, and they are self-disciplined disciplinarians. Roles are flexible and chosen; no one person “always” has the same “job.” Rules require accountability. Violation of healthy family values leads to guilt. Mistakes are forgiven and viewed as learning tools. Parents are aware of not being God; they have healthy shame. In healthy relationships six general principles create a foundation for emotional, spiritual, and relational development:   I can talk openly about things that are important to me. I can name my feelings, values, beliefs, and keep my behaviors consistent with them. I can define the limits of what I can comfortably do or give. I can clarify what is acceptable or tolerable in a relationship. I can share my vulnerabilities and competencies with others. I can give others permission to do the same things. Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    It is already November, and Christmas is just around the corner. How are you going to keep Christ in Christmas this year? I recommend spending a few minutes each day in December reading The Jesse Tree: A Christmas Devotional.  This devotional will take you through the Bible, from Genesis to the birth of Jesus. Each day focuses on God's protection of the royal line of Jesus and God's plan of redemption for His people.   2 Helpful and free resources along your parenting journey: Characteristics of a Functional Family 8 Feelings for Children Chart   I recommend purchasing a copy of How Are You Feeling Today?  This children's book about feelings will help you get started in guiding your children to understand express their feelings.   TO ALL PARENTS: Please remember that the list the characteristics of a healthy family is not about a perfect family; it is about a functioning family.  A functional family simply consistently works on “working things out” for love's sake. Perfect isn't functional. An atmosphere of perfection is oppressive; it is just as damaging as a chaotic atmosphere is abandoning. Neither a perfectionistic nor a chaotic atmosphere advance emotional, spiritual, and relational growth. To parent well, we need to be willing to seek aid, wisdom, and courage from God and others. No one has all the answers, but our humility can allow us to have more than we would have without asking.   There are six basic principles to creating a functional relational system, one in which relationship and health is the primary concern, whether it be a family, friendship or marriage: I can talk openly about things that are important to me. I can name my feelings, beliefs, and values, and keep my behaviors consistent with them. I can define the limits of what I can comfortably do or give. I can clarify the limits of what is acceptable or tolerable in the relationship. I can openly share my vulnerabilities and competencies with others. I can give permission and support others in doing the same things.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    2 Helpful resources along the parenting journey: Link to 8 Feelings for Children Chart How Are You Feeling Today   The research in the book, The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness supports everything that is contained in each and every episode of Living with Heart: From Birth to Death. The authors state, “Good relationships keep us healthier and happier. Period” (page 10). The 85-year longitudinal study, which is ongoing, concluded that, “Relationships are not just essential as stepping-stones to other things, and they are not simply a functional route to health and happiness. They are an end in themselves.” (page 51).   The Good Life, by Robert Waldinger, MD, and Marc Schulz, PhD.   Living with Heart podcast content focus is always about how we are created to find fulfillment through relationships.    We are created as emotional and spiritual creatures, created to do one thing in this life and that is live fully.    We cannot live fully unless we are doing so in relationship with ourselves, others, and God. The Voice of the Heart by Chip Dodd, PhD.   Digital age Since the early 21st century our children have been living in a time unlike any other in history. The technological advances, starting with the internet, then the cell phone, and now AI, have presented parents and children with a significant dilemma, one that will require some difficult choices to combat the negative consequences of our extraordinary advancements.  Digital technology has been proven to be addictive; screening distracts people from their emotions and addressing their needs for connecting relationally. Screening distracts people from their emotions and needs for connecting relationally, and AI puts people at risk of avoiding the brain work of thinking. We are creating a world in which we are not actually involved, with “sweat, thinking, touching the dirt, needing others with us, etc.” FOMO and the increase of depression and anxiety is directly related to the digital age.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    What is the meaning of remember? We tend to think that remember only means to recall facts, a place, an occurrence, or a time period. It is that and much more.  Remember also means to take into account the emotional impact of what we recall. It is the need to integrate all the experiences of living. “Re-member” can mean to keep your thinking, feeling, and behaving congruent with your environment and the people who live in it.  For a parent, the definition of remember that also includes “re-member” is a need for the parent to recall and integrate what it was like to be a child, regardless of what age. The parent who does not “re-member” will forget the difficulties, and even the joys of growing up. They will not parent the way a child needs to be parented, or the way the parent actually wishes to do.  Many parents run from “re-membering” because it requires that we feel and integrate “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of our own lives.  To remember requires that we face, feel, and deal with the pain of failure and the sweet memories of success. If we don't have the courage or willingness to remember, our children have to miss richer connections that they were made to have. Parents who are not willing to grow, have difficulty tolerating their own feelings, and their own inherent neediness; the effect is that they will have lower tolerance for the feelings and needs of the child.   Three helpful attitudes to develop to help parents “re-member” Acknowledging distance Doing the work of daily remembrance Facing the impossible   What is distance? Distance is to remember that the parent lives in another “time-zone,” called the future in relation to a child.    A child struggles in a place that the parent has gone beyond. Either the parent can recall the heart ache or the heart delight, and can relate to the child, or the parent's need to ignore or suppress their experience will block emotional and spiritual connection to the child.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    2 Helpful resources along the parenting journey: Link to 8 Feelings for Children Chart How Are You Feeling Today Four realities that no one will defeat, this side of heaven. The best we ever get at living is clumsy.  No one can become perfect, even though we carry a picture of it in our hearts. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV) says, “He has set eternity in the human heart.” No matter our determination or information, we humans will always have to struggle with mistakes and sin.  We have to live on life's terms, not our terms. Death and the unpredictable are a part of this life. We cannot know the future. We are dependent upon our need of each other and God. If we do not face, feel, and deal well with our neediness in a healthy way, we will become defended against the pains that come with love. No one can change or defeat this fact about life. If we don't learn how to need others and God, it increases the negative consequences we don't want for ourselves or those we love. Everything in life is practice. Doctors are practicing, and lawyers are practicing. Parents are also practicing, as are children. We are not works of perfection. We have to keep learning and risking without knowing all of the outcomes. We are in this life together; the more proactive everyone is in helping each other practice living fully and loving deeply, the better the outcomes.  It takes a lifetime to learn how to live.  Whether we are eight, twenty-eight, or eighty, we are still asking many of the same questions throughout our lives, like, “When will we get there?” “How much will it hurt?” or “Will you be there to get me?” No one has all the answers to life. We have to keep learning how to live, even as we gain wisdom about doing so, hopefully. There is not a destination of “having it all together.”   We are all works in progress. Rather than the facts of reality defeating us, they can actually give us permission to gain more humility.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    2 Helpful resources along the parenting journey: Link to 8 Feelings for Children Chart How Are You Feeling Today   The focus of this season on “Living with Heart: From Birth to Death” is parenting.   Some of the content in these episodes loosely connects to the book, Parenting with Heart by Stephen James and Chip Dodd.    The content of episode #86, “Big Results from Simple Actions,” comes from a free resource that can be downloaded at chipdodd.com.   Big Results from Simple Actions - Chip Dodd, Ph.D.   The following is a list of eleven qualities that make leaders worth joining and make participants valuable to leaders. These eleven simple actions are what leaders and participants do who create vibrant, sustainable, productive environments in which excellence is the norm. The list also speaks to what parents hope their children will learn and what children hope their parents already practice.    In addition, the list speaks to how friendship is honored, and how marital partners express respect for one's self and their spouse. The driving force of these qualities comes out of what psychology calls an internal locus of control and what the rest of us call being responsible because it feels good and it's good to do.    Simply put, the action-oriented qualities listed below show that a person brings ability, effort, and excellence to what they do.   If you open it—close it. If you unlock it—lock it back. If you drop it—pick it up. If you borrow it—return it. If you use it—take care of it. If you break it—fix it. If you can't fix it—call someone who can. If you mess it up—clean it up. If you give your word—keep it. If it is your responsibility—own it. If it encourages someone—say it.   To summarize, I end where I started. The actions listed above are what make leaders worth joining, and make participants valuable to leaders. The actions speak to what parents hope their children will learn, and what children hope their parents already practice, so they can learn. In addition, the actions speak to how friendship is honored, and how marital partners express respect for one's self and the other.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com. 

Prayer isn't always polished — and it was never meant to be. David, called a man after God's own heart, showed us what raw, honest prayer looks like in the Psalms. He brought every emotion to God — fear, joy, guilt, shame, anger, hope, and more. (If you want an example, read the story of David hiding in a cave in 1 Samuel 22 alongside Psalm 142.)In this episode, Stephen and Megan explore what Christian counselor Chip Dodd calls the Voice of the Heart — 8 core emotions that every one of us experiences. Each emotion signals something deeper, and when we bring them to God, they can become starting points for unfiltered prayer.We'll unpack each one with a definition, reflection questions, and a simple prayer:Hurt → Signal: Something meaningful was damaged | Prayer: God, this still hurts. Meet me in it.Lonely → Signal: I was made for connection | Prayer: God, remind me I'm not alone.Sad → Signal: I've lost something that mattered | Prayer: God, be near in the ache.Angry → Signal: Something isn't right | Prayer: God, help me release what I can't fix.Fearful → Signal: I feel vulnerable or unsafe | Prayer: God, be my refuge and strength.Guilty → Signal: I've done something wrong | Prayer: God, I confess — give me Your grace.Shame → Signal: I feel unworthy | Prayer: God, speak truth over my identity.Glad → Signal: This is what I was made for | Prayer: God, thank You for this good moment.Whether you're feeling joy or pain, grief or gratitude, remember this: if it's in your heart, it belongs in your prayers. Follow Going Somewhere Podcast on InstagramAsk a Question or Suggest a Guest | goingsomewherepod.comSubscribe to us on YoutubePodcast Music: Electric Ten by Broke in SummerStephen's Instagram & Website

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart, a book by Dr Chip Dodd, is written in short sections that are self-contained as specific pieces. Each section focuses on a dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness.    Please visit chipdodd.com to download a free resource of the “Feelings/Needs Chart.” The chart integrates the essentials of The Voice of the Heart and Needs of the Heart that leads to experiencing the Gifts of the Heart.   The Equation for the Gifts of the Feelings By practicing the equation, we can live fully; we can love deeply; we can lead well.   By practicing the equation, we discover that core feelings lead to genuine relational needs, which move us to admitting the desire of our hearts, as well as our longings and hope.   Feelings > Needs > Desire > Longings > Hope, as explored in Episode #80 and Episode #81.   The equation requires courage, that is, bringing your heart to who and what matters to you.   WILLINGNESS + PATIENCE + WORK + TIME = GIFTS   Willingness: Willingness is the courageous energy of allowing your heart to be given over to hoping again. Hope has become dangerous to many of us because of past experiences that turned out very differently than what we had hoped. Taking the risk of hoping again is fearful. We need help in risking hope, but we must take the risk if we are to experience new, better, or improved outcomes. Running from hope makes us sick.    Patience: Patience is ability to persevere amidst the struggle that comes with your desire to live fully. Patience literally means, “burden of hope.” So often what we seek and what we desire requires the ability to wait—to delay gratification—as we continue to move towards fulfillment. Waiting means that we continue to hope even though it is painful. Waiting requires feeling and needing, and means that our hearts carry the “burden of hope,” as we persevere, with the encouragement of others and faith in God.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart, by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections; each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Visit chipdodd.com to download a free resource of the “Feelings/Needs Chart.” It integrates the essentials of The Voice of the Heart and Needs of the Heart that lead to the experience of the Gifts of the Heart.    On page 23 of Keeping Heart, there is a sentence that shows the dark side of avoiding love's requirements: “Avoiding love's demand, though, requires that we hide our hearts, and, therefore, remove ourselves from living this life.”    Contact is not connection We experience a vast array of what we call “connections” through all forms of technology that has given us the internet and its multiple forms of social media that offers the illusion of “connection.” We call it “interconnected.”    However, it does not actually give what it says. We are “inter-contacted,” not actually connected.    There are multiple forms of contact, but we still remain disconnected from each other, and even ourselves.    Sadly, loneliness and relational isolation are two of the most talked about forms of misery in our society today, even though we have more pervasive contact than ever before in the history of humanity.   When Caesar connected the Roman Empire with roads, it led to people groups being connected—for better or worse. The technology of today is not a road to connect us. It is the technology that actually keeps us from “facing each other,” which is where genuine connection begins.   Contact is like watching a movie. In a movie, we experience life vicariously, which means “not really in it.” Even more, if we watch it alone, we experience life vicariously in isolation. We do not share a lived experience in reality True connection is a shared experience in reality.   Contact does not feed the heart. Connection feeds the heart. Connection requires that a person shares the experiences of their emotional and spiritual lives with another who is capable of doing the same.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

In this episode of Leaders in Living Rooms, Sean Morgan sits down with author, counselor, and leadership mentor Chip Dodd to unpack the “Five Pitfalls of Leadership.” Drawing on decades of experience leading leaders and running the Center for Professional Excellence, Chip explores how work can become confused with worth, why performance often overshadows presence, and how leaders slip into isolation and secrecy. He unpacks the role of humility, healthy dependency, and vulnerability in sustaining authentic leadership—reminding us that leaders must remain learners to stay effective. Welcome to Episode 140 of the Leaders in Living Rooms Podcast with Sean Morgan.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart, by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections; each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Visit chipdodd.com to download a free resource that describes The Spiritual Root System. This resource identifies each “root” of how we are created as feeling, needing, desiring, longing, hoping people who seek to live fully in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God.   A path not a pill So often, people offer a “pill” (metaphorically or literally) to a person who is struggling with life's difficulties. The struggle could be anxiety, depression, or addiction. Most people, however, need a path instead of a “pill.”   This podcast is part of the path we are created to walk in life's struggles.   The Voice of the Heart, Needs of the Heart, and Keeping Heart, also, are part of the path.    This podcast and the books speak to the need for relationship and its power to help and heal us through relational connection.   Communion connects to community We quickly think of communion as a religious experience only. It also means to share; it is where we get the word community and communication.    We are created to be in communion with each other—a group of people who share the truth of their hearts.   In Genesis 2:18, God declared for the first time that something was “not good.” This declaration clearly made reference to a man and a woman. It also speaks to how we are created for fellowship; the fellowship of truth telling about our struggles and celebrations that connect us to each other. Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 (NIV)   When Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they not only hid their physical bodies, they also hid their hearts from God. In the cool of the day, God comes to His creation and asks them, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) This phrase in Hebrew is “ayeka” which is a lament and a question.    Click here to continue reading episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart, by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections; each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Visit chipdodd.com to download a free resource that describes The Spiritual Root System. This resource identifies each “root” of how we are created as feeling, needing, desiring, longing, hoping people who seek to live fully in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God.   To read a short encapsulation of episode #81, go to pages 28-29 of Keeping Heart.   We are created to BE, DO, and HAVE In order to live fully, love deeply, and lead well lives that leave behind good legacy, we must: admit that we don't control how life works. we don't have power to change how we are created as relational creatures.   We only find fulfillment by living fully in relationship with  ourselves others God  (The Voice of the Heart by Chip Dodd)    Surrendering to the process of how we are created occurs through three developmental movements: Being - who we are created to be as relational creatures. We are created 99.9% like everyone else on an emotional and spiritual level. We seek connection through feeling, needing, desiring, longing, and hoping. We are created to respond to life accordingly.  Doing - what we are created to do by participating in the actions of producing, shaping, making and caring about creating “good.” We take action in daily life by using our internal awareness; we are “response-able.” Having - what we are created to experience if we live according to how we are created. We have relationships, connection, provision, bounty, and prosperity. We risk giving ourselves to and attaining the experiences of life that create relational and experiential fulfillments.   Be-Do-Have vs Do-Have-Become If a person is raised in an environment that diminishes his/her essential makeup and places too much emphasis on performance in order to be accepted, the person's worth becomes wrapped up in the constant need for approval of others and in competition with others.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

This week we're discussing how to have the Courage to be Angry  Anger is one of the most misunderstood emotions, especially for single parents trying to keep everything together. Many of us were taught to fear it, repress it, or feel shame when it shows up. But what if anger isn't destructive at all? What if it's actually the part of us that wants to live, connect, and keep showing up for the things that matter? To help us navigate this emotional terrain, we're joined by Dr. Chip Dodd, author, counselor, and founder of The Voice of the Heart Center. With decades of experience helping people move from emotional disconnection to deeper purpose, Chip unpacks how anger, when understood and expressed in healthy ways, can become a powerful force for healing and hope. Today, we cover three main points: Anger is not the problem, rage is. Suppressed anger leads to shame, anxiety, and isolation. Reclaiming anger can reignite our purpose and bring us back to each other. Resources Mentioned In This Episode: The Voice of the Heart by Dr. Chip Dodd: A foundational resource for understanding and expressing core emotions, including anger, in a healthy and life-giving way. Living with Heart: From Birth to Death co-hosted by Dr. Chip Dodd: Explores emotional and spiritual health through the lens of vulnerability and connection. We want to answer any Solo Parent questions you may have. Submit your listener questions HERE. Full Show Notes  Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections. Each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Please visit chipdodd.com to download the free resource, The Spiritual Root System. This resource describes and illustrates the specifics of each “root” of how we are created as feeling, needing, desiring, longing, hoping people who seek to live fully in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God.   Spiritual Rot System (SRS) = Feelings - Needs - Desire - Longings - Hope   Basic premise of The Spiritual Root System:  Feed the roots of a tree, it will grow to produce much fruit.  Moving the metaphor to human behavior, a child reaches out to be affirmed as belonging and mattering by connecting to his/her caregivers.  The need to belong and matter is met by his/her caregiver responding by reaching back and affirming and attending to the child's heart, made up of feelings, needs, desire, longings, and hope.  This process grows the child's confidence in being created as a feeling, needing, desiring, longing, and hoping creature. Through the confidence of being able to depend on connection, the child grows into a competent human being, who can use his/her mind to express their heart's makeup as they grow into their giftedness. Every human being is gifted and the world is in need of the “fruits” of those developed gifts.    Understanding the connections of the roots: Reading the “roots” from left to right:  Feelings awaken a person to needs.  Needs connect to desire within the heart Desire moves a person to longings Longings draw a person toward hope. Hope will return a person to feelings; hope is wishing or planning to achieve something a person doesn't know for sure will happen. Hope requires the action of risk, which circles back to the need to deal with feelings.  The Voice of the Heart and Needs of the Heart offer specific details about The Spiritual Root System, as does this podcast Living with Heart: From Birth to Death.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

Why do we need to look back at our past to move forward in marriage? In this meaningful episode, Rebekah and Gabe explore how unresolved childhood experiences shape our marriage conflicts today. They share that the number one trigger in marital fights is actually tone—not words—because "we sense before we make sense" of what our spouse is saying. The Lyons vulnerably discuss how Gabe's counselor once told him he communicated "like an Excel spreadsheet"—all facts with no heart—revealing how childhood trauma had caused him to shut down emotionally.Drawing from their book "The Fight For Us," they introduce Dr. Chip Dodd's eight primary feelings (hurt, loneliness, sadness, anger, fear, shame, guilt, and gladness) and explain how confessing these emotions transforms them from impairments into gifts. When loneliness is shared, it leads to intimacy; when fear is named, it builds faith. The episode closes with a beautiful blessing for couples willing to be vulnerable and trust each other, especially when it requires risk.Order The Fight for Us:https://a.co/d/aJehu4fFree Gifts when You Order Now:Get Our Free Masterclass, Growth & Connection Toolkit, Emotional Health for Marriages Course and More at https://rebekahlyons.com/marriageTake the What's Your Dance Quiz:rebekahlyons.com/quiz