Podcasts about just life

Stronghold Festival & Generation Hope Fr Andrew looks at youth ministry in Scotland, in particular the mission of Craig Lodge Family Retreat House and the MacFarlane Barrow family. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

We are joined by John Pontifex and Dr John Newton for the latest updates from Aid to the Church in Need, focusing this month on their work in Syria, Lebanon and Nigeria, shining a particular light on the recent political turmoil and rumours of Christian persecution in the UK media. www.acnuk.org/.ACN is a Pontifical Foundation of the Catholic Church and ministers to suffering Christian communities worldwide. JUST LIFE is programme encompassing all aspects everyday life, airing on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am, rebroadcast at 10pm the same day, and Saturdays 11am and 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side. www.radiomariaengland.uk

In this archive programme from 2022, Simon John looks at the slavery of children in the harvesting of cocoa and how the chocolate industry isn't doing enough to bring it to an end. Simon John is a retired solicitor and life long human rights activist with a passion for fighting modern slavery.Find out about Simon's work with the Diocese of East Anglia here: ⁠https://www.rcdea.org.uk/caritas-east-anglia/modern-slavery/⁠. The Modern Slavery Helpline is 08000 121 700. JUST LIFE is programme encompassing all aspects everyday life, airing on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am, rebroadcast at 10pm the same day, and Saturdays 11am and 10pm.If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side. ⁠www.radiomariaengland.uk

Lauren Heithaus, founder of Hidden Catholic, giving tours of Catholic England, is joined with Delphine, who was one of the MCs for the Woman in the Church Summit, to explore the quiet, transformative call of spiritual motherhood as they reflect their experiences at the summit - the often unseen ways women nuture faith, create space for growth, and form the Church from within. Lauren also talks with Marilis, founder of Cor Filiae, meaning Heart of the Daughter, and how it flows directly from the heart of spiritual motherhood - a desire to form women deeply and help them rediscover their identity as daughters of God. It's a conversation about hidden strength and the quiet yes that changes everything.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Join Lauren Heithaus on a deeply moving pilgrimage across time and landscape as she journeys to two of Britain's most sacred and enduring holy wells: Ladyewell Shrine in Lancashire and St Winefride's Well in North Wales. Along the way, you'll walk the paths of hidden recusant Catholics, hear the miraculous story of St Winefride, and pause at ruined abbeys, quiet chapels, and flowing springs that have brought hope and healing to generations of pilgrims. Whether you're walking with Lauren in spirit or simply tuning in from home, this episode invites you to rediscover what it means to be a pilgrim — to carry your wounds, your prayers, and your hope toward the Living Water that never runs dry.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Dr Andrew Parker, a psychiatrist, discusses mental health with Fr Toby, emphaisising the importance of personal growth and agency in spite of circumstances. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

In this fascinating episode of Just Life, Lauren takes us on a spiritual treasure hunt through some of the UK's most iconic institutions — the British Museum, British Library, Tower of London, National Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.She reveals the hidden religious items tucked away in plain sight — from ancient relics and illuminated manuscripts to sacred art and royal chapels — all quietly testifying to centuries of Christian devotion, prayer, and mystery.Lauren reflects on how encountering these sacred pieces in secular spaces can inspire a deeper awareness of faith in everyday life, inviting us to see God's presence woven through history and culture.Whether you're a pilgrim or a museum lover, this episode will open your eyes to the divine treasures hidden in the heart of London.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Episode 316 features William and Brendan from the Billy Rooster Band. Billy is a rock musician from Baltimore, MD, currently releasing new music. Brendan Clarke, a.k.a. Bassclarke, is a longtime alum of the show. William Flagle, a.k.a. Billy Rooster, released an album in 2024 called That's Just Life and has some new singles out this year as well. I featured his tracks "That's Just Life" and "Save Me" on this episode. If you like them, you can stream them wherever you listen to music. His upcoming shows are on 4/26 at The Depot in Baltimore and 5/8 at Ottobar in Baltimore. In the conversation, we covered a lot of ground—talking about his writing style, influences, and the shows he's been playing. Brendan also chimed in quite a bit throughout. Thanks for listening and supporting local music.     Part-Time Rockstar Spotify Playlist   Please follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you are streaming if you'd like to help us out.  -- Part-Time Rockstar Productions is available in the DMV for music videos and live filming. 

Pilgrimage has been at the heart of Christian life for centuries, but what does it really mean? In this episode of Just Life on Radio Maria, we'll uncover the history of pilgrimage in Britain, from the sacred journeys of early Christians to the great medieval pilgrim routes—and how the Reformation nearly erased them. As we go through the Jubilee Year of Hope, pilgrimage is making a  return, not just to shrines and cathedrals, but to places of history, culture, and faith. This episode sets the stage for a deeper journey into the pilgrim paths of the UK—both well-known and hidden—showing how pilgrimage is alive and waiting to be rediscovered. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Fiorella de Maria returns to Radio Maria to introduce us to her children's series about a skating home-schooling family. Compelling and heart-warming, these novels bring out the joys and challenges of a modern English family.Fiorella is an author and mother from leafy Surrey in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Fiorella de Maria returns to Radio Maria to introduce us to her children's series about a skating homeschooling family. Compelling and heartwarming, these novels bring out the joys and challenges of a modern English family.Fiorella is an author and mother from leafy Surrey in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Join Lauren from Hidden Catholic on Radio Maria England as she walks the ancient Pilgrims' Way from Southwark to Canterbury. Discover the rich history of St. Thomas Becket, the medieval pilgrims who journeyed in faith, and what it means to walk a pilgrimage today. Whether you've trekked the route yourself or dream of doing so, this episode brings England's sacred paths to life.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Churchill's language shows the finger of God was upon him - and that he was aware of it. Edmund reflects on Churchill's use of language, the victory that was won, as well as England's identity as the Dowry of Mary. This programme fortifies us in our understanding of our own country and what it exists for, and so encourages us all. Edmund Matyjaszek is a poet and playright, who lives on the Isle of Wight. He contributes to Radio Maria's Saint of the Day programme each Saturday.JUST LIFE is programme encompassing all aspects everyday life, airing on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am, rebroadcast at 10pm the same day, and Saturdays 11am and 8pm.If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

CEO of Caritas Westminster, Richard Harries speaks to Lord Lemos, author of 'Childhood and Contemporary Catholicism' - a compelling and timely argument that Catholic faith and religious practice still hold a unique and vital significance for children. All involved in the education and spiritual formation of the young will find this book most useful for understanding the essential role of Catholicism in nurturing the spiritual and moral development of the younger generation.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Simon looks at the Home Office's recently released figures on Modern Slavery for 2024 and homes in on some recent cases in the Diocese of East Anglia. Simon John is a retired solicitor and lifelong human rights activist from Thetford in Suffolk. His series 'Set the Downtrodden Free' has been running on Radio Maria since 2021. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. Visit RadioMariaEngland.uk/donations/ to find out more. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Churchill's language shows the finger of God was upon him - and that he was aware of it. Edmund reflects on Churchill's use of language, the victory that was won, as well as England's identity as the Dowry of Mary. This programme fortifies us in our understanding of our own country and what it exists for, and so encourages us all. Edmund Matyjaszek is a poet and playwright who lives on the Isle of Wight. He contributes to Radio Maria's Saint of the Day programme each Saturday.JUST LIFE is programme encompassing all aspects everyday life, airing on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am, rebroadcast at 10pm the same day, and Saturdays 11am and 8pm.If you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.

Brenden Thompson of Word on Fire joins Fr Toby to talk about the second London conference.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Listen to the inspiring story of a South African woman whose determination to become a nun (before she was even Catholic) set her on a course of caring for the poor, the sick and the unusual privilage of accompanying the dying among many other adventures described Sr Dorothea of Nazareth House. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Fr Toby chats with Jimmy in the lead-up to World Leprosy Day.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Jenny Sinclair, Director and Founder of Together for the Common Good shares her story with Fr Toby, reflecting on the power of friendships, and the gift of Catholic Social Teaching for building a society in which every person can flourish.JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Today Simon is joined by fellow Modern Slavery advocate Mark Little who received an MBE from the Queen for his work fighting modern slavery worldwide. Simon looks at the life of St Josephine Bakhita, who was herself a slave and is the patron saint of human trafficking and whose feast the Church celebrates on 8th Feburary, and what it is that inspires him to fight for the enslaved, whilst Mark shares some cases of slavery in Nepal and India where much of his work has been based. For more information see: www.rcdea.org.uk/caritas-east-anglia/modern-slavery/ . The Modern Slavery Helpline is 08000 121 700. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Fr Conor McDonough speaks to Fr Toby about the phenomenon of young people (especially young men) turning to Christianity through the influence of people like Jordan Peterson. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Derek takes us through St John's Gospel giving a spiritual reflection on the verses as he goes. CREDO is a programme that nourishes listeners in their Catholic faith. It airs live on Radio Maria every weekday at 4pm and is rebroadcast at 4am the following morning.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.  JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Nigel Walter of Archangel Architects discusses his practise and vision with Fr Toby, including his most recent book, Making Your Church Sustainable. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side. 

Catholic writer, Karen Lawrence speaks about her book on walking from London to Walsingham. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side. 

A regular on Radio Maria, Simon John speaks about the Abolition of Slavery, slavery in India and the UN's International Day of the Abolition of Slavery. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Author Fiorella de Maria tells the remarkable story of Mons Hugh O'Flaherty. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Joanne talks about her remarkable journey and how she has found meaning and vocation through art. Joanne's was part of Cafod's 'Giving in Unity' exhibition at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, London, during November and December. Originally from Manchester she lives in Scotland's Highlands. JUST LIFE is a programme that encompasses all aspects of life and it airs live on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am, rebroadcast at 10pm the same day and on Saturdays at 11am and 8pm. Radio Maria is on digital radio (DAB+) in selected regions, the Radio Maria Play app (Europe/England), our website live-player and via a smart speaker. (Selected regions: London, Cambridge, Bristol, South Birmingham, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Stockport, Norwich, King's Lynn and Peterborough.) f you enjoyed this programme, please consider supporting us with a one-off or monthly donation. It is only through the generosity of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side.  ⁠⁠www.radiomariaengland.uk⁠

Christmas Nativity Performance - Stephanie Pena and Charlotte de Klee (Producer and Trustee), Mary and Harry speak about this year's upcomgin Wintershall Nativitiy Production. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

This episode features John Pontifex, Head of Press and Public Affairs with Amy Balog, Press Officer. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

John and Amy introduce us to Aid to the Church in Need's biennial Persecuted and Forgotten report, launched just this week in Parliament. From the attack on Churches in Jaranwala to a story of forced conversion and marriage in Egypt, is persecution of Christians worsening worldwide and what can we do to help? John Pontifex is Head of Press and Public Affairs and Amy Balog is Press Officer at ACN, Aid to the Church in Need, a Pontifical Foundation of the Catholic Church supporting Christians wherever they are oppressed or in need. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

The Inklings authored some of the most important books in the English language in the 20th century. This group of friends included famous writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield and Charles Williams, as well as others, who met in Oxford through the central decades of the 20th century to read and discuss literature together. This talk explores some of their key ideas, through their understanding of friendship, imagination and myth. Pablo Ulises Rodríguez Jordá is currently a PhD student in philosophy at the University of the Basque Country and a part-time lecturer at Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid. His research centres on the interaction between language and thought from the interdisciplinary paradigm of the cognitive sciences. He has a great interest in all things linguistic and 20th century English literature, especially in relation to the literary world of the Inklings. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office.

We're delighted to welcome back to Radio Maria author Fiorella de Maria. Today she talks to us about her new book Courage Under Fire: Father Willie Doyle SJ, Priest and Hero of the First World War bringing to life for us a lesser known figure of tremendous courage and holiness. Fiorella lives in leafy Surrey in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. As well as being an author, she is a mother of four. JUST LIFE is a programme that encompasses a wide range of everyday topics, broadcasting live on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, rebroadcast 10pm, and Saturday 11am and 8pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a one off or monthly donation to Radio Maria. It is only through the generous support of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side. www.radiomariaengland.uk

We welcome the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Movement on today's JUST LIFE with Liz Ansah, National Coordinator, who is joined by Scottish representative Pauline Gallagher. Based on the private revelations given to Hungarian Elisabeth Kindelmann starting in the 1960s, the Flame of Love Movement is becoming increasingly well-known. www.flameoflove.org.uk JUST LIFE is a programme that encompasses a wide range of everyday topics, broadcasting live on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, rebroadcast 10pm, and Saturday 11am and 8pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a one off or monthly donation to Radio Maria. It is only through the generous support of our listeners that we are able to be a Christian voice by your side. ⁠www.radiomariaengland.uk

Simon John makes a special appearance to speak about the problem of slavery during Anti Slavery Week. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

To commemorate the feast day of this remarkable pope and saint of our time Joanna Bogle joins us on Just Life to speak about pontificate of Pope St John Paul II, increasingly being known as Pope St John Paul the Great. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

John Green from the Jesuit Institute joins us on Just Life to share about their work in prisons and the importance of Prisoners' Sunday. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side. 

Richard Harries is joined by Ben Gilchrist, Chief Executive of Caritas for their monthly series. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Gwen Fawcett Wood tells the story embracing a life of mission in conversation with Maria Toone. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

A charity's dramatic journey to new law to help all animals abused in global tourism. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm. If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

To mark the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham being raised to a national feast in 2024 Edmund Matyjaszek takes us through the fascinating history of the shrine in this special broadcast of Just Life. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side

How does a man with a love for film and the teachings of the Catholic Church allow these two loves to speak to each other? Nathan Douglas, Canadian film director and cinephile tells Tim how in this fascinating conversation on Radio Maria's Just Life. JUST LIFE is a human formation programme brought to you by Radio Maria, airing on weekdays at 10am and rebroadcast at 10pm.  If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

I don't know about you but April has had a somewhat rocky start. Is this Mercury Retrograde, Age, Postpartum or JUST LIFE? PLUS Are you lonely or do you just lack intimacy in your life? Make sure you drop a comment below and SUBSCRIBE TO THE YOUTUBE PAGE!! Support the podcast If you have a situation that you want to be discussed on the podcast send me a message on IG or email us at: thatsscarypodcast@gmail.com! Make sure and leave a podcast review. It helps the show out TREMENDOUSLY! Follow and engage with us on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thatsscary_podcast Check out my amazon store: @ Opus link - https://www.opus.pro/?via=a00088 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/meloney-walker9/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/meloney-walker9/support

Al and Jonnie go through all the news and newly announced games Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:07: What Have We Been Up To 00:20:06: News 01:16:56: Outro Links Roots of Pacha Back on Steam Wholesome Direct Date Above Snakes Steamdeck Coral Island Summer Update Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos Plushie Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos New Screenshot Everdream Valley Release Marvelous Showcase Starstruck Vagabond Just Life Natsu-Mon 20th Century Summer Vacation Grandma Green Grimoire Groves Revenant Hill Circle of Kerzoven Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript [00:00.000 –> 00:30.000] . [00:30.000 –> 00:35.000] Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. [00:35.000 –> 00:44.000] My name is Al and I’m Johnny and we are here today to talk about farming games. [00:44.000 –> 00:51.000] Important note at the top as always transcripts are available for this episode in the show notes and on the Web site. [00:51.000 –> 00:55.000] So if you need that go and get that. How you doing Johnny? [00:55.000 –> 01:01.000] I’m good, I’m good. It’s early morning on a Sunday so we’ll see how coherent I am by the end of the episode. [01:01.000 –> 01:06.000] But other than that I’m excited to talk farming games like legitimately. [01:06.000 –> 01:10.000] That’s what we’re talking about today right? It’s just infinite farming games. [01:10.000 –> 01:18.000] So many games. So I have found like as always there’s always games that appear and I’m like oh that’s a game I didn’t know about it add it to the list. [01:18.000 –> 01:25.000] And I don’t always talk about those new games as I come across them because like sometimes you can get a bit overwhelmed. [01:25.000 –> 01:33.000] And we’ve gotten to the point where I had like a couple of games and I was like maybe it’s time to go through these games let’s do an episode on it. [01:33.000 –> 01:42.000] And then boom a bunch came out this week. A bunch were announced this week so it was the perfect week to do it apparently. [01:43.000 –> 01:44.000] I just didn’t know it. [01:44.000 –> 01:48.000] It was well planned because usually these things happen like immediately after you record the episode. [01:48.000 –> 01:53.000] So you’ve clearly nailed the timing after four years of doing the show. [01:53.000 –> 01:57.000] We’ll see. Let’s see what happens after this recording. [01:59.000 –> 02:02.000] Alright cool so we’re going to talk all about those new games. [02:02.000 –> 02:07.000] We’ve got some other news that isn’t new game related which we’ll go over. [02:07.000 –> 02:09.000] But first of all Johnny what have you been up to? [02:09.000 –> 02:12.000] Well Al there’s this new game I don’t know if you’ve heard of it. [02:12.000 –> 02:17.000] It’s called The Legend of Zelda and it’s very good. [02:17.000 –> 02:20.000] I know you’ve been playing it a whole ton. [02:20.000 –> 02:30.000] I’m pretty sure you’re well ahead of where I am but kind of anytime I have time I am playing the new Zelda and I love it. [02:30.000 –> 02:35.000] It’s like I know people are going crazy and saying it’s maybe the best game ever made. [02:35.000 –> 02:38.000] Those people are probably accurate it’s probably the best game ever made. [02:38.000 –> 02:45.000] I always like I’m not saying it’s not the best game ever made right because I’m saying I’m not willing to say that. [02:45.000 –> 02:51.000] I’m not I’m not willing to say it is the best game purely because like I don’t even know what that means. [02:51.000 –> 02:54.000] Right like how do you define the best game? [02:54.000 –> 02:56.000] So I can I can answer this question. [02:56.000 –> 03:02.000] So you think of a game and that game is better than all of the other games. [03:02.000 –> 03:04.000] That game is the best game. [03:04.000 –> 03:11.000] What does it mean to be better like this is it is very subjective right like I think there are plenty of people. [03:11.000 –> 03:16.000] None of them are apparently on my friends list because almost everyone on my friends list on the switch is playing it. [03:16.000 –> 03:24.000] But there are people who don’t like this type of game right and so that that would be a subjective thing to them. [03:24.000 –> 03:26.000] They would not enjoy that kind of game. [03:26.000 –> 03:32.000] Yeah I think what I personally really like about Zelda is just how open it is right. [03:32.000 –> 03:40.000] It took the concept from Breath of the Wild of kind of go anywhere and do anything into actually do anything. [03:40.000 –> 03:53.000] The ultra hand mechanic that’s kind of the huge innovation that makes this game not just Breath of the Wild 1.5. [03:53.000 –> 03:55.000] Yeah I would agree. [03:55.000 –> 04:00.000] I think it’s funny there’s two things I find really funny about people playing this game. [04:00.000 –> 04:04.000] And they do something crazy and they’re like oh they’d never know we do this. [04:04.000 –> 04:10.000] And I’m like no maybe not specifically that but like do you think they didn’t have this sort of thing in mind when they designed this feature. [04:10.000 –> 04:16.000] Do you really think that they were designing this feature for you to make a boat to go across a river. [04:16.000 –> 04:17.000] Of course they not. [04:17.000 –> 04:20.000] They knew that this would be incredible on social media. [04:20.000 –> 04:24.000] People would make these insane things and it would get them so much positive. [04:24.000 –> 04:28.000] They knew that come on like we know that these people know how to make games right. [04:28.000 –> 04:33.000] They’ve made two games in a row that people are saying are the best game ever made. [04:33.000 –> 04:39.000] Right like they know what they’re doing they absolutely knew what people would do with this. [04:39.000 –> 04:45.000] And the other thing is when people do like a shrine and they’re like oh this is not the proper way to do this shrine. [04:45.000 –> 04:48.000] And I’m like there is no proper way that’s the point. [04:48.000 –> 04:52.000] Right like there is an intended solution to make sure you can get through the shrine. [04:53.000 –> 04:58.000] But they’re totally open to you cheesing the hell out of the shrine if that is the way that you get through it. [04:58.000 –> 05:06.000] Like I’m at the point where I’ve got over a hundred shrines now and anytime I go into a shrine that has one of those like pressure sensitive things that you’re meant to do something with a ball. [05:06.000 –> 05:08.000] I’m like no no and I just shoot it with a bomb arrow. [05:08.000 –> 05:15.000] I’m done with those I’m fine with just just getting through like absolutely like that there’s no specific way to do these things. [05:15.000 –> 05:20.000] And it’s like even with some shrines there isn’t actually like a clear intended thing. [05:20.000 –> 05:22.000] Like there’s multiple different ways to do it. [05:22.000 –> 05:29.000] I think with a lot of them there is like here’s the way that this is like the as you say suggested way to do it. [05:29.000 –> 05:32.000] But I think there are even shrines that that’s not the case. [05:32.000 –> 05:37.000] Yeah that wouldn’t surprise me I’ve only done about 30 so um yeah you know. [05:37.000 –> 05:43.000] Relatively speaking I’m not that far in and it would not surprise me if there’s there’s shrines like that. [05:43.000 –> 05:48.000] And you know I was talking to some friends about Zelda last night and they haven’t played it yet. [05:48.000 –> 05:52.000] And they were asking you know because I’m off doing all of the side stuff and haven’t done any of the main story. [05:52.000 –> 05:54.000] They’re like but won’t you be overpowered when you come back to the story? [05:54.000 –> 06:01.000] It’s like no that’s not really a thing like yes you know I might have some powerful weapons by the time I come back. [06:01.000 –> 06:06.000] But it’s not like the combat is the gating in this game really I don’t find. [06:06.000 –> 06:12.000] No if you’ve played Breath of the Wild and you got good at the combat in Breath of the Wild you’re already overpowered for this game. [06:13.000 –> 06:27.000] Right like and sure you can get new weapon and stuff but you can get like the best weapon and the best bow and the best shield almost immediately in the game if you cared about it. [06:27.000 –> 06:30.000] Right they’re like they’re right there you can go and get them. [06:30.000 –> 06:31.000] Yep. [06:31.000 –> 06:40.000] Like nothing’s stopping you and so much if you are good at dodge this is the thing about Breath of the Wild this is actually why I love the combat in these games. [06:40.000 –> 06:46.000] Is if you are good at dodging you can beat any enemy with almost any weapon. [06:46.000 –> 06:50.000] It’ll take longer if you have lower powered weapons obviously you might get a bit bored. [06:50.000 –> 06:54.000] But you can if you’re good at it you can do anything with any of these enemies. [06:54.000 –> 07:00.000] Yeah and the thing I like right because I am not particularly good at the dodging mechanics I don’t have great timing. [07:00.000 –> 07:12.000] But even I can like there’s ways to cheese around the combat right and so I can go like I’ve gone and taken on some stuff that’s you know technically a lot more difficult than the quality of the weapons should let me beat. [07:12.000 –> 07:23.000] But with all of the ability to build stuff and bomb arrows and like all of the weapon fusing stuff you can get through some pretty difficult battles you know pretty easily if you want. [07:23.000 –> 07:37.000] Yeah just bomb everything and especially if you if you get to the point where you’ve got you know a significant number of batteries for the Zonai stuff you can make some pretty dangerous weapons with the with like the charge beams and stuff like that. [07:37.000 –> 07:49.000] Like you can I saw someone and someone defeated one of the glioks with literally 30 seconds with with a Zonai weapon. [07:49.000 –> 07:53.000] Like they’re just some of them you can make insanely overpowered things. [07:53.000 –> 08:07.000] Yeah and for me this is the most ridiculous thing about this game is so last night I finally kind of went into the underground so you know explored and done a lot of the towers and done some of the sky islands. [08:07.000 –> 08:14.000] And I’d done like just that very intro quest where you get the camera in the underground and that was all I had done. [08:15.000 –> 08:25.000] And I was like oh maybe I should go into the underground and do like the the second quest that’s that’s down there or the second quest that you get given to go down there and spend the entire night down there. [08:25.000 –> 08:38.000] And why is the underground so fun and like because to me it’s this thing that didn’t even need to be in the game right if they were just like here’s Breath of the Wild plus Sky Islands everyone would have been like great this game is amazing. [08:38.000 –> 08:54.000] Yeah and then they put this entire third map into the game and it wasn’t even the big promotion part and it’s so good it has no right to be that much fun to explore and just I don’t know it’s it’s amazing. [08:55.000 –> 09:03.000] And there’s also there’s there’s there’s are obviously like there’s loads of enemies down there that are just like the normal version but with gloom on them which is fine. [09:03.000 –> 09:12.000] Like people get annoyed about these I don’t think that’s a problem like I actually quite like that because it’s like it’s playing around with the usual enemies and making you have to think about them differently. [09:12.000 –> 09:20.000] But there are also completely exclusive enemies down there as well that you only get in the depths that you wouldn’t find anywhere else, which is fun as well. [09:20.000 –> 09:31.000] Yeah and I’m not really impacted by the like I’m like gloom enemies I’m running minimum hearts so they’re not that different to the regular enemies from my perspective. [09:32.000 –> 09:35.000] Run away. Run away and bomb them. [09:37.000 –> 09:41.000] Yeah yeah definitely avoid the the gloom Lionel. [09:41.000 –> 09:54.000] Yeah this is not a podcast about Zelda so we’re going to stop talking about this just now and we will be doing I guarantee you we will be doing a greenhouse episode about Zelda because I think we have a lot more to talk about it. [09:54.000 –> 10:02.000] So look out for that probably a couple of weeks but it will come out but yeah okay cool anything else other than Zelda? [10:03.000 –> 10:20.000] As usual just being you know Marvel snapping up a storm it’s still a really good game I have no idea what they’re trying to do in order to monetize this game because other than season passes like I just look at the bundles that they release and I just am so fascinated by who would be picking up these things. [10:20.000 –> 10:40.000] I think it’s I think it’s I think the season pass is for most people who will if you’re going to put any money and you’re going to do the season pass right like that is that is the thing to do I think the bundles are for for the whales right the whales will spend a ridiculous amount of money and they’ll do whatever it’s like oh yeah I’ll drop 50 quid for that of course like some people. [10:40.000 –> 10:44.000] I would say in most games I am a whale and it’s too much for me. [10:45.000 –> 11:04.000] I feel like probably we just don’t fully understand what whales are like whales are not like oh yeah I’ve put in 200 quid this year right like that’s not a whale that’s that’s a decent chunk of money but it’s not a whale a whale is like yeah all my free money is going in this you know. [11:04.000 –> 11:33.000] I guess by that definition I’m definitely not but I mean I yeah it’s their pricing is insane but High Evolutionary just came out which is a very fun card has you know really taken over the meta game for the last few days and I may have been a horrible person and gone back to playing Galactus just really effectively dunks on all of these High Evolutionary decks but High Evolutionary is a really fun card and like just the design that I’ve been doing with Marvel Snap has been really really good. [11:33.000 –> 11:46.000] They’ve been making a bunch of sort of small tweaks on a weekly basis which has been awesome for the meta game and yeah I just I really like it as a little fun game that kind of just keeps ticking over. [11:46.000 –> 11:53.000] I thought I would have bounced off by now but I’m really still feeling it so I love Snap. Are you still snapping Al? [11:54.000 –> 12:14.000] Not regularly. I pop in every so often and do stuff but I’ve not really done for the last couple of weeks. I still it’s I think I mentioned this last time we were we were chatting about it is like I try so hard to be the type of person that will just play a game for 10 minutes a day but it just is not me and I have never managed to do that. [12:14.000 –> 12:30.000] So like I’m either playing a game or I’m not playing a game so no like well this is the thing like even with Zelda right like I can do something in 10 minutes so why wouldn’t I do something in 10 minutes like it’s not like a game where once you start you’re in it for an hour. [12:30.000 –> 12:41.000] No it absolutely is because it’s the sort of game where you start with a thing in mind and then doing the thing that you had in mind takes so long because you get distracted doing a million other things. [12:41.000 –> 12:53.000] Yeah, so anytime I’m so I think my point is like anytime I would possibly pay Snap I’m just playing Zelda instead right and if I was playing Snap I’d be like why am I not playing Zelda because I’m enjoying that game. [12:53.000 –> 13:08.000] So I’ve been playing a lot of Zelda I was just double checking my switch says I’ve been played for over 70 hours on Zelda now, which is kind of stupid considering it’s been two weeks and that’s nearly a full time job. [13:09.000 –> 13:12.000] Over two weeks. [13:12.000 –> 13:23.000] So, yeah, I suspect I’m probably pretty close to the ADHD burnout part of the first play of Tears of the Kingdom. [13:23.000 –> 13:28.000] So I suspect at some point in the next week I will end up putting it down for a few months. [13:28.000 –> 13:37.000] But we’ll see. That is how I play my games. I have to do it as much as possible because I know the end is coming where my brain tells me I’m done for now. [13:37.000 –> 13:51.000] Yeah, see I think I’ll be playing this game for like the rest of the year and it’s a shame because I’m looking at other games that are coming up and coming out and I’m just like, I don’t know how I’m going to find time for these games around Zelda because that’s just me for the rest of the year I think. [13:51.000 –> 13:58.000] I’ll keep coming back to it but I don’t think I’ll be playing as much as I have done just now over the next month. [13:58.000 –> 14:03.000] I would hope not. That feels like an unsustainable pace for the rest of the year. [14:03.000 –> 14:06.000] 35 hours a week for every week. [14:06.000 –> 14:10.000] And we need new episodes of this show to come out. [14:11.000 –> 14:22.000] I’ve got a game I need to play this week for next week’s episode so I definitely won’t be playing 35 hours this week because that is literally all, you know, any second of free time I have that 35 hours. [14:22.000 –> 14:25.000] Oh man, that’s a lot of time. [14:25.000 –> 14:34.000] Or the other thing is obviously I’ve not been playing it but I watched the PlayStation Showcase on Wednesday and I’m very excited for Spider-Man coming out. [14:34.000 –> 14:36.000] I believe you mean Spider-Man 2. [14:36.000 –> 14:38.000] Do we need to get into this? [14:38.000 –> 14:43.000] We don’t need to. I just, you know, I know how much you love that name so I just wanted to make sure we were… [14:43.000 –> 14:52.000] So what I said to you before the Showcase, Johnny, was if they announce a release date and they haven’t given us a new name I’m accepting that that’s the name. [14:52.000 –> 14:56.000] They haven’t given us a release date. They didn’t give us a release date on Wednesday. [14:56.000 –> 14:58.000] I don’t know why they’ve not given us a release date, right? [14:58.000 –> 15:03.000] Like, this game is probably like four months away and they’ve not given us a release date. [15:04.000 –> 15:06.000] So I’m still not accepting it, right? [15:06.000 –> 15:09.000] It’s the third game. Well, what sixth game actually? [15:09.000 –> 15:11.000] Do you live in denial? [15:11.000 –> 15:13.000] I do. I do live in denial. [15:13.000 –> 15:21.000] But it looks like a good game. I’m excited. It looks like there’s a bigger area. It looks like there’s a ridiculous number of enemies as usual. [15:21.000 –> 15:23.000] I don’t know how they managed to stick so many enemies in. [15:23.000 –> 15:30.000] I’m really interested to see whether the Green Goblin is actually in it because they teased that in a previous game but they didn’t show anything about that. [15:30.000 –> 15:34.000] So maybe he’ll be like a surprise endgame boss or something like that. [15:34.000 –> 15:41.000] But then if he is in it, you’ve got Lizard, you’ve got Kraven, you’ve got Green Goblin. [15:41.000 –> 15:45.000] Like, that’s quite a lot of enemies to start with and there’s no way it will just be the three of them, right? [15:45.000 –> 15:48.000] Because of Venom, of course, as well. What’s going to happen with the Venom stuff? [15:48.000 –> 15:58.000] I’m really interested in that because at the beginning of the trailer it looks like Peter is just kind of like, you know, bonded with Venom and just quite happy and just going on with his life. [15:58.000 –> 16:03.000] But then there’s a weird bit at the end where you’re like, oh yeah, things are clearly not okay there. [16:03.000 –> 16:08.000] And so how are things going with that? I thought it was weird halfway through. I was like, why is Peter so okay with this? [16:08.000 –> 16:15.000] Like, he’s not acting weird. He’s just kind of doing things but he’s got new abilities. [16:15.000 –> 16:21.000] And I’m intrigued to see how that happens because they cannot do the thing where he overcomes Venom and gets rid of Venom. [16:21.000 –> 16:26.000] Because then Peter becomes less useful a Spider-Man than Miles, right? [16:26.000 –> 16:37.000] They can’t do that. They have to have a point where you can be playing both of them and they both have different abilities but both on top of what the base Spider-Man abilities were in the first game. [16:37.000 –> 16:48.000] And so what are they going to do with that story? Are they just going to get to the point where he’s just okay with Venom and Venom’s not causing Peter any issues? I don’t know. I’m intrigued to see. [16:48.000 –> 16:58.000] And it’s going to be interesting to see, right? Because in theory having the two Spider-Men to play as means that they could go in a direction where it’s like… [16:58.000 –> 17:11.000] I don’t want to say less fun but maybe have a little bit more of a loss of control feeling with the Venom thing which is okay because you can always go back to Miles if you want the more classic Spider-Man experience, I guess. [17:11.000 –> 17:13.000] So it’ll be interesting to see how they do that. [17:13.000 –> 17:24.000] Yeah, I mean Miles has different abilities. This is where I get really annoyed. The abilities they gave Miles in the second game was called Venom ability. [17:24.000 –> 17:33.000] So you’ve got Miles who has Venom and Peter who has Venom but they’re different Venoms. I don’t know why they’re different. [17:33.000 –> 17:41.000] Just don’t think about it too hard. Maybe that’s why this is Spider-Man 2. It’s technically a sequel but don’t think too hard about the first one. [17:41.000 –> 17:47.000] So the other thing I’m intrigued about is how they’re going to do that you can play as either Spider-Man. [17:47.000 –> 17:55.000] Is it going to be you can choose whichever one you want for a specific situation or is it going to be you switch between them as your story goes but they decide when you switch? [17:55.000 –> 18:03.000] It’s not quite clear from the thing that we had. There was a point where they switched and it kind of showed it kind of like it could be. [18:03.000 –> 18:13.000] Oh this is now the time that we switch or it could be like oh it was just kind of hinting that you could switch now by the way if you wanted but they could actually do it at any point. [18:13.000 –> 18:32.000] I’m intrigued with that. I’m kind of like and this goes back to the Zelda conversation right like I’m not a huge fan of puzzle games in general or puzzles in games because I quite often feel like they are expecting me to have a very specific thing to do and I don’t find that fun like oh I need to figure out what they want me to do. [18:33.000 –> 18:51.000] That’s not fun puzzle to me and I suspect we might end up in a situation where you’re like oh you can only do this with Peter or you can only do this with Miles and you have to figure out which one they want you to do because only Venom’s ability can do this bit or only the Venom ability can do this bit. [18:51.000 –> 19:10.000] Right like it doesn’t I don’t find that sort of fun and that’s why I love Zelda so much is because like it doesn’t matter what they wanted you to do you can do whatever that’s fun puzzle to me it’s like figure out a way to solve this not figure out our jigsaw right like it’s not a one size fits all thing. [19:10.000 –> 19:20.000] Yeah my assumption was going to be that you could kind of free switch if you were just doing the open world stuff but there might be certain missions that are Miles or Peter. [19:21.000 –> 19:38.000] That would be likely I think yeah but that still leads me towards the assumption that there’s going to be puzzles that only work with one or the other and that stuff just annoys me that’s not a puzzle right that’s just like oh you just need to remember to switch like that’s not fun. [19:38.000 –> 19:39.000] But no anyway. [19:39.000 –> 20:03.000] No like I’m with you on puzzles right like and it’s one of the hard things about puzzles and games is when they have specific solutions and then you look it up and so many times it’s like you get stuck on something and it’s often because you’ve worked out how to solve the puzzle but you didn’t do step 2a that you have to do to technically get all of the right pieces in place and it’s just like just recognize that I understand how to solve the puzzle and let me move on. [20:03.000 –> 20:11.000] Yeah yeah anyway I think that might be our longest what have you been up to section so should we get on to some news? [20:11.000 –> 20:12.000] Let’s do it. [20:12.000 –> 20:28.000] So first of all we have an update on the route to patch situation in that the game is back on steam now and the the two companies the dev team so did them then and the publishers is it critical critical? [20:28.000 –> 20:29.000] Cretivo? [20:30.000 –> 20:33.000] Thank you for suggesting a third pronunciation. [20:33.000 –> 20:47.000] Well anyway doesn’t doesn’t matter the two of them have amicably parted ways under terms that are mutually beneficial and I hope you heard the air quotes in that. [20:48.000 –> 21:03.000] I mean the statement that they put out on twitter is very clearly a statement that was written by lawyers and I don’t think we’ll hear anything more about went on behind the scenes and to be honest we don’t need to hear more. [21:03.000 –> 21:09.000] It’s good that it’s available back on steam and it sounds like there’s a way forward which is awesome. [21:09.000 –> 21:23.000] Probably for me the other piece of news that was interesting coming out of this just in some of the twitter replies from the routes of parcher twitter is that the team’s actively working on a roadmap that they’re hoping to put out next week. [21:23.000 –> 21:31.000] So that should cover things like when routes of parcher is likely to come to consoles as well as new content. [21:31.000 –> 21:33.000] Yeah yeah I agree fun. [21:33.000 –> 21:36.000] But if you want to know more about routes of parcher listen to last week’s episode. [21:36.000 –> 21:46.000] Yes yeah great episode by Cody and Kev on the game and I said before that I was going to listen to it to decide whether I wanted to buy the game. [21:46.000 –> 21:54.000] The answer is yes but probably not yet purely because I have so much going on in terms of games. [21:54.000 –> 21:57.000] As the rest of the news section will show. [21:57.000 –> 21:59.000] That is exactly where I landed. [21:59.000 –> 22:05.000] I was like I’m excited for this to come out on consoles in like three months when hopefully I have some time to play it. [22:05.000 –> 22:13.000] Yeah yeah yeah maybe this could become my like summer game where I play it when I’m on holiday and I don’t really have any other things. [22:13.000 –> 22:19.000] Because like for those who haven’t listened to the podcast before there’s like a month in the summer where I’m away. [22:19.000 –> 22:28.000] I’m not on holiday I’m doing some things for some of the weeks and I’m working for the other weeks but I’m not at home and I don’t want to have to deal with the podcast so we pre-record a bunch of episodes. [22:28.000 –> 22:38.000] I’ll have like a month and a little bit of just like not needing to think about other games for the podcast so it might be nice to do that then but we’ll see. [22:38.000 –> 22:42.000] Next we have the date for the Wholesome Direct. [22:42.000 –> 22:52.000] So we knew this was coming but we we now have the date it is going to be on Saturday the 10th of June or Sunday for some people. [22:53.000 –> 23:02.000] Saturday the 10th of June in America and Europe and Sunday in well probably I don’t know where the line will be based on the time. [23:02.000 –> 23:04.000] It will definitely be Sunday in New Zealand. [23:04.000 –> 23:12.000] It’s the great thing about living here is anytime you see a date announced for something you can say okay I’ll just make that one day later on the calendar because that’s when it actually will be happening for us. [23:12.000 –> 23:16.000] Yeah I hadn’t actually noticed the time before 9 a.m. Pacific. [23:16.000 –> 23:22.000] That is 5 p.m. for me. Ah the worst time. The worst time. [23:22.000 –> 23:28.000] Literally that is the worst time for me because if it’s earlier than that I can do it while I’m working. [23:28.000 –> 23:37.000] If it’s in that two hour period between five and seven that is the period that I’m dealing with my kids. [23:37.000 –> 23:46.000] I’m getting them tea I’m getting them ready for bed I’m getting them into bed 7 p.m. and later that’s that works before 5 p.m. that works five and seven that doesn’t really annoying. [23:46.000 –> 23:47.000] Whatever. [23:47.000 –> 23:55.000] I think what’s most concerning about this Wholesome Games thing is that they’re going to have footage from over 70 games. [23:55.000 –> 23:57.000] Yeah I mean most of those you won’t care about. [23:57.000 –> 23:59.000] Too many games. [23:59.000 –> 24:05.000] Most of those you will not care about because I guarantee you because I think that’s roughly the same number they had last year. [24:05.000 –> 24:12.000] And I think we ended up having like six to talk about on the podcast and out of those you’d probably not care about three of them so. [24:12.000 –> 24:17.000] 70 games that’s just too many games coming out we need we need less games. [24:17.000 –> 24:24.000] This isn’t even all the games right this is just they would they will have turned down about half of them again. [24:24.000 –> 24:30.000] Well hopefully there’s something for everybody in the Wholesome. [24:31.000 –> 24:36.000] Yes and we will do an episode talking about everything that was in it. [24:36.000 –> 24:38.000] Hopefully. [24:38.000 –> 24:40.000] That is a busy day for me. [24:40.000 –> 24:43.000] Oh wait it’s a Saturday it doesn’t matter about when work is. [24:43.000 –> 24:45.000] I’m an idiot. [24:45.000 –> 24:49.000] Well now that we’ve come full circle on that one. [24:49.000 –> 24:51.000] Shall we talk about Snakes? [24:51.000 –> 24:53.000] Yeah why not. [24:53.000 –> 24:55.000] Which is now verified for the Steam Deck. [24:55.000 –> 24:57.000] Which is awesome. [24:57.000 –> 24:59.000] And it’s out now right? [24:59.000 –> 25:01.000] It is. It is. [25:01.000 –> 25:03.000] As you’re listening to this it came out a week ago. [25:03.000 –> 25:05.000] It came out on Wednesday. [25:05.000 –> 25:08.000] And it looks great on the screenshot that they’ve got. [25:08.000 –> 25:12.000] Oh it’s not a screenshot it’s a photo of a Bob Snakes running on the Steam Deck. [25:12.000 –> 25:14.000] Same thing right? [25:14.000 –> 25:17.000] Just a poor man’s screenshot. [25:19.000 –> 25:21.000] Yeah that’s exciting. [25:21.000 –> 25:33.000] Yes I will play this at some point but I can’t play it just now because I kickstarted for the Switch version which isn’t out yet and they have not replied to me about switching my key to Steam. [25:33.000 –> 25:40.000] So if anyone from Above Snakes is listening and I’ve sent you a message please give me a Steam key. [25:40.000 –> 25:43.000] Also please give us a release date for the Switch. [25:43.000 –> 25:47.000] Even if it’s like ages I would just like some detail on when. [25:47.000 –> 25:52.000] Because I really want to play Above Snakes and there has not been any detail on when it’s actually going to come out on the Switch. [25:52.000 –> 25:54.000] 100% it won’t be this year. [25:56.000 –> 25:59.000] But it was on my 2023 like most anticipated list Al. [25:59.000 –> 26:04.000] Yeah. Don’t blame me. I am not a developer. [26:04.000 –> 26:07.000] You are the closest thing I know to the developer though so. [26:07.000 –> 26:13.000] That is a very very low bar. [26:15.000 –> 26:17.000] I have talked about it. [26:17.000 –> 26:19.000] Exactly. Exactly. [26:19.000 –> 26:24.000] Next we have Coral Island. The Summer update is out now. [26:24.000 –> 26:28.000] And I am not going to play it yet. I’ve got too many things to do. [26:29.000 –> 26:35.000] But I am very excited for this because it unlocks the final bit of the mines. [26:35.000 –> 26:41.000] I was waiting for it to update because I need to get into that fire gate and get that last giant out of there. [26:41.000 –> 26:44.000] Get some Osmium ore. [26:44.000 –> 26:49.000] You’ve got to be most excited for the chicken steer off in the cow racing right? [26:49.000 –> 26:53.000] Yes. So it adds three animal festivals. [26:54.000 –> 26:57.000] Rodeo challenge. Test your skills on a mechanical bull. [26:57.000 –> 27:01.000] Chicken steer off. See who’s chicken has the strongest steer. [27:01.000 –> 27:05.000] Okay. And cow race. Find out which cow is the fastest in town. [27:05.000 –> 27:08.000] Because of course as we all know the best animal to race is cows. [27:08.000 –> 27:12.000] Yeah. Absolutely. I love the idea of a chicken steer off. [27:12.000 –> 27:14.000] Because I don’t know if you are aware of this. [27:14.000 –> 27:17.000] It’s kind of like an old wives tale but I’ve seen it happen a few times. [27:17.000 –> 27:19.000] But you can actually hypnotize chickens. [27:19.000 –> 27:21.000] Yes. You can. [27:21.000 –> 27:26.000] Oh okay. Amazing. Because usually when I say this to people they look at me like I’m just growing an extra head. [27:26.000 –> 27:29.000] No it’s 100% real. It’s 100% real. [27:29.000 –> 27:32.000] I have not done it because it’s very mean. [27:32.000 –> 27:36.000] But I did used to have some chickens that I took care of. [27:36.000 –> 27:40.000] And I am aware that the hypnotizing is real. [27:40.000 –> 27:43.000] It’s weird and mean but real. [27:43.000 –> 27:48.000] But if you want your chicken to win the chicken steer off I would suggest hypnotizing it. [27:48.000 –> 27:50.000] That might be a good place to start. [27:50.000 –> 27:53.000] They also chickens have very stable heads. [27:53.000 –> 27:55.000] They work very much like a gimbal. [27:55.000 –> 27:58.000] So you can strap a camera to a chickens head and it’s going to be a very stable video. [27:58.000 –> 27:59.000] Interesting. [27:59.000 –> 28:01.000] Obviously it has to be quite a small camera. [28:01.000 –> 28:04.000] You’re not sticking a red camera on it. [28:04.000 –> 28:07.000] Like one of the GoPro Minis would probably work. [28:07.000 –> 28:13.000] Yeah. Wow. Who was expecting actual animal facts on this here? [28:13.000 –> 28:16.000] It makes me sound like I was an actual farmer. No. [28:16.000 –> 28:19.000] I just had 12 chickens. That’s not unusual is it? [28:19.000 –> 28:22.000] Well look I’m from New Zealand so no that’s not unusual. [28:22.000 –> 28:26.000] But I’m not sure how much that translates to the rest of Ella’s in the bays. [28:26.000 –> 28:28.000] Chickens are such fun. [28:28.000 –> 28:35.000] You know what I find most funny is people get really confused en masse when you talk about the fact that chickens can fly. [28:35.000 –> 28:38.000] What do you mean chickens can fly? Chickens can fly. [28:38.000 –> 28:43.000] The reason you don’t see them flying in farms is because they clip their wings. [28:43.000 –> 28:47.000] They’re birds. They’re not ostriches. They can fly. [28:47.000 –> 28:49.000] Maybe not the most efficient flies. [28:49.000 –> 28:53.000] No they are not. They look a lot like pigeons when they fly. [28:53.000 –> 28:56.000] And you’re like how on earth are you staying in the air? [28:56.000 –> 29:05.000] Although it’s really funny even when you clip their wings they can still use the wings to jump like six or seven feet high. [29:05.000 –> 29:10.000] So still can escape most things without a roof. [29:10.000 –> 29:16.000] Or you can occasionally see when they get onto the roof of their chicken poop which is really fun to confuse townies. [29:16.000 –> 29:20.000] Ah fun times. Moving on from the chicken conversation. [29:20.000 –> 29:26.000] Yeah there’s lots of stuff. One thing that I am very interested in that I wasn’t aware that was coming was sprinkler attachments. [29:26.000 –> 29:31.000] So you can upgrade your sprinklers to have auto seed and auto fertilize on them as well. [29:31.000 –> 29:33.000] And yes yes yes yes. [29:33.000 –> 29:37.000] And that’s something I’m surprised we haven’t seen in more farming games. [29:37.000 –> 29:43.000] Because it feels like one of those automation things that should be in a number of games. [29:43.000 –> 29:48.000] I know it was in Ooblets with the Oobcoops. Still the best feature of that game. [29:48.000 –> 29:53.000] And so it’s good to see it here because it’s just one of those things that I’m surprised doesn’t make its way into more games. [29:53.000 –> 29:57.000] Yeah I think Ooblets had the most. So they had you can basically do everything. [29:57.000 –> 30:03.000] As long as you put seeds in the Oobcoop, the little storage, they will do everything you need. [30:03.000 –> 30:09.000] And Stardew had you could get the the juvenile hut and they would go and harvest. [30:09.000 –> 30:12.000] But I don’t think they would ever plant or fertilize. [30:12.000 –> 30:14.000] No they would not. [30:14.000 –> 30:19.000] So I don’t know of any other game where you can plant automatically and there’s possibly a fertilizing one. [30:19.000 –> 30:24.000] But I can’t think that I’ve just got in the niggling in the back of my brain that says there’s one that has an automatic fertilizing. [30:24.000 –> 30:26.000] But I can’t think of what it is. [30:26.000 –> 30:29.000] No neither. But exciting that this is coming to Coral Island. [30:29.000 –> 30:36.000] Yes yes go go play the summer update Bev. Bev it’s time go play go play more Coral Island. [30:36.000 –> 30:39.000] Next we have Harvest Moon the Winds of Anthos. [30:39.000 –> 30:44.000] We are this game I’m I still I don’t know what to think of this game. [30:44.000 –> 30:46.000] Let’s let’s go through. [30:46.000 –> 30:50.000] We have to accept we’re excited for this game that is that is where we are at now Al. [30:50.000 –> 30:52.000] Some level of excitement certainly. [30:52.000 –> 30:55.000] Look let’s go through the easy the easy and clearly exciting stuff. [30:55.000 –> 30:57.000] The plush is out. They’ve decided what the plush is for this game. [30:57.000 –> 31:00.000] It is a sleeping cow. It’s amazing. [31:00.000 –> 31:02.000] It’s the best. [31:02.000 –> 31:04.000] It’s good. It’s good. [31:04.000 –> 31:08.000] Their cows are still not as good as the story of Seasons cows but it’s still a very good cow. [31:08.000 –> 31:12.000] You can pre-order the game now and get that plush. [31:12.000 –> 31:20.000] I believe if you pre-order on the Natsume website there’s a second pre-order bonus that they haven’t announced yet. [31:20.000 –> 31:23.000] Can’t pre-order outside the US as far as I can see. [31:23.000 –> 31:27.000] Certainly can’t here and almost certainly you won’t be able to Johnny. [31:27.000 –> 31:29.000] No I definitely cannot. [31:29.000 –> 31:33.000] Not that you’re going to because you are strongly against pre-ordering games. [31:33.000 –> 31:38.000] Well when there’s a pre-order bonus it can become flexible for that cow plush. [31:38.000 –> 31:41.000] To be honest if I could I probably would. [31:41.000 –> 31:43.000] That is a good cow plush. [31:43.000 –> 31:45.000] What else have we got this long list. [31:45.000 –> 31:49.000] So we’ve got the consoles now because I think previously it just said PC and console. [31:49.000 –> 32:00.000] So now it’s officially coming to Switch, PS5, PS4 and the Xbox series and of course on Steam. [32:00.000 –> 32:09.000] We’ve got a new screenshot of the player character meeting a tiny harvest goddess. [32:09.000 –> 32:17.000] Yeah this looks like a screenshot from a Harvest Moon game. That’s what I have to say about that. [32:17.000 –> 32:22.000] I will say it’s continuing to look in my opinion as good as the previous screenshots. [32:22.000 –> 32:25.000] I really like this art style. I think it’s done really well. [32:25.000 –> 32:31.000] We’re gonna not know until we actually see some footage and then get our hands on the game. [32:31.000 –> 32:37.000] Whether it actually is like that or whether they’ve just really given us very specific screenshots. [32:37.000 –> 32:40.000] And we got release date 26th of September. [32:40.000 –> 32:44.000] So really stretching the definition of summer there. [32:44.000 –> 32:47.000] Yeah I mean they’re pushing it right till the end right? [32:47.000 –> 32:51.000] It depends how you like I will die on this hill. [32:51.000 –> 32:56.000] People talk about summer and spring like they are clearly defined seasons. [32:56.000 –> 33:01.000] There are at least four definitions of the seasons if you ignore the southern hemisphere. [33:01.000 –> 33:04.000] These things are really not clear. [33:04.000 –> 33:13.000] In fact I just double checked this doesn’t even fit in the summer definition that people have. [33:13.000 –> 33:20.000] The summer definition that is most commonly used actually finishes summer at the 23rd of September. [33:20.000 –> 33:23.000] No one actually thinks that way Al. [33:23.000 –> 33:26.000] But people just go by months. It’s easier to go by months. [33:26.000 –> 33:29.000] But this is the thing. Oh my word. [33:29.000 –> 33:35.000] No definition includes the 26th of September in summer right? [33:35.000 –> 33:37.000] Which one? [33:37.000 –> 33:40.000] The definition of summer is July, August, September. [33:40.000 –> 33:42.000] What definition is that? [33:42.000 –> 33:44.000] It’s not a definition of summer. [33:44.000 –> 33:46.000] Literally just made up to prove my point. [33:46.000 –> 33:50.000] So the astronomical season which to me is just wild. [33:50.000 –> 33:58.000] Which goes from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox is wild to me. [33:58.000 –> 34:04.000] Because the idea that like the longest day of the year is the start of summer is bizarre. [34:04.000 –> 34:07.000] To me that’s the middle of summer not the start of it right? [34:07.000 –> 34:09.000] And I don’t understand why you would ever use that. [34:09.000 –> 34:14.000] But if we leave that one aside there’s the meteorological season which is also commonly used. [34:14.000 –> 34:19.000] Goes from the 1st of June to the 31st of August. Doesn’t include the 26th of September. [34:19.000 –> 34:21.000] And then there’s the one that I prefer. [34:21.000 –> 34:24.000] Well of the generally used ones this is the one I prefer. [34:24.000 –> 34:28.000] I actually have a much more radical definition of the seasons. [34:28.000 –> 34:30.000] But this one is May, June, July. [34:30.000 –> 34:33.000] I think that makes much more sense to me as a summer. [34:33.000 –> 34:36.000] That’s the Celtic seasons. [34:36.000 –> 34:40.000] But none of these definitions include the 26th of September. [34:40.000 –> 34:41.000] It’s not summer. [34:41.000 –> 34:43.000] I agree it’s not summer. [34:44.000 –> 34:45.000] It’s the… [34:48.000 –> 34:49.000] Anyway. [34:50.000 –> 34:51.000] My word. Sorry. [34:51.000 –> 34:53.000] Did not mean to get into a rant about seasons. [34:53.000 –> 34:54.000] These things just happen. [34:54.000 –> 34:57.000] Seasons are stupid. Stop pretending like they’re clearly defined. [34:57.000 –> 35:01.000] Anyway, Harvest Moon, Winds of Anthos, release date 26th of September. [35:01.000 –> 35:02.000] Not summer. [35:02.000 –> 35:03.000] Yes, not summer. [35:03.000 –> 35:04.000] Stop saying it’s summer. [35:06.000 –> 35:07.000] Cool. [35:07.000 –> 35:09.000] Let’s see what comes out of that game. [35:10.000 –> 35:16.000] The last non-new game news is Everdream Valley is releasing on the 30th of September. [35:16.000 –> 35:20.000] This is where everyone goes, oh, I forgot about that game. [35:20.000 –> 35:21.000] So there you go. [35:21.000 –> 35:23.000] That was literally my responses. [35:23.000 –> 35:25.000] Oh, I forgot about this game. [35:25.000 –> 35:26.000] Fun fact, right? [35:26.000 –> 35:29.000] You can buy this game just now. [35:29.000 –> 35:30.000] They’re calling it pre-purchase. [35:30.000 –> 35:34.000] But if you buy the game now, you get access to it now before the release date. [35:36.000 –> 35:37.000] Okay. [35:37.000 –> 35:39.000] We’ve officially gone too far. [35:41.000 –> 35:42.000] Just buy the game. [35:42.000 –> 35:43.000] Isn’t that just… [35:43.000 –> 35:45.000] Yeah, that’s just buying the game and playing it. [35:45.000 –> 35:47.000] Because this is the thing, right? [35:47.000 –> 35:50.000] Who can access the game without buying it? [35:50.000 –> 35:53.000] So if you buy the game before the release date, you get access to the game. [35:53.000 –> 35:56.000] Surely that’s just the release date. [35:57.000 –> 36:00.000] This is some silly 1.0 argument, right? [36:00.000 –> 36:02.000] That’s what this is? [36:02.000 –> 36:04.000] They’re like, oh, but we’re on version 9.8. [36:04.000 –> 36:06.000] No, they’re not in early access. [36:06.000 –> 36:08.000] They’ve not done an early access. [36:08.000 –> 36:09.000] What? [36:09.000 –> 36:11.000] This is not early access. [36:11.000 –> 36:13.000] The game is not officially released. [36:13.000 –> 36:16.000] If you go onto Steam, it says coming the 30th of May. [36:16.000 –> 36:20.000] But they said on their most recent, or one of the… [36:20.000 –> 36:25.000] Yeah, so their second most recent news event is [36:25.000 –> 36:28.000] prior access starts today. [36:28.000 –> 36:30.000] You can start playing today. [36:32.000 –> 36:34.000] If you don’t want to count the last days to the full launch, [36:34.000 –> 36:35.000] don’t worry, we got you covered. [36:35.000 –> 36:38.000] You can pre-order Everdream Valley any time [36:38.000 –> 36:42.000] and unlock access to the game before the official release on the 30th of May. [36:42.000 –> 36:44.000] The game is released! [36:44.000 –> 36:46.000] Yes, it is! [36:46.000 –> 36:49.000] If you’re not buying the game, you’re not getting the game. [36:51.000 –> 36:53.000] That’s just releasing the game. [36:54.000 –> 36:57.000] I don’t understand how this isn’t just released. [36:57.000 –> 36:59.000] How is this game not out? [36:59.000 –> 37:01.000] It’s out! You can buy it and play it. [37:02.000 –> 37:04.000] So, the news. Everdream Valley is out. [37:04.000 –> 37:06.000] You can buy it and go and play it. [37:06.000 –> 37:09.000] Well, of course, the funny thing is the 30th of May [37:09.000 –> 37:12.000] is the day before this podcast episode comes out anyway. [37:12.000 –> 37:14.000] So, yes, the game is out. [37:20.000 –> 37:21.000] Oh, my word. [37:21.000 –> 37:23.000] That is some silly news. [37:23.000 –> 37:25.000] Shall we talk about some new games? [37:26.000 –> 37:28.000] Yes, let’s do that. [37:31.000 –> 37:33.000] Marvelous did a… [37:33.000 –> 37:35.000] I don’t know what it was. [37:35.000 –> 37:38.000] Like a Nintendo Direct, basically. [37:38.000 –> 37:41

Central Virginia's John Hudak of the amazing Americana group Brickwall Jackson talks about the latest release “Stickin' To It” featuring “Begin”, “Gun-Truck (Spectra Music Group), etc., plus other releases including “Just Life”, “Beautiful Music” and more! John also talks about how the band formed in 2012 and has garnered a solid reputation for musical diversity and honest lyric content about the human condition! Check out the amazing John Hudak and Brickwall Jackson on all streaming platforms and www.brickwalljackson and www.spectramusicgroup.com today! #brickwalljackson #johnhudak #centralvirginia #americana #stickintoit #guntruck #justlife #spectramusicgroup #iheartradio #spreaker #spotify #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #bitchute #rumble #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnerteaganmorrison #themikewagnershowteaganmorrison #mikewagnerbrickwalljackson #themikewagnershowbrickwalljackson   --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themikewagnershow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themikewagnershow/support

Is it stress or just life that causes you to feel the way you do? This week on the podcast, we are taking a look at what has been on the mind of your host. As of late, there has been a bit of nostalgia on the mind. And as such, it might be time … Is it Stress or Just Life – Soul Forge 270 Read More » The post Is it Stress or Just Life – Soul Forge 270 appeared first on The ESO Network.

Get to know me today as I share with you a poem written by me of a childhood memory that brings me so much joy. I will also be stepping away from podcasting until January of 2023 for season 4 of Just Life & Lessons Learned Podcast! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justlifeandlessonslearned/support

The Dramatic Journey of Jason Meno In today's podcast, we interview the amazing but humble Jason Meno, who has been doing incredible programming for the Feeling Good App for the past year. Like everyone on our app development team, Jason was driven to TEAM-CBT and the Feeling Good App by his own personal struggles, and also by his training in Buddhism and his commitment to doing something to help relieve the enormous suffering endured by so many people in the United States and around the world who are struggling with depression and anxiety. The podcast notes will focus first on how he recently came to join our app team, and then on Jason's amazing early years in his search for meaning and a solution to his personal suffering and tragedies. Jason's journey to the Feeling Good App Jason began the podcast by describing how he became familiar with David's work. Then he described his own personal journey and search for enlightenment. I'll summarize some of both in these show notes. He said: I was struggling with severe depression in 2020. I felt like my body was falling apart because I've been afflicted with type 1 diabetes since I was five years old. I didn't have the resources to work with a therapist and felt hopeless, so I searched the internet, looking for a way of overcoming depression on my own. I first turned to apps for help, but my experience was not great. I eventually found David's book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Through that book, I discovered that depression and anxiety are cons and that I was tricking myself. However, I didn't use the tools or do the written exercises in the book. I started listening to the Feeling Good Podcasts and waited for the new book, Feeling Great. Often, when listening to the podcasts I would start crying. I am not a crier, and this often happened in public, so it was pretty embarrassing! I was also practicing meditation every day, but that didn't provide much help. It does have its benefits and was a solace for me when I had nothing else, but after years of practicing, it still didn't give me the tools to combat the thoughts that trigger depression and suicidal urges. But then I had an “ah-ha” moment when David talked about resistance and the power of positive reframing. It was a tremendous relief to see that it was reasonable to feel the way I was feeling. I devoured the Feeling Great book but still wanted to die since I was still not doing the written exercises that David repeatedly urges the reader to do. Then, on one of the podcasts, someone said, “you can't challenge your negative thoughts in your head.” I resisted that message and told myself that I had no negative thoughts. Many of my negative thoughts are quiet since you learn to empty your mind when you meditate. But then I realized that negative thoughts are just the top layer of your consciousness and that the concept of “cognitions” not only includes thoughts like “I'm a loser,” but also your daydreams, beliefs, and perceptions. Then, once I sat down and wrote down my negative thoughts, identified their distortions, and challenged them with more realistic thoughts, I began to feel a lot better within five minutes! If you, the podcast listener, are feeling down, there's a step-by-step guide in Feeling Great that could be enormously helpful to you. I started following this guide, and then I really started to feel great. After using it a few times, I had the thought, “Wow, this could be a pretty amazing app!” One of the first questions you ask yourself, “do I really want to feel better?” had a massive impact on me and, of course, is one of the unique elements of TEAM-CBT. And although I made mistakes while using the tools on my own, they still helped more than anything else I've tried. Eventually, I saw a non-TEAM therapist who provided me with some great empathy and valuable perspectives while I used the TEAM-CBT process and daily mood log on my own. Then I suddenly realized that I had no more suicidal thoughts. TEAM-CBT is a way for you to rapidly train your mind and develop a new mindset that reduces suffering. This is an important ethical issue to me, given all the suffering that remains throughout the world, and it reminded me of my Buddhist vow to help others. So, I signed up to be a beta tester for David's Feeling Good App. However, I was disappointed in the early version I tested and created a 12-page document listing my complaints. Then I reached out to Jeremy Karmel, the CEO of the Feeling Good App, and he invited me to join the development team. I was so excited that I left my job as a data scientist working on an automated insulin device and joined the app development team. And although I was not familiar with the computer language Jeremy was using, I learned it quickly, and now I'm programming all kinds of cool things for the app! Jason's early years You may or may not be familiar with Herman Hesse's famous 1922 novel, “Siddhartha,” which traced the journey of the young Buddha as he was searching for personal enlightenment and unlocking the key to human suffering. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel)) I have not read many books, because I am a slow reader, but that one is short and has always been one of my favorites. Jason's intense and dramatic journey reminds me of Siddhartha's path. Jason's road to TEAM-CBT, his current passion, was not a direct one at all. Like myself (David), he was raised in a strict Christian home but found himself attracted to exciting and controversial topics when he was in high school, like astral traveling and “lucid dreaming,” which means becoming aware when you are dreaming so you can take charge of your dreams and do things in your dream world that you may not be permitted to do in real life. For example, Jason has been treated for type 1 diabetes since the age of 5 and has to monitor his blood glucose levels 24 hours a day. Things like fresh orange juice are dangerous because they cause a spike in blood sugar, but in a lucid dream you can drink all the orange juice you want! I can identify with Jason's yearning for fresh squeezed orange juice, because I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and we had many orange trees in our yard, so the orange juice was plentiful and incredibly delicious! When Jason was a teenager, there was a magic / occult shop near his high school that he would joyfully and curiously explore after school, but his parents were dead set against it. They told him that he was exploring ideas promoted by the devil and threatened to kick him out of the house! I also identified with these memories, as I also used to hang out in magic stores in Phoenix when I was in high school. But these were more the kinds of shops that sold tricks of various kinds that magicians could use. Although Jason studied biomedical engineering in college, he continued to be fascinated by his more exciting “alternative” occult pursuits, and dropped out of college to join a cult in Sedona, Arizona. The cult members insisted that he could cure his diabetes simply by believing he could, so he obediently stopped taking his insulin and monitoring his blood sugar for one day and nearly died. Jason described that his mother struggled with emotional issues. After running away with him twice when he was 10, she lost custody and disappeared to Santiago, Chile. Jason had not heard from her since. But one day, out of the blue, his brother called him and said that their mom had suddenly returned home, and there was some talk of starting a family bakery. Jason was thrilled and purchased a plane ticket to fly from Indiana to Hanford, California, to surprise his mom after not seeing her for 10 years and offer to help with the bakery. But then right before leaving, his sister called and asked if he had heard the news. At first, he thought she was talking about the family bakery, but his sister said, “No, mom just committed suicide.” Jason was devastated and sadly flew home out for the funeral. Although his mother's body was not present at the funeral, he looked and suddenly thought he saw her standing in the church during the service. This jolted him, understandably, until it dawned on him that it was his mother's twin sister. His aunt offered him a new life, a car, and a beautiful home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, but he was still obsessed with the cult, so he returned to the cult in Arizona. He spent all his savings of $3,000 for special training to become a cult leader and ended up living as a homeless person in Boulder, Colorado. However. he started running out of his diabetes medications and having panic attacks. He eventually found work in a Buddhist retreat center in the mountains of Colorado and started studying Buddhism, making friends with the monks, and began doing traditional mediation. He said that mediating intensified his negative feelings, and he became suicidal, and even tried a special “suicide meditation” that he'd learned from the cult in Arizona. They claimed that if you did this meditation, you would disappear and end up in a kind of different universe, but after trying it several times, he realized it was all bunk and gave it up, along with the other crazy cult things he'd been taught. However, he did make a sound connection with traditional Buddhism, and lived at the retreat center for about a year. He described a special meditation where you ask yourself, “what doesn't need to change?” The goal is to discover that the answer is “nothing” since everything is in constant flux, and this meditation is intended to lead to a kind of acceptance. But, he says, “at first I resisted.” He said he did experience feelings of pleasure and euphoria during some of his mediations, but that this was not a permanent cure for his depression. That's because the meditation was a distraction or escape from his negative thoughts, a kind of temporary trance-like state, but when you finish meditating, you are back to your normal life, so your negative thoughts and feelings return. Jason has become an enthusiastic advocate of TEAM-CBT, and described two ways of challenging negative thoughts based on David's Externalization of Voices Technique. One approach is highly rational, and it reduces your negative feelings but does not flood you with feelings of joy or enlightenment. The other approach reduces your negative feelings AND energizes you with feelings of joy. The second involves using David's Externalization of Voices Technique along with the three strategies for crushing negative thoughts: Acceptance Self-Defense The CAT, or Counter-Attack Technique. David asked Jason to discuss one of the traditional Buddhist definitions of enlightenment. You are “enlightened” if you are free of greed, ignorance, and delusions. However, he sent this delightful email following the podcast recording: Hi David and Rhonda, Thank you so much again for having me on the podcast! It was a blast! I wanted to clarify an important mistake I made: A commonly accepted Buddhist definition of enlightenment is to be completely free of the three root poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion. These are considered to be the source of suffering / negative thoughts / mind states (Buddhists refer to these as Kleshas). I can't remember exactly what I said in the podcast, but I think I may have incorrectly listed the three poisons as greed, delusion, and ignorance. Delusion and Ignorance are considered to be in the same category, so I think I forgot Hatred. Oops! Looks like I'll have to brush up on my studies again! Hopefully, we can help make this clear in the show notes as well. If you or anyone you know is at all interested in learning more about Buddhism, its philosophies, and history, I highly recommend the YouTube channel Doug's Dharma. Candidly, Jason I am very grateful for the creative and life-changing contributions that Jason is making in our Feeling Good App, and I feel tremendously lucky to know Jason on a personal and professional level. His quite humility speaks loudly and boldly about the kind of loving and genuine person he is, and if you decide to beta-test our app, you will have the chance to benefit from his personal journey and his professional genius! If you're interested, you can sign up to beta test the app at www.feelinggood.com/app. If you would like to contact Jason, you can reach him at asonmeno@feelinggoodapp.com. After reviewing the draft of the show notes, I got this link from Jason: Also, if you are interested in reading a little more of the story, I wrote this article a few years ago about some scary health challenges I had and how I ended up leaving the Buddhist retreat center and returning to school: Buddhist Enlightenment or Just Life with Diabetes? Thanks for listening today! Thanks! Rhonda, Jason, and David