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In this episode, we feature an event with Colm Tóibín in conversation with Garth Risk Hallberg, held at the Montclair Literary Festival for the launch of Toibin's latest book, The News from Dublin.Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels, including Long Island, an Oprah's Book Club Pick; The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; and Nora Webster, winner of the Hawthornden Prize, as well as three story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and was named the 2022–2024 Laureate for Irish Fiction by the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature.Garth Risk Hallberg's first novel, City on Fire, was a New York Times and international bestseller and was selected as one of the best books of 2015 by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Vogue. It was the basis for the Apple TV+ series of the same name. His second novel, The Second Coming, about a troubled teen whose father is a recovering addict, was released in 2024 and is in paperback now. He is also the author of the novella A Field Guide to the North American Family. In 2017, Granta named him one of the Best of Young American Novelists. His work has been translated into seventeen languages.Resources:Seamus Heaney 1995 Nobel Prize Speech ( Poetry in Conflict quote)Thomas Mann's Brother Hitler EssayBooks:A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.Register for Upcoming Events.The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ. The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids' Room!If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!Stay in touch!Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.comSocial: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!
With apps like Merlin and eBird, do field guides even matter anymore? David Scott and Gavin McKinnon share why they developed a brand new book: A Field Guide to the Birds of Alberta. Backed by their love of birds, this episode is full of birding adventure stories from the boreal forest to the Rockies to the prairies, along with interesting insights about writing a field guide - a massive undertaking that is still worth the effort. Get a copy of A Field Guide to the Birds of Alberta. Huge thanks to Gavin, David, and all the photographers who contributed, for sending proceeds to Birds Canada. Listeners of The Warblers now get 10% off coffee orders from Birds and Beans with the code 'warblers' at checkout. Choosing Bird Friendly coffee is an easy (and delicious) way to support migratory species! Get on a tour with Gavin - check out Meadowlark Birding Tours. Gavin McKinnon developed a deep fascination for birds at an early age after he visited Point Pelee National Park on a weekend trip with his parents. Since then, he has traveled extensively in Canada and to numerous locations in the tropics and around the globe in search of unique birding opportunities. In 2022, Gavin founded Meadowlark Birding Tours, intending to share his passion for birds with others. After high school, he studied Renewable Resource Management at Lethbridge College and briefly worked in environmental consulting. In addition to leading tours, Gavin is actively involved in the local birding community, serving as a volunteer eBird reviewer. David Scott was born and raised in northern Ontario, and began venturing from home to find birds while in high school and has been an avid birder and naturalist ever since. After moving to southern Alberta, he came to love the birds of the prairies, badlands, foothills, and mountains as he did those of the boreal forest on the Canadian Shield. A librarian by trade, David works at the University of Lethbridge and volunteers for Nature Lethbridge, eBird, the Christmas Bird Count, and the provincial bird records committee.Andrea Gress (she/her) secretly thinks Piping Plovers are better than all the other birds...studied Renewable Resource Management at the University of Saskatchewan. She pivoted towards birds, after an internship in South Africa. Upon returning, she worked with Piping Plovers in Saskatchewan, and then as the Ontario Piping Plover Coordinator. Years of sharing her love of plovers with beach goers has turned into a full time communications role with Birds Canada. Support the show
What High-Functioning Survival Actually Looks Like in Women |Lisa LacyLisa Lacy is a writer, trauma educator, and author of the upcoming memoir Notes From a Certified Madwoman and its companion Field Guide for Survival, Healing, and Self Understanding. After more than three decades in corporate education, healthcare consulting, performance, and storytelling, Lisa now speaks and writes about addiction, psychosis, trauma, nervous systems, identity masking, reinvention, and the hidden realities of high functioning survival in women. Drawing from lived experience, recovery, and years teaching trauma informed emotional intelligence in addiction recovery centers across Georgia, Lisa creates conversations that are psychologically informed without sounding clinical, emotionally honest, unexpectedly funny, and deeply human.Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisalacycalm/https://www.tiktok.com/@lisalacywrites?_r=1&_t=ZT-96Kbq4WtqWrTagspodcast for creatives,creative podcast,podcast creator interviews,professional podcast,creative podcasts,podcast host interviews,creative podcast ideas,Addiction & Rec,overy,Author,Emotional Intelligence,Generational Trauma,Mental Health,Nervous System Regulation,Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),Reinvention,Women Empowerment,Women's IssuesSupport PEG by checking out our Sponsors:Download and use Newsly for free now from www.newsly.me or from the link in the description, and use promo code “GHOST” and receive a 1-month free premium subscription.The best tool for getting podcast guests:https://podmatch.com/signup/phantomelectricghostSubscribe to our Instagram for exclusive content:https://www.instagram.com/expansive_sound_experiments/Subscribe to our YouTube https://youtube.com/@phantomelectricghost?si=rEyT56WQvDsAoRprRSShttps://anchor.fm/s/3b31908/podcast/rssSubstackhttps://substack.com/@phantomelectricghost?utm_source=edit-profile-page
A man opens his new briefcase and discovers that something else lies beside his files, something…vast. Genre: Mystery, Mythology Excerpt:"Once," she started, "the world was filled with different beings than the ones that now fill the world." They were just as wondrous. And just as terrible. But in different ways. For ways changed with time. As it would come be, it was so in those days as well, that some of these beings were short-lived but numerous, and some were long-lived but few. The longest lived of all were the firstborn. They were born when the world was born. And they would end when the world would end. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous seasons. One is "Turn Again." One is a wild card. And three are covered in question marks and will be revealed when the wheel lands on them. See a story trailer and a (satisfying) video of the wheel turning here: A Brief Case of Dread This episode landed on DEFINITIONS. The story was inspired by the definition of the word "anthropopathy." It's when human emotion is ascribed to an inanimate object. Find more stories and episodes about powerful objects here: Year of Definitions. MERCH!Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork?Please visit my Store page for info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE NEWSLETTERSThe Store page also has sign-up forms for my two email newsletters: Storyfeather Gazette (if you'd like to keep up with the fiction I create) Fictioneer's Field Guide (if you'd like writing tips and guidance from me) Choose what you want. (Either way, you're choosing high jinks.) MY FIRST BOOK (yay)Ever wonder how I've gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. You can learn it in my book called Fictioneer's Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories. It's now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover. You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE CREDITSStory: "A Brief Case of Dread" Copyright © 2022 by Nila L. PatelNarration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel Music:"Negociation" by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Intro)"Infinite Land" by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Outro)"Abstract Vision #5" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro) Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)"The deal""Trojan horse""Men in black""Under the mask""In the shadows""Call of the wild""Seasons""Ancien stones (seamless)""Winter guild""Runes""On the way""The last stand""Infinite land""Negociation" All tracks are part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market. Music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev MarketSound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg)Vocal effects created with Audacity Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration. Find more music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com Episode Art Description:Digital drawing. A briefcase opening to the left, seen from an angle and tilted up. A tiny toy shaped like a green alien lies inside. The pocket on the inside of the top is decorated with symbols of a sun at center, and at top left and bottom corners, a five-pointed star within the curve of a crescent moon. The case floats in outer space. Nebulous clouds are visible at the corners, and distant clusters of stars. A hazy glowing light emanates from the briefcase and shifts color as it extends out of frame. Watermark of "Storyfeather" along bottom side of briefcase.
From online coaching to real-world client constraints, Shallow and Jiunta break down why the best coaches aren't just building better programs, they're making better decisions. Last Chance To Enrol In This Cohort of PSL1: https://www.pre-script.com/psl1 FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community -The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
“Abundance isn't God's provision for me to live in luxury; it's His provision for me to help others live.” That line from Randy Alcorn captures the heart behind a financial finish line. When God entrusts us with more, the question is not simply, “How much can I keep?” but “How much can I use for His purposes?” Cody Hobelman, Certified Financial Planner and Certified Kingdom Advisor, joined the show today to share how that question became deeply personal in his own life. Along with his brother Keelan, Cody contributed to FaithFi's new Field Guide, How Much Money Is Enough? But before he taught others how to set a financial finish line, he had to wrestle with it in his own context. The Early Pull of Accumulation Early in his career, Cody's view of money was much like that of many people. He wanted a large income, growing wealth, and the kinds of opportunities that seemed to promise happiness and success—perhaps vacation homes, financial freedom, and a comfortable lifestyle. Those goals were not unusual. Many people begin their careers with an eye toward building, earning, and accumulating. But over time, Cody began to sense that something was missing. After college, he returned to church and began reading Scripture for himself. What stood out to him was how often Jesus spoke about money. Those passages began to reshape the way he viewed his role in managing what God had entrusted to him. When Obedience Begins to Reshape the Heart At the end of 2016, Cody's church went through a series on managing money biblically. At the conclusion, the congregation was invited to commit to tithing in the coming year. After prayer and conversation with his wife, Steph, Cody decided to begin giving 10% of his income to the church in 2017. That step mattered. It was his first move into intentional giving. He began to see that not every dollar he earned had to serve his own lifestyle. God gives resources with purpose, and giving helped Cody begin to discover that purpose. But as he later reflected, his generosity at that stage still felt like “checking the box.” He was giving, but accumulation remained the deeper goal. Tithing became a generous layer atop a life still largely centered on earning, comparing, and building more. He realized he was trying to serve both God and money. The Question That Changed Everything In 2020, Cody's brother Keelan invited him to consider a simple but life-altering question: “How much is enough?” In other words, if God provided more income over the course of his career—or even in a single year—how would Cody know how much was enough to spend on his own lifestyle? And how could he create margin so that additional resources could be used for God's purposes? At first, Cody resisted the conversation. But he could not escape the realization that he was still at the center of his financial world. So he and Steph accepted the challenge. They chose a number that represented a reasonable level of lifestyle spending for a season. That number became their first financial finish line. A financial finish line is a cap on lifestyle spending. Once that line is set, anything beyond it can be directed toward generosity, debt reduction, ministry, or other God-honoring purposes. A Finish Line Before the Increase Interestingly, Cody and Steph set their first finish line when their income was still below that number. Steph was in graduate school, Cody was early in his career, and they still had student loans. They were also hoping to buy a home. So the finish line was not immediately restrictive. It was more future-oriented. But that decision prepared their hearts before additional income arrived. Not long after, Steph graduated and began working full-time. Cody also received a raise. Suddenly, the finish line was no longer theoretical—it was practical. Because they had done the hard work of prayer, conversation, and planning before the increase in income, they already knew what to do. Their finish line helped them avoid simply expanding their lifestyle to match their income. Paying Down Debt to Free Up Generosity At the time, Cody and Steph still had debt. But their growing vision for generosity changed the way they saw it. Rather than viewing debt simply as a financial inconvenience, they began to see it as an obstacle to giving as they wanted to. So even within their finish line, they chose to live on less than they could have in order to prioritize paying down debt. The goal was not merely to become debt-free for their own comfort. It was to remove barriers that limited their ability to participate in what God was doing. From Scorecard to Stewardship Setting a financial finish line changed Cody and Steph's day-to-day life. For the first time, Cody said he truly experienced contentment. He could honestly say, “We have enough.” That contentment reshaped their conversations about money. Instead of asking only what they could afford for themselves, they began asking what God might be inviting them to do for others. They also created a separate “kingdom account,” moving money into a dedicated giving account. Eventually, they used a donor-advised fund as well. That separation clarified the purpose of the money and helped guard against the temptation to use it for their own lifestyle. Money became a tool, not a scorecard. Before setting a finish line, even giving could feel like something to measure or compare. Afterward, generosity became more about obedience, surrender, and availability. Living With God, Not Merely For God Looking back, Cody says the finish line helped him trust God more deeply. It changed the way he viewed work, provision, and the future. Rather than constantly asking, “Will there be enough?” he began asking, “What would God have us do right now?” That shift moved generosity from a financial category into a way of life. It became part of listening to God, responding to Scripture, and attending to the needs around him. How to Take the First Step For someone who feels drawn to the idea of a finish line yet intimidated by it, Cody offers simple encouragement: start with a trial period. You do not have to choose the perfect number. You do not have to answer every “what if” before you begin. Start with three or six months. Choose a reasonable level of spending for your family, your season, and your location. Then see what God reveals as you take the next step. A finish line is not necessarily a one-time decision. It can be revisited and adjusted as life changes. The point is not rigidity—it is intentionality. When we define enough, we are not limiting our lives. We are creating space for greater clarity, contentment, and generosity. God's provision is not merely something to consume. It is something to steward. And when we stop asking only, “How much can I keep?” we become free to ask a far better question: “Lord, how do You want me to use what You've entrusted to me?” FaithFi's new Field Guide, How Much Money Is Enough?, is designed to help you begin that journey and set your own financial finish line. You can receive your copy when you become a FaithFi Partner by giving $35 a month or $400 a year by May 31st. Learn more at FaithFi.com/Give. On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions: I've saved about $2,000 for my 11-year-old grandson by setting aside about $1 a day. He's interested in the stock market, but I don't know much about investing. Where could I put this money so it has a chance to grow, and is $2,000 enough to get started? Resources Mentioned: Faithful Steward: FaithFi's Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner) Fidelity Go® | Schwab Intelligent Portfolios® Our Ultimate Treasure: A 21-Day Journey to Faithful Stewardship by Rob West Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on Money Look At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and Anxiety Rich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich Fool Find a Certified Kingdom Advisor® (CKA) FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every workday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God's resources. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In Part 1, we prepped. In Part 2, we got the ball rolling. This episode is all about how to open your dang eyeballs, guide with your heart, and sink into a session that is less pose and more honest family gold. If you often leave sessions feeling like you checked the boxes but you never really GOT anywhere emotional, this is your next-level. I originally learned the concept of "elements of family story" from Brooke Schultz, and Story Filters are my evolution of that over the last 5 years. They're themes you carry into a session like a scavenger hunt — lenses for seeing what's actually in front of you rather than hunting for your next pose. I'm sharing what they are, how they work in practice, and a two-step process for developing your own. It's the thing that made the difference between galleries that are fine and work that actually means something. Find It Quickly: 1:49 - Introducing Story Filters (your personal in-shoot scavenger hunt) 3:37 - Story filter examples 5:06 - Filters in action: how they change the way you see and direct 7:52 - Why filters matter: seeing people not subjects 9:28 - Direction vs. documentary: finding the middle ground 10:51 - How to develop your own filters 14:09 - Series recap + next episode preview 15:03 - How to get the Field Guide for all these tips in writing to reference for your next shoot Mentioned in this Episode: In-Home Session Field Guide (free): leahoconnell.com/home-fieldguide Episode 72: Part 1 — The Walkthrough Video: https://leahoconnell.com/guide-to-in-home-family-photography-sessions-part-1-the-walkthrough-video/ https://leahoconnell.com/guide-to-in-home-family-photography-sessions-part-1-the-walkthrough-video/ Episode 73: Part 2 — The First 10 Minutes: https://leahoconnell.com/in-home-family-photography-series-part-2-the-first-10-minutes/ Also listen to: Episode 59 with Brooke Schultz: https://leahoconnell.com/episode-59-messy-action-the-artful-pivot-and-creating-from-the-inside-out-with-brooke-schultz/
Send us Fan MailSacred Biology series wrap-up in Q&R format with apostle Tommy Miller. Hosted by apostle-pastor Shanda Miller. Recorded live Sunday, May 24, 2026, in New Philadelphia, Ohio.Learn more about Legacy Church: https://www.legacychurchint.org/Follow up on YouTube: https:/www.youtube.com/@legacychurchohFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legacychurchohSow into what we're doing: https://www.legacychurchint.org/give#sacredbiology #biodivine #asheissoareweinthisworld #unveiled #conscience #sons #manifestsons #fathers #union #legacychurchoh #newcreation #jesus #church #jesuschrist #gospel #transfigured #revelator #apostle #deathless #immortality #believe #bible #creator #godisgood #grace #hope #sermonclips #holyspirit #love #godislove #kingdom #peace #freedom #memes #truth #inspiration #motivationalquotes #vibes #positivevibes #christ #jesuslovesyou #russellbrand #jordanbpeterson #joerogan #atm #tommymiller #soulintelligence #EQ #emotionalintelligence #atm #legacychurchoh Support the show
Heads up — this is Part 2 of Jamie's conversation with Jaclyn Taylor If you haven't heard Part 1 yet, go back and start there. It sets up everything we unpack today. Most healthcare teams are working hard. They're just not working together. And the patient is the one absorbing the cost. In this second half of the conversation, Jamie and Jaclyn move from the why into the how. What does it actually look like when a provider stops responding to today's schedule and starts managing an entire patient panel? How do you turn a community health worker, a pharmacist, a PT, and a social worker into one coordinated team instead of four parallel ones? And what's the difference between data that produces reports and data that produces decisions? You'll hear: Why "frequent touches" only work when they're connected — and how fragmented touches still land patients back in the hospital The quarterback model — what it actually means for a provider to own a patient's trajectory, not just their visit The shift from seeing patients to managing a population — and why most providers were never taught how Why we don't have a resource problem in healthcare — we have an orchestration opportunity How to use technology and data without drowning in either What "showing up" really means inside a system that isn't perfect yet This is the episode for anyone trying to lead change from inside a system that's still catching up. Press play. www.YourHealth.Org
Welcome to The Antlered Crown podcast. Where we talk all things witchy but mostly go off on a ramble. This week we will be speaking to Tom Benjamin author of The Modern Fortune-Teller's Field Guide about their book, being a reader and what it represents in the modern perception, and how we can advocate for ourselves and others. If you would like the YouTube version check out my Patreon in the link below. And don't forget to tip your witch bitch!
A cartography vessel mapping a sector of space that's expected to contain nothing of interest encounters…something of interest. Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery Excerpt:"This thing is changing by the hour. We may not have time for Vessel 86 to arrive before something even more intense happens." I walked on a few steps before I realized that my crew mate had stopped short. I turned and walked back to him. "More intense than that?" he asked, pointing out of the nearest porthole. I gaped. The fluttering spirals that we'd become accustomed to had shifted color, darkening in a pattern that was familiar to both of us. That pattern was a word. The word was, "Hello." The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous seasons. One is "Turn Again." One is a wild card. And three are covered in question marks and will be revealed when the wheel lands on them. See a story trailer and a (satisfying) video of the wheel turning here: Encounter With Ship 47 This episode landed on MUSIC. Ooo, one of the mystery spokes has been revealed. I listened to a track called "Dimension of Time" from the soundtrack for a computer game from my youth, "The Dig." And I had visions of adventure in space... Here's an earlier episode from this season inspired by music: Nine Gods in Masquerade. MERCH!Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork?Please visit my Store page for info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE NEWSLETTERSThe Store page also has sign-up forms for my two email newsletters: Storyfeather Gazette (if you'd like to keep up with the fiction I create) Fictioneer's Field Guide (if you'd like writing tips and guidance from me) Choose what you want. (Either way, you're choosing high jinks.) MY FIRST BOOK (yay)Ever wonder how I've gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. You can learn it in my book called Fictioneer's Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories. It's now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover. You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE CREDITSStory: "Encounter With Ship 47" Copyright © 2022 by Nila L. PatelNarration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel Music:"Among the Stars" by ANDREW SITKOV (Intro)"Another World" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)"Abstract Vision #5" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro) Music by ANDREW SITKOV (MuzStation Game Music)"Stars Talk""Unknown Terrain""Freedom""Dark Side""A Long Way""Space Discoveries""First Contact""Lost in the Dark""Among the Stars""Another World" Music by ANDREA BARONI (Cyberleaf)"The Longest Year (no percussion)" All tracks are part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market. Music by Andrea Baroni and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev MarketSound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg)Vocal effects created with Audacity Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration. Find more music by Andrea Baroni and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com Episode Art Description:Digital drawing. Five silhouettes against a window, all face a luminous spiraling phenomenon beyond. At top left, a human in a chair that's hovering over the heads of the others, in partial right profile, with left hand raised to the window. Below, from right to left. A caterpillar-shaped being sitting on the window ledge, with two antennae raised to the window, tail dangling from the ledge. A being with a squid head, with five tentacles held up against the window, standing on what appears to be three knobby or segmented legs. A human standing with both hands pressed against the glass at head level. A being shaped like a central stalk with fuzzy hair at the top, two pairs of loops protruding from the sides, and knobby plumes rising from the loops. A wall to the left displays some glowing lights and panels. Watermark of "Storyfeather" along window border along right.
In this episode, Jiunta breaks down the biomechanics of better pull-ups, why assisted pull-up machines are often overrated, and how to organize a program for someone working toward their first strict pull-up. PSL1 Registration Is Live! Sign Up At: https://www.pre-script.com/psl1 FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community - The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
What are the biggest financial questions people keep asking—and are we answering them the right way? The questions we wrestle with about money often reveal something deeper. They expose our fears, our hopes, and what we truly believe about God's provision. That's why financial wisdom must go beyond spreadsheets and strategies. It must address the heart. Sharon Epps, president of Kingdom Advisors, joins us to unpack what financial advisors across the country are hearing from their clients. While the seasons of life may vary, many of the same questions keep surfacing—and those questions often reveal concerns that go deeper than dollars and cents. The Questions People Keep Asking As Kingdom Advisors stays connected with financial professionals across the country, certain questions continue to surface. According to Sharon, three of the most common are: How much is enough? How do I prepare the next steward? How do I give intentionally? Each question involves real financial decisions, but each one also reveals something about the heart. They are not merely questions about money. They are questions about security, legacy, generosity, and trust. How Much Is Enough? At first glance, “How much is enough?” sounds like a numbers question. People want to know how much they should save, how much they need for retirement, or how much margin they need to feel secure. But beneath the question is often a deeper concern: Will I be okay? Will my family be okay? That's why a purely financial answer can fall short. A typical financial plan may focus mainly on accumulation—building as much as possible to create a sense of safety. Saving wisely is important, but from a biblical perspective, accumulation alone cannot provide lasting peace. A stewardship approach asks a different question. It still considers the numbers, but it also recognizes that God is our provider. Enough is not merely a financial target. It is also a posture of the heart shaped by contentment, trust, and faithfulness. Preparing the Next Steward Another question many people ask is, “How do I prepare the next steward?” This often becomes urgent as people approach retirement or begin thinking about estate planning. But Sharon points out that preparing the next steward should not be delayed until later in life. It is something we should consider throughout our lifetime. That's because stewardship is not only about passing on wealth. It is about passing on wisdom, values, and a vision for faithfulness. Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.” While that certainly can include financial inheritance, it should not be limited to money. A truly meaningful inheritance includes biblical wisdom, godly character, and a clear understanding of how to steward resources. As Ron Blue has often said, estate planning is incomplete if it only focuses on wealth transfer. The greater goal is the transfer of wisdom before wealth. Giving Intentionally The third question Sharon says advisors frequently hear is, “How do I give intentionally?” This question moves generosity beyond impulse or obligation. It invites us to think carefully about how God may be calling us to use what He has entrusted to us for His Kingdom. Intentional giving requires prayer, planning, and a willingness to align our resources with our deepest convictions. It asks not simply, “How much can I give?” but “How can my giving reflect God's generosity and advance His purposes?” A Resource for Deeper Stewardship These recurring questions helped inspire FaithFi's new Field Guides—practical resources designed to help people work through major financial questions with both technical clarity and biblical wisdom. The first Field Guide, How Much Money Is Enough?, helps readers think carefully about contentment, provision, and defining “enough” through a biblical lens. Because the questions we ask about money often point to deeper matters of the heart, we need more than financial information. We need wisdom rooted in God's Word. To receive a copy of the first FaithFi Field Guide, How Much Money Is Enough?, become a FaithFi Partner by supporting the ministry at $35 a month or $400 a year. Learn more at FaithFi.com/Give. On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions: In my divorce, I was awarded my ex-husband's tax-deferred savings plan. It was originally $14,000 and grew to about $17,000 before being transferred to another bank. In 2020, when I tried to access the money, the bank said they couldn't find it in their system and suggested it might be in storage records. They still haven't located it. What steps can I take to recover those funds? I'm 56, a state employee, and about to take early retirement. I'll have healthcare covered, a pension of about $1,400 a month, and I'm moving into a private-sector job that pays more than I make now. My only debts are a $148,000 mortgage at 6% and an $11,000 home equity line at 7%. Should I invest the pension for retirement in about 10 years, or use it to pay down debt? I'm turning 65 in June. I received a Social Security letter stating that if I respond between December 1, 2025, and June 1, 2026, my claim would start at age 64½, backdated to December, rather than age 65. Since I didn't start this process, why would they begin my benefits at 64½ rather than letting me claim at 65? My wife recently left a job after 30 years and is starting with a new company. We're considering rolling her old retirement plan into an IRA at Schwab, but she wonders whether the money will grow more slowly if it's split between an IRA and her new employer's plan. Does retirement money need to be in one account to ‘grow together,' or is it fine to keep it in separate accounts? Resources Mentioned: Faithful Steward: FaithFi's Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner) SSA.gov (Social Security Administration) National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) Our Ultimate Treasure: A 21-Day Journey to Faithful Stewardship by Rob West Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on Money Look At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and Anxiety Rich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich Fool Find a Certified Kingdom Advisor® (CKA) FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every workday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God's resources. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Thomas Lowe Fleischner invites us to see clearly and feel deeply the living world around us, while recognizing the vital link between our well-being and the health of the Earth.
PART 2: High‑functioning teams don't succeed by accident—they succeed because they operate like institutions with a shared mission, not loose collections of talented individuals. When a team aligns around a clear purpose, common language, and consistent expectations, it creates a culture that outperforms any one person's contribution. In this podcast, Ken and Scott explore how great teams are built, not born, and that their excellence can be observed in ten specific traits. These traits form a practical checklist leaders can use to diagnose strengths, spot gaps, and intentionally shape a team that is cohesive, resilient, and capable of sustained high performance. Also in this episode, the AllianceBernstein Digital Coach – see practice management solutions for advisor success: abfunds.com/go/digitalcoach DISCLAIMER Note to All Readers: The information contained here reflects the views of AllianceBernstein L.P. or its affiliates and sources it believes are reliable as of the date of this podcast. AllianceBernstein L.P. makes no representations or warranties concerning the accuracy of any data. There is no guarantee that any projection, forecast or opinion in this material will be realized. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The views expressed here may change at any time after the date of this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. AllianceBernstein L.P. does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. It does not take an investor's personal investment objectives or financial situation into account; investors should discuss their individual circumstances with appropriate professionals before making any decisions. This information should not be construed as sales or marketing material or an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, product or service sponsored by AllianceBernstein or its affiliates.
GGs!!
Will Guidara's bestseller now has a field guide! Tune in to hear some of the surprises you can expect in this excellent follow-up. https://www.unreasonablehospitality.com/books Interested in coaching or training on these topics for you or your team? We'd love to hear from you! Email Mike and Mark.
"He's Not Hairy - He's Our BROTHER!" True Tales of Appalachian Bigfoot!" True Tales of Appalachian Bigfoot - Steve Stockton welcomes bigfoot/sasquatch/Sabe experiencer Brother Littlefoot from the hills of Western North Carolina. Find Brother Littlefoot on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brotherlittlefoot2216/videosfor recordings of Sasquatch to human communication. You can also find his book “HE'S NOT HAIRY; HE'S OUR BROTHER!” featuring True Stories of communication with an entire Tribe of Sasquatch People, as well as a Field Guide to Sasquatch signs, sounds, and how to communicate on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3W2UvV1Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/missing-persons-mysteries--5624803/support.
What if every "non-compliant" patient was actually a signal that the system isn't working for them? In this episode, Jamie sits down with Jaclyn Taylor, Clinical Strategy Director at Your Health and a nurse practitioner who started her career as a home-based provider in 2020 — thrown straight into the fire of COVID, isolated patients, and a healthcare world rewriting itself in real time. What she saw inside patients' homes — medications scattered on tables, food insecurity, missing transportation — changed how she thinks about every chart she's ever read. You'll hear: Why a nurse-first pathway gives nurse practitioners a fundamentally different lens than a medical school pathway — and why patients feel it What working across home care, telehealth, trauma, and wellness teaches you about treating the whole human, not just the diagnosis Why trauma surgery turned Jacqueline into a believer in proactive, longitudinal care — and what gets missed when we only meet patients after something has already gone wrong The two words she uses to describe what's most broken in traditional healthcare: fragmentation and misalignment How empathy stops being a poster and starts being operational — built into the design of care itself If you've ever felt invisible inside the healthcare system, or if you're the one trying to fix it, this conversation reframes the whole game. Press play. www.YourHealth.Org
Hoping to find some inspiration and direction in life, an aimless young woman buys a top hat at the estate sale of a magician. Genre: Mystery, Mythology, Science Fiction Excerpt:Ro checked the bookcases and found some intriguing titles. Animating Your Crafts Finding the Right Writer to Type on Your Haunted Typewriter Philosophy and Alchemy: A Foundation Illusions to Fool the Physical Senses: A Foundation Illusions to Fool the Psychic Senses: A Foundation Love Potions, Snake Oils, and Other Tonic Myths In fact, they all looked intriguing. "Where do I begin?" she thought. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous seasons. One is "Turn Again." One is a wild card. And three are covered in question marks and will be revealed when the wheel lands on them. See a story trailer and a (satisfying) video of the wheel turning here: Transdimensional Top Hat This episode landed on OBJECTS OF POWER. I chose a top hat, which made me think of stage magic, and other kinds of magic. Find more stories and episodes about powerful objects here: Year of Objects of Power. MERCH!Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork?Please visit my Store page for info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE NEWSLETTERS The Store page also has sign-up forms for my two email newsletters: Storyfeather Gazette (if you'd like to keep up with the fiction I create) Fictioneer's Field Guide (if you'd like writing tips and guidance from me) Choose what you want. (Either way, you're choosing high jinks.) MY FIRST BOOK (yay)Ever wonder how I've gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. You can learn it in my book called Fictioneer's Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories. It's now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover. You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE CREDITSStory: "Transdimensional Top Hat" Copyright © 2022 by Nila L. PatelNarration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel Music:"Abstract Vision #3" by ANDREW SITKOV (Intro & Outro)"Abstract Vision #5" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro) Music by ANDREA BARONI (Cyberleaf)"Ground Control""You Were Always in the Right Place""Fugue for One Synthetic Heart""Forest Bathing""Evolving Cities""Slightly Across""Dancing Operators""March of the Waking Lights" Music by ANDREW SITKOV (MuzStation Game Music)"Abstract Vision #3""Abstract Vision #2""Abstract Vision #1""Abstract Vision #4" All tracks are part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market. Music by Andrea Baroni and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev MarketSound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg) Vocal effects created with Audacity Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration. Find more music by Andrea Baroni and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com Episode Art Description:Digital drawing. A young woman at center seen from knees up, dressed in top hat, ruffled shirt, and a jacket with coattails. She stands facing forward, turned slightly to the right, arms raised and bent, hands flourished. From her right shoulder, a flock of a butterflies fly up to upper left corner, one of them perched on her right index finger. Bottom right corner, waist-high to the young woman, stands a classic style robot made out of blocks and circles, with right arm raised, see from mid-section up. Watermark of "Storyfeather" beneath right collar of jacket.
ISBW 22.11 (There will be a giveaway of Ruinous Creatures! I'm taking entries until May 21! Email me with GIVEAWAY in the subject line! You do not need to be a paying supporter to enter.) Recently we welcomed Jessi Cole Jackson to the show to talk about her debut novel, Ruinous Creatures! We cover Jackson's unique bone-specific magic system and her inspirations, not to mention how to wrap your head around romance and spice when you've only written tame things before. Remember you can join us on Thursdays, 3pm Eastern on Twitch! The next live episode is May 16. This post went live for supporters on May 11, 2026. If you want early and ad-free episodes, support at Patreon! Links: Jessi Cole Jackson Sarah Maclean T. Kingfisher Naomi Novik The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love Save the Cat The Heroine's Journey The Author Burnout Cure podcast 4 Act Structure Evergreen Links Like the podcast? Get the book! I Should Be Writing. Socials: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate Theme by John Anealio Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more! OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books! Some of the links above may be affiliate, allowing you to support the show at no extra cost to you. You can also support by leaving a Spotify or Apple review! CREDITS Theme song by John Anealio, art by Numbers Ninja, and files hosted by Libsyn. Get archives of the show via Patreon. May 16, 2025 | ISBW 22.11 | murverse.com "Ruinous Creatures and Magic Systems" by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 In case it wasn't clear: Mur and this podcast are fully supportive of LGBTQ+ folks, believe that Black Lives Matter, and trans rights are human rights, despite which direction the political winds blow. If you do not agree, then there are plenty of other places to go on the Internet.
Jiunta is joined by Phil Smith for a deep dive into the gap between nutrition research and real-world coaching. The guys break down caffeine timing, nicotine use, pre-workout culture, supplement industry shortcuts and more. https://www.instagram.com/altrd_hp/ PSL1 Registration Is Now Live! Sign Up At: https://www.pre-script.com/psl1 FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community - The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
Today we're joined by Theresa Cheung to discuss the hidden messages and potential waiting in your dreams. She's a best-selling, prolific writer with books such as the Encyclopedia of Birthdays, the Dream Dictionary, the Little book of Intuition, Your Twin Flame Journey, Angel Babies and so many more.Check her out at theresacheung.com or online @thetheresacheungThanks for listening! If you enjoy the show, please tell a friend, subscribe, rate and leave us a kind review. Don't forget to join our community on Facebook by searching Psychic Teachers. If you have a question or story to share with us, send us an email at psychicteachers@gmail.com. For more information on us, check out our websites: debbowen.com and samanthafey.com. You can also find Samantha on Instagram @samanthaofey. You can find our eCourses on crystals, tarot, manifesting and moon magic. Plus we both offer wonderful guided meditations and you can find signed copies of our books. Be sure to check out Samantha's other podcast Enlightened Empaths. Have a great week. Be the Light!
If you finish a paying assignment and feel, instead of relief, a kind of dull resentment — this episode is for you. Or if you sit down to the work that's been pulling at you for years, and the dishes suddenly need doing, the bills suddenly need paying — this is for you, too.Episode 4 of The Difficulty starts the Field Guide series with the foundational difficulty: the work that pays and the work that matters. They're not usually the same work, and most of us pretend they are.In this one I get into the years I spent writing trade journalism in freight and logistics — the compromises that taught me a lot but weren't the calling — and the friends who got the holy-grail book deal and discovered that "making it" was the start of a different grind, not the end of one. Plus Mark Fitten's $10K-publicist-and-NYT-ad story. The Norman origins of the word "courage." And why being 53 doesn't mean you've missed your window. At least I hope not.The challenge at the end: this week, make one move that matters. Even 90 minutes. Notice the resistance. Notice the breaking through.—CHAPTERS00:00 Resentment and Avoidance00:46 Show Format and Big Question02:45 Work That Pays vs Matters04:11 Compromises and Day Jobs06:03 What Is Your True Calling08:37 Renew Commitment and Habits12:10 The Hidden Work After Creating17:31 Choose Courage Over Ambivalence22:54 Time Is Longer Than You Think26:05 Your Work Matters Closing—FREE — THE DIFFICULTY FIELD GUIDEEight difficulties every working writer faces, and what to ask when each one shows up.→ crossroadspublishing.group/assets/pdfs/The_Difficulty_Field_Guide.pdf—WHERE TO FIND MESubstack — new essays Wednesdays, the Working Publisher news digest Fridays, weekend essay readings Saturdays→ chadprevost.substack.comThe Difficulty — Monday (the why), Thursday (the how), Saturday (essay readings) — wherever you listen to podcasts→ chadprevost.com/the-difficultyCrossroads Publishing Group — publishing services, IF/THEN Books, the Iris Blackwood mystery series→ crossroadspublishing.group—Thursday: three things that happened in publishing this week and what they mean if you're building toward a direct audience.The difficulty in life is the choice. Get full access to The Descent at chadprevost.substack.com/subscribe
Professor Kathy Townsend knew she wanted to be a marine biologist from the age of five, and completed her very first dive in a frozen Canadian lake. But it was the moment a five-metre manta ray draped its tail over her shoulder like an affectionate cat that she knew she had truly found her calling.Since then, Kathy has followed manta rays around the world, appeared in a documentary with Sir David Attenborough, and even been swept into a swirling manta-ray feeding vortex. She greets her favourite mantas with a wink, and some even come to her for toothbrush scratches.But these intelligent and gentle giants are under threat. In this episode, Kathy shares the magic of manta rays, the mysteries scientists are still trying to solve, and why the race to understand and protect them has never been more urgent.We just HAD to make this a bonus-length episode because Kathy has SO many incredible stories about mantas which are absolutely not-to-be-missed!Thumbnail Image: Professor Townsend collecting a DNA sample with a toothbrush. Photo by Amelia Armstrong.Submit manta sightings: Project MantaProf Townsend's book: A Field Guide to the Vertebrates of Lady Elliot Island, Great Barrier Reef.Support the showHelp Keep Word on the Reef Afloat!Please take 2 minutes to fill out our Word on the Reef Listener Survey to help us apply for funding for the show!PROTECT THE REEF - Sign these Petitions Now!Australian Marine Conservation Society: Australia, it's time to lead on Climate Action!Divers for Climate: Sign the 'I'm a Diver for Climate' National StatementAustralian Conservation Foundation: No New Coal and Gas!Queensland Conservation Council: Take Strong Climate Action and Build a Positive Renewable Future!Our Islands Our Home: Protect the Torres Strait Islands from Climate ChangeGreenpeace: Save the Great Barrier Reef!WWF Australia: Protect NatureRising Tide: ...
Feeling like you're not enough as a single parent?You're not alone.In this episode of Single Parent Success Stories, we explore one of the most common but unspoken struggles in single parenting—self-doubt. The feeling that no matter how much you do, it still doesn't feel like enough.If you're navigating life after divorce, separation, or an unexpected change, this conversation will meet you exactly where you are.We talk about what's really behind those thoughts, how overwhelm and pressure shape your self-perception, and how to begin rebuilding confidence from the inside out.
When two friends hear a commotion in their mysterious new neighbor's apartment, they go to check, only to find the door open, and the apartment completely empty...well, almost empty. Genre: Mystery, Fantasy Excerpt:The only object in the entire apartment was lying on the tiled kitchen floor. Broken into several pieces. A mug. I could make out a design on one of the larger shards. An eye. A wide open eye, just staring. I felt the hairs on my neck rise. I blinked. A liquid that looked like pink-orange milk was spattered across the tile, as if it spilled from the mug as the mug fell. Had we just walked into a crime scene? The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous seasons. One is "Turn Again." One is a wild card. And three are covered in question marks and will be revealed when the wheel lands on them. See a story trailer and a (satisfying) video of the wheel turning here: Stranded in Shadow This episode landed on PROMPTS. The prompt I used to inspire this story was a long one. The writer is given a paragraph that starts a story, and challenged to continue and finish it. I read the whole prompt out in the episode's outro. Prompt Source: 500 Creative Prompts (Publisher: Piccadilly Inc.) Find more stories and episodes that revisit previous stories here: Year of Prompts. MERCH!Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork?Please visit my Store page for info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE The Store page also has sign-up forms for my two email newsletters: Storyfeather Gazette (if you'd like to keep up with the fiction I create) Fictioneer's Field Guide (if you'd like writing tips and guidance from me) Choose what you want. (Either way, you're choosing high jinks.) MY FIRST BOOK (yay)Ever wonder how I've gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. You can learn it in my book called Fictioneer's Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories. It's now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover. You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE CREDITSStory: "Stranded in Shadow" Copyright © 2021 by Nila L. PatelNarration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel Music:"Under the mask" by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Intro)"Reloaded" by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Outro)"Abstract Vision #5" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro) Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)"Trojan horse""Negociation""DNA""As it happenned""Master""Reloaded""Mindhunter""The deal""Secret agent""Virtual reality""Men in black""Doubts""Under the mask" All tracks are part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market. Music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev MarketSound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg)Changes made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration. Find more music by Nicholas Jeudy and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com Episode Art Description:Digital drawing. View down a stairwell, where a person with long hair sits within a shadow with knees drawn up and hands clasped around the left leg. The person is glancing up the stairs. A pool of glowing pink-orange liquid collects on the highest visible stair, trickling down the stairs along the hazy border of the shadow. A door is partly visible at the bottom of the stairs. Watermark of "Storyfeather" along top step.
It finally happened: the dogs made too much noise. Theme music by Benedict Kupstas of Field Guides, graphics and logo by Turning Pages Designs. You can always email us at circleyeerk@gmail.com and find us on Instagram @circleyeerk.
We’re back with the second episode in our new series on the podcast, in which we're working our way through Pam's book, The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide. Today, we're beginning our exploration of the deschooling phase of the journey with stage six: Challenging Our Beliefs About Learning. Deschooling has several aspects, and this is one of the big ones. We may carry many beliefs about the way that school is connected to learning and the way we expect children to learn. In order to challenge those beliefs, we dug into five truths about learning: teaching is not a prerequisite for learning, curriculum is unnecessary for learning, children are always learning, learning is fun, and learning is not hard. Once we start to question our existing beliefs, many of these new truths come to the surface. And they really build on each other until we’re living in a whole new paradigm! We loved diving into learning and we hope you find this episode helpful! Watch the video of our conversation on YouTube. THINGS WE MENTION IN THIS EPISODE Pam’s Substack article, “But if they don’t go to school, how will they learn?” Learn more about Pam's book, The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide. We invite you to join us in the Living Joyfully Network, a warm and welcoming online community of like-hearted parents. It's a non-judgmental space where you can steep in these unconventional ideas around parenting, relationships, and learning, and explore what they might look like day-to-day in your uniquely wonderful family. We offer a free month trial so you can see if it's a good fit for you. Click here to join us. Sign up to our mailing list on Substack to receive our email newsletters as well as new articles about learning, parenting, and so much more! Check out our website, livingjoyfully.ca for more information about exploring unschooling and navigating relationships. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT PAM: Hello everyone, I am Pam Larrichia from Living Joyfully and today I’m joined by my co-hosts Anna Brown and Erika Ellis. ANNA AND ERIKA: Hello! PAM: So we are back with another episode in our Field Guide series. We’re working our way through my book, The Unschooling Journey, A Field Guide, which is framed around the hero’s journey and it’s a weaving together of myths, contemporary stories, and just tales from my own journey. In our first episode, if you haven’t listened to that yet, you can go back, we dove into the first phase of the unschooling journey, which was Choosing Unschooling, in which we answered the call to unschooling. We found our guides, which in a fun twist are so often our children. We navigated past various threshold guardians as we crossed the threshold from the ordinary world into the world of unschooling and moved through our time in the belly of the whale where we came to embrace the curiosity of a beginner’s mind. Now we are firmly in the deschooling phase of our journey, which encompasses seven stages and really does represent the bulk of our transformational work. Joseph Campbell calls this next stage the Road of Trials, which through the lens of unschooling, I have broken into two stages because I experienced them as quite distinct from each other. The first focuses on challenging our existing beliefs about learning and then the second one on those related to parenting. In this episode, we’re going to talk about five truths about learning. And if you’re new to unschooling and this is your first time exploring these truths, you’re likely to be dancing with these ideas more intellectually to just understand what they mean and some of their further reaching implications because it’s just mind-blowing enough to hear these the first time and go what, that doesn’t match with what I’ve known so far. Anyway, if you’ve been unschooling for a while and feel like you already intellectually embraced these ideas, now’s the time to peel back some more layers to build more connections and context around them. You’ll be strengthening your web of understanding with your own experiences, because you’ve been doing this for a while, so building your wisdom. And you are moving towards really believing and feeling these truths in your own bones, owning them for yourself. All right, after all that preamble, the first truth we are going to explore is that teaching is not a prerequisite for learning. And right off, oh my gosh, there are just so many aspects to this one truth, isn’t there? ANNA: It’s true. And I think it’s so interesting, because all of us can think of so many things we’ve learned without being specifically taught in that one way. And, oh my goodness, just look at babies learning to walk and talk without expert classroom instruction. And yet somehow schools have really sold us on this concept that to learn you need to be instructed by someone. And not only that, but learning happens while sitting at a desk. And let’s throw in some power dynamic, loss of autonomy, a little peer pressure for good measure. But even without all of that soup, the idea that we need another person to teach us in a very specific way is just so limiting. But what’s funny, personally, is that I didn’t want to homeschool in the beginning. I was very resistant because I didn’t want to be a teacher. So that statement right there shows you how deep I was in the idea that learning was about a teacher giving information to a student. I think it was just so baked into my experience and what I’d been told for my whole life. And so even when in my own life, there were all these examples of me learning things all the time as an adult on my own in different ways. But somehow those didn’t count now. It was just so interesting to unpack that for myself. And watching my kids was really what changed that, with a little point in the direction of observing from John Holt. I could see that I couldn’t even stop them from learning. They were just these little sponges, so interested in taking in everything, turning it around, trying to make sense of it, building context, building their own unique web of learning that we talk about so often. And then I started to kind of deconstruct the whole process. So, even with the most amazing, well-meaning teachers, and there are so many of those beautiful people out there, if a student wasn’t interested, it wasn’t going to work. And I also read a lot about brains at that time and how we don’t learn well under stress. And that’s when I started to think, is school ever a helpful environment for learning? Does it ever make sense? And I’m just not sure that it does. And I think learning can happen there, but it’s kind of despite the terrible environment, not because of it, not as if it’s an optimal environment. And like you said, it’s so individual. How does each person take in information? I prefer reading. I’m not auditory at all. David’s much more hands-on and experimental. So, long lectures just wouldn’t hold his attention. He needs to be moving at all times. There are definitely times I turn to people who know more than me about a particular subject. I love that. It’s fun to see how they approach it, how they move through the challenges. But in the end, their approach may or may not work for me, but I can learn more about them, the subject, and ultimately myself as I’m able to move in and out of that type of learning environment. I think the big thing here is just as we start to question and observe, ourselves, kids, our partners, see all the different ways that learning is happening every day around us. And it really just opens up such a new world. ERIKA: I love that. This idea is so huge. Once I started thinking about it, it’s like, oh my gosh. And it was one of my biggest paradigm shifts at the beginning of my own unschooling journey was realizing this truth. And I had a lot of fun digging into the word “teaching,” which started to not even make any sense to me anymore. Once I thought about it, it’s like somebody can say, “Well, I taught these kids how to do whatever.” And it’s like, but did you? You could say that you told them about it, but you really can’t say what happened inside of their brains. And so, I really liked questioning the word “teaching” overall and trying to move to the idea of just learning. Learning does not require teaching. Learning happens inside of the learner. And having someone teach you could be a way of learning something, but those two are not necessarily connected. And just because a teacher says that they taught people does not mean that they learned it. I know that’s true from my own experience in school and my experience as a classroom teacher in high school. I’ve taught more than high school. I taught music classes and some little kid classes as well. Everyone is so unique, every individual is so unique. And what I’ve seen is that process of teaching, the way that I would teach makes sense to my brain. It’s such a challenge to try to, what they would call in school, differentiate your instruction in order to meet everyone’s brains. But then the thing that’s missing from that is the interest. And so, the way people actually learn is by being open to learning and about being ready to learn. And so the format is less important. And the teacher is just a possibility. It’s not the only thing. And it’s not the thing that makes learning happen. I really think that having that experience as a teacher probably helped me get there a little bit faster on this part, because I’ve seen it. And so, I know that the classroom experience can be really frustrating for teachers and students. But I think you’re right, it’s not an optimal environment for learning in any way. Because we’re trying to get every single different person onto the same page in the same method. Trying to learn the same thing. And that just doesn’t really make sense if we think about how different everyone is. So yeah, I love this one. PAM: Yeah, I mean, for me, too, Erika, this was one of my big first shift. Because as you were saying, Anna, I didn’t want to be a teacher. When the kids came home, it was, oh, so I’m supposed to teach them now. But to recognize that teaching didn’t mean learning was happening at all. Why don’t I use the lens of learning for a while? Because anytime I use the word teaching in a sentence, I could actually rephrase it to look at learning instead. And looking at it through that lens was just so helpful for me on my journey. And it’s something to dance with, which we talked about. We've talked about the pendulum swing. We may think, oh, well, if teaching doesn’t make them learn, I guess I won’t teach. And then if we’ve started thinking of everything we share as teaching, I shouldn’t tell them things, right? So, you just let them figure it all out themselves. And then you recognize, oh, no, I can be part of this picture, as you were talking about, and I like dipping in and out when somebody else has more knowledge that you’re interested in getting. And Erika, you pointed out how important the interest part is. Because that is when it all bubbles up, right? When somebody is interested, maybe they’re asking questions, maybe they’re trying to do something. And we’re like, hey, I know a little something about this. This is how it works for me, do you want me to show you how it works for me? Keeping in mind that learning looks very different for each person. But we can still share the stuff that we know, that we think, all those pieces. So, the dance of the relationship of learning, for me, it’s really, really fun. And I don’t need to frame that as teaching. It’s just our relationship and how we all enjoy learning new things that we’re interested in at the moment. And so, Erika, something you said there at the end leads very much to the next truth that we wanted to talk about, about how people learn better when they’re interested and how teachers have this thing that they are supposed to be teaching. But so, anyway, second truth, curriculum is unnecessary for learning. That is something that many of us grew up with. It was a foundational truth that we didn’t even visit. School curriculum is all about just creating and delivering this linear system all around teaching delivery. It’s about divvying up all the bits that they want to teach over the next however many years equally, so that, this is what we do in grade one math, grade two math, grade three, blah, blah. And while most teachers understand that the most effective learning happens when the topic is relevant to the learner’s life, at least even better if they’re actually interested in it, that’s just not possible within this system, right? And most of the time, curricula is out of step with the learner. So, we flipped the perspective between teaching and learning. Let’s consider learning without following a curriculum. What would that look like? And what would that look like through the lens of a particular child? And when you think about it, that unique set of knowledge and skills that will be valuable to that child will be different, definitely, maybe a little bit, maybe wildly, from a school’s generalized curriculum, right? I think it’s so interesting to contemplate what our child chooses to learn just by following their curiosity and their interests as actually creating a beautifully individualized quote “curriculum” that really just fits them like a glove, because it meets them where they are in each moment. ERIKA: I like how that turns it on its head. We could still use the word curriculum, if we want to. It’s just completely different than it was in the school context. And I really think that this truth was hard to see when I was in the middle of it, because they’re saying that school is about learning, but school is more like a game where you have a goal to get good grades. And so, when you’re in that system, it doesn’t really matter what’s on the curriculum. That’s just the process of this particular game that we’re trying to play. So, it didn’t matter if something that I would want to learn was missing from that curriculum, because the point was to get good grades on this curriculum, so who cares? But in the real world, there’s just so much outside of school learning. If you think about almost anyone’s work in the real world, there are just so many aspects to it that are specific to that field that would never have been covered in school. I learned that curriculum was really chosen because it’s easy to test, or it’s easy to assign grades to these particular areas. Math could be so interesting. But school math has to be easy to grade. And the testing is really easy, based on the things that they’ve chosen for the curriculum. And so, once I realized that, it’s just so much less important than it feels when you’re inside that system. What people are supposed to learn in school, are not actually the most important bits of knowledge for living life. It’s much more random than that. And so, that’s why so many people get out of school and they’re like, why didn’t they teach us about these important things? Taxes, or how to buy a house, or fix my air conditioning system, or whatever, like things that would actually be useful, or even being in relationship, communication tools. Those would be useful things for life. What I’ve seen since then, in our unschooling lives, is that kids following their interests really does include everything that they’ll need to know for the life that they want to lead, which makes perfect sense. If they’re living the life they want to lead, they’re going to be learning the things that make sense for that. And so, any additional learning that looks more like school subjects could come up naturally, or maybe they’re just curious. What if they’re like, I’m curious about what school math is like. And so, it could be a side project if it’s interesting to them. But another great benefit of learning without a curriculum is like you were talking about the pacing and the order in which they learn is so individual and unique. So maybe they would be considered very far ahead in one area or behind in another area, according to school, but in the real world, that there’s no ahead and behind, there’s not a fixed order to things in the same way. And so it’s like what you were saying, developing their unique web of learning based on what makes sense to them and developing their own interests and skills as they grow with their unique brains, which is just going to look so different for different people. ANNA: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that piece of really deconstructing the whole of it. What is the goal? And what tools do they have? Because they're saying, we’re going to take the things out of math that are the easiest to measure. We’re not looking at what are the most important things of math to learn about, because they may not be easy to measure. And as soon as you start to unpack and deconstruct that a little bit, it’s like, wait a minute, why are we all in service of this system? What is that serving? I think a big sticking point for me with school learning has always been that linear aspect of it. It’s interesting, because it stuck out to me at first when I was pregnant and going through natural childbirth classes, we talked a lot about how labor isn’t linear. Doctors and hospitals would have you believe that you’re dilating at this set rate per hour. And if you don’t, they want to intervene. Well it’s one centimeter per hour we need to be doing. But that’s not how the body works. You know, it’s fits and starts, rests and surges. And so quickly, I could see how that made sense with learning, too. We aren’t going to learn one number a day. And then the next day, we’re going to learn one number. And let’s learn one color. No, no more colors today. Just this one color. And I saw my kids get interested in colors when they were so young, and wanting to know the color of everything, running around the house. What’s this? What’s that? Showing me all the pieces. That’s how they get excited about things and want to make sense in their brain. I saw them dive so deeply as they were exploring any topic, because you could see them building this context, building their web, placing the new information into their existing web. It is anything but linear, and any interruptions or redirections just messed with their flow. And that really reminded me of another thing I remember from my own time at school, was being in class in the middle of a large geometry proof, and the bell would ring, and on to a completely unrelated subject. Now we’re going to talk about history. And only to have to get back into that mindset for the proof later that night to do my homework, because it didn’t get finished during the class. And I hated it. I loved proofs so much, but I wanted to do them from start to finish without interruptions, because there’s so many pieces to it. But the constant interruption just killed my natural love of learning and love of math. And I just started playing the game, like you’re talking about, Erika. I just started playing the game. Okay, this is what they’re wanting me to do, is just check these boxes. So, give them what they want for the test, and then promptly forget it, because it doesn’t mean anything. And what I learned was not the material that was being presented, but how to survive and master that system. And so, I just think that’s happening every day in schools all around us, and nobody’s talking about that piece. And I will say that I definitely looked at all the different curricula when my girls were young. I was like, oh, there’s all these cool nature-based ones, because that’s what I love. But like we’ve talked about with any kind of classes before, I’d look at these things, and I’d feel like, oh my gosh, they’re so dumbed down, because even those more alternative curricula, we’re trying to make it linear. We’re going to learn about this bug today. Doesn’t matter if you’re seeing other bugs outside. We’re just going to do this one. And after observing my kids learning when they were so young, I knew context was everything. And to divorce a subject from the context of it just made it so abstract. It lost the meaning and just became about memorization. Okay, we’ll memorize what these bugs are. We won’t look at where they are, where we’re finding them. And it almost felt like it was tying their hand behind their back, because the world is so rich with things to learn, to see in context, to explore. And I came to believe that really no curricula could improve upon engaged parents exploring, supporting kids as their interests popped up in their kind of natural environment. And I say that to say, it’s not just schools that can do this. We can do this in homeschooling as well, if we’re trying to follow this linear model and not really watching how humans learn and understanding the specific brains of the people in our family. PAM: Yeah, that’s that whole curriculum piece, right? And another aspect that came up for me recently, in this area, someone commented on one of my Substack posts where I was talking about learning, and I’ll link to it in the show notes. But it was really interesting. They were very favorable. But the one thing they were concerned about was learning gaps. Gaps in their knowledge. And it’s just so bright now, having thought through all this. But look at all the assumptions that are just built into that learning, the idea of a learning gap, or summer learning loss, all those ideas. Because, number one, you basically got a curriculum against which you are comparing what somebody should know at some age for you to determine that’s a gap or you didn’t learn that when you were supposed to. So you’ve tied in curriculum there. And no matter how much people talk about lifelong learning, if you’ve still got a curriculum that something should be known by some particular age, lifelong learning doesn’t fit. It doesn’t matter when somebody learns something. When you have bring that lifelong learning lens to it, it’s like, when is it important? When are they interested in it? When will they actually use it? That’s a great time to learn it. It’s not like you need to learn in the past, in case someday you need it in the future, which is a lot of what curriculum is based around. So, I just found that to be super interesting, that there are just so many pieces wrapped up that just assume curriculum is the way people learn. And that just shows up and says, but I’m worried about learning gaps, which you can totally understand, but my goodness. ERIKA: I totally understand it. But it’s so interesting, because if you think about something, like if you were to point out to that adult about their learning gaps, something that they don’t know about, it’s like, oh, but that isn’t important. So, the school curriculum devalues everything outside of it. And so, learning gaps can only happen with school learning. You wouldn’t say, I have a learning gap about auto mechanics or something. I’m not expected to know that. And so, I think that’s super interesting and really something for us to turn around in our minds so that we value all of the different things that people might want to learn about and not just this one set. ANNA: Right, because I guarantee any of those kids that we’re talking about having a learning gap, they know things off the charts that other people, adults included, don’t know, because they followed a passion or interest. We see that all the time. And like you said, you wouldn’t say I have a learning gap because I don’t know about chainsaws like my husband does, but that serves him. And so, yeah, I think that’s one of those thoughts like my thought about how I don’t want to be a teacher. It’s that it's so baked in. It’s so baked in that we don’t even see it. PAM: Yeah, yeah. And that’s what I was excited to point out. It’s not that when that thing was being taught that we were just sitting in a corner, not doing anything, we were just learning so many other things. And I think this conversation also comes up some with some unschooling families when their kids decide to try school or they want to go check it out. And then all of a sudden, they’re measuring their knowledge versus the knowledge they think the child should have in whatever grade, etc. And, oh, we need to catch up. But instead of the phrasing “catch up” and “behind,” bring the lens of they’ve been learning all sorts of other things. Yeah, maybe not what matches specifically that curriculum, but they’ve been learning all sorts of other things. And they don’t lose those if they decide to go check out school. That is there, as you were talking about before, Anna, how rich life is, the context, all the things we know that are related to who we are as a human being and the things that we’re interested in. And if school becomes something we’re interested in, it’s like, oh, I’m not behind, but I’m bringing my full self. And then I can learn those other things, rather than getting all stressed, like, oh, my gosh, did we fail because they don’t know? ANNA: Okay, one quick thing before we move on, because I think it’s where we have that hierarchy, where we’re thinking school is somehow this important monolith, whatever we want to call it. And really, that’s why this deconstruction process is so important to understand school for what it is. It serves a particular purpose, and it is what it is. But if you were to take your child and put them into an auto mechanic shop, you wouldn’t expect them to know all the things in the auto mechanic shop. You would know they need to figure those things out and learn them. And someone might tell them about stuff, and they might read a book, and they might try different things. But why can’t we have that same environment with school to go, okay, yeah, they haven’t learned about how they annotate things and do this particular thing a certain way, so then they’ll learn about it, versus there’s something inherently wrong that they don’t know about it. Because it’s its own system, no different than any of these other systems. It’s not better or worse, but that takes the deconstruction to understand what’s behind it and how we got here. PAM: Oh, that’s beautiful, beautiful. Okay, yes, we should move on. The third truth is that children are always learning, because I mean, they really, really are. Humans are, right? But when you look at kids, you can see it in action, whether or not you can name it, whether or not they can name it, they are learning. Even when they’re cocooning, even when they’re watching a favorite show on repeat, they are having an experience. And the idea that children are always learning implies that learning doesn’t just happen at school, it doesn’t just happen with the teacher. So, let me go back another layer, and that nudges us to consider the idea that all learning is valuable, just like we were saying, like auto mechanics to somebody who needs that information and skill is just about as valuable to stuff that would appear in a regular school curriculum. Learning about themselves, learning about being in relationships with others, as you were talking about earlier, Erika, learning what they like and what they don’t like, what they’re curious about, what seems uninteresting, and how that changes over time. That is just all such valuable learning. Facts and skills are just other bits that are on that buffet table of learning, which each person can individually select at any particular time, what they’re interested in. And without the curriculum, and with this always learning lens, that brings us right back to that rich context that you were talking about, Anna, because if we’re following a curriculum, we’re really just picking out those bits. But when we’re like, I’m interested in this thing, all the things that are connected or that we notice come with that, when we’re not just focused on the quote “important little bits.” ANNA: And I think we’re at such an interesting time in human history, too, where we have access to everything, to people, to resources, to information that is very unique to our time, if we look back over the long scale. But no matter what, it’s really almost impossible to stop a human from learning. Even if you had no internet, you’re still going to be learning what’s important to you, what’s right in front of you. Every minute, we are taking in information, learning about ourselves, those around us, the environment. Learning is so much broader than the idea of subjects at school. And as I said earlier, divorcing concepts from context is really counter to actually learning about the concepts. And I feel that way about math, English, history, music, all of it. It’s that interconnectedness. It’s that understanding why we need it, why it’s important, how it serves us in the life that we want to live. That’s what gives it meaning and helps it stick. I loved watching my oldest as a toddler when she was putting things into context. The lion we saw in a book, then she saw it on a show, then she saw it at the zoo. And you could just see her building this web of understanding about it. And it’s so amazing to watch. I think that’s the special thing about kids is that they have so much context to build. So it’s happening very quickly. I think we’re all doing it as adults too, but we’ve been working on that web a little bit longer. So, I think it’s so much easier to see in that young child. And I think just that important piece of not ranking learning. Learning numbers is no more valuable than learning to draw or learning that you don’t like bright lights or learning how to be in relationship. It all has value. And I guess if there would be a ranking, it would be more about what helps you the most in your unique life. That’s really what we’ve been talking about. What helps you explore your interests, achieve your goals, be the person that you want to be. That’s a very different metric than what school values. And I think it’s why people get disenfranchised because they think I’m supposed to be learning this. They’re telling me this is important, but it’s not helping me towards my goal of being an artist or a musician or even a mathematician because it’s very different than what they’re doing in school. And so, I think that’s where people get where it feels bad and they start to think “I can’t learn” and all of those pieces. Okay, I’m going to stop. ERIKA: I remember getting those questions about, why do we need to learn this school? And I think most of the time I was pretty honest about, it’s on the curriculum and it’s going to be on a test. And so, that’s why we’re learning it. It’s interesting to some people and not to everyone. And I really think, people intuitively know that children are learning, especially when they’re babies and toddlers, like, as you were describing, you can just see it happening. But then we might forget if we think that learning happens in school. And so, we might forget that they were capable of that and they are still capable of that. And we all are. So if we think big kid learning needs to look like school, adult learning has to look like college courses, then you may not notice what’s actually happening and that learning is happening all the time. But as we were talking about earlier, what they learn might be outside of that limited range of what is like observable learning in school. And what’s really interesting for me to think back on is what I learned in school was also mostly outside of the range of what was tested. The memories I have of school and what I learned there were about people, how to be safe, like what the signs are of dysregulation, is what I would call it now. But that kind of hypervigilance, watching how people are behaving, how the teachers are behaving, how we’re being treated, and all of that kind of stuff. That is much more my memory of school than any particular little curriculum item that I would have learned and then forgotten. And so, how kids learn outside of school might not look anything like how it was taught in school, or how you remember learning it and everyone’s brains are different. I definitely have seen unschooling parents say they’re just not learning anything or things like that. And it’s just like, maybe let’s look at it differently, because that’s not possible. And so, the way that a unique child puts together their own web of learning, I love that image for it too. It makes so much sense that each person’s construction of their web is unique to them. And I’ve heard my kids come back about things and be like, oh, that’s what that meant when I saw that on that show one time. They will literally make connections, and I can see it happen, but it may not look anything like something that I would have thought they were supposed to have learned. But it’s just natural human learning. And there are so many internal things that people are learning. I think even in my experience in school, or other kids' experience in school, there are so many internal things they’re learning about themselves, they’re learning about relationships and human nature, it might look like they’re learning nothing. But I trust that they’re getting what they need out of those moments and putting together their own web. PAM: Right? That is so often conventionally devalued, because in school, that’s not measured. You want to measure just on those little bits that you know now. And then when we move on, the next time you kind of circle back, it’s just not valued. When you learn something and connect it, like you were saying earlier, Anna, it can’t really be measured. So, we can’t give it a grade. So, we just don’t consider it at all. It’s not part of school, which is how we come to see learning. Oh, my gosh! And I think that richness is just what is so missed, that context, that building that web of deeper understanding, that’s just so valuable. Okay, I’ll be quick. The fourth truth to explore. I love this one, too. And that is that learning is fun. Ooh, yes. Let’s try that one on for a bit. I think an interesting aspect of this idea. It’s something that you will, when you start learning about unschooling, you will come across it pretty quickly. The idea that our focus isn’t on learning a particular skill. We talk about following their interests and their passions instead of following a curriculum. So, from there, they pick up the skills that we’ve talked about that are helpful along the way, but they do it on their own timetable versus the curriculum’s timetable. I like to use reading as a classic example, because that’s something that people are concerned that their kids learn quickly. And that’s totally understandable, because at school, learning to read is definitely a goal. One that they hold out as key for a child to be able to learn. And again, that makes sense, because at school, not being able to read can definitely interfere with learning, because so much of the communication at school is written. It’s a characteristic of that system. Here’s your worksheets, write this test. It’s all about words and reading. But when the goal is pursuing their interests and passions, they have the time and space to find all sorts of ways to engage with the thing that they’re interested in. And we are there to read things for them whenever they like, if that’s how they want to bring in some information. And they also have the time and space to explore just that complex puzzle of reading in their own way, and at their own pace when their unique brain is ready for it. So not reading is in no way a handicap to learning when we’re unschooling. Another layer around the idea that learning is fun. It reminds us that people learn in different ways, as we’ve been talking about this whole time. Real learning is just so much more interactive and fluid than a classroom can accommodate. You really just have this one teaching style learning with reading, writing, communication, that’s really what you’ve got for learning there. Okay, then there’s yet another layer, because we like peeling back layers, and seeing how when kids are following their curiosity and pursuing their interests and goals, so often this learning happens almost incidentally, like they’re just having fun. They’re just like doing the thing they wanted to do. And it doesn’t even need to be labeled as learning. Once we get to that layer, at first we want to see, we want to expand our understanding of what learning is by basically labeling everything they do as learning. And then it’s like, when everything is a thing, then we don’t even need to label it. But because when they’re just engaging and doing the thing, it just now makes sense to them, and they remember it, like we were talking about earlier, because they chose to engage with it, it means something to them, and they’re going to be using it because it’s something they’re interested in. So even if something gets challenging or frustrating for a little while, so often they choose to keep going, because it’s helping them accomplish something that they want to do. And again, they learn along the way, they learn how to deal with frustration, feelings, learn how to move through those, maybe learn how to take a break. They learn how to choose, is this worth continuing pushing through or do I want to give it a break now? Do I never want to see it again? And then they learn six months later, it's not quite as hard as it was when they first burst out with it. But yeah, learning can be so much fun. ERIKA: Yes! And I feel like when they do hard things because it’s important to them instead of because someone’s telling them to, all of those things, it’s so curious to think about. And I really think the fact that in our schools, at least in my country right now, they’ve pushed the curriculum lower and lower into the younger ages, because it’s like, oh, well, if we want them to be at this level at this age, then they should be preparing for that earlier. And so, I mean, it’s gotten to the point where there is three-year-old curriculum that’s preparing them for four-year-old. All of this exists now. And so, this is not developmentally aligned. It doesn’t actually make any sense. And it backfires, because then kids think that they are stupid, or they think, I’m not good at this, or whatever internal messages they develop. But it’s really because we’re putting things on them in schools that their brains are not ready for, literally not ready for it. And so, there are kids who can thrive in that environment. But it’s pretty unusual. And so, following what’s most interesting to them, it’s like a little secret. I feel like it’s just the best way for them to learn everything. And I love that you pulled reading out, because it’s a tool. Reading is not an end result. And in school, it feels like reading is this end result. And we get so focused on it. Can they read? Can they read? It’s like, okay, but reading is a tool that humans use. Writing and reading are to help us share information with each other. This is a way that we can learn about things or research things or whatever. And so, reading is part of life, because it’s helpful to us. It’s not important as a skill on its own. Treating it like that, like a tool that is helpful, makes so much more sense. What I saw with my kids is they were curious about reading. They wanted to be able to do it because it would help them. It helps them in their games. It helps them communicate with others and all of this. And so, it really was a journey that they owned for themselves and it didn’t feel like me pushing them to learn it younger than they were ready to learn it. It felt like their curiosity was the driving force and then they picked it up as they needed in a way that made sense for their own brains. And so, I think kids just naturally learn about what’s fun and interesting to them. And when they’re young, it looks like playing and when they’re older, maybe it still looks like playing, or maybe it starts to look like something different and unique to them. It could be projects or processing ideas with us or interacting with friends. Maybe they want to sign up for a certain class. Maybe they love collecting certain things or whatever it is. It’s so unique to each individual person. I think the idea that learning isn’t fun that school gives us is so terrible and damaging to people. ANNA: Oh, it really is. Oh, and I love that you mentioned that reading is a tool, a tool among many other tools to learn and take in information. And I just love this whole idea that learning is fun. And I think it’s because I love learning all the things, that it is fun! And I love your point, Pam, about how unschooling, the learning almost appears incidental, but it’s so purposeful in the way that it’s helping the learner move towards something that’s important to them, whether that’s a goal, an understanding, whatever it might be. And I think because it can appear incidental, we brush it aside or think it’s not as important, or that it’s not this drudgery. And with any passion, the learning isn’t linear or confined to a subject. With a passion for Minecraft, you’re learning about building, geometry, animals, strategy, gems, tools, so many things. A passion for horses, the same. It incorporates all the school subjects, but then so much more, the connection, the nuances, all the pieces. And so, observation is really our friend here. Watch and walk alongside your kids and be amazed, because I was constantly amazed. And I think, Erika, you touched on this, unfortunately, one of the side effects of a poor school experience is a belief that learning has to be hard and it has to be drudgery to mean anything. But that’s not true. Learning is magic. It’s amazing. And again, there’s a deep internal drive that we have as humans to learn and understand the things around us. And as you both mentioned, it may not look like learning if we’re so narrowly defining learning, if we’re holding onto this school book drudgery as our definition of learning. But if you broaden your definition, you will see it’s rich and rewarding and absolutely equipping them to live a life that’s meaningful to them. PAM: Yeah. And you started talking about it and that’s the next truth that we’re going to explore, because they’re very related. So, that’s that learning is not hard. Through the lens of unschooling, that’s our next truth, that learning is not hard. And I found it distinct, because I could think learning is fun and hard. Like I want to enjoy learning, but it’s something hard that I do. So, I think that that’s why for me, I separated these out as well. And when you think about showing up at school, and this ties into what you were saying earlier, Erika, about the curriculum getting pushed down and down earlier and earlier, when kids are presented with this stuff, it really is so easy just to pick up the message that learning is hard. Because there are so many reasons in the classroom following this curriculum that it is hard for them. It’s totally true. Trying to learn something that you’re not interested in can definitely be hard. Trying to learn something that your brain is not ready to process and connect and bring together can definitely be hard. If it’s just something that’s not part of their day-to-day lives, so maybe they’re not super interested in it, but also they won’t be using it because it’s not something they need to do, then that is hard to learn because it often just doesn’t make sense. It’s just this little floating point, which earlier you mentioned, Anna, that’s when we end up stopping trying to understand what we would call learning and just memorize that factoid, because it has no context in our lives or in our interests. So, I just have to memorize this thing to perform on the test and to play that game. So, for lots of brains, learning in school and following curriculum is hard. And then just put yourself in there. If you’re trying to be interested in the thing, questions are so discouraged. And not because the teacher's just like, I don’t want to, but they don’t have time. If it’s not on the curriculum, we don’t have time to spend 20 minutes discussing it, because it won’t be on the test. How many people ended up asking that question eventually? It’s like, is this going to be on the test? And if not, you could just forget about it. It’s like, okay, I don’t even have to try memorizing or understanding it, because it’s not going to be on the test. When you imagine kids in school, their days really are just filled with that push and pull of what is it that I need to know? How do I memorize it? And in all that, because of all the testing and the grading, we become so afraid of being wrong and we can’t ask questions. So, we stop being curious about stuff. We have to answer questions on the test in exactly the same way that we were told. So, we don’t even try to think of other ways that might connect for us better or understand better. We have to say it the way it’s supposed to be said. So, our creativity fades. I just feel it’s become so ingrained in that school experience that we now think that is the human experience that learning is hard. Full stop. That’s just it. Learning for anybody is hard. But what so many unschooling parents have seen over these decades, as we’ve talked to more and more unschooling parents, what we’ve seen with our children is it’s the environment that makes a fundamental difference in how learning feels. When you’re doing the things that are interesting to you or that you want to learn, you’re following your curiosity, you’re following your needs, your own goals, oh my gosh, learning can be fun. And the incidental piece is like, it’s not hard because I’m meeting it where I am. And I’m meeting it right at the place where I can learn. If I do jump too far ahead, it’s like, this makes no sense. I’m going to find information or a person or whatever that’s going to meet me where I am. So, now I can just soak it up like that sponge. We can learn like little kids do no matter our age. When you think of challenging or frustrating moments in it, it doesn’t feel like the learning piece is hard. It’s just like, ooh, I’m trying to figure out this piece and I want to play around with it. I want to figure it out. It’s much less about defining all learning as hard, because this particular piece is challenging or frustrating for me in this moment. It’s just so interesting. ANNA: It’s true. And so this is going to sound a little bit cynical, but I think it’s really one of the ways that the powers that be keep us in line. Learning’s hard. You can’t do it on your own. You need these experts in this building or you’re not going to be successful. You’re not going to get a job. You won’t amount to anything. Because as soon as you realize learning isn’t hard when it’s in service of an interest and that you don’t need that expert and that building, the whole system starts to crumble. But truly what you said is so important to tease apart. Memorizing facts devoid of context is hard, especially for some brains. For other brains, memorization comes really easily and I think those people do well in school. And so, like most things, there is a grain of truth to the idea that learning is hard. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. And for me, I think watching the babies and toddlers learning so much in such a short amount of time just really blew the lid off the idea that we can’t learn without proper instruction. But even then, they pick out specific things. Well, then reading’s going to be hard or math is going to be hard. But again, it’s made harder by that environment and by that environment not taking into account different brains and different timelines. And if something does seem hard, is it still hard if we let go of the agenda around it, the timeline around it, the context? Is it a context issue that’s making it feel hard? Can we examine something that we’re saying feels hard and just understand it a little bit more? A few months ago, a Network member talked about how people will say learning gets harder as you get older. It’s another truism, learning gets harder as you get older. When really, it’s that being in that school environment gets harder because as adults, we have much more context for living alongside learning. So, the artificial environment and arbitrary hoops make much less sense and are much less tolerable than when we were kids and didn’t know there was a choice. And I think that there are actually some kids that intuitively know there’s a different way and they end up not doing well in school, because they just keep bucking, like, I’m going find my way out of this tiny little narrow place that you’re putting me in, because I know there’s another world out there. And for a lot of us, we don’t really discover that until we’re adults and realize we just performed for that system for many, many years. And now there’s this whole other world out here. ERIKA: My kids didn’t go to school and I didn’t question it when I was in school. And so, this was a lot of new information for me and super interesting. But what I observed with my kids was that they just resist anything that doesn’t interest them, period. And that’s not every personality. My husband, Josh, and I are really curious and interested in almost anything, where my kids are more interested in very specific things. And so, I can be like, isn’t this cool? And they’re just like, no, like, why would I care about that? So, it’s so unique. And then imagine in school where they’re not even saying, isn’t this cool? Most of the time, they’re just saying, you have to learn this. It's important to learn it. Of course, it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be hard to learn something if your brain either isn’t ready for or if it holds no interest at all. It just is so logical now for me to think about that. But when I was in it, I didn’t know what was the problem with these other kids, that they weren’t actively participating or they weren’t trying hard or to do better. So looking back on it, I’m like, okay, that doesn’t make any sense though. The reason why I’m doing well in this system is because I’m good at memorizing or because I’m able to put my internal feelings and thoughts to the side in service of, this is what they said to do. I want to get this good score, whatever. And so, looking back when I was first coming to unschooling, I felt a little bit jealous of the people who had realized about school when they were actually in school and were a little bit more rebellious, because I just totally got sucked into the game. I didn’t even see it. I did start to see it when I was a teacher in school. But the more I think about this story that most people tell about learning being hard and learning being no fun, the more upset I get about this. Because it really doesn’t have to be that way. And I think it affects people for the rest of their lives, either thinking that they can’t learn or that they hate certain topics. And I think this is also the core of the “adults versus kids” conflicts that people have in their lives. Because if the adults are saying, this is the most important thing, and the kids are saying, this is hard and I hate it, that clash is so terrible. And so, I think some kids can push themselves through it, but I don’t think that it’s natural and it doesn’t really make any sense because, like you were saying about the memorization aspect of it, the things that I remember from school are few and far between. It’s not like that memorization type of learning to put it down on a test. It's not learning that lasts or that makes any sense as something we take with us through our lives as important information. And so, yeah, this one upsets me. PAM: I know, it’s so true. That is what is so fascinating about this stage of the journey, I think. Okay, so it’s been a long time. I do want to thank everyone for joining us. And we do really hope that you enjoy diving into this stage of the de-schooling phase as we challenge some of our conventional beliefs about learning. I really think, as you were saying, it fundamentally sets us up so negatively, those conventional beliefs of how you have to be taught by a teacher, you have to follow a curriculum, learning is hard, learning is not fun, all of those pieces, we bring all that weight with us into adulthood. And we carry the message that we can’t learn. But then all the fun stuff that we’re doing and the deep dives into our own passions and interests, we don’t call them learning because they weren’t on a school curriculum, right? ANNA: We devalue it. PAM: We still carry the message, I can’t learn. Oh sure, I love this and I could do this for hours, but that doesn’t count, right? I mean, it’s just so deep, the messages that we carry. We do invite you to join us in the Living Joyfully Network to continue these kinds of conversations. It is a warm and welcoming online community of like-hearted parents, absolutely. And a nonjudgmental space where you can steep in these unconventional unschooling ideas and just explore what they might look like in the day-to-day of your unique and wonderful family of individuals. No matter where you are on the journey, just learning about it, been doing it for years, there are always layers to peel back around as things come up at different ages and stages. And we are very excited to welcome you. To learn more, just follow the link in the show notes or go to livingjoyfully.ca and just choose Network in the menu. And thank you so much, Anna and Erika! We wish everyone a lovely, lovely day. ERIKA: Bye! ANNA: Bye, take care.
In this episode Shallow and Jiunta break down what actually drives better sleep and recovery. They talk about stress, training, daily habits, nervous system load, routines vs principles, and why most people misunderstand sleep as something you "do" at night instead of a process you support all day. PSL1 Is Live! Sign Up Now At: https://www.pre-script.com/psl1 FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community - The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
Authentic contemplation requires the purification of the three faculties: memory, intellect, and will. By analyzing the "riverbanks" of the soul, we distinguish between mere emotional impulse and the deliberate act of the will ordered toward Christ as its final cause.Understanding why St. John of the Cross prioritizes the triad of memory, intellect, and will as the principal seats of spiritual operation and their specific disposition via the theological virtues.An analysis of "mountains" (excess) and "lowlands" (defect) as the extremes of vice that pull the soul away from its supernatural end.Why venial sins and spiritual imperfections thrive in the “riverbank” state—acts that appear level but lack the right order and certitude of faith.How the humanity of Christ serves as the objective “mean” between extremes, providing the necessary framework for interpreting reality and neighbor.The Midnight Compass: Stop treating the Dark Night like a mood disorder. You don't need another devotional; you need a map for the void. Get the bi-weekly field guide featuring exact translations and the "Reflect-Pray-Act" micro-disciplines to turn your daily silence into presence and encounter. midnightcarmelite.com/compassStuck in the Silence? The old maps—standard devotionals and "trying harder"—won't work here. You need new coordinates. I wrote a comprehensive guide on the metaphysics of the Dark Night and how to navigate it without losing your mind. Start Here: Read the Field Guide https://midnightcarmelite.com/darknight/
Notes
Notes
Join Marilyn and Sarah as they welcome special guest Jason Cusick to discuss his book, The Anxiety Field Guide. You can learn how you can break free from anxiety.
Click here to send a message. We love to hear from our listeners! Send us a text message and share your feedback Lake Superior is not just cold, it's demanding. The weather can turn fast, the waves hit differently than the ocean, and a shipwreck that felt “familiar” a decade ago may have collapsed into something sharp, dark, and dangerous today. We sit down with Stephen B. Daniel, an accomplished diver, author, illustrator, photographer, and maritime expert who has logged 530+ dives and brought countless wrecks to the surface through detailed underwater sketches and diver-friendly maps. We get practical about Lake Superior scuba diving safety: how Stephen plans a wreck dive, why dry suit layering matters, what good buoyancy control protects, and how depth changes everything from bottom time to decompression risk. He shares stories from standout dives like the SS America and describes what makes a wreck beautiful and what makes it a trap when storms shift structure and visibility drops. Then we zoom out to shipwreck preservation and Great Lakes maritime history. Stephen explains the difference between documented and undocumented wrecks, why laws like the Abandoned Shipwreck Act exist, and why “take pictures, leave bubbles” is more than a slogan. We also explore underwater photogrammetry and 3D shipwreck models that let non-divers experience these sites, track how wrecks change over time, and protect the past without removing it from the lake. If you care about shipwreck diving, boating safety, or the hidden history off Lake Superior's North Shore, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves the Great Lakes, and leave a review, then tell us: should shipwrecks be treated as underwater museums?Support the show
PART 1: High‑functioning teams don't succeed by accident—they succeed because they operate like institutions with a shared mission, not loose collections of talented individuals. When a team aligns around a clear purpose, common language, and consistent expectations, it creates a culture that outperforms any one person's contribution. In this podcast, Ken and Scott explore how great teams are built, not born, and that their excellence can be observed in ten specific traits. These traits form a practical checklist leaders can use to diagnose strengths, spot gaps, and intentionally shape a team that is cohesive, resilient, and capable of sustained high performance. Also in this episode, the AllianceBernstein Digital Coach – see practice management solutions for advisor success: abfunds.com/go/digitalcoach DISCLAIMER Note to All Readers: The information contained here reflects the views of AllianceBernstein L.P. or its affiliates and sources it believes are reliable as of the date of this podcast. AllianceBernstein L.P. makes no representations or warranties concerning the accuracy of any data. There is no guarantee that any projection, forecast or opinion in this material will be realized. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The views expressed here may change at any time after the date of this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. AllianceBernstein L.P. does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. It does not take an investor's personal investment objectives or financial situation into account; investors should discuss their individual circumstances with appropriate professionals before making any decisions. This information should not be construed as sales or marketing material or an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, product or service sponsored by AllianceBernstein or its affiliates.
Enjoy these back to back throwback episodes! Forbidden Knowledge Network https://forbiddenknowledge.news/ FKN Link Treehttps://linktr.ee/FKNlinksMake a Donation to Forbidden Knowledge News https://www.paypal.me/forbiddenknowledgenehttps://buymeacoffee.com/forbiddenTake control of your health now with Christian Yordanov's Live Longer Program https://www.livelongerformula.com/fknWe are back on YouTube! https://youtube.com/@forbiddenknowledgenews?si=XQhXCjteMKYNUJSjBackup channelhttps://youtube.com/@fknshow1?si=tIoIjpUGeSoRNaEsDoors of Perception is available now on Amazon Prime!https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.8a60e6c7-678d-4502-b335-adfbb30697b8&ref_=atv_lp_share_mv&r=webDoors of Perception official trailerhttps://youtu.be/F-VJ01kMSII?si=Ee6xwtUONA18HNLZListen to Forbidden Knowledge News on clearair.fm every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 12:15pm CSThttps://clearair.fm/Pick up Independent Media Token herehttps://www.independentmediatoken.com/Be prepared for any emergency with Prep Starts Now!https://prepstartsnow.com/discount/FKNStart your microdosing journey with BrainsupremeGet 15% off your order here!!https://brainsupreme.co/FKN15Book a free consultation with Jennifer Halcame Emailjenniferhalcame@gmail.comFacebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561665957079&mibextid=ZbWKwLWatch The Forbidden Documentary: Occult Louisiana on Tubi: https://link.tubi.tv/pGXW6chxCJbC60 PurplePowerhttps://go.shopc60.com/FORBIDDEN10/or use coupon code knowledge10Johnny Larson's artworkhttps://www.patreon.com/JohnnyLarsonSign up on Rokfin!https://rokfin.com/fknplusPodcastshttps://www.spreaker.com/show/forbiddenAvailable on all platforms Support FKN on Spreaker https://spreaker.page.link/KoPgfbEq8kcsR5oj9FKN ON Rumblehttps://rumble.com/c/FKNpGet Cory Hughes books!Lee Harvey Oswald In Black and White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJ2PQJRMA Warning From History Audio bookhttps://buymeacoffee.com/jfkbook/e/392579https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jfkbookhttps://www.amazon.com/Warning-History-Cory-Hughes/dp/B0CL14VQY6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=72HEFZQA7TAP&keywords=a+warning+from+history+cory+hughes&qid=1698861279&sprefix=a+warning+fro%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1https://coryhughes.org/Our Facebook pageshttps://www.facebook.com/forbiddenknowledgenewsconspiracy/https://www.facebook.com/FKNNetwork/Instagram @forbiddenknowledgenews1@forbiddenknowledgenetworkXhttps://x.com/ForbiddenKnow10?t=uO5AqEtDuHdF9fXYtCUtfw&s=09Email Forbidden Knowledge News forbiddenknowledgenews@gmail.comsome music thanks to:https://www.bensound.com/ULFAPO3OJSCGN8LDDGLBEYNSIXA6EMZJ5FUXWYNC6WJNJKRS8DH27IXE3D73E97DC6JMAFZLSZDGTWFIBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/forbidden-knowledge-news--3589233/support.
Allan Sturm is an expert photo analyst—specifically, of images of the moon. Allan's incredible visual data has drawn the attention of servicemen, professionals in photography, and space enthusiasts alike because his military-level photo analysis techniques have revealed strange shapes and structures in aerial photos of the moon. Past conversations on Metaphysical in Parts 1 and 2 dived into Allan's background and talked about how to evaluate moon images for yourself. But this episode will be unique. For the first fifteen minutes or so, Allan shows a live photo breakdown where he points out specific areas of interest in a photo and shows us the level of detail you can get into when viewing moon images. After that, dive into Rob and John's live reactions, some questions they have for Allan, and finally, a discussion on whether these are intelligently designed structures or not—including one image that John's team remote viewed. Are these structures on the moon millions of years old? Join investigative researcher Rob Counts and professional remote viewer John Vivanco for a Metaphysical show that's out of this world. The Archaeologist's Field Guide to Lunar Mission Photography - https://www.exoarchaeologist.com/
Allan Sturm has uncovered structures on the moon's surface: shapes and images that seem to imply artificial construction. Allan is the first person to take photo analysis techniques that covert military groups use to find terrorist compounds, and apply those techniques to photos of the moon. Servicemen have been floored at the accuracy of Allan's data scrutiny. However, while we might call them evidence of extraterrestrial activity, Allan is more interested in pointing out the details of the data than interpreting it. Let's see what YOU think. In this episode, Allan shows us his photos of the moon's surface, how he analyzes them, and the technical information that most people don't have when they see strange images of the moon's surface. Join investigative researcher Rob Counts and remote viewer John Vivanco in Part 2 as they interview professional photo analyst and author Allan Sturm. Allan's book, The Exoarchaeologist's Field Guide to Lunar Mission Photography: https://exoarchaeologist.com/ Note: all images shared on Metaphysical with permission by Allan Sturm Note: This episode was recorded as the sun was setting over the course of a number of hours. Then some parts that were supplementary at the end got added in the middle to give more context. So the time (and background colors) may change before your eyes! This interview was 100% real humans talking.
Something is on the moon. What one photo analyst discovered changed everything. For years, people have claimed to see buildings, objects, and even living things on the moon's surface. As skeptics have pointed out, though, it's impossible to tell from these viral images alone that there really are structures there—when they could just be grey blobs. Covert teams in combat situations are tasked with combing over blurry aerial photos with military precision. They're trained to quickly identify visual information you and I can't: the corner of a structure; a manmade object; or something hiding a terrorist compound, secret base, and other things hidden to those who don't have the eyes to see. What if those same photo analysis techniques could be applied to images of the moon? That's where Allan Sturm changed everything. As a civilian hobbyist and expert photo editor, he spent thousands and thousands of hours analyzing moon photos. In the process, he developed specific techniques that left these military men astonished when they saw what he was doing—because it allowed him to identify spatial relationships between objects the way they did, and generate real data about what's on the lunar surface. Allan's knowledge of camera technology and photo editing is mindblowing as he explains how to look at moon photos. This may be some of the most amazing technical information Metaphysical has ever dived into, way beyond any sensational conversation about clickbait moon images. Join investigative researcher Rob Counts and remote viewer John Vivanco as they interview professional photo analyst and author Allan Sturm. Allan's book, The Exoarchaeologist's Field Guide to Lunar Mission Photography: https://exoarchaeologist.com/ Note: all images shared on Metaphysical with permission by Allan Sturm Note: This episode was recorded as the sun was setting over the course of a number of hours. Then some parts that were supplementary at the end got added in the middle to give more context. So the time (and background colors) may change before your eyes! This interview was 100% real humans talking.
We're joined by Dr. Benjamin Lefebvre to dive into the mysteries of L.M. Montgomery's final, unconventional work, The Blythes Are Quoted. We explore the book's journey to publication, its surprisingly dark themes, and how it reshapes the legacy of our beloved Anne Shirley. It's a fascinating look at the complex reality behind one of Montgomery's most controversial works. You can see more from our guest, Dr. Benjamin Lefebvre over at L.M. Montgomery Online. Inspired by: Ragon is inspired by the Love's Academic series by India Holton, starting with the first one, The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love. Kelly is inspired by Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Ben is inspired by Imagining Anne by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly for peak inside Maud's scrapbooks and the novel Maud by Melanie J. Fishbane for a fictionalized account of Maud's teenage years. You can support the pod by shopping through our Bookshop link for any books we've recommended! If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media! Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram.
A tourist is stranded after a mysterious incident destroys all the paths leading to the tourist's home, a seemingly identical city that once existed just beyond the surface of a mirror. Genre: Fantastical Mystery Excerpt:"I'll be damned," I heard a voice say. My roommate's voice. And she…saw me. She saw me vanish. She saw me reappear. She saw me without stripes on. She saw my fluted ears peaking from under my indigo hair. She saw the copper shimmer and the green gleam of my skin. She saw my irises, round but spinning slowly, almost imperceptibly, like the minute hand of a clock. The Wheel of Fiction Turns. What did it land on this time?Each Season 9 story follows a theme chosen by the Wheel of Fiction. Thirteen spokes. Eight are the themes from previous seasons. One is "Turn Again." One is a wild card. And three are covered in question marks and will be revealed when the wheel lands on them. See a story trailer and a (satisfying) video of the wheel turning here: Citizen Forsaken This episode landed on PROMPTS. The prompt I used to inspire this story was to list five facts about my character that no one else knew. Find more stories and episodes that revisit previous stories here: Year of Prompts. MERCH!Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork?Please visit my Store page for info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE The Store page also has sign-up forms for my two email newsletters: Storyfeather Gazette (if you'd like to keep up with the fiction I create) Fictioneer's Field Guide (if you'd like writing tips and guidance from me by email) Choose what you want. (Either way, you're choosing high jinks.) MY FIRST BOOK (yay)Ever wonder how I've gotten all these hundreds of stories written? I have a method. You can learn it in my book called Fictioneer's Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories. It's now available from Amazon as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover. You can also get there from my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE CREDITSStory: "Citizen Forsaken" Copyright © 2021 by Nila L. PatelNarration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel Music:"Abstract Vision #2" by ANDREW SITKOV (Intro)"Abstract Vision #3" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)"Abstract Vision #5" by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro) Music by TAO & SOUND"80s Synth Ambient 01 C" "Cry No More – Intro""Cry No More – (A) Melody Loop""U Never Had to Exist – Intro""U Never Had to Exist – (A) Melody Loop" Music by ANDREW SITKOV (MuzStation Game Music)"Abstract Vision #2""Abstract Vision #3""Abstract Vision #4""Abstract Vision #6" Music by CHRIS LOGSDON"Level 1""Level 6""Level 7""Level 4" All tracks are part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market. Music by Tao & Sound, Chris Logsdon, and Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev MarketChanges made to the musical tracks? Just cropping of some to align with my narration. Find more music by Tao & Sound, Chris Logsdon, and Andrew Sitkov at gamedevmarket.net Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com Episode Art Description:Digital drawing. Center left, a humanoid figure seen from waist-up and in right profile reaches out with the right arm toward a ball of light surrounded by hazy glow at top right corner. The figure has six digits on their hand and an elongated ear that rises into their flowing hair and above their head. Bottom right, dark hazy shapes of skyscrapers and high-rises at night. The sky appears filled with iridescent clouds. Ghostly afterimages of the figure appear around the figure. Watermark of "Storyfeather" along the figure's outstretched forearm.
Shallow and Jiunta dig into the culture of reaction content in the fitness industry and why so many coaches waste time fighting nonsense instead of building something useful. Join the PSL1 Waitlist For Our Only Course Discount: https://www.pre-script.com/psl1 FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community -The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
Episode 6, The Passing Winter, finds Benedict doubling down on his cottage solution, convinced he has found a way forward for himself and Sophie. Sophie, meanwhile, is forced to reckon with the practical consequences of their intimacy, and the two of them begin confronting what their future might actually require. Elsewhere, Penelope faces renewed pressure over Whistledown, Alice continues learning the realities of court life beside the Queen, and Anthony returns to London to dominate proceedings as the Bridgertons adjust to life with a new heir. Featuring: - Organisational queens - Several consecutive character spirals - Sibling rivalries - A lot of unwelcome reality checks - Cressida apologism - Unrecognised power imbalance - Kate apologism - Actual and metaphorical cross-class cosplay - Bridgertons always choose themselves - A bummer of an ending Here are is the media we talk about in this episode: - Bridgerton, a television series - An Offer from a Gentleman, a book by Julia Quinn - When He Was Wicked, a book by Julia Quinn - ‘A Husband for Fanny', included in Snowdrift and other Stories, a short story by Georgette Heyer - Heated Rivalry, a television series by Jacob Tierney - Married at First Sight, an Australian reality television series - The Beckham family feud - The ‘Firm', a description of the British Royal Family - Mean Girls, a film by Mark Waters - Romancing Mr Bridgerton, a book by Julia Quinn - ‘Just What I Needed', a song by The Cars - ‘Fields of Gold', a song by Sting - Jurassic Park: Rebirth, a film by Gareth Edwards - Gosford Park, a film by Robert Altman - Les Miserables, a novel by Victor Hugo - Schitt's Creek, a television series by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy Our guest host this episode is the luminous Mirandi Riwoe. You can hear more from Mirandi on instagram or read her beautiful novels. Mirandi has brought something for your (heaving) TBR pile: Check out The Mission House by Carys Davies on her recommendation! Mirandi also asked us for recommendations. We suggested Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid, and The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love by India Holton. We also talked about The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Don't forget you can find us on facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram and bluesky @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. Please follow us on your favourite podcast provider! Leaving a 5-star rating and a review will not only help us find more listeners, but also keep you regular (iykyk). This episode was recorded on the traditional and unceded land of the Kaurna, Jagera, Turrbal, Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people. Our editor is Ben McKenzie of Splendid Chaps Productions. If you need production work completed, you can find them here: splendidchaps.com
Shallow is joined by Stu Locke to discuss the evolution of online coaching, the psychology behind why clients self-sabotage, and what it actually takes to build a sustainable coaching business. https://www.instagram.com/stu_kodiakbarbell/ PS Barbell Is Back! Sign Up Now: https://www.pre-script.com/pre-script-barbell FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community -The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
In this episode, we sit down with ultrarunning legend Hal Koerner and Ian Sharman to go beyond the race results and into the stories hidden between the aid stations. Hal reflects on the gritty era of ultrarunning when gear was simpler, races were rougher, and success often came down to who could stay calm while everything else unraveled. The conversation explores their approach to downhill running, how they learned to descend with confidence, and why many runners sabotage themselves by braking too much and overthinking every step. Hal also shares memorable moments from decades in the sport, including hallucinations, race-day mistakes, lessons from other legends, and the strange, beautiful chaos that unfolds after enough miles in the mountains. Along the way, we discuss how the sport has changed, from shoes and nutrition to the growing popularity of ultrarunning, while Hal remains the same smiling, endlessly curious runner with the grin that somehow survives even mile 90. By the end, the episode feels less like an interview and more like sitting beside a campfire with one of the sport's great storytellers while the mountains glow quietly in the background. Check out "Unbreakable" film SharmanUltra.com coaching Hal Koerner's Field Guide to Ultrarunning Preorder Ian's book, "The Art of Ultrarunning: Tried & Tested Strategies for Long-Distance. Episode Sponsors: Tifosi Optics - CLARITY ON THE TRAIL: Post your Golden Nugget of wisdom that helps you recover after a huge effort on Instagram, tag @TifosiOptics, @TrailRunnerNation, and use the hashtag #ClarityOnTheTrail. OR try texting us (within the USA) with your tip: 916-235-3928. If we use yours on a weekly episode, you get a pair of the new Sanctum SL glasses! Peluva - Footwear that let your feet be feet. Get 10% off on our DEALS page Timestamps 06:00 – What Ultrarunning Used to Be Like Hal reflects on the early days of the sport, when aid stations were simpler, shoes were sketchier, and ultrarunners seemed stitched together from duct tape, stubbornness, and peanut butter sandwiches. 14:00 – The Downhill Running Advantage Hal explains why his ability to descend gave him an edge, how he learned to trust gravity, and why most runners unknowingly fight the trail on every downhill. 27:00 – Hallucinations, Mistakes & The Weird Stuff That Happens After 80 Miles The conversation drifts into race stories, strange moments, and the surreal carnival that begins when exhaustion starts repainting reality with a very crooked brush. 40:00 – How the Sport Has Changed The evolution of ultrarunning, from carbon shoes and nutrition science to the explosion of races, gear, and attention. 53:00 – The Lessons That Last Hal shares the wisdom he has gathered after decades in the mountains: stay adaptable, keep your sense of humor, and never lose the grin, even when the trail is trying very hard to take it from you.
Shallow and Jiunta make the case for why the squat, bench, and deadlift aren't just strength tools, they're the most valuable sensory and coordination method of training available to any athlete or client. PS Barbell Is Back! Sign Up Now: https://www.pre-script.com/pre-script-barbell FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community -The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
Eric Bugera returns to RX'D Radio with a genuine argument for why specializing too early is one of the worst career decisions a trainer can make, and holds the experience to back it up. https://www.instagram.com/ericbugera/ https://ebugera.com/ Join the PSL1 Waitlist For Our Only Course Discount: https://www.pre-script.com/psl1 FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community -The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. For other strength training, health, and injury prevention resources, check out our website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. For more episodes, subscribe and tune in to our podcast. Also, make sure to sign up to our mailing list at www.pre-script.com to get the first updates on new programming releases. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/