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How does our Western/individualistic perspective limit our understanding of the Bible that was written from an Eastern/collectivist perspective? Discover some cultural norms left unsaid in Scripture.   Receive As we read Scripture through the lens of our Western culture, this week's guest, Randy Richards, reminds us that we may miss or misread some key values embedded in the Ancient Near Eastern culture the Bible was written in. Our Western individualist culture values “me” over “we,” but the Eastern collectivist culture that the Bible was set in values kinship, patronage, and brokerage that emphasize the family or group dynamic rather than an individual.  Understanding the ancient Mediterranean culture that serves as the backdrop for the Bible can add rich context that can shed a whole new light on some passages of Scripture. How can discovering the cultural context of the Bible help you better understand and apply Scripture to your life? What could your next step toward learning more about the cultural context of the Old and New Testament look like?  Reflect  What can you learn about the family dynamics between Joseph and his father and brothers by reading Genesis 37 through the lens of valuing kinship, which emphasizes strong family ties and parents mediating between siblings? How does Ephesians 2:8 model the value of patronage, which emphasizes a patron giving a gift to help rescue a loyal friend? How do 1 Timothy 2:5 and 1 John 2:1 model the value of brokerage, which emphasizes having a mediator speak on your behalf? How do you feel reading John 1:12 and 1 Thessalonians 1:4 knowing you are part of God's family?  Based on Matthew 6:3 and Luke 6:35, how are Jesus' disciples supposed to differ from the patronage culture of that time? How significant is it that Jesus calls His disciples, including you, His friends in John 15:15? Based on Romans 1:20–21 and Psalm 50, how are we to respond to God's gifts? In Luke 7:1–10, why did the centurion send Jewish elders and then friends to Jesus instead of going to Jesus on his own?     Respond (Use this prayer to start a conversation with God) “Dear God, thank You that understanding more of the Bible's cultural context can help me get a deeper understanding of You! Help me grow in my knowledge of Scripture so I can grow in my love for You! Help me to apply Your words to my life.”      Discover more about the topics in this episode with these recommended resources Mentioned in this episode: Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes by our guest E. Randolph Richards  Listen: Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes  Misreading Paul | Week 1 Misreading Paul | Week 2 Read: Understanding the Original Situation In the Beginning: Reading Genesis and Exodus  Watch: Biblical Context Explained The Holy Land 

How does our Western/individualistic perspective limit our understanding of the Bible that was written from an Eastern/collectivist perspective? Discover some cultural norms left unsaid in Scripture.   Receive As we read Scripture through the lens of our Western culture, this week's guest, Randy Richards, reminds us that we may miss or misread some key values embedded in the Ancient Near Eastern culture the Bible was written in. Our Western individualist culture values “me” over “we,” but the Eastern collectivist culture that the Bible was set in values kinship, patronage, and brokerage that emphasize the family or group dynamic rather than an individual.  Understanding the ancient Mediterranean culture that serves as the backdrop for the Bible can add rich context that can shed a whole new light on some passages of Scripture. How can discovering the cultural context of the Bible help you better understand and apply Scripture to your life? What could your next step toward learning more about the cultural context of the Old and New Testament look like?  Reflect  What can you learn about the family dynamics between Joseph and his father and brothers by reading Genesis 37 through the lens of valuing kinship, which emphasizes strong family ties and parents mediating between siblings? How does Ephesians 2:8 model the value of patronage, which emphasizes a patron giving a gift to help rescue a loyal friend? How do 1 Timothy 2:5 and 1 John 2:1 model the value of brokerage, which emphasizes having a mediator speak on your behalf? How do you feel reading John 1:12 and 1 Thessalonians 1:4 knowing you are part of God's family?  Based on Matthew 6:3 and Luke 6:35, how are Jesus' disciples supposed to differ from the patronage culture of that time? How significant is it that Jesus calls His disciples, including you, His friends in John 15:15? Based on Romans 1:20–21 and Psalm 50, how are we to respond to God's gifts? In Luke 7:1–10, why did the centurion send Jewish elders and then friends to Jesus instead of going to Jesus on his own?     Respond (Use this prayer to start a conversation with God) “Dear God, thank You that understanding more of the Bible's cultural context can help me get a deeper understanding of You! Help me grow in my knowledge of Scripture so I can grow in my love for You! Help me to apply Your words to my life.”      Discover more about the topics in this episode with these recommended resources Mentioned in this episode: Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes by our guest E. Randolph Richards  Listen: Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes  Misreading Paul | Week 1 Misreading Paul | Week 2 Read: Understanding the Original Situation In the Beginning: Reading Genesis and Exodus  Watch: Biblical Context Explained The Holy Land 

Our Western culture likes to throw the word "Love" around constantly, but when conflict arises, our definitions quickly crumble. Week five of Live in Love dives into Paul's thoughts about love in Romans 12:9-21, challenging us to move beyond love as a fleeting feeling and embrace it as a consistent, costly action. Drawing from psychiatrist M. Scott Peck's insight that love is the will to extend oneself for another's spiritual growth, we're confronted with a radical truth: genuine love is tested not when things are easy, but precisely when we face disappointment, betrayal, and opposition. Paul's letter to the Romans isn't a rulebook for earning God's approval—it's a description of family values for those who already know they're loved by Christ. The passage walks us through the house of love, opening door after door: hating evil while holding fast to good, showing mutual affection as brothers and sisters, maintaining passionate zeal, rejoicing in hope amid suffering, practicing radical generosity and hospitality. Most challenging of all, we're called to stay open-hearted even when others hurt us, refusing to let evil reproduce itself through our vengeful responses. The burning coals we heap on our enemies' heads aren't instruments of revenge but life-giving fire that might spark transformation. This kind of love only becomes possible when we stop sitting in God's judgment seat and instead gaze at Jesus, who had every right to condemn us but chose only to forgive. When we truly see how Christ loved us first, our icy hearts melt, and we become free to love others—not through willpower, but through transformation.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptCome on, if you will, grab your Bibles and go to Second Samuel, chapter nine. We're going to be reading all of Second Samuel chapter nine together this morning. That's on page 149 in one of the blue Bibles. So if you want to grab one of those from the seat in front of you, would love for you to turn there. It's good to hold a Bible. It's good to hold it open and read together. We have already walked through 2nd Samuel 8 and 10. We're working through the whole book of 2nd Samuel. We took a little break right around Easter, but we've already looked at 8, chapters 8 and chapters 10, because they were dealing with the military victories of David that he was successful, because God was blessing him, defending the nation of Israel and enlarging the territory of Israel as they were attacked and as they defended, they would claim new lands. And so we looked at that. But in the middle of that recounting of the victories of David, there's this story that we're going to look at in chapter nine. And it. In chapter eight, it just finished by saying that David ruled with equity and justice, that he's a good king. And then it's going to give this little story. And in some ways that typifies that, that shows us that. And I think this is one of the beautiful highlights of David's kingship. So we're going to study it together this morning, and through it, we're going to try to set our minds on Christ and how he's a good king and how this story reflects to us some of the beauty of what he is like and how good he is. So chapter nine, verse one. This is David at kind of the height of his power. In some ways. He's been victorious. He's established the kingdom. It's firmly in his hand. And I think this gives us a little glimpse into what he's like because it says this.> And David said, "Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" (2 Samuel 9:1, ESV)So if you'll remember, Saul was the first king of Israel and Jonathan was his son. And when David killed Goliath, it says that Jonathan, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and they loved one another and they were friends and cared for one another. And Jonathan helped David escape Saul, his father, when Saul was going to kill him. And they made covenantal promises to each other that David promised that he would be good to him in his kingdom and he'd be good to his family. And David even promised Saul that he would not, if he became king, kill all of Saul's family. And so David, in this moment of power, when he's got some victories under his belt and things have settled, he's got his own city, he's got the. The ark brought to the city, he's got the tabernacle, a tent set up for the ark. I went in the tabernacle. It was in a different place. I was about to misspeak there. David stops and says, can't I find somebody to keep this promise to Jonathan? Is there not anybody where I can show kindness to? And if you would think about kings, if they're constantly at war, the sorts of things that they might be inclined to do when they had a moment of break, when they had a moment down where they might be inclined to make themselves greater, enlarge their palaces, rest. And we get this moment where David, in the moment of stillness, goes, can't I keep this promise? Is there not someone that I can show kindness to for Jonathan's sake? Verse 2. Now, there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. And they called him to David. And the king said to him, are you Zeba? And he said, I am your servant. Which is just a humble way to say yes. Now, if you're Zeba and you're a servant of Saul, and David, who Saul was at war against, has now become king. There was a war between the house of Saul and David for several years because of Saul, and then with Ishma Sheth, and then they come to your house and they say, hey, David wants to see you. I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're not ecstatic at that news, that this was probably kind of stressful for Ziba. If they came to you and just said, hey, the president needs to talk to you, you'd have a lot of questions. Why? What for? And they're like, we got to get there quick. We brought a helicopter. Me. Are you. Check the name again. Why do I need to see the president? And even if you thought there was not a good chance that he was going to execute you on the White House lawn, you'd still be nervous. Well, Ziba is in a situation where he's a part of the house of Saul. It's like, this might not be going to go well. And he's brought before the king. And the king said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? So David's Intent is to bless someone in the house of Saul, to show the kindness of God to them. And Zeba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in his feet. Now that's an interesting, might even argue, troubling response. He, he doesn't say who in Ziba's mind. The thing that's important is he's crippled in his feet. And if you're someone who deals with a disability, specifically physical ones, that it's possible for you to feel like this is kind of how it works, that that's what's seen and known about you to the point of it swallows your identity either for other people or for yourself, that that's how you're marked, that's how you're labeled. That's how you're understood to the point of even being able to lose yourself in it. Now, we know that this son of Jonathan, his name is Mephibosheth. And we know that because of the introduction that were given to him in chapter four. But it, and it's a tragic introduction. So I want to show that it's a chapter four. You can go one page over in the blue Bible, Chapter four, verse four, says> Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste she fell and the child became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. (2 Samuel 4:4, ESV)So Mephibosheth, when he was five, on the same day, lost his granddad, his dad, his home, and his ability to walk. Now, any one of those things, no matter what your age is, would be extremely difficult to try to process through. But to have them all happen when you're five is an immense, acute amount of suffering. To be displaced, to be a refugee, to lose your father, to lose your grandfather, to lose everything you knew and understood about the world and your place in it, to lose all sense of safety. None of these things are anything that we would want a five year old to have to deal with. And he loses all of it at once and physically carries the reminder in himself from that day forward. In this culture, it was possible that he also carried the stigma of the judgment of God on him, that somehow he had earned this or deserved this or that God had added this to him. And all cultures, including ours, consistently ask, why do these sorts of things Happen? Why do we face this amount of suffering? Why do we have things like this happen? There's an interaction with Jesus and his disciples in John chapter nine where they see a man who's born blind and his disciples ask Jesus who sinned, that this man was born blind, was it him or, or his parents? The reason being, the reasoning being that someone had to sin for him to be cursed this way. Someone had to sin for this to befall him. Obviously it was deserved. That's the assumption. Then the thing they're troubled with is if he had become blind later in life, we wouldn't have the question because he had earned it. But since he was born blind, whose fault is that? Is it his parents fault or did he somehow earn it? But how did he earn it when he was born this way? That's, that's the thought process that they're trying to work out. And we can see that the idea of suffering, and specifically the suffering of someone young, or the suffering of someone born a certain way, or the suffering of, of the kind of the chaos suffering that just seems to happen adds more questions to it. Every once in a while we watch someone and we go, yeah, the reason that happened to you is that you're dumb and you make bad choices. You earned that one. But there are other times where we're going, we don't know how to place this, how does this fit? And that's the question that they're asking. And that honestly is the question that so much of life has to try to answer. Every religion has to try to answer that, every worldview has to try to answer that. So if you believe in karma, you would say that these sort of things, this type of suffering happens because of a previous life. You have a chance to suffer well in this one and then be reincarnated in a, in a better form. If you're Buddhist, you would say that all the material world's an illusion anyway and we're supposed to try to see through it. I was speaking to my neighbor who's Islamic. She said that in our suffering there are specific times where God hears us better in prayers and so we can pray to him and we can ask why. And she said, it's the primary purpose of praying to God in suffering is to ask why. Understanding that the reason you're suffering is God is trying to teach you something. Our Western culture is one of the least prepared to handle suffering in a what's called an imminent frame, which is all that we have is what we can see and taste and touch all we have is science, then there's no purpose in suffering, and the best you can do is get out of it quickly. We at least had at some point previously in generations, we understood that you could grow as a person and develop in character. And we still have a little bit of that, that you could somehow develop as a person so that you could become tough for the world. But now we've mostly shifted into, let's make the world soft for you. And so if anything causes pain or discomfort or suffering, you need to get rid of it, and you need to get rid of it quickly, whatever that means. Get rid of the relationship physically change, however, you can change to the point of surgeries or whatever, but we've got to change the situation so that you don't have to deal with that anymore. And in Christianity, I think we're given better answers and a better hope. We. We know that God's original design did not include any of this. And we know that through sin, suffering has entered the world. We know that it's not all earned. There are some, you know, there's rules in the world, like gravity. But a lot of the suffering that we face is not somehow earned by us or could have been avoided by our good behavior. Jesus, in his response to the disciples when they asked that question, says, neither, but so that the works of God might be displayed in Him. There's another instance In John, chapter 11, where Lazarus dies, and he says that God allowed this to happen for the sake of displaying his glory, that there's something unique that can happen in suffering and through suffering, a unique, peculiar way that God can work to display his goodness, to display his glory, to display his greatness. That only can happen in suffering. There's a unique and peculiar way that he can work in your life only through suffering, that he can't work in other ways or chooses not to. And we know because Jesus joins us in our suffering that there is no suffering that is wasted, that he's not distant from it, but he loves us in it, and that he works redemptively through it, and that we have a hope beyond it. So we don't get all the answers we want. We don't understand why some of these things happen to the degree they happen to you or to this other person, why him, not her? We don't understand those things. We actually don't get that answer. But we do know that Jesus meets us in it, cares for us, sees us, knows us. And we see specifically in this situation with Mephibosheth, a glimpse of how God cares and knows and works. And specifically in this situation with someone who's physically disabled, how he works and relates and ls. So I want to keep reading because I love what happens next. Verse 4. So Zeba just said, he's got a son.> Then the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar." (2 Samuel 9:4, ESV)The king sent and had him brought from Lo-debar, from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel.> Then King David sent and had him brought from Lo-debar, from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel. (2 Samuel 9:5, ESV)If you thought Ziba was uncomfortable, if you agreed with me on that assessment, Mephibosheth has to be quite nervous. If they showed up and said, hey, Mephibosheth, King David's looking for you. Why? Because you're a descendant of Saul. Great, good, normal thing to do is to go round up anybody else who could be a rival to your kingdom. You just wipe them out. And he's like, oh, okay. And they say, no, no, no, no. He wants you to come because he's going to be nice to you. Doesn't that make it worse? Feels more suspicious that way. He's got a gift for you. Sure he does. So I should, like, hug my wife and tell her bye? That's what you're saying? This isn't going to go well, but I don't know how trusting he was. It doesn't tell us. David does respond to him and tell him not to be afraid. So I think there's a. There's an indication that there was some anxiety over the situation. But it says this in verse six.> And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, "Mephibosheth." And he answered, "Behold, I am your servant." (2 Samuel 9:6, ESV)And David said to him, do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather, and you shall eat at my table always.> And David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather, and you shall eat at my table always." (2 Samuel 9:7, ESV)He bowed himself and said, what is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? Then the king called Ziba Saul's servant, and said to him,> "Behold, I have given to your master's grandson all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. You and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce, that your master's grandson may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth your master's grandson shall eat at my table." (2 Samuel 9:8–10, ESV)Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons.> And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica, and all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. (2 Samuel 9:12–13, ESV)So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet, which will factor into the story again later as we run back into Mephibosheth. But David has welcomed him, invited him in, and placed him at his table, restored everything he could restore to him. And it's wonderful. And I think sometimes when we read these stories, when you're reading the. The Bible, sometimes you just come across something like this and you're like, okay, what do we do with that? How are we supposed to understand that? And in general, we've been trained to. When you interact with a story, that the story is trying to tell you something about life or about yourself, some sort of moral, some sort of lesson. And then we import that specifically when we come to the Bible, we're going, this is obviously written for some kind of lesson. And. And there are things that are like that. Paul says that in First Corinthians, he says these things were written down for our instruction so that we wouldn't do what they did. So that's an okay thing to do, to read the Scriptures and go, okay, yeah, let's not repeat that. Let's learn from that. Just like if you have an older sibling and they do dumb things, it's good for you to go, yeah, I'm also not going to do that. So we're able to look into this and see this. But that's not the primary way to read the Bible. We're not supposed to just take in lessons, although that's what we've been trained to do. That's. I don't know if you all know this, but every culture, stories help you understand what their ideals are, what they care about, what they value. That's why so many of the stories we tell right now are about throwing off anything that would keep you from being your real, authentic self. That's what a whole lot of our stories are about. Figuring out how to find out the real you and listen to that voice inside and seeing that with your little animal companion or whatever. Like, that's the stuff that we put out there and how your parents are stupid, that's a bonus. Just throw that in there. Don't listen to them. But that's a lot of the stories about freedom, about being alone, about figuring out how to find it all in yourself. We have a lot of those kind of stories. That's not the stories that people used to tell. We actually went and took all of the old fairy tales and turned them into that. But the old fairy tales used to be like, hey, honey, you about to go to sleep? Let me tell you a story. There was a little girl, she's about your age, her mom gave her a chore. She didn't do the chore. And she got eaten night pudding. Those were the stories. There was a mermaid, and her dad told her, don't become a person. And she became one and then suffered forever. Good night. Listen to your dad. Those are the stories. And so we. We understand, we're trying to read sometimes, and we're going, what's the lesson here? But when we come to the text, when we come to the Bible, that's secondary in our understanding. The Bible's primary purpose is to tell us the story of God and his interaction with humans and to display his greatness. This is how Jesus tells us to read the Bible. He looks at the. The Pharisees and he says, you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have life, but it's they that testify about me. The point of the Scriptures is to point us to Christ first and foremost. So, yes, we can learn lessons and we can say we ought to be like David and we ought to be kind and we ought to be gracious. But if we're looking for ourselves in stories so often, what happens is we end up putting ourselves in the. In the position of the hero. But we're not in the position of the hero. Christ is in the position of the hero. If we're to find ourselves in this story, we're Mephibosheth. We've lost everything and have no ability to get it back. That's us in the scheme of the world. It's all gone. You've been born into an enemy house. You've been born into sin. You've chosen sin and you have no way to come back. You have nothing in yourself that can merit or earn your salvation. You have no hope on your own. But God in Christ has chosen to rescue and to redeem and to welcome each other. Enemies and to bring him into his house. Enemies who could not have accomplished anything on their own. Enemies who. Who by nature and choice have fallen away. Enemies who have rebelled, enemies who do not belong are brought in because he's good. I love that he says, for the sake of Jonathan, because it's for the sake of Christ that we're welcomed in. It's not for our sake. It's not something that you've done. It's not something that you've accomplished. It's not something that you've earned. It's something that has been accomplished by Jesus on our behalf. So if your framework for what you're trying to do, even just being here this morning is, I'm going to get it together. I'm going to fix it. I've messed some things up, but I'm going to get better. I'm going to do what's good. I'm going to do what's right. I'm going to. I'm going to change. And your intent is to do that on your own in such a way that merits you a seat at the king's table. It will never happen. But I've got better news. The king goes out of his way to seek and to save the lost. He goes out of his way to find and to bring in rebels to his house. He goes out of his way to get those who do not belong and in any other system would not be welcome. They're brought in. And I think we say this a lot, so I think you've heard it. I think we've said a lot that you're a sinner, you're broken. We don't usually use this phrase, but we could. You're like Mephibosheth. You're a dead dog. Maybe we should start. I think we say that a lot. I think what can happen sometimes is we can miss. Mephibosheth lays on his face before the king understands his position is absolute worthlessness. He has nothing to bring. And then he gets up and he goes to the table. I don't want you to miss that. Because his position at the table should be one of joy and delight and fellowship and welcome, like a king's son. He shouldn't sit forever and go, oh, my dead. He shouldn't do that. That's not the position he's in. And here's the other thing that I think sometimes happens in our mind. You might go, yes, I understand. I'm saved only by grace. Yes, I understand that Jesus did everything. Yes, yes, yes. And then somehow you work in your mind that you've snuck in the back door. Everybody else is loved and welcome, but somehow you're here on some kind of technicality. It's not how it works. I don't know if y'all can imagine with me the moments when David looked down the table at all of his sons and at Mephibosheth. I don't know if you can imagine the Moments that Mephibosheth moved or spoke or laughed like Jonathan and David's heart leapt. And how much joy and delight there was in David's heart to have him at the table. And as Christ goes to work for you and in you, I want you to know that the King of Ages will sit with us at the table and delight that we're there to the glory of Christ. And every moment that Jesus is at work in you, and he sees a glimpse of him in you, and every moment that he knows that the only way you're welcome is because of the work of the Son of God, that there's joy and delight that he's brought you in, and that his greeting is your name with an exclamation mark. You did not sneak in. You are not unwelcome. He died and shed his precious blood so that you might have a seat at the table, and he did it on purpose for you. John, chapter 10. He says, I, the good shepherd, I know my sheep. I call them by name and I lead them out. If you don't think he knows your name and doesn't delight to welcome you, you have misunderstood the greatness of our God and King, who in Christ welcomes sinners to the praise of his glory and to the light of his goodness. So if you belong to Jesus, I want you to know you don't deserve to be at the table, but I want you to know that you get to be at the table and that he delights to have us there. He's that good. Let's pray.Lord, thank you for saving sinners. And thank you that we have nothing to offer or to merit or to achieve or to accomplish, but that you searched us out. And due to your great kindness and goodness, you've welcomed us. So, Lord, may we with joy in our hearts, with heads held high, with a smile on our face, live like we're your children because Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers and that we've been welcomed because of your greatness, not ours. May we rest in that and hope in that and give you glory in that. And for anyone in this room, Lord, who's been on the run for you from you, or who thinks that they have to fix it before they can come, may they lay their face on the ground and say, lord, I don't deserve this. And then may, through your grace and your goodness and your blood, may you lift them up and give them a seat at the table, because they don't. But you're good enough, kind enough and loving enough to Bring them in. May they surrender to you in Jesus name. Amen.We're going to take a moment together before we sing. Daniel's going to come back up and play for us as we take communion together as a church family. And what we're going to do is remind ourselves that we're invited to the table. And that what invited us, what brought us in, is the blood of Christ and the breaking of his body. That the night he was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples. He said, this is my body broken for you. And he took the cup and he said, this is the blood of the new covenant poured out for forgiveness of sins. And that in Jesus and in his sacrifice, we have forgiveness and we are welcomed. So take a moment wherever you are, if you need to deal with the Lord on something, if you need to repent of something, if you need to talk about something that's great, throne in between you and him, then repent and do that. And then go to the table as someone who's welcomed to the table through the work of Jesus. If you are not a Christian, then communion is not for you. But the gospel is offered to you that you might trust and follow Him. So when you're ready, we'll take communion. There's gluten free at that table back there.

Most parents don't know you can (and should) train your kids. Our Western mindset has most people believe that how kids turn out is mostly just due to their personality. This is absolutely incorrect and is KILLING family cultures and peace in homes. Today we're giving you some game-changing mindset shifts and some super practical ways to train your kids - for your benefit AND their benefit. --- FREE DOWNLOAD: 12 Tips for Training Your Kids (with Scripture): http://familyteams.com/train --- On this episode, we talk about: 0:00 Intro 0:51 Our Daughter's Feminine Rhythm on Tuesdays 3:29 How To Build A Family Business So You Can Truly Live As A Family Team 10:58 Training Your Kids 13:24 Develop A Training System 25:50 Start Early 34:00 Get The Playbook, Join The Accelerator 35:05 Crafting Training Routines Follow Family Teams: Facebook: https://facebook.com/famteams Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/familyteams Website: https://www.familyteams.com Resources Mentioned: Family Inc: https://courses.familyteams.com/familyinc Family Teams Accelerator: https://familyteams.com/accelerator Top 12 Tips for Training Your Kids: http://familyteams.com/train --- Hi, welcome to the Family Teams podcast! Our goal here is to help your family become a multigenerational team on mission by providing you with Biblically rooted concepts, tools and rhythms! Your hosts are Jeremy Pryor and Jefferson Bethke. Make sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you don't miss out on future episodes!

New church planting "keys" or "schemes," models or frameworks, come around regularly. Pragmatism overshadows hermeneutics to produce the next rapid results methodology that will surely be effective this time. Careful, solid preparation of the church planter should enable discernment and careful implementation based on genuine biblical consistency. Adapt what may be good; reject man-centered definitions; take time to build a solid foundation that stands the test of time. Our Western culture tends to be easily swayed by marketing claims and short-term proofs of rapid results. Let's do better than that as we do the steady work of planting biblical churches with genuine believers and qualified indigenous church leaders in every people group on earth.

Our Western culture is highly individualistic. We all want to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make our own way in the world. We don't want to be dependent on anyone. But Pastor J.D. cautions us that a self-made mindset doesn't work when it comes to holiness!

Our Western culture is highly individualistic. We all want to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make our own way in the world. We don't want to be dependent on anyone. But Pastor J.D. cautions us that a self-made mindset doesn't work when it comes to holiness! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1518/29

Our Western systems have told us what to do to be successful, but more people are in greater debt and harder situations than ever before. What we're told to do to 'get ahead' is not true anymore. We've been lied to about money, debt, and jobs which is keeping us enslaved in a rat-race. Jeff Lerner learned how to escape the money-trap and the time stealers that are being pitched to us and our children as the American Dream. Going from a high-school drop-out musician to an incredibly successful entrepreneur and now founder of The Entre Institute, Jeff now helps teach and empower others to not get caught in the traps of a broken system, but rather, be freed to live their fullest lives by tapping into their fullest gifts and potentials.Jeff Lerner is the author of the WSJ Best-Seller "Unlock Your Potential: The Ultimate Guide for Creating Your Dream Life in the Modern World." It's a Number 2 Best-Seller, second to Atomic Habits. Like in his book, Jeff shares with Brett incredible information and reformative perspectives that can help you and your family find better paths of success in life.

Our Western society is, to put it frankly, obsessed with the idea of anti-aging and the fountain of youth. This multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry that is mainly targeted at women focuses on all of the products and things you can do to maintain the appearance of youth on the outside of your body. But what about what is going on in the inside? Key Takeaways If You Are Interested in Using Muscle to Improve Your Aging, You Should: Start strength training now if you haven't already Follow a plan that is progressive and will help you Outsource to a professional in order to take the next step Preserving Your Muscle and Quality of Life Muscle is the most critical topic that is missing from the majority of conversations around aging. Preserving our muscle mass as we get older is one of the best ways to maintain our quality of life and longevity as we transition through menopause and beyond. Developing and maintaining muscle not only makes you feel good but is a key factor in how you age. The Unsung Hero of Anti-Aging While you may not be able to prevent 100% of the muscle mass loss you may experience as you get older, strength training is the best action you can take to take steps in that direction.  Muscle mass is the unsung hero of the anti-aging discussion, and is about so much more than vanity and appearances. If you want to preserve your quality of life and longevity as you age, maintaining your muscle is the first thing you need to think about. How has strength training changed your approach to aging? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode Exploring what the term anti-aging really means in modern Western society (4:45) Evidence-based statistics to help you understand the aging landscape (9:02) Why you need to pay attention to strength training, especially during the menopause transition (13:21) What you need to know about the relationship between estrogen and muscle (17:11) Things you can do about your muscle mass as you age (25:02) Quotes “If there is one thing that gets missed over time and time and time again in the conversation about aging, it is the unsung hero, muscle.” (3:12) “I don't want to just live to be very old in terms of my years, but I also would like to have as much quality of life, and quality of health, as possible.” (8:29) “No matter where on the spectrum you are, it is absolutely important and possible for you to start strength training now and reap some of these benefits.” (15:53) “Not only does this affect performance in terms of sports and athletics and fitness, but also, life.” (21:48) “This is all about your longevity, quality of programming, quality of life, and how strength training is going to serve you going forward.” (29:01) Featured on the Show Apply for Strength Nutrition Unlocked Here Dynamic Dumbells Program Strong With Steph Program Full Show Notes Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Podcast production & marketing support by the team at Counterweight Creative Rate and review on Apple Podcasts Related Episodes FYS #411: Why You Need A Strength Training Program FYS #408: Growth Mindset in Fitness FYS #407: The Female Athlete Health Report with Kyniska Advocacy

YOU ARE THE GREATEST IDEA GOD EVER HAD   Recently, on one of my ministry trips, I was in a house with corroded water pipes. You could taste it when you took a drink and often see the results in the glass. To solve the problem, we purchased a container with a filter so that when we drank our water, it was pure again. The Scriptures that are contained in our modern Bibles are referred to as the water of life. Unfortunately, those scriptures have come to us through vessels, i.e., pipelines, that can be contaminated by human reasoning and religion. The result has produced generations of Christians who only see God and the work of the cross through the filter of other men's opinions instead of the spirit of revelation. The result is that generations of believing Christians have a skewed picture of who they are in Christ and who God is as their Father. The emphasis of sin in the human race has been magnified to a place where its indelibility stained the believer, even after conversion.  Our Western theology repeatedly tells us we are all sinners saved by grace. Out of those old pipelines of reasoning comes the attitude and the misrepresentation of what happened at the cross in the resurrection. When filtered through the complete work that Christ did on the cross for us, we have been made new creatures. All things have been passed away, and all things have become new. We are not sinners saved by grace that person has died with Christ on the cross. That person has been buried with Christ in the tomb. That person was risen in the newness of life and now sits in a heavenly place in Christ Jesus. You are the greatest idea God ever had. It started in the recesses of eternity past when he declared let us make mankind in our image, and let him have a rule and dominion. The climax of that desire in God's heart was fulfilled in Christ when he went to the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father again. We have been made complete in him. The former conduct of past generations no longer stains us. We have been translated into the kingdom of his dear son. You are the greatest idea God ever had. Enjoy your new life.   YOU CAN GIVE HERE: http://www.georgewatkinsministries.co...   WEBSITE= http://www.georgewatkinsministries.co...   FACEBOOK=https://www.facebook.com/FaithProduce...   Faith Producers address: PO Bx 1006 Mt Vernon, WA 98273   FAITH PRODUCES AN INTERNATIONAL PODCAST https://faithproducers.podbean.com/   You can 'WALK' with George Watkins daily @ youtube.com/faithproducers  faithproducers.com twitter.com/faithproducers facebook.com/faithporducerstv   faithproducers.com   faithproducers@gmail.com

What happens if we co-opt political power for godly means? Or what if we use evil people to do good things? What if we put people in political power whose character is awful? Is that good or bad? Is it so cut and dry? Of course, there have always been evil people in political office, but the issue is not whether there are low-character people in political office, the issue is calling Christians to embrace evil people, glancing over moral issues, in order to get what they believe to be righteous results. In other words, does the end justify the means? What's at stake in all of this? Is it possible that we can win some big battles politically, but lose a greater war for the faith and its credibility? What is really going on in American evangelicalism?Joining Travis on today's show is Dr. Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today to discuss his new book, "Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America." Travis and Russell discuss the status of evangelicalism in America. Is it really representative of the upside-down kingdom that Jesus is talking about? Or is it a type of Christian atheism or even, dare we say a form of Christian paganism? What does it mean to be patriotic in the midst of this? Is it possible to be patriotic and not a Christian nationalist? What is wrong with Christian nationalism anyway? These are just some of the questions they discuss on today's show as Russell guides us into the landmines of today's American evangelical landscape, helping us to see where the minefields are, but also where there is safe ground as we seek to be biblical faithful Christians, fulling the mission God has for us in this unique cultural moment. Conversations like this are meant to help encourage and equip you in your mission encounter with Western culture. Our Western culture has many great things in it, but also some unique underlying idolatries that many who are within a Western culture often miss. Dr. Moore helps us to see some of these idolatries and how many within American evangelicalism are not living out biblical Christianity, but rather destructive idolatries that are toxic to biblical faith. It's a fascinating and insightful conversation and one that will unmask idolatries you may have in order that you may forsake them and live out of the truth of the Gospel as you go about your missionary encounter with Western culture. Sign up for the Apollos Watered newsletter.Help support the ministry of Apollos Watered and transform your world today!

USE OUR CODE TO ORDER SOME OF JAMES' PRODUCT - PLUCK: Pluck Seasoning - 10% OFF - Nutrient-dense seasoning with INSANE flavor! CODE: MAFIAJAMES BARRY WITH CHEF DONNY DELICIOUS - PESTO & PLUCK IN COMPOUND BUTTER?! PERFECT CARNIVORE MEALOn this episode of the podcast we had on our good friend, James Barry - CEO and founder of Pluck. He's an ex-celebrity Chef who has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. His culinary background blends a unique knowledge-base of both nutrition and flavor, which ultimately led him to launching his product, Pluck. Pluck is an organ seasoning that makes microdosing some nutritious organs SO easy. If you are on a carnivore diet, animal-based diet, or just want to get healthier in general, this episode is for you! We talk about building intuition when it comes to your health and basing your decisions based on feel as opposed to rigid rules. Our Western approach to health is fundamentally flawed, and James helps us unpack what you can do as an individual to support a thriving lifestyle. SPONSORS Fold App - Earn Bitcoin on all of your purchases by using the Fold Debit Card - it's simple, easy, and a fun way to earn bitcoin as you spend money on healthy foods! Use code MEATMAFIA to earn 100,000 sats when you sign up for Fold's FREE bitcoin rewards debit card & spend $20 with the card.  NOBLE ORIGINS Complete and simple, animal-based protein powder with an organ blend for additional nutrition! Use Code: MEATMAFIA at check out! AFFILIATES LMNT - Electrolyte salts to supplement minerals on low-carb diet The Carnivore Bar - CODE MAFIA for 10% OFF - Delicious & convenient Pemmican Bar Perennial Pastures - 10% OFF - Regeneratively raised, grass-fed & grass-finished beef from California & Montana Farrow Skincare - Use the CODE 'MAFIA' at checkout for 20% OFF Heart & Soil - CODE ‘MEATMAFIA10' for 10% OFF - enhanced nutrition to replace daily vitamins! Carnivore Crisps - 10% OFF - Carnivore / Animal-based snacks for eating healthy on the go! CODE: MEATMAFIA Pluck Seasoning - 10% OFF - Nutrient-dense seasoning with INSANE flavor! CODE: MAFIA We Feed Raw 25% OFF your first order - ancestrally consistent food for your dog! CODE 'MEATMAFIA25' Fond Bone Broth - 15% OFF - REAL bone broth with HIGH-QUALITY ingredients! It's a daily product for us!

Send us a Text Message.In this episode, we will explore the concept of the Goldilocks Zone. Our Western patriarchal society often tells women that there is a "right" way to be, and as a result, we can feel like we are either too much or not enough. We have been programmed to be hypersensitive to the opinions of others and to internalize those thoughts as if they are facts. There is a balance to be found between being selfish and being a people pleaser. It takes time and guidance to find what feels right for you.Throughout this podcast, I'll offer you guidance on how to navigate the space between extremes. I'll share tips on how to unplug from outside opinions of what you should be and instead, focus on relentlessly loving yourself. By the end of this episode, you will have a better understanding of how to find your own Goldilocks Zone and embrace your true self. Find Sara here:https://sarafisk.coachhttps://www.instagram.com/sarafiskcoach/https://www.facebook.com/SaraFiskCoaching/https://www.youtube.com/@sarafiskcoaching1333https://www.tiktok.com/@sarafiskcoach What happens inside the free Stop People Pleasing Facebook Community? Our goal is to provide help and guidance on your journey to eliminate people pleasing and perfectionism from your life. We heal best in a safe community where we can grow and learn together and celebrate and encourage each other. This group is for posting questions about or experiences with material learned in The Ex-Good Girl podcast, Sara Fisk Coaching social media posts or the free webinars and trainings provided by Sara Fisk Coaching. See you inside!Book a Free Consult

Send us a textIn this episode, we will explore the concept of the Goldilocks Zone. Our Western patriarchal society often tells women that there is a "right" way to be, and as a result, we can feel like we are either too much or not enough. We have been programmed to be hypersensitive to the opinions of others and to internalize those thoughts as if they are facts. There is a balance to be found between being selfish and being a people pleaser. It takes time and guidance to find what feels right for you.Throughout this podcast, I'll offer you guidance on how to navigate the space between extremes. I'll share tips on how to unplug from outside opinions of what you should be and instead, focus on relentlessly loving yourself. By the end of this episode, you will have a better understanding of how to find your own Goldilocks Zone and embrace your true self. Find Sara here:https://sarafisk.coachhttps://pages.sarafisk.coach/difficultconversationshttps://www.instagram.com/sarafiskcoach/https://www.facebook.com/SaraFiskCoaching/https://www.tiktok.com/@sarafiskcoachhttps://www.youtube.com/@sarafiskcoaching1333 What happens inside the free Stop People Pleasing Facebook Community? Our goal is to provide help and guidance on your journey to eliminate people pleasing and perfectionism from your life. We heal best in a safe community where we can grow and learn together and celebrate and encourage each other. This group is for posting questions about or experiences with material learned in The Ex-Good Girl podcast, Sara Fisk Coaching social media posts or the free webinars and trainings provided by Sara Fisk Coaching. See you inside!Book a Free Consult

Our Western culture has created a focus on work and accomplishment - to the detriment of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being.  Instead, we offer that each and every one of us need…deserve…or rather, should demand more rest and relaxation. In the words of the Nap Bishop herself, “rest requires a revolution.”    SHOW NOTES   Dr. Trisha Hersey, known as the Nap Bishop, is spreading the good word about rest. Hersey's movement on rest was inspired by studying slavery and realising that slaves working to exhaustion was part of the brutal origin of capitalism - and her own inheritance.  Hersey says her rest work is not just about the treatment of Black and Indigenous people, but fundamentally how Black and indigenous people are treated is a  bellwether for how society is functioning.  She believes everyone benefits when we question our attitudes around the “grind culture” of work and productivity.  Hersey's message is literally about taking naps, but also about other kids of rest.  Her ministry comes with four tenets:   Resting pushes back on and disrupts on white supremacy and capitalism.  We've been programmed to believe that the more we produce, the more worth we have, which has negatively impacted our well-being. Our bodies are a site of liberation.  Naps provide a portal to imagine, invent and heal.  Our dream space has been stolen and we want it back. We will reclaim it via rest.   Saundra Dalton-Smith is a medical doctor who was raised with the message that as a Black woman she would always have to work harder than others.  As a physician, she listened to her patients talk about fatigue and realized that her patients were not resting, which she turned inward to address her own deep fatigue.  Dalton-Smith, who wrote Sacred Rest - Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore your Sanity, focuses her work on the different kinds of rest we need - emotional, physical, social, spiritual, mental, social, sensory, and creative rest; and the gifts that come from that rest, such as boundaries, reflection, freedom, acceptance.     The message is rest, listeners, rest.  It is good for all the parts of our human-ness.   The Nap Bishop Is Spreading the Good Word: Rest - The New York Times Sacred Rest - Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore your Sanity

We're in our “Better Together” series on MercyTalk where we're talking about the vital role that community plays in our mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health. Our Western culture is constantly working against us having deep community. How did we get here and why does everything seem to be pushing against us in this area? [...]

Highlights:     “Having read his speeches, having allowed Putin himself to explain himself, what is he doing? According to Peterson, he is defending, in a word, Christendom. He is defending the particularly Orthodox realm of ancient Christian civilization from the degeneration of the West.” “Our Western globalist pundit class, our liberal elites, will never understand Putin as long as they continue to hold on to the absurd notion that they can explain Putin better than he explains himself.” Peterson went on to say that it's not just Russia who thinks we've lost our minds (with wokeism). It's the whole of Eastern Europe, it's the whole of China and India and the Middle East, where by the way, more Muslims are currently going to mosques than ever before in the history of Islam. It's the whole of the continent of Africa. It's basically 80% of the world's population, not to mention perhaps the majority of the populations within Western nations!” “Wokeism is just nuts. It is geopolitically disastrous and destabilizing. And if woke warriors thought they could infest NATO with international impunity, they were sorely mistaken. They were dead wrong!” Timestamps:        [03:14] On 2 of the 4 causes of the Ukraine-Russia conflict: NATO's eastward expansion and the West's hyper-reliance on Russia for food, fuel, and fertilizer [07:43] Understanding Putin by reading Putin (by reading his speeches) [10:31] What is Putin doing according to Peterson [14:20] On 3rd and 4th causes of the Ukraine-Russia conflict: Russia's expansionist sentiments and Western's wokeism Resources:  Build a fortress to withstand any or all storms that might arise in the current unpredictable world with Food Supply at Http://GetReadyWithSteve.com Learn how to protect your life savings from inflation and an irresponsible government, with Gold and Silver. Go to http://www.turleytalkslikesgold.com/ Watch my new movie The Return of The American Patriot: The Rise of Pennsylvania Now at https://drsteveturley.locals.com/post/2594436/the-return-of-the-american-patriot-the-rise-of-pennsylvania 1166 Jordan Peterson Leaves Piers Morgan SPEECHLESS on Vladimir Putin!!! Get Over 66% OFF All of Mike Lindell's Products using code TURLEY: https://www.mypillow.com/turley Get 25% off Patriotic Coffee with Code TURLEY at https://mystore.com/turley Join Dr. Steve's Exclusive Membership in the Insiders Club and watch content he can't discuss on YouTube during his weekly Monday night show!: https://insidersclub.turleytalks.com/welcome Get Your Brand-New PATRIOT T-Shirts and Merch Here: https://store.turleytalks.com/ It's time to CHANGE AMERICA and Here's YOUR OPPORTUNITY To Do Just That! https://change.turleytalks.com/ Fight Back Against Big Tech Censorship! Sign-up here to discover Dr. Steve's different social media options …. but without censorship! https://www.turleytalks.com/en/alternative-media.com Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode.  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and/or leave a review. Do you want to be a part of the podcast and be our sponsor? Click here to partner with us and defy liberal culture! If you would like to get lots of articles on conservative trends make sure to sign-up for the 'New Conservative Age Rising' Email Alerts.

Today, we are talking about fear and all its subtle iterations. This episode was born from a discussion on another podcast, Theory of Everything, hosted by Curt Jaimungal. It's a favorite of mine, both for the array of topics, but most of all for the way Jaimungal creates conversations that are both in-depth and curiosity driven, presented in a respectful, kind way. But back to fear. In this particular episode, he was speaking with Lue Elizondo and Sean Cahill about UFOs and consciousness. They were talking about the disclosure of government files pertaining to UFOs. After asking why there is a resistance on the part of the government to disclosing information to the public, Cahill said that it could result in mass fear. Jaimungal asked what we can do to prepare? As I ran, I paused the stream and wrote down, “We need to teach ourselves to react to fear with curiosity, NOT violence.” And that's how this topic came to be. Sounds simple enough, but fear is anything but simple. As usual, I'd like to be purposeful with language. Merriam Webster's dictionary defines fear as, “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger, anxious concern, cause for alarm.” After reading two books on the subject to prepare for this episode, watching a handful of TED talks, marking up six or seven articles on the topic, I've learned that FEAR at its core is a messenger of INTUITION; or our internal KNOWING, and the cause of the fears can be broken into two; INTERNAL FORCES and EXTERNAL FORCES, in other words, stuff we choose to participate in that scares us, and the stuff that happens to us without our control – That distinguishing feature makes the most difference in our reaction to fear. But as you've come to know well, I'm getting ahead of myself.Our Western culture is fear-driven, obsessed even. Author Gavin de Becker says many of our fear-driven practices are due to the machinations of a group of ten sociopaths. Show Creators and Social Media Links:Art Director – Nora HotesLink to audio engineer—Aidan ConnersCurious Cat on TwitterCurious Cat on InstagramResources and Materials:Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal on YouTubeBig Magic by Elizabeth GilbertThe Gift of Fear by Gavin de BeckerFear Junkies story ABC Newshttps://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-tell-if-youre-an-adrenaline-junkie-3145035How to Face Your Fears article33 Ways to Overcome Your FearsThe Sedona Method

Everyday we sit with people in our clinic and puzzle through the questions of “What is going on for them,” “Can I see clearly what they need,” and “Do I understand how this person is an expression of yin/yang, heaven and earth?” Our patients have a story. And so do we, except we usually call it Chinese medicine theory and we are seeing if we can take our Western minds into the world of East Asian medicine, which is no easy task, and come back with something helpful. Our Western minds orient us towards the linear, but Chinese medicine thinking– that has us going in circles, cycles and waves. Today's conversation with Deborah Woolf came about because I had some questions, and more than few, about the Heavenly Stems after her recent Qiological Live presentation on the topic.  It's not that I previously gave this topic of study a pass, I've talked about it with friends who have investigated this aspect of medicine in a significant way. But I wasn't able to grasp the dynamics of the Stems in any meaningful fashion. That changed with this conversation.  Deborah has been studying and teaching this stuff for a while now. And thanks to this conversation. I think I'm starting to get it.

Everyday we sit with people in our clinic and puzzle through the questions of “What is going on for them,” “Can I see clearly what they need,” and “Do I understand how this person is an expression of yin/yang, heaven and earth?” Our patients have a story. And so do we, except we usually call it Chinese medicine theory and we are seeing if we can take our Western minds into the world of East Asian medicine, and come back with something helpful. Our Western minds orient us towards the linear, but Chinese medicine thinking– that has us going in circles, cycles and waves. Today's conversation with Deborah Woolf came about because I had some questions, and more than few, about the Heavenly Stems after her recent Qiological Live presentation on the topic. It's not that I previously gave this topic of study a pass, I've talked about it with friends who have investigated this aspect of medicine in a significant way. But I wasn't able to grasp the dynamics of the Stems in any meaningful fashion. That changed with this conversation. Deborah has been studying and teaching this stuff for a while now. And thanks to this conversation. I think I'm starting to get it.

Everyday we sit with people in our clinic and puzzle through the questions of “What is going on for them,” “Can I see clearly what they need,” and “Do I understand how this person is an expression of yin/yang, heaven and earth?” Our patients have a story. And so do we, except we usually call it Chinese medicine theory and we are seeing if we can take our Western minds into the world of East Asian medicine, which is no easy task, and come back with something helpful. Our Western minds orient us towards the linear, but Chinese medicine thinking– that has us going in circles, cycles and waves. Today's conversation with Deborah Woolf came about because I had some questions, and more than few, about the Heavenly Stems after her recent Qiological Live presentation on the topic.  It's not that I previously gave this topic of study a pass, I've talked about it with friends who have investigated this aspect of medicine in a significant way. But I wasn't able to grasp the dynamics of the Stems in any meaningful fashion. That changed with this conversation.  Deborah has been studying and teaching this stuff for a while now. And thanks to this conversation. I think I'm starting to get it.

Moms! They are so important and don't get nearly enough credit for the efforts they give in carrying a child and then raising that child.Our Western culture sets aside one day a year to celebrate them but they deserve more. They deserve to be recognized every day because they are giving of themselves every day and often their efforts go unnoticed.Today we attempt to honour Mothers and give glory to God for his perfect design. #Moms #Mothers #Mother #MothersDay #God #Jesus #Glory #Giving #Love #Recognize Mountainview Church carries the necessary Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) license to play and perform the contained Christian worship songs. And all track recordings have been purchased with the coinciding public performance permissions. Background music was acquired royalty-free and available for public use at FreeMusicArchive.org, listed below.Support the show

Our Western mindsets tend to rank and categorize people and thus we look at ourselves “graded on a curve.”   People can often support harmful and extreme positions so as to make themselves feel better, because they aren't that bad, relatively speaking. Dr. Jonny wants to expose this sinister cultural plan and not allow extremists to move the needle of morality in our nation. God is Holy, and His ways are right, and concerning His ways we don't negotiate, bargain or compromise. Our lives are the proof of His holiness!

Tom welcomes to the program a different Tom named Tom Luongo, this one comes with slightly more hair. Mr. Luongo used to be good at a thing called blogging back in 2003 and 2008. He has since decided to return to the public eye as he occasionally opines opinions longer than a tweet. He believes social media should be reserved exclusively for puppy and unicorn videos.Mr. Luongo is a hard-core libertarian and believes in human rights and is therefore against war as a matter of principle. Wars support the state and they are the worst possible outcome of human interaction. The Ukraine war is full of disinformation and bias from the media and as always the first casualty in war is the truth. Russia appears to generally be less biased in its reporting. The Russians feel this is the least bad action they can take regarding Ukraine at this time.Misinformation is information with the intent to mislead whereas disinformation can just be incorrect information. All information needs to be examined with a critical eye and the motivations of the source should be questioned.Much of the world has underestimated Putin largely due to incompetence. Power tends to make politicians lazy. However, when you don't have a lot of power, you have to be cautious. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, is an excellent diplomat who has garnered the respect of many countries.Putin wanted a multi-polar world with plenty of co-operation around Russian interests. The West has failed to listen and they naively, believed they could win in Ukraine and place missiles on the Russian border.Our Western governments are working for foreign actors, namely the Davos World Economic Forum. These people are driving policy and damaging the West. These European interests want to see the United States weakened or destroyed. They need the rule of law in the United States to collapse so they can have implemented their great transnational superstate reset. They know if they can destroy Russia, then they can then take on China.Tom explains how Putin was able to clean up and restructure Russia over the past two decades. Russia has benefitted greatly from the hard times creating quality people. They have built up a massive war chest because they are a leading exporter of many commodities.Putin understands the importance of taking advantage of your opponent's weakness. He will likely back a new domestic ruble with gold. He may then allow backchannel financial systems like cryptocurrencies. Life remains fairly normal in Russia, with most of the panic and problems being international. Russia has weathered far worse situations.The financial system is breaking down and the Davos crowd is desperate. The entire world is built on a foundation of paper gold as a means to lever everything. Russia is capable of forcing financial discipline on the entire world and we're getting close to the next act in this drama playing out.The Europeans hope to create a quagmire for Russia, but it probably won't work. The Eurodollar futures curve is going flat and even the Fed is likely to impose fiscal discipline. Should the U.S. raise rates, it could crush Europe.Ukraine won't be planting any crops because the diesel supplies have all been blown up. There is no wheat or corn futures market. A major political shakeup is coming to the U.S. Congress in November, assuming the world survives.There is a righteous amount of anger in Russia and Ukraine needs to surrender quickly or politicians will be swinging from lamp posts. Those in power in Ukraine are receiving very bad advice from Europe.A restructuring of the financial system could be done with at most a couple of years of pain. Today, we have the choice of either a bad period or a far worse time, perhaps even starvation. Economics is blood and most of our politicians don't even understand the basics.The world is fracturing from the global agenda and these globalists still believe they are winning. Europe is done and they are going to be destroyed ...

In this episode I discuss the Shadow aspect of the ego or lower self and why the spiritual journey requires us to delve into all the pain and wounds that are stored there. Our Western society shuns the idea of the Shadow and rejects all failure, weakness and loss. But the "shadowlands" as Richard Rohr writes "are good and necessary teachers." So let's look within on our spiritual journey and begin the task of healing what has been relegated to the shadows. This episode includes: Metaphors for the rich, nurturing aspect of the shadow (lotus, tulip, butterfly). Shadow begins when we turn inward on our life journey and look with honesty at ourselves. If we don't heal our own shadow we will project it onto others. Why we shouldn't fear the process of shining light on our own shadow. The Guest House Meditation as a practice for coming to terms with shadow. "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular." -Carl Jung Support this podcast by joining the team at my page on Patreon.com/eolu! Get my book The Journey from Ego to Soul here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/karen-wyatt/message

[Comment: Emotions] Friends of the Rosary: Our modern society has made emotions, feelings, and pleasures a priority. We have absolutized them, in accordance with the dominant view of the human being as the center of the universe. In other words, we try to build a society without God. Our Western countries do not deny God; they just relegate the Divinity to a secondary role. This social construction is a failure. Just take a look at how unhappy and despaired are people to notice that a world without Jesus Christ is a complete disaster. Emotions, feelings, and even pleasures are good as long as we understand that they are a gift from God, and are used to help others and love the Creator. Emotions and feelings are subordinated to the salvific and loving plan of God. Ave Maria! Jesus, I Trust In You! + Mikel A. | TheRosaryNetwork.org, New York —- • Watch this Rosary: Live Rosary every day at 7:30 PM Eastern. On-demand at any time. • Free Online Video Course: Essential Questions on the Rosary

Our Western concept of "justice" does not quite coincide with the Biblical requirement given in Micah 6:8. I think you will be challenged, as I was, by the revealing of the meaning of the Hebrew words translated "justice" in this passage.

How many paths have you gone down only to realize that's not the way you're supposed to go? If you have, you're probably on the right track. Our Western culture tends to teach us that failure is loss when in actuality failure is an essential part of maturity, release, and self-discovery. How many times did God get rejected by Moses before Moses accepted the call to lead his people out of slavery? How often did Ruth get dejected by society until she discovered her true calling? How many people rejected Jesus whom were the very people He vowed to love?In order to know the right path to go, we have to encounter a series of ‘no.'This Sunday, we conclude our “Create” series with our exploration of what it looks like to “Create: Your Own Path.” There are many voices in our culture, family, and social circles that tell us what our path is supposed to look like. But your own true path is between you and God… that's it. Jesus came to give us life and life to the fullest. The only way you can decipher where you belong is to pay attention to the God-given voice within you.

As individuals, we are called to follow after Christ and become more like Him, setting aside the old and putting on the new along the way. But the real magic happens as individuals come together in Spirit filled community, to celebrate Jesus together through teaching, prophetic words, and "songs from the Spirit." Our Western vision of church can sometimes hold us back, but this is the church that God desires. 

Although not every parent chooses to, many report wanting to breastfeed or chestfeed their child. Our Western society likes to promote this with slogans and ideas that "breast is best", but most of that isn't backed up with the type of support that parents need to make this a reality. From inadequate leave to advice that counters the promotion of breastfeeding to a lack of instrumental and social support for new parents, breast and chestfeeding are an uphill battle, to say the least. Unfortunately this means many parents fail to reach their own goals and this can lead to intense grief about this. Too often, they are told it doesn't matter or just to suck it up, neither of which is supportive or helpful for parents experiencing this grief. This week I was privileged to talk to Dr. Amy Brown about this issue, one she has researched and written on for her book, "Why breastfeeding grief and trauma matter". Whether you were successful in your breast or chestfeeding goals or not, or even if that just wasn't your choice to even embark on, this episode is a critical listen for all of us who engage with new parents. Dr. Amy Brown: https://professoramybrown.co.uk/about-me Twitter: https://twitter.com/Prof_AmyBrown Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prof_amybrown/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breastfeedinguncovered Why Breastfeeding Grief and Trauma Matter: https://www.bookdepository.com/Why-Breastfeeding-Grief-Trauma-Matter-Amy-Brown/9781780666150 To learn more about the Evolutionary Parenting Podcast visit https://evolutionaryparenting.com/evolutionary-parenting-podcast-2/

In a recent article in First Things, Professors Jenna & Benjamin Storey suggest that modern people have become "pixelated souls." Our Western political system was built to help people navigate two competing allegiances: church and state. But people today are formed by such a wide variety of allegiances that this political arrangement doesn't work anymore. In this episode, we discuss the article, consider its argument, and explore its implications.Article:https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/05/pixelated-souls

This week on the Minnesota Native News health report, May is mental health awareness month and highlights the often-overlooked medical condition. Hear what one tribe is doing for better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reporter Dalton Walker explains with this week's story. The last year has been challenging for all of us, and that's OK. The pandemic's impact on our mental health should not go unnoticed or brushed aside. We have all been affected, some more than others.  Many health organizations across the country are emphasizing the importance of mental health Judy Simpson, a crisis coordinator for White Earth Mental Health, and her team are working to break that stigma that prevents people from seeking help. “ But again there's that stigma for mental health that we just really need to break down. mental health is a medical condition. We have brain chemistry sometimes that just genetically we are not born with certain brain chemistry that allows us to feel certain ways on a regular basis, which would entail going out and getting some support and help in order to do that.” says Judy Simpson.  Self care might be the first step for mental health improvements, according to Simpson.  “Self care is great, and I think that's been a huge push during this pandemic as well is the need for self care. To just take care of ourselves, love ourselves, go for walks, listen to nature. Do something that takes time for you to just focus on yourself and focus on the things around you that are beautiful and important and that make you feel well and uplift you.” White Earth created a mental health connection group in 2020 that is culturally driven. Once a month, Simpson's team hosts an activity, usually in person with a virtual option. The Ojibwe band has had success in its vaccine rollout and has allowed gatherings to take place, including powwows. This month's mental health activity is hand drum making. Past activities included ribbon skirt making and discussions on traditional medicines. Simpson said participation has increased to a point that there is a waiting list.   “This is important to bring culture back into the communities, and to spend time together, so how we look at that correlation with mental health and the cultural events and activities is that this really does foster that connectedness” notes Simpson. Simpson says tribal citizens need to have an opportunity to connect with their culture instead of Western medicine or treatment being the only option. She says culture is an important piece of our mental health and our overall well being.  “Culturally driven health care is important. Our Western way of medicine can only meet the needs of so much, and that there's that gap still that if we can help fill that gap through a cultural lens and by implementing culturally-tailored health promotions and treatment that's where we're gonna see the improvements.” White Earth offers a free 24 hour mental health crisis line dedicated to those living on the  reservation and in Becker County. The word crisis can throw some people off, Simpson said, but no issue is too big or too small. Sometimes people just need someone to talk to or someone to listen.  Minnesota and other state and national health organizations have similar health helplines. More than 50 percent of people will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  If you're having any health-related issues, be sure to seek out your local health professionals.  For Minnesota Native News health report, I'm Dalton Walker

Our Western culture is obsessed with happiness and contentment, yet we experience more stress, anxiety, and depression than ever before.Join us as we explore the characteristics and conditions of these nourishing phenomena.We hope you like and follow us on all our platforms!Facebook: @Convo4theGoodInstagram: @Convo4theGoodTwitter: @Convo4theGoodLinkedIn: @Conversations for the GoodConversations for the Good is a dialogue dedicated to providing information and techniques to deepen awareness and understanding of how we as individuals can make desired changes that serve the greater good.

When Reverend Tristy Taylor and her husband decided to stop trying to have a baby, she honored that loss with a special ceremony. During her time sitting shiva, "grief first" was her mantra. Then a dream inspired her to create a celebration of her decision to not become a mother.   Links: Tristy's Blog Post on The UnBaby Shower Video Tour of Grief Ritual Art Journal Tristy Taylor  The UnBaby Shower (KPFA International Women's Day Edit) Rate This Podcast Music by Terry Hughes   Full Transcript   Taylor: Yeah, it's a major life transition for women that's not acknowledged, you know, or talked about really.   Thomas: It's just like a failing, or a loss, or a...   Taylor: A giving up.   Thomas: Yeah, exactly.   On our journey through life, we will come upon moments that invite us to reinvent ourselves. Big changes can do this like moving away from home, getting married, starting a family or choosing not to start a family. How can we slow down in these moments and really honor what’s changing, really honor how we’re changing?   This is Shame Piñata. I’m Colleen Thomas. Welcome to Shame Piñata, where we talk about creating rites of passage for real-life transitions. Today we’re going to go deep. Are you ready? We’re going to dive into one of those moments that’s really a rite of passage, an initiation, a change. One of those moments that ceremony is perfect for because it invites us to use all of our creativity and all of our heart. And what’s more, it invites us to use ceremony for what ceremony does best, to create the container to hold the strong emotions that come up with big changes.    Tristy Taylor joins us today to share the story of her unbaby shower, a three-part ceremony she designed when she and her husband decided to stop trying to conceive. She took her time. She followed the threads of what was changing in her and she ended up creating a beautiful ceremony that both honored her grief and was also a celebration.    Taylor: Yeah, I mean, I think... It does start with the journey my husband and I were on to make a baby together. And after trying the usual routes and discovering that nothing was happening, we entered the world of fertility treatments, medical intervention and started down that road, which included some pretty powerful hormone therapy that was... quite a journey to be on that. Basically, all my emotions were at 11 all the time. [LAUGHS] So like, you know, small inconveniences became like fiery, mountainous, rage-fueled tirades. [LAUGHS] And eventually did end up having a pregnancy, but then that pregnancy was... the pregnancy ended up being ectopic. So the fertilized egg and embedded in my fallopian tube. And, you know, we didn't know that and I ended up going to the emergency room one night with just intensive abdominal pain and they took one look at me and said, "You're bleeding internally, and we need to open you up immediately." And then that's when they discovered that... that my tube had ruptured... my fallopian tube had ruptured. And after that experience, we kept trying but it started to... all signs started to point to this was gonna be painful and challenging and not really get us where we wanted to be. And my husband and I talked for a long time about what that choice meant to be child-free. And he kind of took it in stride and sort of said, "Well,I'm gonna use that energy to do other things." And he, like started his own business and, you know, spent a lot of time away from me and away from home kind of diving into almost a little bit avoidant perhaps of his own feelings. But building this business that he'd always wanted to create and felt free to create now that we weren't trying to create a family and all the sort of pressures that might have come with being a parent. It kind of freed him up. And kind of the opposite happened to me where I just felt like my life had been pressed pause... like the pause button had been pressed on my life and I didn't know what happened next. And being someone who really tries to show up to what's happening in my life, regardless whether or not I understand it, I realized that I needed to honor this loss. So... and to really allow some space and time to feel the grief of the loss of being a mother and and even this particular pregnancy loss with the ectopic pregnancy. And being an interfaith minister, I read a lot about all sorts of rituals and I had recently read a really beautiful piece about the modern day of sitting shiva for someone who had passed away from the Jewish tradition. And, knowing that shiva means seven, seven days and I really like felt the like ritual power behind that. I mean, it's a ritual... but that seven days like I really felt how... to devote seven straight days to my grief where grief came first and nothing else had precedence over my sitting inside of my grief... My whole body just resonated with that. I just was like, Yes, that's what we're gonna do! And that's what I did. And I didn't, really... Other than my husband, I didn't talk to anybody. I ended up doing a lot of crafting, which felt really good. I ended up making these kind of heartfelt... heart-shaped sachets with like lavender and different herbs in them... calm... these sort of calming craft/sewing kind of stuff that would that was very focused, but I was also kind of putting my grief into these pieces that I was making. And yeah, it was... it was very powerful time and spent a lot of time in nature and just cried a lot. And didn't think about the future or what my life would look like, I just really tried to focus on the moment, which is challenging, you know. Our Western culture really pushes us to get over our grief as soon as possible and not to dwell and like... all of that stuff... When really, I think the more we can show up for our grief, the more can beautifully move through us. And we can truly let it go. We have to feel it first.    During the time of sitting shiva with her grief, Tristy had a dream. In the dream, she was out in the snow looking into a kind of hut, a hut that felt very ancient. Inside the hut women dressed in animal skins were gathered around a very, very pregnant woman, putting oils on her and celebrating her. There was a fire in the hut but Tristy was outside in the cold and she knew through the knowledge that comes in dreams that she was not allowed into the ritual because she was not fertile and she would be bad energy for the pregnant space.    Taylor: And I woke up crying, and hurt very hurt by the dream. And I also know from doing dream work all my life that no dream ever comes to hurt us and be like, "Look at you, you know, you're stuck, Haha!" You know... Our dreams always come for health and wholeness. And so I really sat with the dream. I drew pictures from the dream... I felt into it. And and the gift that came out of the dream, cause I do think all nightmares have a gift. The gift that came out of the dream was this idea for an unbaby shower. Because it didn't feel fair to me that I should be left out in the cold. And this transition that I was making is just as valuable as the transition of becoming a mother, the transition to not be a mother. And so I connected with two very good friends who are great ritual-makers and we started to piece together this whole ceremonial ritual around having this unbaby shower. And it started with the grief. It started with doing a grief ritual with these two women and really having their support and being in nature together, and making food together. And then that transitioned into this more celebratory shower-space where about 18 women came to my house and painted my body with body paints and gave me blessings. And it was so interesting because it was raining at the beginning of the shower ("the shower"). So we all had to like jam into my little, you know, 700 square-foot house. And then by the afternoon the sun had come up and then I was all like covered in body paint and we just went outside and we're just running around and it was so joyful. There was so much joy. And the way I kind of completed the ritual was making this dedication to being a creator, being a spiritual guide, being... offering my gifts to the world. If I wasn't going to be mothering a new life, then I would be holding this spiritual, creative space for others. And it always makes me think of that Dolly Parton quote, because she also couldn't have children. She tried and she couldn't have them and she just said, "Well, God just decided that I'm gonna be mom to everybody kids." You know, like, I just love that. And I love being, you know, an auntie to my friends', kids. And that feels really like a powerful and important role as as my auntie's were to me as a kid. So that's how that all came about.   Thomas: I love... I love that. I love... I love the way that you love ritual, and you lean into it and into your dreams. And I love your stories, because I love to hear you listening. The layers at which you listen inspire me. And remind me what you discovered about your grandmother and your great grandmother.   Taylor: Yeah. So my... my ruptured tubal pregnancy where I had to have emergency surgery was on March 3. And my... my mother told me that her mother, my grandmother, was born on March 3. And I remembered that her mother, my great-grandmother, died giving birth to her. So my great grandmother died on March 3 giving birth. And I had this emergency surgery that saved my life and I would have died through trying to become a mother. So there was this fascinating karmic Ancestral wound being healed, I believe. I didn't die, I survived. And I really do... from the ancestral work that I've done in my life, I've had visceral experiences. Because time is not linear in that world, like time is a spiral. It's past. It's present. It's future all at once. And so the healing that I did on that day and continue to do ripples back to my Ancestors. You know, and that's my female line. It's my mother's mother's mother, you know, that... all of that is relevant to my experience, you know. And of course, none of that was planned, it's just how it unfolded. It's one of those kind of magic, unexplainable moments, you know, where we've kind of put the pieces together afterwards. And it's like, oh, that seems significant! [LAUGHS]   Thomas: I've always loved the physiological connection that we have to our grandmothers, because... I always have trouble saying it... I... the egg that became me in my mother's ovary... that...   Taylor: ...was in your grandmother.   Thomas: ...was in my grandmother's body - yes!   Taylor: Isn't that amazing?   Thomas: It's so crazy!   Taylor: Yeah. Incredible. And the work they've done about how, like, the stress and trauma of our grandmothers are in those eggs within eggs, like we're literally physically inheriting that trauma. You know, which is, you know, powerful healing work that we all can do as women.   Thomas: Mm hmm. Absolutely.    Tristy's story inspired me so deeply because of the depth of her commitment to the process. Letting the grief ritual come to her, sitting shiva for the 7 days, then creating the unbaby shower to return to her society as a woman who will not be having children. Listening to her story reminded me of my own journey on the road to motherhood and my ultimate decision not to go there.    Thomas: I so appreciate hearing the story of the baby shower because I went through my own process of figuring out... of having a moment in time in my life when I needed to decide which way am I going to go - towards somebody who might want to have a baby or stay with somebody I really like a lot who's very clear they don't want a baby. And I was at the age where I had to pick. And it was a little hard, you know, because I had... You know, I felt like I was losing a lot. But then when I sat with it, and sort of took apart all the pieces of being a mom, I realized that I only wanted certain pieces that were definitely not... didn't equate with having a child or trying to have a child... it just was like, not my thing, even though I felt so much pressure to be a woman in that way. And a lot of, like, legitimate grief and loss when I when I walked away from it, which isn't something I ever thought I would feel but it was there. It was like, wow, okay, to go through these feelings. And my partner was, really, really there for me. And I sought out community, I put an ad on Craigslist for women who had chosen not to have a child who wanted to chat with me about it and I had like four or five women have conversations with me.    Taylor: Oh, I love that!   Thomas: You know, there's nowhere to go to find those women. So I found a few and that really helped me feel like okay, I'm not alone. And then I asked my mom, you know, what do you think? And she said, "You never wanted kids, even when you were a little." And I was like, "Oh, okay, that helps. Thanks." [LAUGHS] Because you know, figure there was some wisdom there that she might be able to give me, plus she never pressured me to have kids, which was immensely helpful on the journey to decide, you know, what was right for me. So I... I know a little bit about I didn't go through the journey of trying, but I went through the journey of deciding, you know, deciding to walk away. Actually, I just had a flash... My parents loved antiques and they had this antique cradle. And my mom lived in Italy before I was born and she kept beer in it and she said the Italian neighbor would always come in and... I guess he'd bring her beer... I don't know... he would come in the house and he would say, "Where is the baby?" And she'd be like, "It's the beer goes in the cradle." Because at that point in her life, she didn't think she was going have a baby because they had tried and tried and tried and tried and given up and then they had beer in the cradle.   Taylor: And then you're all, "Surprise!" [LAUGHS]   Thomas: TYeah. Hi. Move the beer, there's a baby now.    Taylor: That's amazing!   Thomas: Oh, thank you so much for sharing this story with me and with us. And I look forward to sharing out your blog posts with which has the some of the images from your journal and you have the video walkthrough of your journal that you kept during that time.    Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm glad to share it with you and anyone who resonates or is inspired to create their own ritual. And, you know, I mentioned the blog post, that part of it was inspired by a woman who had a ritual around starting menopause and what that meant to her so I really, I really love to encourage others to think about those major life transitions, like even like leaving a job and starting a new one or moving to another state, which I'm about to do, like, I've been thinking about, like, "Oh, I'm gonna be letting go of California, you know, and what does that mean, to me is born in San Francisco, and, you know, born and raised here. So I think there's lots of space for ritual in our lives if we make it. Yeah. If we have that conversation, we listen and respond.   Tristy Taylor is an Interfaith Minister and Ritualist, providing support and companionship to those that live on the fringes beyond traditional religion. She firmly believes that ALL people deserve to have rituals and ceremonies that honor life’s transitions, regardless of their spiritual beliefs. She has had major personal life experiences around grief and death and is comfortable supporting others during these very human experiences. You can find out more about her work at www.createwithspirit.com.   You can hear a longer version of this same interview where Tristy shares more about what her time sitting shiva looked like on the KPFA Women's Magazine Archives.  Look for the link in the show notes. Our music is by Terry Hughes. If you like the show, please take a minute to rate and review it on Apple Podcasts. Learn more at shamepinata.com. I’m Colleen Thomas. Thanks for listening.

Author and integrative medicine expert, Larry Trivieri joins David for a show about how to circumvent our failing Western healthcare system. From ancient knowledge to alternative journeys and technological advances, Larry shares his 30 years of research in how to care for our health. Move beyond managing disease.   Introduction quote “The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. But where? Larry you idiot, get in your chair, turn on the computer and take the first step, just start writing! And I did… By the end of the day I was thinking ‘Wow, I think I can do this!'” — Larry Trivieri   Guest bio Larry Trivieri Jr is a bestselling author and nationally recognized lay authority on holistic, integrative, and non-drug-based healing methods, with more than 30 years of personal experience in exploring techniques for optimal wellness and human transformation. During that time, Trivieri has interviewed and studied with over 400 of the world's top physicians and other health practitioners in over 50 disciplines in the holistic health field.   To find out more about, Larry Trivieri visit him on Facebook or contact him at larrytriv@gmail.com   Key Takeaways [1:00] David welcomes Larry Trivieri and asks him how he came to be an integrative medicine author — sickness forged his path.   [4:25] From acupuncture to homeopathy, Larry shares his journey through disbelief towards functional medicine.   [8:11] Los Angeles begins its siren's song! Larry gives in and moves across the country to find that it would mark the start of his career as an author.   [10:00] Larry shares his writing process as it occurs while writing with doctors as well as by himself.   [16:15] The western healthcare system isn't really a healthcare system, Larry shares what his perspective is and how.   [19:10] Stress is the underlying cause of 95% of illnesses today, Larry shares how NuCalm helps mitigate this and why this is the only device he has ever agreed to write a book about.   [21:05] Though we're all different in terms of nutritional needs, diet is the cornerstone of health. Larry shares one trick to know if you're on the right track with your food choices, and offers one simple — yet powerful — thing people can do every day to get (and stay) grounded.   [26:30] Want a shortcut for diaphragmatic breath? Get yourself some NuCalm!   [28:45] Sherry Edwards is a magnificent human, Larry shares a personal anecdote.   [34:20] The future of integrative medicine according to Larry is towards its roots. He also shares where to go for information as laymen.   [44:32] David thanks Larry for sharing so much of his process and knowledge and signs off until next time.   Continue on your journey and until next time, breathe deep, relax, and keep looking forward.   Mentioned in this episode NuCalm Books by Larry Trivieri Sharry Edwards   More about your host Connect with David Poole — Chief Business Officer at NuCalm on LinkedIn   More about NuCalm and the podcast This is NuCalm, the show for those looking to improve sleep quality, manage stress, and boost recovery. Brought to you by Solace Lifesciences, the makers of NuCalm, the world's only patented and proven neuroscience technology that works within minutes, without drugs, every time! In over one million medical sessions, NuCalm has helped men and women around the world.   NuCalm: stress relief for the way we live today, technology to help you disconnect.   Pull quotes   “He [the homeopathic doctor] spent two hours asking me all these questions, none of which seemed related to my kidney stones!” — Larry Trivieri   “The average medical school education is eight years. During that entire period the average medical student gets 23 total hours of education in nutrition and diet.” — Larry Trivieri   Tweet #1 Did you know there's a shortcut to knowing what food your energetic body disagrees with? This is NuCalm Episode 10 guest Larry Trivieri shares pearls of knowledge he's gathered from years of close work with the foremost experts in integrative medicine.   Tweet #2 Our Western healthcare system isn't a healthcare system. This is NuCalm Episode 10 guest shares the way towards an actual integrative management of our health, not our disease.  

Our Western correspondent Eric Zaldivar joins John and Hunter once again to discuss The Magnificent Seven, John Sturges' 1960 Hollywood western remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. The film's origins, the stars, the ego clashes, the sequels, and more are raised during the conversation. 

Our Western mindsets based upon Greek educational principles separate our lives into tiny little compartments. Reading. Writing. Arithmetic. It's how we think. But the Bible doesn't work that way. Everything is connected. And that makes everything we do, an act of worship. I'll prove it to you in less than 10 minutes. What if I told you that one of the foremost Orthodox Jewish scholars of our day believes that Jesus fit perfectly into the religious expectations of First Century Judaism? Don't believe me? Pick up The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ by Daniel Boyarin. The Bible Nerds Show is a PAY IT FORWARD podcast! We don't have sponsors, but if you're interested in giving back because of the show, check out OneChild. Learn more! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thebiblenerdsshow/message

This week’s podcast episode is a continuation of these mini “masterclasses” in mindfulness I’m doing from October through the end of December. Mindfulness is a practice to help get you out of your head (where we tend to overthink, over-rationalize, over-analyze almost everything!) and get into your body where you can not only get into the here and now, but where you can learn to embody your experience and trust your intuition. Our Western culture socializes us to believe logic and reason, and while that’s helpful, it often serves to dismiss the message the body is telling us, often taking us out of alignment and into cognitive dissonance (where you think one thing, but feel another). This episode covers four different areas of body awareness as it relates to mindfulness - mindful movement, sensations, intuition and the mind/body connection.   If you’d like to be in greater community and conversation on how to integrate all aspects of mindfulness into your life, please join my FB group: join my Journey Forward Facebook group.  

Our Western civilisation essentially goes back to ancient Greece. But yes there is Egypt, Sumeria and Anatolia in Turkey. However, Bill starts with the 'Fates' that were embedded in Greek & Roman Mythology, the three goddesses who preside over the birth and life of humans. Each person was thought of as a spindle, around which the three Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) would spin the thread of human destiny. We need to remember the word 'psyche', the ancient Greek word for Soul. This translates to a psychiatrist being, essentially a Soul Doctor - however in Western medicine Soul has been lobotomised out of the medical vernacular. Science does not educate us in the spiritual realm as - if it cannot be measured and quantified, it does not exist. If we go to Wikipedia - (which sadly is not the resource it could be) there are on earth today 7.8 billion humans of which ‘supposedly’ these numbers below show, that: 2.4 billion are Christian 1.9 billion are Moslem 1.2 billion are Hindu 0.5 billion are Buddhist .394 Million are China Traditional and                                                                              1.2 billion  Secular[a]/Nonreligious[b]/Agnostic/Atheist   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations  So with Christianity and Islam betwen them - there are 3.3 billion adherents who would beleive that they are going to live beyond this mortal life. That in scripture in the first book of the Bible in ‘Genesis’ we learn about ‘soul’. That Hindu and Buddhist also believe in an afterlife solely because they (like other minor religions and sects) believe in an essence / consciousness that leaves one body and after a time enters the baby of another human body.      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife So there is a very considerable number of humanity who believe in a soul essence that inhabits the human body. That is most definitely spiritual in nature and that science does not want to utilise the vast number of 25,000 universities planet round to further research this perennial doctrine that has been embedded in all world religions, beliefs and cultures. Yet, there are now thousands of recordings over the last hundred years of  'Out of the body' and 'Near Death' experiences everywhere on planet earth. Even doctors and professors and hard core atheists have experienced them - however the ‘medical establishment’ only sees the human body as a physical machine made of flesh, bone and organs. So they still refuse to take this step. Science has made up its mind that ‘nothing’ exists. This subject of ‘out of the body’ and ‘near death experiences’ is one of the more divisive questions on earth.  For there are many who have been brought up to believe that we are only a body that has evolved by chance via Dawinian evolution. This idea consolidated when science  later added on the fluke of the big bang bringing all into existence. Even God was taken out of the equation. That when we reduce the human body down to its constituent components you will find no evidence whatsoever of a soul or a spirit. The non theist - better known as an atheist will argue and battle this subject out even though people who have OBE and OTB experiences can tell you what their parents were doing,  wearing and saying - even though they lived in another country at that exact time - they will argue vehemently that it is all a hallucination and that these ‘other’ facts don't matter. For some unknown reason the disbelievers will in most cases not give up until they expire on their last out-breath. Though we did not cover this in any depth at all, Bill mentioned that C S Lewis said - we don't have a soul - we are a soul - to which I heartily agreed and when looking for this quote on the web, I find that C S Lewis never mentioned it - so we apologise for this. Here is the link: https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/01/the-spiritualist-origins-of-you-dont-have-a-soul-you-are-a-soul  Tim mentions that we are being dumbed down as a society and a civilisation and that we are seeing the censorship of information - even that of the distant past is increasing, and it is hidden in plain sight. For example the Bible which was supposedly first written 3,400 years ago. See at the end of each quote that the word mutates from 'Soul' - to 'Being' - to living ‘Person’ - then to 'Creature.' With such a rapid change in description, will the next iteration become a - 'robot? I jest - however I trust you get the gist. www.kingjamesbibleonline.org › Genesis-2-7 The Bible "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." www.biblegateway.com  › passage › search=Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7, KJV: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living person." Genesis 2:7 NKJV - And then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/2/Genesis-2-7.html Because of time constraints we did not cover anything from both Vedic and Egyptian writings. Though in the Vedas they mention Soul, because Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means inner self, spirit, or soul, being in the Hindu philosophy.  Shaman and medicine men in indegenous cultures also believe in soul as their whole cosmology is grounded in this notion. A search for ‘sole’ on the web brings up: the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal. emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance. The only Hebrew word traditionally translated "soul" (nephesh) in English language Bibles refers to a living, breathing conscious body, rather than to an immortal soul.  This is interesting, because even Albert Einstein did not speak of the soul, unless it was in generic terms. What Bill focussed on was, what are the virtues of a soul and Bill talks of James Hillman  - who has much to say on the soul  https://thesunmagazine.org/search?search=james+hillman&with=section%2Ccategories%2Ccontributors&useShould=true&type=article                                                Have a listen to what he says ...         However in relating to today reality Bill says that the human species have in so many ways has lost its moral compass. He explains this … listen Also, Transhumanism comes up - that people who don’t believe in souls and eternal life are doing their best to build computers / robots so as to ‘house their consciousness’ - see Ray Kurzweil of Google to get an understanding. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil Bill also mentions that we are in a shift of consciousness that is happening and there is a huge cycle that we are all enmeshed in and that by 2027 we will see changes that we have not planned for.  Listen There was much in this interview, Bill speaks of the challenges the human race has found itself in and offers up a way for us to heal our being. This healing Bill says is very important if we as a society are going to resolve our differences, and become well. The words karma and past lives come into this conversation - so I do suggest that you listen - it is only a 20meg download. What comes across is Bill’s duty of care and concern - he says that Bach Flower remedies are very good ways to heal our emotional realm and bring us back into our true self. Bach flower remedy tinctures  - healingherbs.co.uk  We also need to constantly remember that “we are spiritual beings having an earth experience”. There is an old First Nations saying that you can hear of in America - of an old Cherokee teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.” So it is imperative that we have the ‘correct’ thought, right words, and right actions - as we chart our course in life. Captain Edgar Mitchell, 6th man on the moon had this to say ... God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants and walks in the animal and thinks in man … And the question is - what do you intuit is man’s next evolutionary-spiritual step? 13 Best Books on Near-Death Experienceshttps://www.joincake.com/blog/near-death-experience-books/  These books will give you an inkling of a great reality - however the subject of this interview was based on what is SOUL and do we have one? Extra: There is a new movie coming out this November called ‘Soul’ - it's a blend of Soul music that the Black community of America put their heart into when singing and playing music but it also covers another unique side by having a ‘discarnate’ soul floating around telling ‘his’ story that is totally integrated with the soul music of the main black character living in America . I have not seen it in its entirety - but the three trailers are very interesting.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4zAAMpRe-Y    Next Week’s Interview: Stephen Simon Producer of the film ‘Somewhere in Time’ with Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer. In 1998, he produced ‘What Dreams May Come’ with Robin Williams, Annabella Sciorra, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. On January 3, 2018, his wife and forever love Lauren suddenly passed away in her sleep. She was only 54. Six weeks later, Lauren began to communicate with him … and in October 2018, they started writing a book together. Wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandparents, and many others have experienced communication with loved ones who preceded them beyond the veil that separates life and what comes after life. Many of you are having that experience now, and many more will experience it in the future. You... we... are most definitely not alone. Love and Aroha coupled with courage are our greatest gift.

" Our Western nations have both forgotten God and forgotten where they have come from. Now they are attempting to complete the process of severing the roots of Western civilization, destroying its root system, poisoning its soil and ruining its entire spiritual, moral and social ecology." Os Guinness

For years now, Christians defending the biblical definition of marriage have dealt with a particularly frustrating retort: “Well, Christians used to be against interracial marriage, too,” people will say.           Not only is this assertion meant to equate Christian morality with racism, it implies an historical inevitability—that, in a generation or two, Christians will join the march of progress and affirm same-sex relationships, just as they affirm relationships between men and women of different skin colors.          America's very real and shameful history of racial prejudice and violence—and especially the sinful co-option of Christians, clergy, churches, and entire denominations in that history—gives those who make such a comparison plenty of ammo. And stories like the one out of Mississippi last week don't help. But this one has an interesting twist.          Last week, the owner of Boone's Camp Event Hall, a wedding venue, reportedly canceled the ceremony of a mixed-race couple, citing her Christian beliefs. She was later caught on camera equating interracial marriage with gay marriage, and saying her facility can't host either because of her faith.          What she did was indefensible, as is what she said. But don't miss what happened next: She changed her mind and publicly apologized. Why? Well, when confronted about her actions, and with the urging of her pastor and husband, this business owner says she opened her Bible and found nothing there forbidding or even mentioning interracial marriage. And so, she changed her mind.          Happy ending? Not for critics of the Christian view of marriage, who couldn't let such a good headline go to waste. Many saw the incident as proof that objections to gay “marriage” are really no different from objections to interracial marriage. If a plea of religious freedom doesn't excuse one type of discrimination, they say, it shouldn't excuse the other. In other words, Jack Philips is really no different from Jim Crow.          Now, I can't deal with the religious freedom question in this commentary—specifically, whether religious freedom justifies racists running their businesses in racist ways. For the record, I think the answer is “no.” Religious freedom has limits.          Instead, I want to deal specifically with the claim that Christians who believe in man-woman marriage today are just doing the same thing that those who opposed interracial marriage did in past generations. And for the record, I think the answer to this question is also “no.”          The reason this teachable business owner couldn't find racist views of marriage in the Bible is because they're not in there. Quite the opposite, in fact. St. Paul told the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in Athens that God made every nation of mankind from “one blood.” The Christian view of “races,” quite frankly, is that there are none—at least not as defined since the 19th century.          On the other hand, Scripture is not silent at all on sexual morality and the structure of marriage. You could write a book about what it has to say on the subject—in fact, I have! The biblical testimony for one man and one woman marriage is overwhelming.          Genesis, which Jesus points to when He is asked about marriage, clearly describes how and why God created humans—not black and white, not gay or straight, but male and female. He joins the two, forbidding anyone to put them asunder, and then tells them to be fruitful and multiply. Our Western concept of race is irrelevant to this biblical definition of marriage, but being male and female is central. And Scripture frequently and directly condemns homosexual behavior.          So to be clear: Support for same-sex “marriage” and opposition to interracial marriage both require the dismissal of Scripture. Study the Scriptures and you'll discover, like this person did in Mississippi, that God condemns racism in all its forms, and that there is no biblical case to be found in opposing interracial marriage. Nor is there a biblical case to be found in supporting same-sex marriage.          Now this is an example of the sort of issue that creates really tough questions for Christians to answer, and that's why the “What Would You Say?” video project is so important. Every single week we will release a video that articulates a Christian answer to one of the most difficult questions to come out of our culture. You can find out more at whatwouldyousay.org

Cooperation is a key request within organisations.  Within small teams it tends to work well but it gets more challenging when you are trying to get other sections or divisions to cooperate with you. This is where our people skills come into it.  We need to know what are the communication approaches which will have the highest propensity for success in getting cooperation from others? Often these types of soft skills are the things not taught in schools, colleges or in-house company training. Hard skills always get the glory but the real work of moving organisations forward comes down to getting the people to move and that is where these soft skills really start to apply.   Welcome back to this weekly edition every Tuesday of "THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show" I am your host Dr. Greg Story, President of Dale Carnegie Training Japan and best selling author of Japan Sales Mastery. We are bringing the show to you from our High Performance Center in Akasaka in Minato-ku, the business center of Tokyo. Why the Cutting Edge?  In this show, we are looking at the critical areas for success in business in Japan.  We want to help advance everyone's thinking so that we be at the forefront, the Cutting Edge, of how to flourish here in this market. This week's show is rather special as it marks the first anniversary of the show.  Thank you for viewing the show and I hope the show is providing value. Before we get into this week's topic, here is what caught my attention lately. In the late nineties Japanese computer game developers dominated the industry.  Western games caught up and when Forbes listed the best selling games in 2017 only three Japanese games were listed.  What happened?  The trigger was when the Xbox introduced a Windows based development environment.  Japanese developers started to lose ground because they were not used to working in a Windows environment.  The Japanese developers were used to working with propriety formats like PlayStation 3, the PS2 and the Sega Saturn.  Japanese developers not being adept at working with PCs the shift to Western game maker domination started.  In other news, the Japanese Government is promoting their “flying car” project. Electric drones booked through smart phones pick people up from office rooftops, shortening travel time and reducing the need for parking and reducing smog.  All Nippon Airways and NEC corporation and more than a dozen companies and academic experts hope to have  a road map for the plan ready by year's end. Google, drone company Ehang and car maker Geely in China, Volkswagon of Germany have all invested in flying car technology.  Toyota group companies have invested in a Japanese startup called Cartivator that is working on a flying car. One idea is to fly a car up and light the torch at the 2020 Olympics.  Can't wait to see if they can pull that one off. Fumiaki Ebihara the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is the flying car chief for the government.   He was quoted as saying, “this is such a totally new sector Japan has a good chance for not falling behind”.  I wonder how many other Governments have a flying car chief working on this sector? This is episode number  52 and we are talking about  Upping The Team's Care FactorSoredewa ikimasho, so let's get going. “Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys”.  This Polish proverb made me smile.  A handy phrase for whenever the needle on the “ridiculous meter” is hitting red and overloading.  While it serves as a great smarty-pants one-liner, it actually invites some reflection on the difficulty of getting people and teams to work together. Another great zinger is the “not invented here” attitude of disinterest, when you are trying to introduce change into organisations.  Reflecting on working in small project teams, big divisions, across divisions, and ultimately across industry sectors, this “not my circus” disclaimer pops up all the time.  It is funny, but painful. Japan throws up a number of challenges around getting cooperation or innovation when it is not that person's “circus”, not their direct responsibility.  The social ramifications of failing or making a mistake in Japan are such that people have become geniuses at micro-defining their roles and responsibilities.  A hoary old tradition of “tough love” Japanese bosses lambasting subordinates for errors and shortcomings, has had a salutary effect on subsequent generations, driving them deep into their Comfort Zones.  Keeping a low profile (teishisei), never volunteering, favouring group responsibility over individual accountability, carefully drawing and defending boundaries around the scope of one's job, are some of the outcomes.  Not terribly helpful if we seek cooperation and innovation across our teams. In any organization, anywhere, we get issues between sales and marketing, sales and production, the back office and production, IT versus everyone, etc.  Japan just manages to take it to another level of sophistication, hence my smile when reading about circuses and monkeys.  So what can we do about it?  Here are some proven principles to improve cooperation and up the “care factor”. By the way, we know all this stuff, we just forget to do it! Find out more when we come back from the break Welcome back The first idea is “Arouse in the other person an eager want”. We become so preoccupied with what we want, we are blind to the perspective of the person whose cooperation we seek.  Our Western communications skills are often skewed to strength of will, to pummel the other party into submission to our predilections, rather than through persuasion.    A handy related principle is“talk in terms of the other person's interests”.  If we do that, then the understanding improves and the likelihood of getting their cooperation and ownership for a task goes up dramatically.  Aligning our mutual interests is a winner and the way to do that is to “Be a good listener.  Encourage others to talk about themselves”.  Whoah…check yourself – when you want cooperation are you babbling on about what you want and why it is important to you?  No wonder we get the “not my circus” response or the “not invented here” reaction. When we really listen to others, we can find more points in common and construct a better base on which to build a joint effort. The word “listening” glides easily across this page but real listening takes serious work.  Are we actually good at listening? Be honest - usually we are rubbish and all need to improve in this area! Two principles that work well in tandem are “Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view”and “Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers”.  The latter idea is not about manipulating people.  Rather, when we have a sense of their situation, values, aspirations, fears and concerns we are better able to find the most convincing argument to support a line of action.  We can frame the context of the decision in a way that they can more easily identify with. If we give people a big enough WHY, the WHAT and the HOW flow naturally.  The power of that context, that WHY, is often so strong they recognise it themselves and come to their own conclusion, which agrees with ours.  That is good communication and persuasion, not brute force or skullduggery. All of us are being driven to do more, faster, with less.  Cooperation, ownership, accountability, innovation can be won – use these principles and enjoy the payoff! Action Steps Use these principles: Arouse in the other person an eager want Talk in terms of the other person's interests Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view Let the other person feel that the idea is his or her  THE Cutting Edge Japan Business Show is here to help you succeed in Japan.  Subscribe on YouTube, share it with your family, friends and colleagues, become a regular. Thank you for watching this episode and remember to hit the subscribe button. Our website details are on screen now, dalecarnegie.com, it is awesome value, so check it out. In episode fifty three we are talking about Big Boozy Crowds And Public Speaking. Find out more about that next week. So Yoroshiku Onegai Itashimasu please join me for the next episode of the Cutting Edge Japan Business Show We are here to help you and we have only one direction in mind for you and your business and that is UP!!!

In this week’s edition:  Our Western trip included one more important radio stop – at the new studios of the Navajo Nation’s KTNN/KTNN-FM and Capital Country (KWRK/KCAZ) in St. Michaels, Arizona. After the all-important green chile cheeseburgers and fry bread, we sat down for a conversation with KTNN/Capital Country GM Troy Little about his stations’ […]

Banning Liebscher shares on the lifestyle of hearing and doing what Jesus taught us. Our Western culture demands that we become an expert before we embark on anything new. In the Kingdom, Jesus always says, “Come! I will teach you as we go on a journey together”.

Our Western culture uses the myth of Santa Claus to fill the God-shaped hole that exists inside every person. But who was the real Santa Claus? And what does our current legend of Santa reveal about what we want God to be like?

Our Western culture praises individualism and being able to make it alone. Yet, that misses the whole fact that God literally wired us to need Him and other people. How can you incorporate that into your life? Click here for the Show Notes: www.amandaboardwine.com/abandoning-average Use #AbandoningAverage on IG to discuss what you learn here or, even better, to share your story and how you can relate to this mission! Come join the party on Instagram: www.instagram.com/abandoningaverage/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abandoning-average/message

Our Western culture has gone through seismic changes over the past few decades. Beliefs, attitudes and morality have all shifted beyond recognition, even since our grandparents' generation. The church has haemorrhaged people and become marginalised from mainstream society in many ways. In this two part seminar, Paul Maconochie will look at how we can bring the love and message of Jesus to our generation through becoming disciples who make disciples.

Our Western culture has gone through seismic changes over the past few decades. Beliefs, attitudes and morality have all shifted beyond recognition, even since our grandparents' generation. The church has haemorrhaged people and become marginalised from mainstream society in many ways. In this two part seminar, Paul Maconochie will look at how we can bring the love and message of Jesus to our generation through becoming disciples who make disciples. *Please note there are some gaps in this recording, resulting from technical issues.*

Our Western culture can keep us from realizing one powerful aspect of the gospel.

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys   This Polish proverb made me smile.  A handy phrase for whenever the needle on the “ridiculous meter” is hitting red and overloading.  While it serves as a great smarty-pants one-liner, it actually invites some reflection on the difficulty of getting people and teams to work together.  Another great zinger is the “not invented here” attitude of disinterest, when you are trying to introduce change into organisations.  Reflecting on working in small project teams, big divisions, across divisions, and ultimately across industry sectors, this “not my circus” disclaimer pops up all the time.  It is funny, but painful.   Japan throws up a number of challenges around getting cooperation or innovation when it is not that person's “circus”, not their direct responsibility.  The social ramifications of failing or making a mistake in Japan are such that people have become geniuses at micro-defining their roles and responsibilities.    A hoary old tradition of “tough love” Japanese bosses lambasting subordinates for errors and shortcomings, has had a salutary effect on subsequent generations, driving them deep into their Comfort Zones.  Keeping a low profile (teishisei), never volunteering, favouring group responsibility over individual accountability, carefully drawing and defending boundaries around the scope of one's job, are some of the outcomes.  Not terribly helpful if we seek cooperation and innovation across our teams.   In any organization, anywhere, we get issues between sales and marketing, sales and production, the back office and production, IT versus everyone, etc.  Japan just manages to take it to another level of sophistication, hence my smile when reading about circuses and monkeys.  So what can we do about it?  Here are some proven principles to improve cooperation and up the  “care factor”. By the way, we know all this stuff, we just forget to do it!   “Arouse in the other person an eager want”.  We become so preoccupied with what we want, we are blind to the perspective of the person whose cooperation we seek.  Our Western communications skills are often skewed to strength of will, to pummel the other party into submission to our predilections, rather than through persuasion.    A handy related principle is “talk in terms of the other person's interests”.  If we do that, then the understanding improves and the likelihood of getting their cooperation and ownership for a task goes up dramatically.    Aligning our mutual interests is a winner and the way to do that is to “Be a good listener.  Encourage others to talk about themselves”.  Whoah…check yourself – when you want cooperation are you babbling on about what you want and why it is important to you?  No wonder we get the “not my circus” response or the “not invented here” reaction.  When we really listen to others, we can find more points in common and construct a better base on which to build a joint effort. The word “listening” glides easily across this page but real listening takes serious work.  Are we actually good at listening? Be honest - usually we are rubbish and all need to improve in this area!   Two principles that work well in tandem are “Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view” and “Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers”.  The latter idea is not about manipulating people.  Rather, when we have a sense of their situation, values, aspirations, fears and concerns we are better able to find the most convincing argument to support a line of action.  We can frame the context of the decision in a way that they can more easily identify with.  If we give people a big enough WHY, the WHAT and the HOW flow naturally.  The power of that context, that WHY, is often so strong they recognise it themselves and come to their own conclusion, which agrees with ours.  That is good communication and persuasion, not brute force or skullduggery.   All of us are being driven to do more, faster, with less.  Cooperation, ownership, accountability, innovation can be won – use these principles and enjoy the payoff!     Action Steps   Use these principles:   Arouse in the other person an eager want Talk in terms of the other person's interests Be a good listener.  Encourage others to talk about themselves Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view Let the other person feel that the idea is his or her 

Andrea Polard/A UNIFIED THEORY OF HAPPINESSHappiness is a good relationship with the WHOLE of life ... the good and the bad, the fragility and the strength.Julie Ann's ConsciousSHIFT guest Andrea Polard, author of A UNIFIED THEORY OF HAPPINESS: An East-Meets-West Approach to Fully Loving Your Life, encourages we blend the best of both Western and Eastern modes of consciousness - using the "twin wings" of full life participation."Happiness seen as full life participation is fulfilling," Andrea explains. "Our Western culture makes us actively part of life, and our Eastern culture fosters awareness of our participation in life. These are the two modes of consciousness: the Basic Mode, wherein one actively relate[s] to the so-called objective world; and Supreme Mode, wherein one focus[es] on Being."On this show, we will explore how weaving both the Active/Basic mode of consciousness - expressed as ambition, competence, connection and confidence - and the Awareness/Supreme mode of consciousness - experienced as receptivity, tranquility, reliance and lightheartedness - enables a balanced happiness to take flight.We can combine the can-do drive to achieve with the simple presence of mindful awareness to usher in a new evolution in the way each of us approaches happiness.A Unified Theory of Happiness beautifully synthesizes a 20-year study of Eastern contemplative wisdom and the latest from Western science to illuminate an understanding of happiness that honors the full spectrum of life’s offerings even as it broadens our experience of its inherent joy.Andrea F. Polard, PsyD, is a German-born author and clinical psychologist with an extensive background in psychodynamic therapies, meditation, and Ericksonian mind-body work. Join Julie Ann and Andrea for a dynamic dialogue designed to dramatically boost your happiness and wholeness!

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] This is the first part of an evening lecture given by Terence McKenna in early February, 1994 on the Hawaiian island of Maui. “Our [Western] civilization touches everyone on this planet. We are involved in a species-wide crisis, and it's a crisis of adaptation and intelligence. If we can meet the crisis, if we can re-design the cultural machinery so that it can glide in to the new value systems that a limited Earth, and an electronically activated population demands, then we can use the crisis as a stepping stone to further exploration of the universe, further evolution, further unfolding.” “Nature is an engine for the production of extinct species.” “The contradiction that history confronts us with is a deeper exploration of the psychedelic experience. And the psychedelic experience is something incredibly alien to the Western mind. It is, in fact, taboo.” “The psychedelic experience is not built in to your biology the way orgasm, or sleep, or hunger, or something like that is. It's a physiological option that involves forming a symbiotic relationship with a plant.” “We seem to be the creature that can download the ideas, the Platonic perfect forms of a higher dimension, into the world of matter. And so where we are there is an interfacing between the world of ordinary nature and some kind of transcendent force.” “Speaking about the unspeakable means stretching the envelop of what can be said. When new things can be said new plans can be laid, new directions can be found out of a crisis.” “Science has steered us deeply into the notion that nature is soulless and spiritless. And the practice of this idea has led us to the brink of catastrophe, global and species and ecological catastrophe.” “Psychedelics are catalysts for the human imagination. That very simply is what they are.” “[Biological] nature is a seamless community of intentionality. Nature is a gene-swarm covering the surface of the planet.” “I believe that shamanism without psychedelics is shamanism on its way to becoming religion.” “So we are like dysfunctional children. Something terrible happened to us in the childhood of our intelligence. We lost our connection to the Gaian matrix, to the goddess mother of the Earth who gives coherency to life, and when the connection was lost we fell into history.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

How your body receives grounding within the changing electromagnetic field of Earth As we have changed in consciousness, so too Gaia’s consciousness and therefore the Earth has changed.  The electromagnetic field of the Earth is constantly shifting and changing.  More so now.  This meditation is one way of helping our own electromagnetic field (our aura) listen and respond to the changes in the Earth’s electromagnetic field and the consciousness of Gaia. Here is a meditation inviting your body to remember its innate connection to your soul. Deeply relaxing, this meditation includes segments of releasing energies within your body and your aura. By inviting those energies that match your soul from within the lower dimensions to reestablish their natural connection to you, a fluid and ongoing energetic dialogue is created between your soul, your body, and the Earth. This is a new style of grounding which serves us well as we move into a new era of consciousness. Our Western culture has cultivated such a dependence on our heads and our ability to think that it has also cultivated a disconnection with our bodies.  We have ended up with lovely bodies that walk our heads around.  Fear has become an intrinsic way of life. It has become our daily companion.  This is because we as humans can not access our own body’s knowing and telepathic experience of the world which lies within our navel chakra and within our enteric nervous system. As we recover this lost skill, we will get better at feeling what is and isn’t actually a danger to our body.  As this happens, our level of fear decreases. My guides during this meditation included Thoth, Shesat, Mary and Archangel Michael. Includes a sound healing with Native American Flute player Lenore Wiand and myself singing.  Lenore’s album Ancient Spirits is available at iTunes or Amazon.com  Lenore uses the recording name of Aluna on this album.   1 Introduction 2 Confusion and Fear signal lack of grounding into body 3 Invoking Sacred Space 4 Polarity: we are both sides of the same coin We are both Individuals existing within the skin of our body, as well as Beings capable of connecting into All That Is. 5 Meditation: What our energies feel like to us What other energies feel like to us 6 How do your ovaries / testicles want to relate to your soul and the Earth? 7 Sound Healing: Gentle Remembrance with Lenore Wiand, Native American Flute 8 Navel Chakra Empowerment 9 Releasing Sacred Space 10  Gaia and Earth and Us We are all changing, and so we must remember to listen to each other in order to dance together easily 11 For more information This meditation is offered free of charge, but donations are always welcome.To receive notices of events, monthly sound healings sign up for Norma's newsletter atwww.healingchants.com   -Norma

The truth is that there are some questions that can create serious doubts in our faith. They are not easily answered and therefore not often discussed. Our Western sensibilities are often challenged by the Christian view of Hell, the problem of Suffering, and the "narrow way" of the road to Heaven. Fortunately we stand on solid philosophical and Biblical footing when it comes to these issues. We are confident that skeptics will be challenged and followers will be encouraged by this series. We will lead right into Easter with these questions that "we hoped you'd never ask".

The truth is that there are some questions that can create serious doubts in our faith. They are not easily answered and therefore not often discussed. Our Western sensibilities are often challenged by the Christian view of Hell, the problem of Suffering, and the "narrow way" of the road to Heaven. Fortunately we stand on solid philosophical and Biblical footing when it comes to these issues. We are confident that skeptics will be challenged and followers will be encouraged by this series. We will lead right into Easter with these questions that "we hoped you'd never ask".