Podcasts about psychologically

A child enters the world carrying extraordinary potential and almost no framework for understanding themselves. Every smile, every correction, every silence, every expression of approval or disappointment becomes part of the architecture through which they eventually interpret love, value, competence, and belonging. Development begins as dependence. Maturity requires a gradual movement toward self-authorship. Intimate relationships inherit that unfinished transition. They become the first place where two fully formed adults discover how much of their inner authority still depends upon another person's reflection. That discovery introduces one of the least examined paradoxes in human relationships. Love asks us to matter deeply to one another. Development asks us never to become the owner of another person's becoming. Many relationships quietly collapse these two realities into one. Accountability slowly transforms into supervision. Concern evolves into management. Guidance becomes correction. Before long, one partner occupies the invisible position of evaluator while the other unconsciously accepts the role of perpetual student. Both people lose something essential. One loses humility. The other loses sovereignty. The opposite arrangement proves equally costly. A relationship unwilling to confront distortion does not preserve peace. It merely postpones conflict until reality presents the invoice. Unchallenged defensiveness, rationalization, avoidance, dishonesty, resentment, addiction, emotional immaturity, and unconscious repetition rarely disappear through acceptance alone. Human beings require mirrors. Without reflection, self-deception often becomes indistinguishable from authenticity. The investigation therefore refuses both extremes. What kind of accountability protects dignity without protecting illusion? How does one expose contradiction without assigning identity? How does someone tell the truth without attempting to occupy the throne of another person's conscience? These questions extend beyond communication skills. They touch the deeper architecture of human development. Psychologically, every person requires enough challenge to expose unconscious patterns and enough freedom to integrate those discoveries voluntarily. Philosophically, wisdom cannot be transferred like property. It must become internally recognized before it becomes genuinely lived. Spiritually, transformation loses its integrity the moment it becomes coerced, because authentic awakening cannot be manufactured through external pressure. Anthropologically, every civilization has wrestled with the same enduring tension: communities survive by transmitting standards, yet individuals flourish by eventually internalizing those standards rather than merely obeying them. Perhaps intimate relationships reveal this tension more clearly than any other human institution. Perhaps accountability reaches its highest form when it no longer seeks compliance but clarity. Perhaps the healthiest partners refuse two temptations with equal discipline. They refuse to abandon one another to comforting illusions. They also refuse to become architects of one another's identities. A mirror performs one remarkable function. It reveals. It does not command. It does not negotiate. It does not force. It does not rewrite what stands before it. The person standing in front of the mirror remains completely free to acknowledge what they see, deny what they see, or walk away altogether. Could healthy love operate according to the same principle? Could the deepest purpose of relational accountability involve creating the conditions where truth becomes increasingly difficult to escape, while freedom remains completely intact? If so, perhaps the strongest relationships do not produce the most obedient partners. Perhaps they produce two people whose capacity for honest self-confrontation becomes so refined that each eventually needs less correction from the other because each has become increasingly accountable to the person staring back from the mirror.

Last time we spoke about the Japanese offensive at Changsha. In late September 1941, fighting in China had become a brutal struggle of endurance. Japanese forces kept pushing forward, but China—though battered by heavy losses—refused to yield. Help from abroad was slowly beginning to matter. American aid reached China through groups like the Red Cross, and volunteers later associated with the Flying Tigers offered crucial support to Chinese operations. Against this backdrop, Changsha in Hunan became the center of a dangerous autumn campaign. Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist leadership treated the city as strategically vital, knowing that its fate could influence the wider course of the war. In the end, the resistance at Changsha showed China's key advantage: resilience. The city's defense helped slow the Japanese advance, break up momentum, and create uncertainty as the campaign continued.   #212 The Autumn Battle of Changsha, 1941 Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In late September 1941, the war in China had already entered its fifth year. By then the conflict had lost whatever remained of novelty and had settled into something harsher and more exhausting: a long war of attrition fought across enormous distances, under conditions of chronic shortage, strategic uncertainty, and repeated local catastrophe. Japan still possessed formidable military strength. Its armies could strike hard, move fast, and exploit superior firepower, air support, and communications in individual campaigns. Yet the larger shape of the war had begun to change. China had not collapsed. The Nationalist government still stood. Chinese armies, however battered, still held the field. The line between survival and defeat remained dangerously thin, but it had not broken. This was the situation in which the autumn campaign in Hunan and Hubei unfolded.   The struggle around Changsha did not occur in isolation. It belonged to a wider military and political moment. In Europe, the war had already expanded into a continent-wide convulsion. Germany and the Soviet Union were locked in a massive struggle after the German invasion in June. Leningrad was under threat, Kiev had become the scene of disaster, and the approach of the battle for Moscow suggested that still greater bloodshed lay ahead. Stalin had pressed Churchill to open a second front in Europe and had been refused. The global balance of war was shifting, but not yet in any way that guaranteed relief to China.   In Asia, Japan continued to press forward. The pressure on China remained immense. Yet by mid-1941 China's position, though still precarious, no longer looked quite as desperate as it had in earlier years. International sympathy had grown. Material aid, however limited, was beginning to take more concrete form. In July, the American Red Cross sent China medical supplies worth millions of dollars. In August, more than a hundred retired American pilots and mechanics came together to aid China against Japan. The air unit they formed, later celebrated as the Flying Tigers, meant more than aircraft and personnel alone. It signaled that China's war was no longer quite so isolated. That change in atmosphere did not produce calm in Chongqing. It sharpened urgency.   For Chiang Kai-shek, the possibility that the international situation might slowly improve for China carried with it a hard implication: China had to endure long enough to benefit from it. That meant surviving not in abstract terms, but in particular places, against particular offensives, at moments when a local defeat might have consequences far beyond the immediate battlefield. In the autumn of 1941, one of those places was Changsha. Changsha had long occupied an outsized place in the military geography of the war. It stood as the capital of Hunan, a hinge between regions, and a vital position in the defense of central China. Its security affected the Xiang River basin, communications across the province, and the broader defensive posture shielding approaches toward the wartime capital. To lose it, even temporarily, would be more than a symbolic blow. It would threaten the larger balance of the front in south-central China and test whether Japanese offensives could still force dramatic strategic results.   At the same time, the battle for Changsha was not a simple contest between one Chinese army and one Japanese army facing each other across a fixed line. It was part of a larger operational struggle linking the Ninth War Zone with supporting actions from the Third, Fifth, and Sixth War Zones. It involved frontal resistance, hurried reinforcement, mobile defense, rear harassment, and the constant effort to turn Japanese momentum into Japanese overextension. Chinese commanders were trying not merely to survive a blow, but to absorb it, stretch it, and eventually strike back against an enemy whose speed could become a liability once supply lines lengthened and formations dispersed. This was the burden resting on the Military Commission in Chongqing.   There, while reports arrived in fragments and maps were revised hour by hour, Chiang Kai-shek spent long stretches in the operations room watching the situation in Hunan and Hubei develop. He had already ordered the various war zones to support the Ninth War Zone's operations, and now he followed the campaign with intense concentration. His attention moved repeatedly toward reports from the Sixth War Zone and Chen Cheng's counteroffensive toward Yichang, for Yichang was tied not only to local fighting in Hubei but also to the defense of the Yangtze approach and therefore to the security of Chongqing itself. In his mind, Hunan and Hubei had become the focal point of China's war effort in that season.   Meanwhile at the front, the situation was deteriorating fast. Japanese forces pressing into northern Hunan had already imposed severe strain on the Chinese defense. Blocking units had been battered back. Communications were uncertain. Some formations fought stubbornly but could not hold; others dissolved more quickly than hoped. The Japanese advance toward Changsha created exactly the kind of crisis Chinese commanders feared most: one in which the enemy moved with enough force and speed to threaten a major city before a coherent defensive response could be reassembled. Chinese units had to be thrown into action as they arrived, often after exhausting marches, often with incomplete knowledge of the situation, and often under immediate pressure from artillery, aircraft, and aggressive infantry assaults. Yet even at this dangerous stage, the campaign contained an opportunity as well as a threat.   The deeper Japanese units pushed into Hunan, the more exposed their rear became. Supply depots, transport lines, and communications stretched farther behind the spearhead. Chinese formations that had been driven aside were not always destroyed; some remained capable of reappearing to strike roads, depots, and isolated detachments. If Changsha represented the visible center of the struggle, the enemy rear represented its hidden vulnerability. The Chinese aim, therefore, was not simply to defend passively around the city. It was to combine stubborn resistance in front with harassment and disruption behind, so that Japanese advance would become increasingly difficult to sustain. The battle that followed unfolded under these pressures: a threatened city, a strained but unbroken defense, commanders forced to improvise under severe danger, and a wider international war that made every local decision feel heavier than the ground on which it was taken.   This subtle improvement in China's larger situation did not mean safety. China was still battered, under-resourced, and vulnerable. Japanese forces still possessed enormous advantages in mobility, firepower, and air power in many sectors. Large parts of the country remained occupied or threatened. Yet by mid-1941 something in the atmosphere had changed. In July, the American Red Cross sent China medical supplies worth millions of dollars. In August, more than a hundred retired American pilots and mechanics came together to aid China in its struggle against Japan. The air unit they formed would become famous under the name by which China knew them: the Flying Tigers. Their significance exceeded their immediate tactical value. They represented a visible sign that China was not entirely abandoned to isolation.   For Claire Chennault, romantic, aggressive, and optimistic by temperament, the new situation encouraged increasingly bold thoughts. For the first time he included in his planning the idea that Japanese home territory might one day be bombed from bases in China. Such schemes were ambitious and perhaps premature, but their very existence reveals an altered horizon of possibility. A country that imagines striking back is already psychologically in a different position from one concerned only with preventing collapse.     Yichang mattered directly to the fighting in Xiangbei, but it also mattered independently. It was tied to the security of the Yangtze approach and therefore to the defense of Chongqing. It belonged not only to the immediate problem of battlefield maneuver but to the larger question of whether China could do more than absorb Japanese offensives. Could Chinese forces exploit enemy overstretch? Could Japanese advances be turned into liabilities? Could local counterattacks and rear harassment generate effects greater than the raw size of the forces involved? By September 1941, these questions were no longer hypothetical. They were urgent. In Chiang's mind, Hunan and Hubei had become the focal point of China's war effort in that season.   The struggle around Changsha was central to that effort. From Chongqing, Chiang telegraphed Commander Xue Yue of the Ninth War Zone with instructions that made both the danger and the opportunity plain. The message emphasized that the enemy in northern Hunan, though still pressing hard, had already been bravely intercepted by Chinese units and was now exhausted, with lines of advance increasingly difficult to sustain. This, Chiang argued, created an excellent opportunity for Chinese forces to strike at the enemy's rear and seek annihilation rather than mere delay. He urged officers and soldiers alike to remain determined to destroy the enemy. Even if Japanese troops advanced to the vicinity of Changsha itself, Chinese forces were to renew their efforts, maintain their confidence in victory, and prevent the enemy from establishing a foothold.   The telegram also pointed to the broader operational picture. Japanese troops drawn from the sectors of the Fifth and Sixth War Zones had been committed to the invasion of northern Hunan, leaving their rear areas dangerously exposed. The Third, Fifth, and Sixth War Zones had launched supporting offensives on the twenty-third. Therefore, the Ninth War Zone had to strike resolutely and fiercely, preventing the Japanese from coordinating their forces and frustrating any attempt to occupy Changsha. The message was at once exhortation and operational logic. It reflected the core Chinese problem in the campaign: the Japanese thrust was dangerous and had to be blocked, but the very speed and depth of that thrust could also expose the attacker. Yet by the time Chiang sent his instructions, the danger around Changsha was already severe. After the 74th Army had been beaten back, there was no major Chinese force north of the city that could confidently block the Japanese advance in a straightforward, stable line. The Japanese 4th Division, together with the Hayabuchi Detachment, had defeated the 95th Division of the Chinese 37th Army and pushed toward Changsha. The prospect that the city might fall, at least temporarily, was no longer remote.   In response, Xia Chuzhong's 79th Army from the Sixth War Zone was ordered to move toward the city. Its vanguard was Wang Jiaben's 98th Division. That movement was a forced march in the literal sense. It was not a flourish of language but an admission of emergency. Troops were pushed beyond ordinary endurance because there was no time to gather strength under favorable conditions. Changsha could not wait for convenience, rest, or ideal concentration. Either reinforcements arrived in time to fight immediately, or they arrived too late to matter. Wang Jiaben was no stranger to battle. A veteran officer from the Yunnan Army, he had fought the Japanese repeatedly—more than twenty times since the outbreak of the War of Resistance. He belonged to that generation of commanders who had been shaped by the fragmented military politics of Republican China but whose careers were now being rewritten by the national emergency of the anti-Japanese war.   During the First Battle of Changsha, he had already distinguished himself. He led troops in a counterattack along the Tongcheng line in southern Hubei and intercepted retreating Japanese forces at Longmenchang and Changshoujie, killing more than a thousand enemy soldiers. He had experience, reputation, and a sense of what it meant to fight in the Changsha theater. This time he marched from Changde, driving his division forward with all possible speed. By noon on September 26 the 98th Division reached a position about two kilometers northeast of Changsha. There was scarcely time to settle the men. No careful preparation was possible. They had arrived because the city was in danger, and battle began almost at once. At dusk the division engaged the Hayabuchi Detachment.   The fighting continued until late in the night without decisive result. That in itself was costly enough. Troops who have just completed a punishing march are already close to the limits of their endurance. To be thrown immediately into combat magnifies every weakness: thirst, fatigue, confusion, and the difficulty of building fieldworks under pressure. What the soldiers of the 98th Division could do that night, they did with their hands and whatever tools they had. They scraped positions out of the earth. They assembled makeshift cover. Officers moved along the line trying to impose order on terrain that had become a battlefield almost as soon as it was occupied. At dawn on September 27 the Japanese intensified the pressure from the air.   More than twenty aircraft bombed the 98th Division's positions, tearing apart the earthworks that officers and soldiers had spent the night constructing. Bombing had a double effect. Physically, it damaged positions, wounded men, and disrupted preparations. Psychologically, it reminded defenders that they were being observed from above and struck by an enemy against whom they could often do little in the sky. Immediately after the bombing came a fierce infantry assault. Wang Jiaben and several other commanders went down to their respective regiments to supervise the fighting personally. This was dangerous, but under such circumstances commanders often believed that presence itself mattered. When fieldworks are collapsing, shell bursts are continuous, and communications are unreliable, authority must sometimes be carried by a body rather than a wire. The defenders held.   Again and again the Japanese attacked. Again and again they were repulsed only to reorganize and come on once more. Every minute the Chinese line remained in place was bought with blood. Fallen and wounded men were carried rearward in what seemed an endless stream. The cost of resistance accumulated visibly before the eyes of those still fighting. By noon even water could no longer be delivered to the front. That detail reveals the intensity of the battle more clearly than many grander statements could. A line that cannot be supplied even with water has reached a condition of severe strain. During brief pauses in the fighting, officers and soldiers pulled out dry rations and chewed them slowly, swallowing with difficulty while they waited for the next attack. Such moments are among the most characteristic in battle: not the long, smooth continuity imagined in peacetime rhetoric, but brief interludes of miserable necessity between explosions. At two in the afternoon the crisis deepened sharply.   A unit of the Japanese 4th Division worked its way behind the 98th Division's position and attacked from the rear. This was the kind of tactical development every defending commander dreads. A force can endure heavy frontal pressure if its line remains coherent and its rear reasonably secure. But when enemy troops appear behind a position, the entire structure of defense begins to dissolve. There, behind the line, were more than a hundred Chinese wounded awaiting evacuation. Japanese soldiers attacked them with bayonets. One of the wounded Chinese soldiers, already beyond ordinary capacity for resistance, rushed forward and detonated a grenade against a Japanese attacker. It was an act of desperation, but also of defiance. The episode captures something essential about the tone of the battle around Changsha. This was not a neat engagement between organized lines alone. It was a desperate collision in which even the badly wounded were drawn into last resistance. For Wang Jiaben, however, the tactical reality was impossible to deny. If he stayed where he was, the division might be annihilated. Personal courage could not alter encirclement. Resentfully, bitterly, and under the kind of pressure that leaves permanent scars on a commander's memory, he ordered retreat. When he led the survivors off the battlefield, fewer than half his men remained.   Reinforcements from another direction now entered the struggle. The Provisional 2nd Army of the Seventh War Zone dispatched the Provisional 8th Division under Zhang Junsong. At seven in the evening on September 27, Zhang's force arrived at Zuojiatang on the eastern outskirts of Changsha. Personnel of the Ninth War Zone waiting there reported grim news: a Japanese detachment had already entered the city that afternoon, and another detachment was only three kilometers away. The situation invited rashness. A commander arriving near a threatened city at dusk, with reports that the enemy is already inside, may feel compelled to hurl troops forward immediately in a gesture of resolution. Yet night fighting in an urban approach without adequate reconnaissance can turn courage into waste. Zhang Junsong considered the matter carefully. He concluded that to rush blindly into the city at night would likely produce confusion and heavy losses. Instead he first sought to strike the enemy outside the city. His troops deployed quietly and crept forward through the darkness, launching a probing attack. But they soon discovered that the Japanese were fully prepared and not vulnerable to easy surprise. The line could not be broken. With no prospect of success, the force withdrew.   The moment is revealing because it shows how narrow the margin had become. Chinese commanders were trying to recover initiative while still groping through uncertainty. Reports were incomplete, Japanese dispositions difficult to fix, and every hour dangerous. On the evening of September 28, the 79th Army's 6th Provisional Division occupied Yuelu Mountain west of Changsha. From that height officers and soldiers looked across the Xiang River toward the city. Changsha, for the first time, was in Japanese hands. The emotional force of that sight can only be imagined. Changsha had lived for years under threat. It had been defended, contested, prepared, and feared. The possibility of its loss had hovered over military planning and public consciousness alike. Now the danger had become fact. A city that had stood as an object of effort and anxiety was visibly occupied by the enemy. No single feeling could have governed the men who saw it. There must have been anger, shame, weariness, and dread—but also stubbornness. For in war a city seen in enemy hands is not always simply lost. Sometimes it is a summons.   Late that night Zhao Jiping, commander of the 6th Provisional Division, received a telegram from Xue Yue. He read it and then stood before the map for a long time. Days of anxiety began to lift. He was not alone in that reaction. Many Chinese generals involved in the campaign had felt that they were fighting a confused and chaotic battle. Japanese movements had been broad, rapid, and difficult to pin down. The Ninth War Zone had thrown numerous units into blocking actions, yet both well-regarded formations and weaker, improvised units had repeatedly failed to hold. After ten days of combat, Chinese losses were heavy. But Japanese forces too had been worn, stretched, and damaged. Only now, as the Japanese reached the apparent culmination of their advance, did the Ninth War Zone begin to recover rhythm. Chaos did not disappear, but it became more legible. The possibility of a more ordered counteroffensive emerged.   In the early hours of September 29, Zhao Jiping issued the order to force a crossing of the Xiang River and attack the enemy in Changsha. The preparations consumed the entire day. River crossings under combat conditions are among the most delicate operations in war. Boats must be assembled or found. Units must be organized into waves. Timing matters. Surprise matters. The location of landing points matters. The men themselves matter most of all, because they must sit exposed in fragile craft knowing that the real test will begin not in the middle of the river but at the far bank. Late that night the division crossed secretly by boat in six groups. The crossing itself went well enough. The river did not betray them. The groups made progress in darkness. Yet everyone involved understood that smooth movement on the water did not guarantee success. The crucial question was what waited at the landing points. It was expected that the troops going ashore at Daximen would be first to meet the Japanese. Once battle began there, the rest of the crossing accelerated.   Chinese soldiers landed, attacked fiercely, and drove the enemy back from the riverbank. The momentum of the assault mattered. In such moments hesitation on shore can doom an entire crossing, but aggression can seize a foothold before the defender fully stabilizes. By the time Chinese forces entered the city, dawn was breaking. Then came street fighting. Changsha had ceased to be an objective on a map. It became again what cities become in war: a place of corners, walls, alleys, debris, smoke, and sudden death. Fighting in a city strips away much of the abstraction through which campaigns are often remembered. Streets channel movement. Buildings become cover, obstacles, or traps. Distances shrink but danger multiplies. A few men behind masonry can delay many more. Noise magnifies confusion. The city itself seems to fragment into a hundred separate battlefields. For Changsha, the long season of anxious anticipation ended in direct flame.   Yet to understand the campaign only through the struggle at Changsha would be incomplete. While the city drew attention as the central prize, another set of operations was unfolding across Hunan and Hubei—less dramatic in appearance perhaps, but strategically significant. These were the actions of the 27th Army Group under Yang Sen. If the fighting around Changsha demonstrated the pressure of frontal battle, Yang Sen's operations illustrated another principle entirely: the stubborn, opportunistic use of weaker forces to harass, sting, and trouble a stronger enemy from behind. The 27th Army Group was composed largely of Sichuan troops. Their presence speaks to one of the larger political transformations of the war. Republican China had long been fractured by regional militarism. Armies had often owed stronger loyalty to commanders, provinces, or local power structures than to any unified national command. Yet the anti-Japanese war compelled a partial reordering of those loyalties. Many warlord forces, however imperfectly integrated, now turned their weapons outward under Nationalist command.   There were exceptions. Some men, like Han Fuqu, had preserved their own strength at the cost of military responsibility and lost both opportunity and honor in doing so. But in the main, especially among middle and lower-ranking officers and ordinary soldiers, the imperative of national survival overrode provincial identity. Men from distant regions marched and fought in terrains not their own because the war no longer permitted a narrow conception of interest. Yang Sen himself was an old warlord soldier, one of those figures formed in the fractured military world of earlier decades. By 1941 he was deputy commander of the Ninth War Zone and commander-in-chief of the 27th Army Group. Along the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi border he had long been cautious in his operations.   At the beginning of the northern Hunan battle, his troops proved unable to withstand the force of the Japanese offensive and retreated in disorder into mountains and forests. That fact should not be softened. They were pushed back. But retreat did not mean disappearance. This is where Yang Sen's role became important. Once the main Japanese force had advanced far ahead, the troops that had scattered began to reemerge. They knew the terrain. They knew the roads, villages, passes, and wooded approaches. If they could not defeat the Japanese in a grand collision, they could search for openings behind the advancing columns.   On September 20, as the Japanese main force drove into the heart of northern Hunan, Yang Sen led elements of the 4th, 58th, and 20th Armies in pursuit for an entire day. The main body of the 4th Army had already been badly beaten at the Xinqiang River line, and only the 60th Division, recently transferred from the 37th Army, remained relatively intact. That single fact sharply defined the weakness of his means. He was not pursuing with fresh and powerful forces prepared for a decisive encounter. He was pursuing with fragments, survivors, and such units as still retained some offensive potential. But the Japanese, intent on rapid advance southward, paid too little attention to what followed behind them. That was the opening Yang Sen needed.   On the morning of September 21, the 60th Division acted on information supplied by an old beggar. Such details often sound almost literary, but they remind us that war in China was never fought by armies alone. Villagers, refugees, peddlers, guides, boatmen, and the destitute all participated in the circulation of military knowledge. A beggar could see what a reconnaissance officer had missed. On the basis of that tip, the 60th Division launched a surprise attack on the supply depot of the Japanese 40th Division at Zhangjiayuan. Division Commander Dong Yu led the action.   The Chinese quickly overwhelmed the more than three hundred Japanese troops guarding the depot. Once they broke in, they discovered an astonishing quantity of matériel: shell boxes, ammunition, food, medicine, gasoline, explosives, protective clothing, telephone wire, body bags, stretchers, and more, all stacked beneath heavy canvas. For men accustomed to scarcity, it must have seemed almost unreal. Dong Yu, delighted, is remembered as exclaiming to his deputy commander, "It's practically a department store!" The line has a momentary comic brightness in the middle of war, and that is part of why it survives. But its deeper significance lies in what it reveals. A modern army advancing deep into hostile territory is sustained by accumulation—ammunition, fuel, wire, medicines, rations, transport materials. To seize such a depot is not merely to take objects. It is to grasp the hidden skeleton of movement. Dong Yu then issued a one-word order: "Move."   At once the whole division became a swarm of carriers. Officers and soldiers grabbed whatever they could and began hauling the captured supplies away. The scene must have been one of extraordinary improvised energy—riflemen transformed into laborers, war reduced for a moment to the brute physical act of lifting, dragging, and carrying. They moved like ants dismantling a storehouse. But there was too much to remove and too little time. Before even two regiments had completed the work, the Japanese returned in force. Enraged, they sent more than a dozen aircraft to bomb the troops carrying off the captured crates, while over a thousand infantrymen rushed in on the ground. Dong Yu immediately ordered the men to abandon what remained and destroy it. Amid deafening explosions, the 60th Division withdrew from Zhangjiayuan. The Japanese pursued hard, driving them back into the mountains before finally stopping. Measured purely in terms of territorial occupation, the action changed little. The Chinese did not hold the depot. They were forced back again. But judged in operational terms, the raid mattered. Supplies had been captured, destroyed, or disrupted. Japanese rear security had been embarrassed. Time and energy had been consumed in response. In a campaign where the Japanese were racing south and depending increasingly on stretched lines, such harassment was not trivial.   After September 23, Yang Sen expanded these efforts. He sent whole divisions to harass the Japanese rear while also dispatching battalions and companies to ambush supply columns and disrupt transport lines. This was not the kind of warfare that produces neat dramatic maps in conventional military histories. The actions were scattered, local, opportunistic, and often inconclusive. Yet precisely for that reason they can be misunderstood. Not every useful military action ends in the destruction of an enemy division. Sometimes its value lies in forcing a stronger opponent to spend attention where he had hoped to spend only momentum. These operations were costly and uncertain. Small Chinese units striking roads and depots risked encirclement or aerial punishment. Yet they possessed one advantage: they did not need to win a grand battle to matter. They needed only to make movement harder, supply more precarious, and the rear less secure.   On September 25, even after the 26th and 37th Armies had suffered defeat elsewhere, Yang Sen gathered the troops that still retained some offensive capacity and launched another attack. In these actions, the 90th Division captured Wukou; the 59th Division reached the north bank of the Miluo River; the 60th Division advanced to Donggang; and elements of the 58th Army controlled the Yuanba–Zheyangqiao highway line by the twenty-sixth. These gains were not the dramatic centerpiece of the campaign. But they formed part of the cumulative pressure on Japanese operations. Every road contested from the rear, every convoy threatened, every depot exposed, and every forced diversion of troops weakened the enemy's ability to convert tactical advance into stable success.   The battlefield was fluid enough that Yang Sen's headquarters itself had to keep moving—from the Miluo River northward to Pingjiang. Mobile headquarters in such conditions lived under constant uncertainty. Reports arrived late or contradictory. Rumors outran facts. The front could bend in unpredictable ways. A command post that seemed safely behind the line in the morning might by afternoon lie only a few kilometers from enemy forces. Years later Mao Jiuyin, who had then served as an operations staff officer under Yang Sen, recalled the old commander's outward behavior in those dangerous days. Yang Sen, Mao remembered, was always joking with the people around him and could still laugh and talk during battle. On one occasion he even joked with his bodyguard about putting chili oil in his tea. To younger staff officers, such behavior appeared almost absurd.   Yet they knew how dangerous their situation often was. Sometimes they were only a few kilometers from the main Japanese forces. There is more than anecdote in this memory. Old commanders often cultivated a style of ease under danger not because they felt no fear, but because they believed visible calm itself was part of command. Men take emotional bearings from those above them. A commander who panics spreads panic faster than any enemy breakthrough. Yang Sen was sixty years old during the Second Battle of Changsha, and he liked to remark that he was five years older than Chiang Kai-shek. Age had not removed him from the front. His function in the campaign was not to shatter the enemy in one decisive frontal blow. It was to persist, reappear, sting, and remain troublesome. The 27th Army Group followed the Japanese nearly all the way to the outskirts of Changsha.   They did not fight many large set-piece engagements. That was never their main value. But the Japanese could not ignore them. If Japanese units turned and tried to hit them directly, they tended to dissolve into the landscape. If the Japanese pushed on and ignored them, they reappeared to sabotage roads, hit supply lines, and create alarms in the rear. Even Japanese official histories later described them memorably. They called them "like a swarm of annoying flies." The phrase was meant as contempt. But as so often happens in war, an insult became an accurate description of effect. If these Chinese troops could not be tigers in formal battle, they could still become intolerable as flies. And under certain conditions—fatigue, heat, uncertainty, stretched supply, shaken morale—flies can become more oppressive than an enemy would like to admit.   When later generations look back on campaigns, they often search for a single explanatory image. But the fighting of September 1941 resists reduction to one symbol alone. What gives the campaign its force in memory is not one isolated episode, but the convergence of several pressures at once: a city under threat, a command trying to coordinate multiple fronts, exhausted reinforcements thrown directly into battle, Japanese forces advancing quickly but becoming increasingly vulnerable the farther they pushed, and Chinese troops in the rear refusing to disappear after defeat. Seen from Chongqing, the campaign was a matter of telegrams, maps, and the management of strategic risk. Seen from the front, it was a matter of thirst, mud, broken fieldworks, sudden bombing, exhausted marching, and the uncertainty of whether the next order meant reinforcement, retreat, or death. Seen from the Japanese side, it was initially an aggressive advance toward an important objective, but one increasingly troubled by stretched supply, difficult terrain, and the persistent reappearance of Chinese forces behind the line of movement.   At the same time, the campaign reveals a Chinese war effort that had become more resilient than in the earliest years of the conflict. The Japanese advance toward Changsha was dangerous and at moments appeared close to success. Chinese blocking forces suffered severe defeats. Units arrived exhausted and were hurled into action at once. Commanders lost men at devastating rates. Changsha itself briefly fell into enemy hands. And yet the city was not simply surrendered as an accomplished fact. Chinese forces regrouped. Orders were coordinated across war zones. Reinforcements marched at desperate speed. Counterattacks were mounted. Forces west of the Xiang prepared and crossed back into the city. Elsewhere, troops under Yang Sen gnawed at the Japanese rear and made advance more costly than a map of front lines alone might suggest. This combination of desperate frontal resistance and incessant rear harassment was one of the characteristic strengths of China's resistance in this stage of the war. China could not always match Japanese power in one concentrated blow. But it could absorb, delay, fragment, and trouble that power across space and time. That is why the struggle around Changsha in late September 1941 deserves to be remembered not merely as a sequence of engagements, but as a layered event in which tactical battle, morale, logistics, political endurance, and international context all converged.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In late September 1941, Japan pushed deeper into China, but Chinese forces—supported gradually by international help—kept resisting. Changsha in Hunan became the central point of the conflict, seen as vital to strategic control in south-central China. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Hunan and Hubei, Yang Sen's 27th Army Group—often using smaller, opportunistic actions—reappeared behind Japanese lines to disrupt depots and convoys. Even when Chinese gains were temporary, the cumulative pressure delayed Japanese momentum.       

Macca is joined in the hosting seat, for the first half of this week’s show by Misha Ketchell, Editor-in-Chief of the Conversation. Misha is the Editor of The Conversation Australia and New Zealand. He has been a journalist for more than 25 years. He was the founding editor of The Big Issue Australia and editor of Crikey, The Reader and The Melbourne Weekly. He was a reporter at The Age and worked at the ABC where he was a TV producer on Media Watch and The 7:30 Report and an editor on The Drum. Macca and Misha discuss New UK PM Andy Burham; job losses at Nine; what’s come out from the ALP conf in Adelaide Oasis Index and Big Mac Index Melbourne recently took top spot on the “Oasis index”, an annual metric published by Deutsche Bank that tracks the price of beer and cigarettes in cities around the world. The index tracks the cost of five beers and two packets of cigarettes, in US dollars, city by city. Inspired by the lyrics of the song Cigarettes and Alcohol, from Oasis's 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe. Melbourne's Oasis basket comes to US$111.20 (about A$160). That's slightly ahead of Sydney at US$109.50 (A$157), but roughly double the equivalent basket in New York – US$54.10 (about A$78). Sydney came a very close second, reflecting what the report called “Australia's relentless application of sin taxes”. If you're in Melbourne the Oasis index shows the same round of beer and cigarettes cost US$59 (A$84) in 2016. The cost has risen by 89%. The Oasis index is just one of many unusual metrics that aim to reveal economic insights by looking at spending habits on everything from lipstick to underwear. Big Mac Index Princeton University economics professor Orley Ashenfelter has travelled the world visiting McDonald's stores. Big Macs earned per hour index to show real wages. India: four hours to buy one big mac. Korea: two big macs per hour. Most developed countries sit at two big macs per hour. Maccas workers in Australia get 3.3 big macs per hour, putting us at or near the top. For years, economists have been using “novelty” metrics because these are often more relatable and easier for the public to understand. There are several famous examples. The hemline index, first introduced by economist George Taylor in the 1920s, is based on an assumption that the length of skirts rises and fall in line with the stock market. The hemline index suggests skirt lengths rise and fall based on the strength of the economy. The theory – which despite some supporting evidence, remains controversial – is that when the economy is flourishing, hemlines get shorter. By contrast, in an economic downturn, hemlines get longer. The men's underwear index was coined by the late former Chair of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan. Greenspan noticed that during tighter economic conditions, men cut back on a basic but hidden necessity – boxers and briefs. People can't see what you are wearing under your clothes, so its easier to delay replacing threadbare briefs to save money. Then we have the lipstick index. This was coined after Estée Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder noticed, in 2001, that lipstick sales were increasing even while discretionary spending fell. The assumption here is that in times of economic uncertainty, consumers resort to affordable luxuries rather than big-ticket items such as holidays or cars. Psychologically, we still want to reward ourselves, but at a smaller scale. And no roundup of unusual indices should exclude the Big Mac index, introduced in 1986 by The Economist magazine to demonstrate purchasing power parity across the world. It prices an identical burger everywhere it's sold, so any gap in the US-dollar price is a rough signal of whether a currency is over- or undervalued. Universities Julie Hare, OZ most experienced higher education reporter:  ‘We've got vice-chancellors here in third-tier universities who are paid more than the vice-chancellors of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard. It's insane.' NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) earlier this month John Dewar clumsily attempted to explain away accusations put to him that he advantaged his employer, the advisory firm KordaMentha, to successfully win contracts at the University of Wollongong, where he had been seconded as an interim vice-chancellor. Dewar was employed by KordaMentha in February 2024 as a partner to run its higher education practice. A couple of months later, he was approached by the University of Wollongong's chancellor, Michael Still, to fill in as vice-chancellor. KordaMentha didn't seem to have a problem with their new high-profile hire jumping ship just four months after signing on. Why? Well, it seems the firm expected, quite confidently, that there would be a quid pro quo. That is, Dewar's appointment would lead to a lucrative pipeline of work for the consultancy. KordaMentha secured work at UoW that grew to contracts worth $3.8 million. International student numbers dropping, Chinese Students down around 30% But Job Ready Graduates continue. In 2027, one third of Australian university students will be paying $17,399.  A standard three-year arts degree more than $52,000, compared with a nursing degree, which will be less than $15,000. The discrepancy is a result of the Morrison government's Job-ready Graduates scheme. The Albanese government agrees the scheme has failed but it has no plan to replace it. Job-ready Graduates cut student contributions in teaching, nursing, engineering and IT courses to encourage them to do degrees the Coalition government saw as “job-ready”. At the same time, student contributions jumped for arts, business and law. In 2024, a major government report on higher education – the found the policy had “failed” and needed to be replaced. The new Australian Tertiary Education Commission says it is exploring what could replace Job-ready Graduates. The commission is not due to provide advice to the government on the matter until the second half of 2027. The post Sat, July 25th, 2026: Weekly Wrap Up with Macca and Misha Ketchell, Editor-in-Chief of the Conversation.  appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

"Psychologically." We kick off the hour with a story Jeremy brought up during the break that Mike suggested the rest of the show avoid, and eventually get to Tony's rendition of the Top 5 Things He Likes Introducing People To. Plus, is Bill Simmons going after our show directly with his comments about Miami media? Then, JuJu and Trysta are here to discuss the situation between Angel Reese and Sandy Brondello, Caitlin Clark's villain era, and the return of Queen Phee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The biopsychosocial model of health has been around since the late 1970s. In musculoskeletal rehabilitation, the biopsychosocial model is prominent in clinical practice guidelines for a variety of different conditions, with different approaches advocated for how to provide rehabilitation within the model.Today, Dr Kate Jochimsen guides JOSPT Insights listeners through psychologically-informed rehabilitation practice - taking principles that have become quite prominent in the chronic low back pain field and seeing how they might apply to young, active people with chronic hip pain.Dr Jochimsen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a researcher at the Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and a member of the Physical Therapy Residency Faculty at the MGH Institute for Health Professions. Her work bridges the gap between sports medicine and psychology, with a primary focus on chronic pain and hip injuries.------------------------------RESOURCESOSPRO yellow flags tool: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2016.6487Screening for yellow flags - clinical framework: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.10570Pain Catastrophizing Scale: https://www.sralab.org/rehabilitation-measures/pain-catastrophizing-scaleAssociation between pain and function in people with hip pain - systematic review: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41020468/JOSPT's July 2026 hip-focused issue (10 hip articles): https://www.jospt.org/toc/jospt/56/7Association for Applied Sport Psychology mental wellness resource center: https://appliedsportpsych.org/resources/mental-wellness-resource-center/Why things hurt - TEDx with Professor Lorimer Moseley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwd-wLdIHjsPsychologically informed practice in low back pain (case report): https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/josptcases.2025.0177Psychologically informed physical therapy for musculoskeletal conditions (APTA paid course): https://www.orthopt.org/course/33-3-psychologically-informed-physical-therapy-for-musculoskeletal-disordersManaging persistent pain (APTA paid course): https://learningcenter.apta.org/products/persistent-pain-management-certificate-a-comprehensive-learning-series

They say joy is in the little things: having fresh sheets, a hot cup of coffee, or maybe hearing your favourite song. These may seem like small things to get excited about, but studies show these brief experiences have a range of benefits, including reduced stress and regulating emotions.Joining Ciara to discuss why these little moments of joy are so important is Counseling Psychologist & Lecturer in TU Dublin, Leslie Shoemaker.

Tainted Love (Part 1): When Addiction Warps the Relationship You Once Knew At some point, many people find themselves quietly asking a question they never thought they would have to ask: “What happened to us?” What once felt stable, connected, and loving slowly begins to shift. The person you knew is still there… but something feels off. Conversations feel different. Energy feels different. The relationship begins to feel unpredictable in a way that is hard to explain. This episode explores what happens when addiction slowly warps the emotional foundation of a relationship, creating what Andrea calls tainted love. It's not that love disappears — it's that it becomes entangled with chaos, inconsistency, and emotional instability. Psychologically, this often involves patterns like intermittent reinforcement, where moments of connection are mixed unpredictably with moments of hurt, confusion, or distance. This creates a powerful emotional pull, making it difficult to step back even when things no longer feel healthy. Over time, this dynamic can distort your sense of what is normal. You may begin adjusting, accommodating, and trying to hold onto the version of the relationship that once existed. But here's the truth that begins to emerge: When love becomes unpredictable, it also becomes confusing. And confusion is often the first sign that something deeper has shifted. This episode invites you to begin seeing that shift clearly — not with judgment, but with awareness. If this resonates, this is the exact dynamic explored more deeply in:

Long before humanity learned how to build civilizations, economies, governments, religions, or marriage, another architecture was already under construction. It was invisible, portable, and profoundly consequential. It determined not merely how people survived, but where they believed life itself originated. Every culture eventually answered the same question, whether consciously or unconsciously: What must another person provide before I can become fully myself? That answer became the hidden constitution of human intimacy. Perhaps the history of romantic love is not primarily the history of affection. Perhaps it is the history of psychological outsourcing. The history of transferring inward responsibilities onto outward relationships until another human being quietly inherited assignments consciousness never intended them to carry. Happiness became negotiable. Peace became conditional. Worth required witnesses. Identity required agreement. Love became increasingly measured by how successfully one person could regulate another person's interior world. What if that entire direction represents a developmental inversion? Developmental psychology demonstrates that authentic dependency belongs to infancy. Contemplative traditions repeatedly suggest that realization gradually loosens psychological clinging rather than perfecting it. Theological traditions describe Ultimate Reality as fundamentally self-sufficient rather than psychologically deficient. Yet modern intimacy often continues to organize itself around the assumption that another human being should supply what an increasingly mature consciousness might eventually cultivate from within. This conversation refuses to treat that assumption as sacred.

In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee Kantor interviews Sacha Thompson, founder of The Equity Equation, a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy. Sacha shares how she helps organizations build psychologically safe, authentic workplace cultures by focusing on behaviors and outcomes rather than jargon. She discusses common challenges like leadership-employee misalignment, lack of transparency, and values incongruence. […]

In this episode, Jason dives into the concept of psychological safety, how to create an environment where team members feel safe to speak up, ask questions, and take interpersonal risks without fear of negative consequences. But he goes further: psychological safety isn't a free pass for toxic behaviors. What you'll learn in this episode: What psychological safety really means and what it isn't. How to foster an environment where team members can speak up and challenge the status quo. Why toxic or misaligned behavior must be addressed to protect the culture. How to balance safety for individuals with safety for the organization. Practical strategies to maintain accountability while preserving psychologically safe spaces. How safe is your team and is your psychological safety protecting the culture as well as the people?   If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two

Content Advisory: The following episode contains conversations surrounding topics that may be triggering, such as eating disorders and suicide.In Episode 104, Brennan is joined by NYC-based performer and founder of the Broadway Mental Health Foundation, Emerson Valentina, as they discuss the hazards of some "traditional" musical theatre/ dance education, and the importance of creating psychologically safe spaces across the industry. For too long now, performers have been encouraged and demanded to put unsafe levels of stress on their body and mind, and told it was the only way to succeed, and it's important that we don't continue to spread those falsehoods to the generations to come!Support the showHost/ Production/ Editing: Brennan StefanikMusic: Dylan KaufmanGraphic Design: Jordan Vongsithi@batobroadway on Instagram, Threads, and TikTokPatreon.com/batobroadway

What if one of the most disturbing cryptid encounters ever recorded wasn't just a hallucination—but something watching us from just beyond human understanding? The Smiling Man is one of the most chilling cryptid entities to ever surface online. First reported in the early 2000s, this strange humanoid figure is described as tall, unnaturally thin, moving with jerky mechanical motions, and wearing a frozen, inhuman smile. Witnesses claim the Smiling Man moves as if he is learning how to walk—like a creature trying to imitate human behavior but failing in subtle, horrifying ways. Thank you for watching Roanoke Tales! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/RoanokeTalesPatreon Roanoke Gaming: https://www.youtube.com/@UCs8lYkna2S6DkcHO9o2008A Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roanokegaming/ Twitter: https://x.com/RoannokeGaming Thank you for watching Roanoke tales Wendigo illustration made by Tania Sanchez-Fortun. Here are the links! Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/tania_sanchezfortun_art/ Cara ; https://cara.app/tsanchezfortun Artstation : https://www.artstation.com/taniasanchezfortun Go and check out his work! In this video, we dive deep into the lore, biological implications, and psychological terror behind the Smiling Man cryptid. Is it an interdimensional observer? A failed mimic organism? Or something far darker—an evolutionary offshoot that adapted to hide in plain sight? Reports describe the Smiling Man appearing late at night, watching from sidewalks, standing motionless outside homes, or pacing unnaturally while locking eyes with witnesses. Some claim it vanishes the moment attention is drawn to it, while others say it slowly approaches—never blinking, never speaking, just smiling. From a scientific and biological lens, the Smiling Man raises terrifying questions. Humans evolved facial expressions as social signals, but the Smiling Man's grin appears neurologically disconnected from emotion, suggesting a mimic species that evolved facial motor control without the emotional centers that normally govern them. This could imply a predator that uses social camouflage to lower a victim's threat perception—similar to how some animals fake behaviors to appear non-threatening before striking. The Smiling Man's reported jerky movements resemble motor dysfunction or incomplete neuromuscular development. If real, this could point to a creature whose nervous system is only partially adapted to Earth's gravity or physiology—possibly an off-world organism or interdimensional lifeform that does not fully interface with human muscle coordination. Psychologically, the Smiling Man taps into something primal. The human brain is wired to detect faces and emotional cues. When something looks human but behaves incorrectly, it triggers a deep uncanny valley response, activating the amygdala and fear centers of the brain. This makes encounters feel not just frightening—but fundamentally wrong. Could the Smiling Man be a parasite that studies human behavior, a biological drone sent to observe, or even a thoughtform created by collective fear? Some theorists suggest it may exist between states of matter or consciousness—only visible when certain conditions align. Whether cryptid, hallucination, or something far more disturbing, the Smiling Man remains one of the most haunting humanoid encounters ever documented. This video explores the science, speculation, and hidden biology behind the legend—so you can decide for yourself what's really watching us in the dark. #cryptid #smilingman #roanoketales

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” -Carl JungWe often think of the inner child as a sentimental image of a younger version of ourselves waiting to be hugged. Psychologically speaking, we can also understand our inner child to be our current nervous system running a program based on its earliest education in safety. Before we had language, before we had philosophy, before we had a coherent self, the body was learning and the brain was developing until 25 years old, based on inherited and formative experiences. It was coding whether love was reliable, whether anger was dangerous, whether needs were welcome, whether silence meant peace or threat. In this sense, the inner child is not the past. The inner child is the past still firing through the present as psychological reflex.

Has this single phrase quietly become the ideological source code behind why modern intimacy increasingly feels transactional, emotionally audited, psychologically exhausting, and spiritually depleted?

A former Garda, Paul Moody physically and psychologically abused and terrorised his former partner and the mother of his child in a prolonged, repeated and controlling manner over a number of years, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today. Our Crime Correspondent Paul Reynolds has more.

When people don't feel safe speaking up at work, fear spreads, trust falls apart, and good people head for the exits. That's the story emerging from Unwell Networks, the media company led by Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper and her husband, Matt Kaplan, where reports describe an alleged pattern of intimidation and retaliation inside the company. In this Unsolicited Advice segment, Anne and Frances unpack what appears to have gone wrong at Unwell Networks and break down the concept of psychological safety: why it matters so much to high-performing teams, how leaders can unknowingly undermine it, and what it takes to build a workplace where people feel safe enough to ask questions, admit mistakes, and disagree without being afraid of what will happen next. Connect with the teamFollow Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn Follow Frances on Instagram and LinkedInWatch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDAudioCollectiveVisit Anne and Frances' websiteHave a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at fixable@ted.com or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTokFor the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Psychologically a language unto itself, SLANG speaks to cultural as well individual identification and IDENTITY.Contact Us: DrMDClay@TheWORDHouse.com; TheWORDHouse.com; @WORDHouse; or call 304.523.WORD (9673).

Why do narcissistic relationships feel chemically addictive? The truth is more disturbing than most people realize. Narcissists do not addict you to them. They addict you to yourself. Then they quietly take control of the production and withholding of your own feel-good hormones. In this video, we explore the hidden mechanism narcissists use to create emotional and spiritual addiction. During the idealization phase, they mirror you, amplify you, and reflect back your most desired self-image. The confidence, excitement, chemistry, and euphoria you feel are not coming from them. They are triggering dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline, and validation circuits that were already inside you. You experience an enhanced version of yourself and mistake that biochemical high for love.Once your nervous system associates them with access to that heightened state, the control begins. Through intermittent reinforcement, emotional withdrawal, devaluation, and unpredictability, they begin regulating the supply. The same person who activated your confidence and joy now withholds attention, approval, affection, or connection. Your brain responds the way it would to any addictive cycle: craving, anxiety, obsession, and a desperate attempt to get the “high” back. Psychologically, this creates trauma bonding through reward conditioning and hormone dysregulation. Spiritually, it feels like a spell because your perception becomes distorted. You believe they are the source of your happiness, when in reality they only learned how to trigger and control your internal chemistry.https://youtu.be/OVH7YvqWLvE#narcissist #narcissisticabuse #addictionawareness • Website & Coaching Enquiries: https:// www.weaponizedlove.com/Coaching & Speaking Engagements:narcscon@gmail.com* Read the Book: Weaponised Love -https://Im.fm/ r3aEwvK• Shop Designs & Technology: https:// www.tracyspence.co.uk• Support the Channel: Donate via PayPal - https:// www.paypal.com/paypalme/narcscon?country.x=.Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment.NARCCON1Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Dr. Tommy Dooley bought a low-reimbursement practice in 2017 doing $1.3M with $600 crowns. Eight years later, he's at $6.1M across two locations with three partners, 35 team members, and 47% overhead. He followed the Bulletproof playbook to the letter: dropped from 10 insurance networks to three, expanded from 7 to 12 ops, brought in partners, and hit 20% year-over-year growth for five straight years. But then he hit a problem growth could not solve: he's redlining. Not clinically. Not financially. Psychologically. Tommy thought the next level of leadership meant knowing every team member personally, remembering every birthday, and becoming the emotional center of a 35-person operation. Craig and Peter challenged that. In this real-time coaching conversation, they unpack the leadership identity crisis that hits practice owners when the business scales past what one person can hold. They cover why your definition of "good leadership" might be wrong, why the skill set that built your practice can eventually break it, and why the best leaders stop pushing their team toward a vision and start building a team that is pulled by one. If you're growing fast, feeling stretched thin, and wondering whether you're doing leadership wrong, this episode is for you. CASE STUDY: Growing dental entrepreneur focused on leadership development and scaling beyond operator dependency. Transitioning from solo producer to business leader and team builder Learning how to scale leadership while maintaining practice culture Navigating the challenges of delegation and accountability Balancing practice growth with personal fulfillment and freedom Building systems that empower teams instead of creating dependency Redefining success beyond production and revenue numbers Understanding the difference between management, inspiration, and leadership Developing long-term vision for growth, team alignment, and sustainability Learning how to create optionality inside a growing business Leadership growth became the key bottleneck and breakthrough for scaling DESCRIPTION The Bulletproof Dental Podcast Episode: 436 HOSTS: Dr. Peter Boulden and Dr. Craig Spodak GUEST: Dr. Tommy Dooley MyStory is a new Bulletproof series where real dentists share their real story: what's working, what's not, and the questions they can't get answered anywhere else. Each episode is a one-hour Master Class. Peter & Craig give practical advice, just like they do inside our Mastermind Program and at the Bulletproof Summit. The point is simple: you'll hear your own challenges in someone else's story, and leave with clear steps you can use right away to shift your mindset, strengthen your practice, and avoid the mistakes that make growth harder than it needs to be. Contact Us Want to be on MyStory? Email MyStory@bulletproofdentalpractice.com If your story is selected, you will join Peter and Craig on the podcast. We also launched the Bulletproof Hotline. Call anytime and leave a message to share your story, ask a question, tell a joke, or leave a note for Peter and Craig. We will listen and respond with real-world feedback. Hotline: (561) 933-5575 Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Leadership and Growth 02:35 Tommy Dooley's Journey in Dentistry 05:17 Navigating Leadership Challenges 08:24 Understanding Ownership and Financial Growth 11:11 Defining Personal and Professional Goals 14:01 Balancing Growth and Personal Life 19:18 Defining Success and Personal Goals 21:52 The Quest for Freedom and Optionality 23:38 Redefining Leadership and Team Dynamics 31:09 Balancing Management, Inspiration, and Leadership 38:18 Building a Vision for Growth and Team Empowerment 46:32 Outro REFERENCES Bulletproof Summit Bulletproof Mastermind

There is a fierce honesty in the fathers that modern Christians often find difficult to endure. They do not allow us the comfort of remaining spectators to the Fall. We prefer to think of Adam's transgression as history, tragedy, doctrine, or inherited condition. But the fathers insist upon something far more painful: Adam's sin is repeated in us daily. Not first through sensuality. Not first through disobedience. But through judgment. Abba Mark says something astonishing: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is our constant distinction between “good” brethren and “bad” brethren. The Fall occurs whenever we separate ourselves inwardly from another human being through contempt, condemnation, suspicion, derision, or hidden hatred. We imagine ourselves discerning spiritually, morally, psychologically, or ecclesially, while in reality we are tasting again the forbidden fruit. This is why the fathers fear judgment more than humiliation. The modern mind often reduces sin to the violation of rules. But the fathers understand sin as the darkening of vision. The moment we begin to look upon another person without mercy, without reverence, without grief for our own condition, our sight becomes corrupted. We no longer behold the image of God. We behold instead the projection of our own passions. And this is why Abba Mark says: “In the eyes of one whose heart is possessed by the passions, no man is sanctified.” The impure heart cannot see purely. A man filled with anger sees enemies everywhere. A vain man sees inferiors. A lustful man sees objects. A fearful man sees threats. A proud man sees fools. The world slowly takes on the shape of our inner disorder. How terrifying this is for our age. We live in a culture built almost entirely upon commentary, denunciation, suspicion, exposure, ridicule, factionalism, and perpetual judgment. Men and women sit before glowing screens daily eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, deciding endlessly who is worthy and who is contemptible. Entire identities are now constructed around outrage. Even religious discourse often becomes little more than sanctified accusation. One no longer needs to enter a battlefield to lose one's soul. One need only remain online. The fathers would tremble at the atmosphere we inhabit. Not because they were naïve about evil, but because they understood something we do not: judgment wounds first the one who judges. The punishment is already contained within the act itself. The moment brotherly love dies, spiritual perception begins to die with it. Abba Mark says that once the mind tastes this fruit, it falls into the very sins it condemned. This is one of the great spiritual laws confirmed by centuries of ascetical experience. The one who delights in exposing others becomes inwardly exposed himself. The one obsessed with impurity becomes inwardly contaminated by the images he condemns. The one who cannot forgive slowly becomes incapable of receiving mercy. And yet the fathers do not say these things to crush us. They speak this way because they have seen Christ. This is what modern readers often miss. The fierce severity of the desert fathers is born from the overwhelming revelation of divine mercy. They have seen the humility of God in Christ. They have seen the Innocent One forgive His murderers, descend into our corruption, bear our nakedness, and unite Himself even to those who abandoned Him. Therefore every movement of contempt within themselves becomes unbearable to them. Their tears are not moralism. They are astonishment before mercy. The fathers know that no man truly sees his own sins and continues comfortably condemning others. When Isaiah saw the glory of God, he did not cry: “Those people are unclean.” He cried: “I am a man of unclean lips.” This is why humility and compassion always deepen together. The modern world confuses humility with low self-esteem or emotional softness. But the fathers understand humility as truthfulness before God. The humble man no longer needs enemies in order to preserve himself psychologically. He no longer builds identity through comparison. He no longer secures righteousness through accusation. He knows too much about the abyss within his own heart. And strangely, this knowledge makes him gentler. Not permissive. Not morally indifferent. But merciful. The fathers never deny evil. They simply refuse to stand outside the human condition while speaking about it. This is especially important today because modern Christians are tempted toward two opposite distortions. One side abandons discernment entirely in the name of compassion. The other weaponizes discernment in the service of hidden hatred. The fathers accept neither path. They see clearly. Fiercely clearly. Yet they weep over what they see. The true ascetic is not shocked by human weakness because he has descended into his own heart and found there every seed of corruption. He knows that apart from grace he is capable of every sin. Therefore he approaches others not from superiority but from shared poverty. This is why the fathers continually command: “Busy yourself with your own faults.” Not because the sins of others are unreal. But because self-knowledge is salvific while judgment is intoxicating. And this teaching becomes even more radical in the light of Christ's revelation that the true battlefield lies within the hidden man of the heart. The spiritual law judges not only external acts but secret thoughts, inward movements, concealed fantasies, silent condemnations, and hidden resentments. A man may appear peaceful outwardly while inwardly conducting trials against the entire world. Modern life makes this almost constant. We judge politically. Ecclesially. Morally. Psychologically. Liturgically. Socially. Intellectually. And often we do so while imagining ourselves defenders of truth. But the fathers ask a far more frightening question: “What has happened to your heart while you were defending truth?” Abba Mark says there is only one true goal: to rejoice when wronged because we are thereby given opportunity to forgive. This sounds almost impossible to modern ears because our entire culture is organized around self-protection, self-assertion, self-expression, and vindication. Yet the fathers understand that every injury endured without hatred enlarges the heart's capacity for God. This does not mean enabling abuse or denying justice. The fathers are not preaching psychological passivity. Rather, they are revealing that the deepest freedom is freedom from hatred. And this freedom is impossible without grace. That is why Abba Mark says that Christ Himself fights within us after Baptism. The battle is interior. The warfare is largely invisible. Pride, vainglory, pleasure, resentment, self-justification, condemnation, fantasy, and rage move continually through the thoughts. No merely human technique can heal this fragmentation. Only Christ hidden within the heart can do battle there. The fathers therefore call us not to moral performance but to radical cooperation with grace: through prayer, through repentance, through patience, through forgiveness, through refusal of judgment, through bearing humiliation, through hidden struggle, through learning slowly to love. And perhaps nowhere is this teaching more needed than now, in an age where almost every system around us profits from outrage, comparison, suspicion, and exposure. The fathers remind us that the soul does not become luminous through winning arguments or exposing others. It becomes luminous through mercy. For in the end, purity of heart is nothing other than learning to see others as Christ sees them: not sentimentally, not blindly, but through the terrible and beautiful light of compassion. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:31 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 13 Hypothesis II number 3 00:03:46 Bob Čihák, AZ: Vol. 3, p. 13, #3 00:08:55 Lorraine: Here is a link to the book you mentioned last week, Father 00:09:04 Lorraine: https://archive.org/details/orthodoxpsychoth0000vlac 00:13:29 Bob Čihák, AZ: Vol. 3, p. 13, #3 00:24:30 Julie: He said to them: Acts 10:28 “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.'" 00:31:50 Joan Chakonas: Interesting in Sundays homily the pastor said that God speaks to us through people around us.  He told us to do as asked by our spouses etc.  My husband is outside the faith and it had really never occurred to  me that God might be speaking to me through my faithless spouse- believe it or not I am that thick.  Anyway tying this back to todays hypotheses- our judgment is blocking our reception of God- when we are not even considering this possibility.  Sorry if I sound dense.  These readings are amazing to me. 00:34:36 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Interesting in Sunda..." with

Why do narcissistic relationships feel chemically addictive? The truth is more disturbing than most people realize. Narcissists do not addict you to them. They addict you to yourself. Then they quietly take control of the production and withholding of your own feel-good hormones. In this video, we explore the hidden mechanism narcissists use to create emotional and spiritual addiction. During the idealization phase, they mirror you, amplify you, and reflect back your most desired self-image. The confidence, excitement, chemistry, and euphoria you feel are not coming from them. They are triggering dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline, and validation circuits that were already inside you. You experience an enhanced version of yourself and mistake that biochemical high for love. Once your nervous system associates them with access to that heightened state, the control begins. Through intermittent reinforcement, emotional withdrawal, devaluation, and unpredictability, they begin regulating the supply. The same person who activated your confidence and joy now withholds attention, approval, affection, or connection. Your brain responds the way it would to any addictive cycle: craving, anxiety, obsession, and a desperate attempt to get the “high” back. Psychologically, this creates trauma bonding through reward conditioning and hormone dysregulation. Spiritually, it feels like a spell because your perception becomes distorted. You believe they are the source of your happiness, when in reality they only learned how to trigger and control your internal chemistry.The power shift happens when you realize the truth. They were never the source. They were manipulating access. Once you see how the cycle works, the illusion weakens. When you reclaim control of your own emotional regulation and self-generated validation, their leverage disappears.https://youtu.be/OVH7YvqWLvE#narcissist #narcissisticabuse #addictionawareness • Website & Coaching Enquiries: https:// www.weaponizedlove.com/Coaching & Speaking Engagements:narcscon@gmail.com* Read the Book: Weaponised Love -https://Im.fm/ r3aEwvK• Shop Designs & Technology: https:// www.tracyspence.co.uk• Support the Channel: Donate via PayPal - https:// www.paypal.com/paypalme/narcscon?country.x=.Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment.NARCCON1Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

TIP 2785 2421 2052 1688 1324 964  231 599 – Are You Clear On What It Takes To Build A Psychologically Healthy and Safe Workplace? Listen to today's podcast... Canada became the first country in the world to have a national standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace. This Standard contains a voluntary set of guidelines, tools, and resources aimed at promoting employees' psychological health and preventing psychological harm due to workplace factors. Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!      Here are today's Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Mental Health Week: Get Clear On What's Required For Building A Psychologically Healthy Workplace Foster overall psychological health and a respectful workplace based on trust, honesty, fairness and recognition. As employees, ask questions, report issues, and propose new ideas for building a positive culture. Be sure to train leaders and employees at all levels on awareness and prevention strategies. Look beyond the workplace to what resources are available to help meet personal, as well as workplace challenges. If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app. Looking for more ways to build your resiliency, take my free on-line vulnerability test at worksmartlivesmart.com under the resources and courses tab. #mentalhealth #hr

CSI Litigation Consultant Sarah Burton, Ph.D. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about training witnesses to prepare them for testimony. Sarah shares how she approaches getting to know witnesses before the training formally begins to help put them at ease and to evaluate their mental and emotional state. Bill and Sarah discuss how challenging it is for witness's brains to be concise when they are so used to explaining and giving details in day-to-day life, and how they help witnesses understand the importance of brevity. They also describe how they go about giving feedback to a witness during the training, how they handle Reptile/Edge Theory questions, and the differences between training a fact witness vs. a corporate representative. Bill and Sarah talk about how they train witnesses to accept bad facts and why witnesses have to avoid pivoting. Lastly, they explain the importance of simulating the actual deposition experience to ensure that the witness is fully prepared for manipulative tactics or other psychological tricks that the questioner may use.

Psychological factors can be prominent for people with tendinopathy–so how do you pick up on them? How might psychological factors guide your plan of care? Today, physiotherapist Jack Mest (University of Canberra), is your guide to understanding how best to screen for important psychological factors, and how to address them in the clinic. Jack Mest is a PhD candidate, studying psychological factors associated with persistent tendinopathy and psychologically informed approaches in Achilles tendinopathy rehabilitation. ------------------------------ RESOURCES Psychological factors in people with and without persistent tendinopathy: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2025.13307 Scoping review of psychological factors in tendinopathy: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2022.11005 JOSPT Insights ep 255: what if clinicians trusted people in pain? With Joletta Belton & Ben Darlow: https://pod.link/1522929437/episode/ZjcwNTljYzMtMjI5Ny00NWI2LWJjNzMtYzlkZTA3ZjVhODcz

Chime In, Send Us a Text or Voice Message!Guest: Mike Studer,PT, DPT, FAPTA Board Certified Neurologic Clinical Specialist with Co-Hosts Michael Garrow and David DansereauOn episode 92, Mike Studer returns to the show and shares new insights on neuroplasticity, the importance of physical activity "as king" in recovery, and the role of dopamine in motivation. He shares insights from his two books,  (The Brain That Chooses Itself and My Face Book:Beyond What the Mirror Show Us in Crisis), his personal journey with Bell's palsy and the lessons learned from it, as well as the challenges and future of stroke rehabilitation. The discussion also looks into the future of reimbursement for neurologic physical therapy and emphasizes the need for personalized care, and the significance of measuring outcomes in physical therapy. If you missed Mike on episode 42 on Neuroplasticity, listen here.Takeaways:Neuroplasticity is crucial for recovery from stroke.Exercise should not be seen as the only form of movement.Dopamine plays a significant role in motivation and habit formation.Self-imposed stigmas can hinder recovery and well-being.Measuring outcomes is necessary for effective treatment and reimbursement.Psychologically informed practice is gaining traction in therapy.Sharing experiences can lead to healthier coping mechanisms.The future of stroke rehabilitation is optimistic with new approaches.Engagement and autonomy in therapy enhance recovery outcomes.More About Mike: Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the APTA ,APTA Geriatric Section Clinician of the Year 2014, APTA Neurology Section Clinician of the Year 2011, TEDxSalem 2020 speaker: Neuroplasticity Instagram: @mikestuderdptMentions: Support Our Show! Thank you for helping us to continue to make great content. We appreciate your generosity! Believe in BalanceDavid's Fall Screening and Conditioning Program DRYYP SaunaFind out more about Mike's new business venture, DRYYP Sauna.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showShow credits:Music intro credit to Jake Dansereau. Our intro welcome is the voice of Caroline Goggin, a stroke survivor and our first podcast guest! Please listen to her inspiring story on Episode 2 of the podcast.Connect with Us and Share our Show on Social:Website | Linkedin | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | SubstackKnow Stroke Podcast Disclaimer: Our podcast and media advertising services are for informational purposes only and do not constitute the practice of medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Get Our Podcast News Updates on Substack 

Hello Beautiful Souls! I love you so much! Welcome back to the Angels and Awakening Podcast, Pray and Be Wealthy series. I'm your host and author, Julie Jancius, and today's episode is one to help you to slow down, release the pressure of the world's timeline, and grow at your own pace... because you cannot be late for your own life. IN-PERSON TRAINING: Join Julie in person on April 10, 11, and 12 in Oak Brook, Illinois. Immerse yourself in our 3-in-1 certification program (Angel Messenger, Medium, and Energy Healer). Email julie@theangelmedium.com. Episode Summary In today's deep-dive conversation, we are speaking directly to the women in our community who feel like they've hit a wall. Whether you are navigating the demands of motherhood or the profound hormonal and neurological re-wiring of perimenopause and menopause, this episode is your permission slip to slow down. We explore the "Sacred Transition" from the "doing" phase of life into the "being" phase. Psychologically, your brain is "pruning" the noise so you can focus on your wisdom. Divinely, Source is inviting you to ripen rather than rush. We are breaking down the "bounce back" culture and stepping into the power of the Matriarch. You cannot be late for your own life. Angel Story of the Week Julie shares a deeply moving angel story from her trip to Orlando, Florida. While browsing one of her favorite stores, Sugar Boo & Co. at Disney Springs, she was guided to pick up a necklace — not for herself, but as a keeper until she knew who it was truly meant for. The necklace read "El Amore de Tutto" — an Italian phrase meaning love lasts through everything. Love endures all. Within hours, Julie received an angelic nudge that the necklace was meant for a woman named Chrissy, whose father had recently passed. The message from Chrissy's dad? Love does not die. Love is energy. It changes form, but it moves through dimensions — permanent, resilient, and unbreakable. Key Takeaways Love is a permanent energy and force. It doesn't disappear when someone crosses over — it simply changes form and continues to move between hearts across dimensions. Your angels speak through everyday signs. A store, a necklace, a feeling — your Spirit Team is always finding creative ways to reach you with exactly the message you need. Trust your intuition over logic. Julie shares how she has always "felt her way forward" in life — and how that inner compass has never steered her wrong. You are allowed to find your voice again. After months of navigating her own dark night of the soul, Julie steps into April with a fresh, clean slate — open, honest, and fully herself. Speaking your truth is healing. For empaths and highly sensitive people, verbalizing what's on your heart doesn't just help others — it clears your own energy and moves you forward. Angel Message for You Today "El Amore de Tutto — Love lasts through everything." Your loved ones on the Other Side, your angels, and your guides want you to know: love is at your back right now, with angel wings pushing you through to the other side of wherever you are. They are walking with you. They are guiding you. They just want to be with you. Whatever you are going through today — this message is for you. Connect with Julie

In this episode of Narcissist Apocalypse, Pierre shares his story of being trapped in a relationship with a psychologically manipulative abuser. What began as care, support, and seeming perfection slowly turned into confusion, criticism, control, and emotional exhaustion. Over time, Pierre lost confidence in himself, questioned his reality, and began to believe he was the problem. This is a story of intermittent reinforcement, put-downs, triangulation, identity erosion, and the long road back to self-trust. It's a story of psychological abuse, emotional abuse, coercive control, intermittent reinforcement, triangulation, gaslighting, manipulation, put-downs, criticism, identity erosion, self-doubt, confusion, blame shifting, future faking, isolation, control, trauma bonds, accountability avoidance, false accusations, control disguised as love, self-blame, and reclaiming identity. Click if you want to be a guest on our survivor story podcast, please send us an email at narcissistapocalypse@pm.me Click on the title to read about Coercive Control as Care: Signs & Patterns Sign up to our Domestic Violence Newsletter  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Toxic Relationships: Recognizing Narcissism in a Spouse, Parent, or Child with Kris Reece (Episode 288)   *Disclaimer* This episode contains mature content and user discretion is suggested.    Proverbs 27:6 AMP “Faithful are the wounds of a friend [who corrects out of love and concern], But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful [because they serve his hidden agenda].”   *Transcription Below*   Kris Reece is a Christian Author, Toxic Relationship Coach, and Manipulation Tactics Specialist. Kris equips believers to escape the grip of toxic relationships—especially those shaped by guilt, confusion, or spiritual distortion. Her work empowers Christians to set biblical boundaries and walk in emotional and spiritual freedom. Connect with her on Instagram or through her website.    Thank you to our sponsor for today's episode: Midwest Food Bank   Topics and Questions We Cover: In your opinion, can you be a Christian and a narcissist? Will you share a few of the toxic tactics narcissists use for power and control in relationships?  Will you define codependency for us and also reactive abuse and trauma bond?   Other Related Episodes on The Savvy Sauce Podcast: 146 Biblical Response to Emotionally Destructive Relationships with Leslie Vernick 148 Overcoming Evil with Good: Recognizing Spiritual Abuse with Dr. Diane Langberg 263. Domestic Violence and Abuse: Identifying and Healing from Abusive Relationships with Stacey Womack   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:10)   Laura Dugger: (0:11 - 1:29) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   Leman Property Management Company has the apartment you will be able to call home, with over 1,700 apartment units available in Central Illinois. Visit them today at lemanproperties.com or connect with them on Facebook.   My captivating guest for this week is Kris Reece. She has an abundance of resources available online, and she's actually recently had this book published, Breaking the Narcissist's Grip. I cannot recommend this episode enough to you to find out about toxic relationships, whether that's with your parents or your adult children or your spouse. She's going to do a deep dive into narcissism. Help us understand it, help us identify those people in our lives, and most importantly, offer some hope, which is only possible through Jesus Christ. Here's our chat.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Kris.   Kris Reece: (1:31 - 1:34) Thank you so much for having me. I am so blessed to be here.   Laura Dugger: (1:34 - 1:48) Well, I am so grateful to have you, and you are in a unique line of work that is so needed. How did you get into this work of offering Christian advice for toxic relationships?   Kris Reece: (1:50 - 4:16) Well, I'll give you the short version of that story. So, I had been in the fitness industry for a good 20 plus years, and I went back to school for counseling and theology because I really wanted to be able to help people emotionally and mentally as opposed to just physically, right?   So, as I started to counsel people, there were women that were coming to me from all walks of life and all ages. I'm talking 16 years old all the way up to 86 years old. And no matter what their issue was, no matter what they were struggling with, they were coming to me for purpose or just growing in their faith. It all came down to one thing. And Laura, I think this might surprise you just as much as it surprised me. Toxic mothers. I was floored. And this wasn't the kind of thing where now we're just blaming mom for everything. No, this started to get revealed on all of the dysfunctions that were taking place within their relationship with their mother and how it had impacted them in so many areas of their lives. So, I said, “Lord, I need to dive deeper into this.” Now, I had already come out of, unfortunately, several toxic narcissistic relationships, not with my mother. So, that was very foreign to me. So, I started to dive deeper into how those same traits applied. And it was sad and it was very scary. So, I started teaching more on that.   And then they started coming out of the woodwork. But what about my husband? What about my daughter? What about my boss? What about my... And it was just like a flood. And it reached a point where, Laura, I got to confess to you. I took this to the Lord and I said, please don't send me. I don't want to do this. This is toxic. It's like you're just dealing with this toxicity all day long. And once I began to rest in, not just talking about the toxic relationships, but understanding where His heart was in it and the healing that He wants, not only for the toxic people, but those weren't the ones that were coming to me, the ones that were affected and infected by it, is when my heart started to shift. I said, “okay, God, all right, send me.” And here we are. Many, many years later.   Laura Dugger: (4:16 - 4:41) Well, you've done some incredible work. And I am shocked by that answer. Can you clarify too with the toxic mothers? That's not speaking to the mom who's trying her best asking the Lord for help and yet making mistakes. Would you consider them as mothers who are narcissists or does toxic embrace a wider?   Kris Reece: (4:41 - 6:01) Toxic can embrace a much wider spectrum. It could be borderline personality disorder, even a lot of codependent traits. If they're not harnessed properly or surrendered to the Lord, it can be very toxic to our relationship. You know, you're dealing with the guilt and the manipulation. No, we are not in any way talking about a mother who's made some mistakes, hands up, who's surrendering all this to the Lord and really just trying to find her way, you know, regardless of whether it's a newborn, an infant, a teenager or an adult child.   That's not what I'm referring to as a toxic mother. And some of them do struggle because it's so common for, I guess, young adults at this point to just be like, my mom's toxic because your mother had an opinion, because your mother is trying to get a little bit more time with you. Now, all of a sudden she's toxic. So, the label is unfortunate, but no, we're not referring to that type of mother. We're talking about the ones that have been approached lovingly and gently and are still standing firm in their manipulation, their guilt, their no, this is my way or the highway, their distorted view of scripture. I don't care if you're two or 42, you're called to obey me. That's the kind of toxic mother we're talking about.   Laura Dugger: (6:01 - 6:13) That is helpful. And then just to zero in on that term, narcissist, can you just help us understand what characteristics define a narcissist?   Kris Reece: (6:14 - 8:00) Yeah, absolutely. So, at its core, narcissism is less about confidence and it's more about this distorted sense of self. And that distorted sense is what damages relationships. Psychologically, narcissism can actually be marked by three pillars.   Number one is an exaggerated sense of self-importance. They quite honestly believe that the world revolves around them. Two is a deep need for admiration. They crave validation and praise, and we call that supply. So, if you're giving it to them, you're on their good side. You're not, you're on the bad side. And then lastly is their lack of empathy. This is a true hallmark of narcissism. But I know you didn't ask this, but we kind of go down a little bit of a rabbit trail.   Now that narcissists are starting to catch on to what these traits look like, they're doing what we call performative empathy. So, they're looking and they're saying all the right words. One of my, I love to say is they got the words, they ain't got the music. So, you really have to understand what true empathy looks like, but they lack empathy. So, and then what happens is from those traits are going to flow three roots, entitlement, arrogance, and manipulation. They twist everything and it's all about them. And one of the things that we need to understand is that a one-time selfish act doesn't make someone a narcissist. I've said some things that, oh boy, that I need to repent of. It doesn't make somebody a narcissist, but a lifestyle of self-protective empathy, lacking behavior at the expense of others. Yeah. Raise the red flag.   Laura Dugger: (8:01 - 8:22) That's helpful. That even shows us the difference between a little self-absorbed or mistakes made and a narcissist. But then I'm also curious as we're raising children, do these traits show up early in life or when are they usually identifiable?   Kris Reece: (8:23 - 10:25) That's a great question. One that I don't think you're ever going to be able to get a solid answer from anyone on, because narcissistic traits, while they don't just appear out of nowhere, we can say that they're formed in childhood. And we can say that probably almost every child is a bit narcissistic. I mean, we don't get like the terrible mind, mind twos from nowhere. I mean, as children, as human beings, I mean, even scripture tells us we are innately selfish. Our heart is deceptively wicked. So, the point of childhood is for the parents to now pull that out of the child, to grow that out. Right. And a lot of times that doesn't take place. So, what we have to understand is that the roots usually form in childhood, but the fruit shows up later in life.   So, in childhood, you may notice things like entitlement, this extreme sensitivity to criticism, but kids, like we said, are naturally self-focused. So, that's actually going to be part of their normal development. So, kids are self-centered by nature, but narcissism becomes very concerning when someone never grows out of it. So, when we start to see by the teen years, you see that pattern take place and how they handle correction, how they handle empathy and accountability. And if empathy isn't growing, but entitlement is, oh, we've got a pretty big sign. So, now by adulthood, those narcissistic traits, they just become unmistakable.   You see the manipulation, the blame shifting, the lack of accountability, the control, especially when life requires any type of humility. So, immaturity says, I messed up. Narcissism says, you made me do it.   Laura Dugger: (10:25 - 11:04) Oh, that's helpful. And I guess just to put parents at ease, if they are parenting, let's say tweens and teens, I'd love to hear your take on this, but something we learned in grad school was that they said, “don't freak out when your child, even when your teen does this, because a lot of times teenagers could be fitting all of the description in the DSM for multiple things.” And that is part of adolescence and going through puberty and everything. But what I hear you saying is then if that pattern continues into adulthood, especially as you're developing certain things, but lacking empathy, that's one big concern. Is that correct?   Kris Reece: (11:04 - 12:07) That is correct. That is why they don't diagnose teenagers with narcissism, because quite honestly, I would say about 98% of them would be diagnosed. So, no, that's why we don't, because a lot of teenagers are that way. So, yes, don't panic if your teenagers are acting that way. But the other thing that I would also say is don't chalk it up to a phase. It's a great opportunity to speak the truth in love. You may not think they're hearing it. You may not think they're receiving it, but we are responsible as parents for obedience, not outcome. Of course, we want the best outcome for our children possible, but we can't just chalk up those traits as, ah, they're just being teenagers. Ah, it's just a phase. No, as your parent, I need to teach you and train you out of that phase, not force you out of the phase, but I need to train you out of that phase. And then the rest is going to be up to them.   Laura Dugger: (12:07 - 12:22) That's good. Knowing who's part to own. And would you say part of that then is disciplining them and discipling them, training them in the ways that we would think of or anything that you would add for how to help train our children out of these characteristics?   Kris Reece: (12:23 - 13:39) Absolutely. So, we do want to train them in the way they're supposed to go. So, when there is entitlement, we don't chalk it up to a phase. We don't continue to give what they're expecting. So, there needs to be consequences for behavior. And I'm not talking harsh punishment, but there's two sides. So, if there is really bad behavior that needs to stop, then there needs to be a consequence for that. On the flip side, if it's behavior that could kind of be borderline, and I don't mean borderline personality, I just mean borderline in terms of is this bad or is this a phase, then it's a talking too.   Hey, why did you decide to handle your classmate in this way? What do you think could have been a better way? What was the point of your outcome? What were you hoping the outcome would be, I should say? And then starting to really guide them through that, because they're still in their very formative years in terms of processing, in terms of how to cope with things. So, if they're now going to start defaulting to patterns that maybe that was taught or caught, we really want to take that opportunity to train them out of that. And we can do that with gentleness and love. And then, of course, use consequences when necessary.   Laura Dugger: (13:40 - 13:52) That is so well summed up, Kris. I appreciate that. And then what are some types of narcissism that make it especially difficult to recognize at first?   Kris Reece: (13:53 - 16:40) Oh, my favorite one. And I say that with seeping sarcasm. Is the covert narcissist. We would call that one the quiet one. And now if you want to add another layer of complexity, the Christian covert narcissist. This one is going to be the hardest type to detect because they don't look confident. They look wounded. They use self-pity. They use guilt. They use this emotional fragility. But they're using it to control others. And what we have to recognize is covert narcissists, they don't dominate the room. They dominate your emotions. They play the victim. So, you now feel responsible for their feelings, their life, their outcome. That's a scary one.   The other one is what we call the communal or we could refer to them as more of the spiritual narcissist. This is what we would refer to as the helper or the holy one. So, they appear really generous. Big servant's heart, maybe in a serving profession. They're spiritually devoted, but it's all about image. And they're going to use the good deeds. They're going to use the faith, the ministry, or their morality as proof of their superiority. And they may quote the Bible, but they will use shame, silence, and scripture to control others.   And the other one is, this is a little bit more of the obvious one, but we often disguise this in our society. And that's the overt. This is your classic narcissist. This is the one that people recognize. They're loud, they're attention seeking, they're boastful, they're arrogant, and they are just outwardly entitled. But we often, depending on the position that they're in, in business or politics, we're like, oh, they're confident. Oh, they're good leaders. They could be classic overt narcissists. And a lot of times these narcissists really go unrecognized because they always, always start with the charm or the kindness. My favorite is the connection. They establish this connection with you. They're gonna mirror your values, your interests, and yes, even your faith. And a lot of times they appear very wounded or generous, and the whole intention is to now just disarm you. Bottom line is a lot of narcissists, they're gonna wear different masks, but at the core, they're all the same.   Laura Dugger: (16:41 - 18:35) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   With over 1,700 apartment units available throughout Pekin, Peoria, Peoria Heights, Morton, and Washington, and with every price range covered, you will have plenty of options when you rent through Leman Property Management Company. They have townhomes, duplexes, studios, and garden style options located in many areas throughout Pekin. And make sure you check out their newest offering; the McKinley located in Pekin is a new construction addition to their platinum collection. Featuring nine-foot ceilings, large spacious layouts, beautiful finishes such as quartz countertops and garages, you won't want to miss this outstanding new property.   In Peoria, a historic downtown location and apartments adjacent to OSF Medical Center provide excellent choices. Check out their brand-new luxury property in Peoria Heights, overlooking the boutique shops and fine dining on Prospect. And in Morton, they offer a variety of apartment homes with garages, a hot downtown location, and now a brand-new high-end complex near Idlewood Park. If you want to become part of their team, contact them about open office positions. They're also hiring in their maintenance department. So, we invite you to find out why so many people have chosen to make a career with them. Check them out on Facebook today or email their friendly staff at leasing@lemanprops.com. You can also stop by their website at lemanproperties.com. Check them out and find your place to call home today.   Do narcissists recognize or ever admit to being narcissists? Can they ever see that in themselves?   Kris Reece: (18:36 - 20:20) That's a great question. And that's actually two-sided. So, the one where I would say no, they don't see that in themselves. They see themselves truly as entitled, as somebody who's been given the short straw, somebody who is owed something, the victim. They honestly don't see themselves as narcissistic.   Then there's another side where they sort of see it and they actually will use that now to their advantage. See, this makes me somebody who is self-reflective. This is somebody who is, I'm willing to recognize where I've gone wrong. But the problem is, there's no depth there. You'll get generalities like, oh, I know I'm not perfect, but, and then you'll get a litany of justifications or you'll, I know I'm not perfect, but all of your sins are now laid out in detail. So, they will, if they do recognize it, they will use it to their advantage.   Now there is that final subset that does start to recognize and they see, I don't want to be this way. Wow, I've caused a lot of destruction to relationships. I do want to change. And that road is really long, really long. But I'm not, I'm not of the camp that believes that narcissists don't change. They can, if they want to. It takes a lot to recognize it. And I've seen some do.   Laura Dugger: (20:22 - 21:11) I appreciate that hope. You don't always hear that very often with this type of personality. But I think one more piece that has always been so confusing to me when loved ones have shared that they're in a relationship with someone who is a narcissist, whether that's their spouse or their parent is where I've been in friendship with people before. But they, all of their stories, no matter where they live in the world, the narcissist seems to struggle with the same things. They seem to act the same way. They're master manipulators. And I just don't understand how they all have the same playbook. And like you say, they lie even when they don't have to. So, as you've thought about this, are there any reasons why it's so similar across the board?   Kris Reece: (21:14 - 23:27) Yes, because by nature, they are, they're lazy. They don't want to put in an effort. And they're also, what word would I use to describe this? It's almost like they're aliens to empathy. So, if you could imagine an alien coming from, I don't believe in aliens, so please don't hear what I'm not saying, but let's just imagine for a moment, you know, they come on this earth and they're like, oh, I got to adapt myself to these people. I got to fit in. What do I do? So, they're going to start listening. They're going to start mimicking behaviors and they're going to start testing to see what works and what doesn't work. So, for them, now we go back to that whole childhood thing. If they've learned that the only way to get what I want is to lie, the only way to get people to see me as XYZ is to manipulate, that's what they're going to do. And they're going to do it by default.   And that's what people don't understand is that default mechanisms are so powerful that even a master manipulator could turn around and say, “you know, I really, I recognize, yeah, I do manipulate a little bit.” And then when push comes to shove, if they have not done the hard work to begin to dig and really understand where it came from, why it's there and start to develop the patterns to override it, they're going to default to the same way every single time.   And that's why they lie so easily. It's just a default. Now, I'm not saying that as an excuse, but it's a default. And what they also don't realize is that this is not just psychological. This is spiritual. Narcissism is fueled by pride, deception, and control. Is that describing anybody we know? That's the enemy to the core. So, it's not that they're all just studying the same playbook. It is that they're all influenced by the same spirit. And that's what we're struggling with.   Laura Dugger: (23:29 - 24:00) Wow. And that really, there was an aha moment, and I wrote this down, kind of what you're saying. But on page 133, you said, “it's like they're demonically inspired or at the very least, influenced.” And I think that makes so much sense. Even the insidious ways that they are cunning or crafty, that they're influenced by our enemy. That makes a lot more sense. Anything else that you would want to add to that?   Kris Reece: (24:02 - 25:36) Yes. When we look at, I hate to, I don't like to label people. But when we look at how the enemy operates, let's look at how Satan operates. Kill, steal, destroy. Control, pride, deception, manipulation. If he is now influencing these people and they are not putting up any of the barriers, they're continuing to give him a foothold. They are now walking in his purpose. So, if Satan is looking to do this to you, why wouldn't his ambassadors? They are highly influenced by his behaviors, and they don't even realize it. So, yes, we can have compassion. We can take this to prayer because any stronghold can be broken. But that's got to be done by the power of Christ.   So, we pray for their eyes to be open. We pray for them to see the wickedness of their ways and give them a desire to turn from it. But you're not going to change that. It's not going to happen, especially when it is so deeply spiritually rooted. Because a lot of times we get caught in the, well, I'm a good person. Well, I would never behave that way. If I knew I was doing that, I'd want to change. So, we think that our explanation alone is really just going to be the aha moment for the narcissist, right? So, we explain, we re-explain, we over-explain. And then what we don't realize is that now we just got caught in that trap as well. We're now playing that game on their turf and we're not going to win. We have got to hand over this spiritual battle to the Lord.   Laura Dugger: (25:37 - 25:54) Okay, so then that makes me wonder, you said that there is hope. So, how is this treatable? You've kind of let us in on a little bit of it, but also can you just share if you have ever seen someone repent or change their ways?   Kris Reece: (25:56 - 28:30) Yes, more than one. I've seen it on more than one occasion. It is a journey. It does not come from you just over loving them and just giving them passes and excuses and being more like Christ. It's usually from what I refer to as a two-by-four moment.   When God just clunks them over the head, everything is lost, everything is gone, and everything that they held so dearly, meaning everything that was holding them up. So, if you can think about narcissists, they can't function on their own. They don't have their own self-identity. They don't have their own self-discipline. They don't have any other self-regulation. They have no sense of self. So, everything is external. So, when God is looking to change somebody, guess what's going to happen? He's going to start kicking out those crutches one by one, and then they're going to get the two-by-four moment, which is that knock over the head, like that road to Damascus experience that Paul went through. It's like, hello, are we going to wake up here?   And that is when they start to have their awakening, and that is when they begin to pursue, hey, I think change might be possible. This is what happens to me. And then in that environment, if they're able to get met with then the love and the compassion, again, not the enabling, then you'll start to see that change begin to unfold. Narcissism is treatable, but not in the way people often imagine. It's not this surface-level behavioral issue. It's not getting somebody to say, I'm sorry, or getting somebody to validate you. It is a deep identity and a heart issue that is rooted in pride. And I don't know about you, there is not enough experience on the planet. I could never take somebody through that. That has got to be a God moment.   And that's where I want to just caution people sometimes, especially if we struggle with codependency, thinking that we are now responsible for these people, that maybe God planted me in their lives for such a time as this. Stop, stop, stop. Guard your heart. Allow God to heal you of what's driving you now to want to fix this person. And truly, truly, if you really love this person, pray for them, go into warfare for them, but hand them over to the Lord.   Laura Dugger: (28:32 - 28:48) Okay, so then another spiritual question, Kris, in your opinion, can someone be a Christian, a true born-again believer, and a narcissist? Ah, I love and I hate this question.   Kris Reece: (28:52 - 32:44) Hilary, you're going to love and hate my answer. Yes and no. So, in one sense, yes. In the sense that somebody can actually profess faith and faith in Christ but still live in a way that looks absolutely nothing like him. And we see this all throughout scripture. But claiming Christ and following Christ are not the same thing. And that's where I believe that there are times where it's no. You know, just because you had an altar moment where some way, somehow your belly was full, you were well rested, the music was just right, and you came to this place of, okay, I'm going to give my life to Christ at the altar, but you continued in your iniquity for the next 30 years. I really have to seriously question your salvation. But it's not my job to question someone's salvation. But I can question your walk. If I'm not seeing the fruit of that walk, I don't know that I can call you a brother or a sister. If you continue to walk in that route of pride and self-exaltation and manipulation, it's not of God. So, there's a difference between a Christian who's struggling and a Christian who's just refusing to admit any of the error of their ways. One of the questions that we really have to ask is, can a narcissist be saved? And the answer to that is absolutely. Jesus came for the broken, the blind, the hard-hearted, every single last one of them. But that transformation is going to require repentance.   So, yes, I think our hope always needs to be in, Lord, you can save them. If you saved a wretch like me, you could save them. So, now what happens is our prayer needs to now shift. Lord, give them a heart of repentance, a willingness to see themselves truthfully and surrender to your work. That's where our prayer now needs to shift. Not, Lord, get them to stop doing this, get them to stop doing that, get them out of here, move them on. Because if it is God's heart that none should perish, it should be our heart that none should perish. But all should come to repentance. So, that's where our prayer needs to be. So, yes, while there is hope, we're not mini-Jesuses. It's not going to happen. It's not our responsibility. Sometimes our responsibility is actually to step out of the way and allow them to suffer their own consequences, because that is what starts to bring a narcissist to themselves. Not always, but oftentimes. You know what it's reminding me of is the scripture in 1st or 2nd Corinthians, I can't remember, is when Paul commanded the young man who was sleeping with his stepmother to be cast out of the church, get rid of him, to send him out. And here's what he said, “Give him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.” So, it wasn't like, get rid of him. He's a piece of dirt. We don't want anything to do with him anymore. It's like, okay, if that's the lifestyle he wants to live, then let him live it. And let Satan have his way. So, his flesh is now destroyed. Not him as a person, but his flesh is destroyed. And that's really what narcissists are. They're very fleshly people. I want what I want when I want it, and I'm going to do whatever I can to get it. So, we really want to change our prayer to the Lord, lead them to repentance.   Laura Dugger: (32:49 - 34:01) Updated website, thesavvysauce.com, so that you can have access to all the additional freebies we are offering, including all of our previous articles and all of our previous episodes, which now include transcriptions. You will be equipped to have your own practical chats for intentional living when you read all the recommended questions in the articles or gain insight from expert guests and past episodes as you read through the transcriptions. Because many people have shared with us that they want to take notes on previous episodes, or maybe their spouse prefers to read our conversations rather than listen to them or watch them now that we're offering video rather than just audio. So, we heard all of that, and we now have provided transcripts for all our episodes. Just visit thesavvysauce.com. All of this is conveniently located under the tab show notes on our website. Happy reading.   Will you also share a few of the toxic tactics that narcissists typically use for power and control in relationships?   Kris Reece: (34:02 - 36:33) Yes, actually one of their favorite ones is gaslighting. And I think it's just a word that is so overused and abused, but it is so accurate because it's not just lying, it is denying, it is distorting, and it is rewriting reality with the intention to make you doubt yourself, your memory, your feelings, or even your sanity. Tell me that's not wicked. I don't know what it is. It's manipulation at its finest. And the same with love bombing, which is another one of their tactics. At the start, or not even just at the start, maybe when they recognize that you've had enough, like that's it, I'm putting my foot down, I'm setting boundaries, sometimes they'll come in with that love bombing. And what they do is they start to overwhelm you with the affection and the attention and the promises and the chores and all those things that you've been just fighting for all those years. What they're looking to do is to recreate or recreate that emotional dependency, because it's not about love to them, it's about bait. So, in their mind, they're not going, oh no, I'm losing this relationship. Let me get my act together. It's, oh no, I'm losing control. Let me get him or her back into my clutches. So, those are two of the very common ones.   Another one is projection. You want to know what a narcissist is doing? Listen to what they're accusing you of. That will tell you clearly what they've got going on. Lying, selfishness, anger, cheating, hiding, whatever it is, they want to put you on the defensive instead of facing their truth. So, what it does is it puts the spotlight on you and keeps it off them. So, those are some of the most common tactics that they're going to use. And it's on a spectrum. They will do it to different degrees. They'll do it in different ways to different relationships. But they're always going to do what has worked in the past. So, again, once your eyes start to open, now it becomes more difficult. And now their tactics start to change just a little bit. Remember, they're the alien. They're here. They've now got to figure this out. They're like, oh, this isn't working anymore. So, they're going to try to figure out what does work. And that's where you need to be very careful. Know them by their fruit. Fruit takes time to develop.   Laura Dugger: (36:35 - 36:45) Okay. Even that term gaslighting, I think it can be hard to understand. Can you give an example of what that would look like in a relationship?   Kris Reece: (36:46 - 37:50) Yeah, absolutely. So, you can go to, let's say, your spouse and you tell them, you know, when you said this to me, it really hurt my feelings. An obvious form of gaslighting could be, I never said that. You're misunderstanding me. Now, a lot of times people become savvy enough to have proof. No, no, no. You did say that. See, it's right here. Well, that's not what I meant. And you should know that. If you were a good Christian, you would know that that's not what I meant. You know that I get a little confused. You know that I mix up my words.   And what they're doing is they're trying to distort your feelings instead of just owning. Wow. I didn't intend to make you feel that way, but I could see that it left an impact on you. They will skirt around all of that. They will make you question yourself. They will even deny, they will flat out deny that they said or did anything.   Laura Dugger: (37:52 - 38:26) And I see where this gets so confusing for the person in relationship with them, because there's extra layers that you talk about and even extra tactics, like pathological lying that are added in there too. Yep. But they will flat out deny it. Yeah. Well, there's also a few more terms that I'd love for you to explain, just because they may come up throughout our conversation this week and next week. So, will you define codependency for us and also reactive abuse and trauma bond?   Kris Reece: (38:27 - 43:41) Oh, absolutely. These are all very powerful and they are issues that can leave. I hate to use the word victim because we may be victimized, but if you're in Christ, you are not a victim. You have a hope and a future. God can meet you and do exceedingly abundantly above what you could ask, hope or think. But codependency, reactive abuse and trauma bonds are all very real and they often travel together. But they're different pieces of the same trap.   So, when we look at codependency, this is where your sense of worth or peace now depends on someone else's mood or approval. It's like saying, if you're okay, I'm okay. If you're not okay, I'm not okay. So, I need you to be okay. Okay. And you start to manage other people's emotions instead of your own. And that's when we start to confuse enabling with loving because at the core of it, we want to feel okay and they're not okay. So, we have to get them okay. And that's where that caring now turns into control.   So, now we get into reactive abuse. This is often very misunderstood because this happens a lot in churches. So, I want you to picture this. You have a married couple. Let's just say he is for the, just for the sake of our conversation. There are, there are a lot of female narcissists out there, but let's just say the male is the narcissist and he is gaslighting and he is abusive at home, but it's borderline. It's like, you know, he's a little insulting. He's a bit harsh. He's not loving. He's not nurturing. But boy, when he's at church, oh, he's everybody's pal. He's serving all the time. So, now when they go to counseling, they're sitting in front of the pastor, and she's got years and years and years of this abuse that has taken place. And she's now reacting to it. She's elevated. She's yelling, she's screaming, she's crying. And guess what happens? He's sitting there cool as a cucumber. I really don't understand. I mean, I know I've not been perfect and that's where the reactive abuse is taking place because she's now reacting to all of those years of manipulation and provocation and now questioning her own sanity because she knows what's going on. So, she's got that, what we refer to as cognitive dissonance going on.   She's like, well, wait a minute, he's done this, saying this, this isn't making sense. I know I'm not losing it, but I feel like I'm losing it. And that's what's taking place. So, she just explodes because she has no idea what's going on. Her sanity is in question right now. So, to that pastor, guess who looks like the problem? She does. So, if you would just react a little bit more gently when he brings something to you, you may not have this problem. And if she's a Christian, she's going to go back and recognize the error of her ways, which that is a problem. You know, we are responsible for how we react, but she's owning now all of it. So, now let's take a step back.   What is reactive abuse? It happens when you finally explode after those long periods of manipulation and provocation. The abuser then points to your reaction as the proof that you are the problem. And that keeps the guilt train going.   The trauma bond is what happens with trauma bonds is they form when your brain gets hooked on the cycles of fear and relief. And we also go back to that cognitive dissonance. We're like, oh, wait a minute. Okay, he's this way one minute and he's this way another minute. So, is he good? Is he bad? I don't, I don't, instead of the brain being able to say, he's both, you've got both of this going on and we need to deal with this. We're trying to put either a bad blanket on it or a good blanket on it. So, we get hooked in these cycles in the relationship. And what we're chasing is that constant good time. Maybe we had a great time at the gala and he was so wonderful. He was even kind to me after we got in the car, and those small moments of kindness start to release the dopamine, and they convince you to stay even though the big picture is you're being hurt long term.   It's like the frog in the boiling pot. They don't even realize it. But the good news, codependency, reactive abuse, and trauma bonds, once you recognize these patterns, you can begin to renew your mind, break the cycle and allow the Holy Spirit to retrain your heart towards peace instead of that counterfeit connection.   Laura Dugger: (43:43 - 44:06) Wow. That is so well summed up. And if somebody is recognizing that they're in that cycle or if they're identifying they're in a relationship with a narcissist, do you have a practical first step as we're starting to wind down our time together today? Anything that they could do before they tune in next week?   Kris Reece: (44:07 - 45:13) Absolutely. So, the first thing you're going to want to do is to release these feelings of shame and bringing this before God. Your time right now with the Lord can be precious and incredibly restorative. My hope would be that we take our focus off of them. Yes, I get it. We're starting to identify. We're recognizing. And all that can be very enlightening. But be careful not to fall into the enemy's trap of now overanalyzing, over fixing, over controlling.   Take this before the Lord and say, “God, what are you trying to do in me?” Because for whatever reason, He's allowed this relationship. For whatever reason, He's not allowing you out of it. There's a lot of work that He's going to want to begin to do in you. And this is not to say this is your responsibility, but I promise you at the end of this road, if you walk this with Him, there will be a life that is beyond your imagination. Whether it's in the relationship or not, I'm not sure, but it will be beyond your imagination.   Laura Dugger: (45:15 - 45:24) Thank you again for sharing the hope, Kris. And where can we go in between these weeks if we want to continue learning more from you?   Kris Reece: (45:25 - 45:43) Oh, that'd be great. I would love if you'd jump on over to my website. It's krisreece.com. That's Kris with a K, Reece with a C. And you're going to find a wealth of content and resources, some of them free resources. And it's also where you can find my new book. It's called Breaking the Narcissist's Grip. Or you can just jump on Amazon for that as well.   Laura Dugger: (45:44 - 46:01) Wonderful. We'll add links for all of that in the show notes for today's episode. And you're familiar that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge.   And so, as my final question for you today, Kris, what is your savvy sauce?   Kris Reece: (46:02 - 47:06) My savvy sauce is going to be very practical. I'm a really practical gal. And this may sound like a cliche, so I want you to kind of stick with me a little bit, but it has changed my life. And that is practicing the pause. In these difficult relationships, whether you were reactive before or not, you are now. And we want to begin to practice that pause because toxic people really want to dictate the emotional temperature of the conversation.   So, before you respond, before you react, before you decide anything, just one pause. And you got to ask yourself this one question. This is what I do. I say, is this led by peace or pressure? And that question has saved me from countless toxic conversations and impulsive decisions. So, before you respond, pause, because peace is always going to tell you the truth faster than pressure ever will.   Laura Dugger: (47:08 - 47:37) Well, so well said. I love that. And you are, I'm just so grateful that you were called to this work and that you did surrender to the Lord. Here I am. Send me with your book and the way that you're communicating today and all of these resources that you put together. I think a lot of people are going to find healing and hope. And that's my prayer as we conclude our time together. But I'm just very grateful for you, Kris. So, thank you for being my guest.   Kris Reece: (47:37 - 47:41) Thank you. Thank you. It's been such a blessing and an honor. I am so appreciative.   Laura Dugger: (47:43 - 51:25) One more thing before you go, have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you, but it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior, but God loved us so much. He made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life. We could never live and died in our place for our sin.   This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished. If we choose to receive what he has done for us, Romans 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”   So, you pray with me now. Heavenly father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you.   Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life? We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus name we pray.   Amen. If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me. So, me for him, you get the opportunity to live your life for him.   And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you're ready to get started.   First, tell someone, say it out loud, get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes and Noble and let me choose my own Bible. I selected the Quest NIV Bible and I love it.   You can start by reading the book of John. Also get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you.   We want to celebrate with you too. So, feel free to leave a comment for us here. If you did make a decision to follow Christ, we also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “in the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

Are You Psychologically Safe? | Curious Now 34 What are the nature of the moments where our feelings of safety in a role evaporate, and we suddenly find ourselves feeling very exposed?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-center-for-medical-simulation/id1279266822 There are moments when our perceptions of being able to do the task in front of us drain away, the floor drops out, and you have the thought, ‘I could really make a fool of myself here,' or “I could really hurt someone if I mess up.' Autonomic nervous system reactions take place, and we experience what organizational behaviorists call ‘threat rigidity.' We tend to be more controlling, less collaborative, and less exploratory. Workout of the Week: Detect the moments where you are feeling unsafe, and see what physiological, psychological, and other responses are happening for you. What is the quality of those feelings of unsafety? Leadership Coaching from Jenny Rudolph: https://harvardmedsim.org/personal-leadership-coaching-with-jenny-rudolph/ #healthcaresimulation #nursing #medicine #debriefing

Hello Beautiful Souls! I love you so much! Welcome back to the Angels and Awakening Podcast, Pray and Be Wealthy series. I'm your host and author, Julie Jancius, and today's episode is one to help you to slow down, release the pressure of the world's timeline, and grow at your own pace... because you cannot be late for your own life. IN-PERSON TRAINING: Join Julie in person on April 10, 11, and 12 in Oak Brook, Illinois. Immerse yourself in our 3-in-1 certification program (Angel Messenger, Medium, and Energy Healer). Email julie@theangelmedium.com. Episode Summary In today's deep-dive conversation, we are speaking directly to the women in our community who feel like they've hit a wall. Whether you are navigating the demands of motherhood or the profound hormonal and neurological re-wiring of perimenopause and menopause, this episode is your permission slip to slow down. We explore the "Sacred Transition" from the "doing" phase of life into the "being" phase. Psychologically, your brain is "pruning" the noise so you can focus on your wisdom. Divinely, Source is inviting you to ripen rather than rush. We are breaking down the "bounce back" culture and stepping into the power of the Matriarch. You cannot be late for your own life. The 5 Phases of Mind Realization:

The police are chasing shadows in the search for eight-year-old Hannah Perry. But psychologist Cora Lael has a gift—one that could be the girl's only chance of survival. When Hannah disappears from... Uitgegeven door SAGA Egmont Spreker: Lucy Scott

What if the line in the Haggadah isn't history… but a diagnosis? “If G-d hadn't taken us out of Egypt, we would still be there.” Not physically. Psychologically. Spiritually. Emotionally. In this heart-open Kabbalah class, Rabbi Bernath unpacks the deeper meaning of Egypt, not as a place, but as a mindset. An inner voice that says, “This is just who I am.” A life shaped by patterns we stopped questioning.Discover how the Exodus introduced something the world had never known before: the possibility of change. A new language. A new identity. A new way to see yourself—not as a product of your past, but as a soul with infinite capacity to grow.This isn't about leaving Egypt. It's about realizing you were never meant to stay.Takeaways:Egypt isn't a place, it's a mindset of limitation and resignationThe deepest slavery is when you stop believing change is possibleThe Exodus gave the world a new “language of freedom”Every inner shift, from fear to courage, from stuck to growth, is a personal ExodusYou don't need to become someone new, you need to remember who you already areFreedom begins the moment you challenge the story that says “this is just me”#Judaism #Exodus #Pesach #Passover #PesachEnergy #InnerFreedom #BreakTheCycle#YouAreNotStuck #spiritualgrowth #JewishWisdom #Kabbalah #MindsetShift #EmotionalHealing #FromEgyptToFreedom #chassidus #PersonalTransformation #LetMyPeopleGo Available now:Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Experiment-What-Would-Your/dp/1069217638Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR2QNJL6Audiobook: https://bit.ly/4tPFZhVSupport the showGot your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.comSingle? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.Donate and support Rabbi Bernath's work http://www.jewishndg.com/donateFollow Rabbi Bernath's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernathAccess Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

Send us Fan MailWhat if the line in the Haggadah isn't history… but a diagnosis? “If G-d hadn't taken us out of Egypt, we would still be there.” Not physically. Psychologically. Spiritually. Emotionally. In this heart-open Kabbalah class, Rabbi Bernath unpacks the deeper meaning of Egypt, not as a place, but as a mindset. An inner voice that says, “This is just who I am.” A life shaped by patterns we stopped questioning.Discover how the Exodus introduced something the world had never known before: the possibility of change. A new language. A new identity. A new way to see yourself—not as a product of your past, but as a soul with infinite capacity to grow.This isn't about leaving Egypt. It's about realizing you were never meant to stay.Takeaways:Egypt isn't a place, it's a mindset of limitation and resignationThe deepest slavery is when you stop believing change is possibleThe Exodus gave the world a new “language of freedom”Every inner shift, from fear to courage, from stuck to growth, is a personal ExodusYou don't need to become someone new, you need to remember who you already areFreedom begins the moment you challenge the story that says “this is just me”#Judaism #Exodus #Pesach #Passover #PesachEnergy #InnerFreedom #BreakTheCycle#YouAreNotStuck #spiritualgrowth #JewishWisdom #Kabbalah #MindsetShift #EmotionalHealing #FromEgyptToFreedom #chassidus #PersonalTransformation #LetMyPeopleGo Available now:Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Experiment-What-Would-Your/dp/1069217638Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR2QNJL6Audiobook: https://bit.ly/4tPFZhV Support the showGot your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.comSingle? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.Donate and support Rabbi Bernath's work http://www.jewishndg.com/donateFollow Rabbi Bernath's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernathAccess Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

The sacred duty of Sat Yogis is to liberate all beings from bondage to the Other, from all karmic debt, and from entanglement in the internalized demands of the superegoic introjection of the Other. The price of freedom is emptiness; but it must be the Ultimate Emptiness, which is revealed after emptying out what is not one's inalienable nature and essence. This opens the heart and mind to the Fullness, Completion, Glory, and Perfection of the Infinite and Eternal Self of Blissful Light and Power of Immeasurable Intelligence Who is dreaming us all.

Elder Care Issues - My mom is getting too psychologically dependent on me. Listen to caller's personal dramas four times each week as Dr. Kenner takes your calls and questions on parenting, romance, love, family, marriage, divorce, hobbies, career, mental health - any personal issue! Call anytime, toll free 877-Dr-Kenner. Visit www.drkenner.com for more information about the show (where you can also download free chapter one of her serious relationships guidebook).

Superstitions and Their Logic or Otherwise (100 words) Superstitions are traditional beliefs that attempt to explain uncertainty in life. They often emerge in unpredictable areas like exams, health, or sports, giving people a sense of control. Psychologically, they reduce anxiety and boost confidence—athletes or students may feel stronger simply because they trust a ritual or … Continue reading

Tired of feeling pulled into guilt, doubt, or control by toxic people?In this empowering episode, Asha Christina teaches you how to become psychologically hard to manipulate turning yourself into someone manipulators can't easily sway, gaslight, or drain.Drawing from psychology and faith-based truth, Asha shares practical steps: know your emotional "fracture points", strengthen self-awareness to spot tactics early, master saying "no" without guilt, use gray rock for repeat offenders, stay calm under pressure, trust your reality over their narratives, set ironclad boundaries, and root your worth not external approval.No more second-guessing yourself or walking on eggshells. This is your blueprint to reclaim power, protect your energy, raise standards in relationships/friendships, and walk confidently as the high-value queen God designed unshakable, discerning, and free.

Find Dr. Andrew Kaufman HERE: https://www.andrewkaufmanmd.com/ GET YOUR WAV WATCH HERE: https://buy.wavwatch.com/WAM Use Code WAM to save $100 and purchase amazing healing frequency technology! GET HEIRLOOM SEEDS & NON GMO SURVIVAL FOOD HERE: https://heavensharvest.com/ USE Code WAM to save 25% plus free shipping! BUY GOLD HERE: https://firstnationalbullion.com/schedule-consult/ Avoid CBDCs! HELP SUPPORT US AS WE DOCUMENT HISTORY HERE: https://gogetfunding.com/help-keep-wam-alive/# Josh Sigurdson talks with Dr. Andrew Kaufman at Anarchapulco 2026 about the incoming surveillance state and the digital ID system as new policies are rolled out rapidly, forcing those who want convenience into the new order. Psychologically it makes sense. People will do that which is convenient and easy over that which is more beneficial but more difficult. The technocratic system is built on convenience. People will throw away their very humanity (independence) for something easy. Tyranny comes under the guise of convenience. Today, we have cameras being placed all over the interstate system with facial recognition and license plate readers. President Trump is bringing in new policies to force people to show 5 years of social media history in order to enter the United States. This is quite literally social credit. Add to that 10 years of email history, photo metadata and biometrics and it is clear this is part of the roll out of the digital ID system. In fact some states already have the digital ID for internet identification and age restrictions. Real ID has been mandated for a year now and artificial intelligence has been one of the highest funded initiatives including the use of it for militarism. As people are impoverished, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is being developed. But even if it is not directly via the central banks, like VISA and Mastercard, it could be made inescapable. Dr. Kaufman talks in this video about the incoming dangers as well as his hopefulness for real solutions in the future. Stay tuned for more from WAM! Get Your SUPER-SUPPLIMENTS HERE: https://vni.life/wam Use Code WAM15 & Save 15%! Life changing formulas you can't find anywhere else! Get local, healthy, pasture raised meat delivered to your door here: https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life/bonus15?oid=6&affid=321 USE THE LINK & get 20% off for life and $15 off your first box! DITCH YOUR DOCTOR! https://www.livelongerformula.com/wam Get a natural health practitioner and work with Christian Yordanov! Mention WAM and get a FREE masterclass! You will ALSO get a FREE metabolic function assessment! GET YOUR APRICOT SEEDS at the life-saving Richardson Nutritional Center HERE: https://rncstore.com/r?id=bg8qc1 Use code JOSH to save money! SIGN UP FOR HOMESTEADING COURSES NOW: https://freedomfarmers.com/link/17150/ Get Prepared & Start The Move Towards Real Independence With Curtis Stone's Courses! GET YOUR FREEDOM KELLY KETTLE KIT HERE: https://patriotprepared.com/shop/freedom-kettle/ Use Code WAM and enjoy many solutions for the outdoors in the face of the impending reset! PayPal: ancientwonderstelevision@gmail.com FIND OUR CoinTree page here: https://cointr.ee/joshsigurdson PURCHASE MERECHANDISE HERE: https://world-alternative-media.creator-spring.com/ JOIN US on SubscribeStar here: https://www.subscribestar.com/world-alternative-media For subscriber only content! Pledge here! Just a dollar a month can help us alive! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2652072&ty=h&u=2652072 BITCOIN ADDRESS: 18d1WEnYYhBRgZVbeyLr6UfiJhrQygcgNU World Alternative Media 2026

In this podcast Don and Gerry pull apart the psychology of spending money, specifically what choosing an experience like a safari over stuff says about who you actually are.They work through why money can buy happiness but only up to the point where basic needs are met, the difference between happiness and contentment, and why chasing something is neurologically more satisfying than having it.Gerry brings in biophilia to explain why Africa hits differently, and why a safari's uncertainty, patience and hardship does more for your head than a passive beach holiday ever will.The episode lands on one clear idea: you're not buying nine days in the bush, you're buying ten months of anticipation and memories people are still talking about a decade later.Visit the Wild Eye website: https://wild-eye.com

Kirk Phillips, founder of Crypto Bullseye, a coaching and consulting business that helps individuals and companies understand and navigate digital assets and crypto with confidence.Through his coaching, education, and consulting services, Kirk guides clients to cut through confusion and learn how to engage with crypto safely, drawing from years of experience in both finance and the digital asset space.Now, Kirk's commitment to creativity and his belief in autonomy demonstrate how building a business on your own terms can unlock both opportunity and personal fulfilment.And while he continues to lead in an industry filled with scepticism, negativity, and narratives about scams, he is focused on showing others the very real opportunities available when you stay curious and avoid being ruled by fear.Here's where to find more:https://www.cryptobullseye.zonehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kirk-phillips-cpa________________________________________________Welcome to The Unforget Yourself Show where we use the power of woo and the proof of science to help you identify your blind spots, and get over your own bullshit so that you can do the fucking thing you ACTUALLY want to do!We're Mark and Katie, the founders of Unforget Yourself and the creators of the Unforget Yourself System and on this podcast, we're here to share REAL conversations about what goes on inside the heart and minds of those brave and crazy enough to start their own business. From the accidental entrepreneur to the laser-focused CEO, we find out how they got to where they are today, not by hearing the go-to story of their success, but talking about how we all have our own BS to deal with and it's through facing ourselves that we find a way to do the fucking thing.Along the way, we hope to show you that YOU are the most important asset in your business (and your life - duh!). Being a business owner is tough! With vulnerability and humor, we get to the real story behind their success and show you that you're not alone._____________________Find all our links to all the things like the socials, how to work with us and how to apply to be on the podcast here: https://linktr.ee/unforgetyourself

Starting a webcomic in 2026 isn't about chasing algorithms or copying what's popular — it's about building something sustainable, creative, and yours. In this episode, Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett break down what new cartoonists actually need to focus on in their first years: writing first, consistency over hype, owning your work, and building an audience the right way.You'll learn why you don't need Webtoon or Tapas, why monetizing too early can derail your career, how social media really fits into comics growth today, and why a website and mailing list are non-negotiable. This is a marathon mindset episode for creators who want to do comics for the long haul — and do them for love.Getting off on the Right FootDon't try to “game” your readership. Write about what YOU like. Readers are drawn to a creator's passion. It doesn't work the other way around.Building readership takes time and consistency. Creating for love is essential in the early years.Focus on writing as the core of comic creation. They're called comics readers, not comics lookers. It's all about the writing.Focus on creating comics for the love of the craft. The first comics may only be seen by you; embrace the process.Mistakes in the early stages are recoverable. Stop fretting over them.Common copyright fears and how to approach themOwn and control your workBuilding an audienceYou do NOT need to be on Webtoon/Tapas. Look at the comics on the front pages of those sites? Does your comic look like those? Is your content similar? If not, you're not going to fare well there. It's pretty obvious.Social media presence is still important for comic creators. Today, we recommend Bluesky and Reddit. ComicLab has Collections that provide solid social-media strategies. They're free to members and available at a one-time fee for others.Be active on social media to build your audience. Follow the Four Cs — Creation, Curation, Commercial, and KindnessHow many updates? FCS — Frequent / Consistent / Significant — there are no magic numbers.Start building your mailing list NOW with a newsletter. This will be increasingly important when you turn to monetization in a few years. You should send every comic out in a newsletter post and you should also post a weekly newsletter of no longer than 500 words per update with BTS content (to the extent you're comfortable sharing).You need a website. This is not old or outdated — it's incredibly powerful, and you need to start planning for one now… even if it's a very bare-bones site. This is a non-negotiable.Consider The 2-2-1 Rule: Two social media platforms, two newsletters (including a free-membership tier on Patreon), one website. Then, use these together to funnel traffic inward towards the website. Later, when you've launched monetization, the funnel will direct towards that.Don't listen to your reader; listen to your readersDon't mistake social media followers for income.MonetizationDON'T START MONETIZING IN YOUR FIRST YEAR. Maybe not even the second. Everything you need to know about crowdfunding is in the name. First comes the crowd, THEN comes the funding. In the first few years, you need to focus on building that crowd. The only thing worse than having no Patreon backers is having ONE Patreon backer. Hundreds of new comic creators have become derailed by focusing on monetization too soon.Comic Cons: We don't recommend them. They don't build audience. They don't have great sales unless you have a lot of merch that *does well as in-person merch* (there's a difference!). And it's very hard to make profit unless you can religiously control costs. If you're making merch to go to the show, you're doing this all wrong. Psychologically, a lot of folks like to “play” professional cartoonist by exhitibiting.Accepted into show start making stuff to sell.Start planning now for print — hi-res (400+ dpi),  bigger than final size, cmyk, maintain layers, etc. Save in the native software.Marathon thinkingPersistence is key; it's a marathon, not a sprint. If you need a schedule to post regularly, set a schedule and stick to it.Develop your aesthetic by studying good comics.Seek honest feedback to improve your work.Reach out to other comics creators who are doing stuff that's similar to yours and build networks. You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon$2 — Early access to episodes$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. He is available for personal consultations. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive. He is the co-director of the comics documentary, Stripped.

Faith Stokes joins the podcast to talk about treating the patients many clinicians feel least prepared for — those navigating trauma, addiction, suicidality, chronic pain, pelvic health conditions, and complex biopsychosocial presentations.Faith practices in rural North Georgia, where she blends manual therapy, psychologically informed care, and lifestyle medicine. As a residency coordinator and adjunct faculty across multiple programs, she's passionate about helping clinicians develop clarity when treating patients whose stories involve trauma, fear, avoidance, social instability, or chronic stress.In this episode:• Simple vs. complex PTSD in clinical practice• Why trauma-informed care is essential in OMPT• Yellow flag screening and why it's our responsibility• The PT's role in addiction and suicidality• Integrating pelvic health with orthopedics and manual therapy• Using lifestyle medicine without shame or judgment• How experts reason through overwhelming complexityThis is a deep, human, and incredibly practical conversation for every PT.

Sin is often reduced to a list of bad behaviors, but this conversation reframed it as a rupture in relationship and a distortion of identity.  Join Jeremy Jeremiah, Mario Andrew, and Cloud of Witnesses special guests Father Deacon Anthony, an ordained deacon in the Antiochian Orthodox Church, and associate marriage and family therapist, Jacob Sadan (https://jacobsadan.com/) in this frank and inspiring discussion of sin.Drawing from early Christian teaching and cognitive behavioral therapy, our guests showed that actions flow from thoughts and feelings, and those are shaped by how we name what is happening inside us. If we see ourselves as inherently evil, despair follows; if we deny fault, pride grows. The older Christian vision holds a paradox: we are made very good in God's image, yet wounded by passions and habits that pull us from life. That paradox calls for clarity, not condemnation. Naming the wound without becoming the wound is the beginning of healing.  A vivid metaphor carried the dialogue: the black spot on the skin. We can ignore it, try to cut it out ourselves, identify with it in shame, or bring it to the physician. Only the last path actually heals. The physician, Christ, works through the church's rhythms—fasting, prayer, confession, feasting—because rhythm regulates what is dysregulated. Like a garden, the soul shows its beauty when tended with boundaries and care. The point isn't legalism but formation: seasons that humble pride, awaken joy, and train our loves. In this frame, guilt is not a curse; it is the pain signal that says, return to the Doctor. Shame, on the other hand, fuses sin to identity and locks the soul in a closed room.  Psychologically, the cycle is simple and stubborn: beliefs spark feelings, feelings drive behaviors, behaviors reinforce beliefs. If I believe I must fix myself alone, I will overreach, fail, and destroy self-trust. Addiction lives in that gap between imagined control and actual powerlessness. The first step to freedom is admitting limits and sorting what I can change from what I must surrender. Confession becomes a structured pause to observe the inner world: what happened, why it happened, and what to do next. Spoken aloud to a trusted guide, the most terrifying truths lose their sting and regain their meaning as invitations to growth.  Finally, community matters. A church that engages body and senses, offers communion and confession, and pairs diagnosis with prescription becomes an arena where grace meets effort. Outside that arena, there are no crowns because there is no contest. Inside it, accountability interrupts self-deception, and mercy makes change plausible. The way forward is not self-loathing or self-excuse but love, truth, and rhythm: see the spot, feel the healthy sting of guilt, ask for help, and return to the practices that tame the garden. We are beloved and broken, not worthless or sovereign; healing happens where we stop pretending to be judge and return to being patients of the true Physician. Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdhPlease prayerfully consider supporting Cloud of Witnesses: https://www.patreon.com/c/CloudofWitnessesFind Cloud of Witnesses on Instagram, X.com, Facebook, and TikTok.  Please leave a comment with your thoughts!

The Brian Walshe murder trial isn't just about the evidence — it's about the dynamics surrounding the case that could influence how this jury sees everything. And there are some significant wildcards in play that most people aren't talking about. First, there's the Michael Proctor connection. Proctor, the disgraced Massachusetts State Police trooper who was fired for misconduct during the Karen Read investigation, also worked the Walshe case. Several investigators tied to the Proctor scandal may be called as witnesses. The defense has every reason to lean into this — if they can paint the investigation as tainted or sloppy, it creates doubt. And after what happened in the Karen Read trial, Massachusetts juries may be more skeptical of state police testimony than they've ever been. Then there's what happened to Walshe himself. In September 2025, he was stabbed in jail at the Norfolk County Correctional Center. His attorneys pushed for a trial delay, arguing he couldn't adequately assist in his own defense after the attack. The judge ordered a 40-day mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital. Walshe was cleared to stand trial just two weeks before opening statements. The jury won't hear about any of that — but it's context that matters for understanding where this defendant's head might be. And then there's the fundamental problem the jury has to wrestle with: Brian Walshe has already admitted he disposed of his wife's body. He pleaded guilty to it. Now they have to decide if they can separate that admission from the murder charge. Legally, they're supposed to. Psychologically? That's a different question. In this episode, Eric Faddis breaks down the trial dynamics that could shape the outcome. We discuss how the Proctor scandal might be weaponized by the defense, what "consciousness of guilt" jury instructions actually mean, and what typically makes or breaks no-body murder cases. Eric also tells us what he's watching for as this trial moves into its second week. #BrianWalshe #BrianWalsheTrial #MichaelProctor #KarenReadCase #MassachusettsStatePolice #NoBodyMurder #JuryInstructions #ConsciousnessOfGuilt #MentalCompetency #EricFaddis #TrueCrime #TrialAnalysis #WhatToWatch #LegalAnalysis #NorfolkCounty #Dedham #CriminalJustice #TrueCrimeCommunity #CourtAnalysis #TrialDynamics Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

The Brian Walshe murder trial isn't just about the evidence — it's about the dynamics surrounding the case that could influence how this jury sees everything. And there are some significant wildcards in play that most people aren't talking about. First, there's the Michael Proctor connection. Proctor, the disgraced Massachusetts State Police trooper who was fired for misconduct during the Karen Read investigation, also worked the Walshe case. Several investigators tied to the Proctor scandal may be called as witnesses. The defense has every reason to lean into this — if they can paint the investigation as tainted or sloppy, it creates doubt. And after what happened in the Karen Read trial, Massachusetts juries may be more skeptical of state police testimony than they've ever been. Then there's what happened to Walshe himself. In September 2025, he was stabbed in jail at the Norfolk County Correctional Center. His attorneys pushed for a trial delay, arguing he couldn't adequately assist in his own defense after the attack. The judge ordered a 40-day mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital. Walshe was cleared to stand trial just two weeks before opening statements. The jury won't hear about any of that — but it's context that matters for understanding where this defendant's head might be. And then there's the fundamental problem the jury has to wrestle with: Brian Walshe has already admitted he disposed of his wife's body. He pleaded guilty to it. Now they have to decide if they can separate that admission from the murder charge. Legally, they're supposed to. Psychologically? That's a different question. In this episode, Eric Faddis breaks down the trial dynamics that could shape the outcome. We discuss how the Proctor scandal might be weaponized by the defense, what "consciousness of guilt" jury instructions actually mean, and what typically makes or breaks no-body murder cases. Eric also tells us what he's watching for as this trial moves into its second week. #BrianWalshe #BrianWalsheTrial #MichaelProctor #KarenReadCase #MassachusettsStatePolice #NoBodyMurder #JuryInstructions #ConsciousnessOfGuilt #MentalCompetency #EricFaddis #TrueCrime #TrialAnalysis #WhatToWatch #LegalAnalysis #NorfolkCounty #Dedham #CriminalJustice #TrueCrimeCommunity #CourtAnalysis #TrialDynamics Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

The Brian Walshe murder trial isn't just about the evidence — it's about the dynamics surrounding the case that could influence how this jury sees everything. And there are some significant wildcards in play that most people aren't talking about. First, there's the Michael Proctor connection. Proctor, the disgraced Massachusetts State Police trooper who was fired for misconduct during the Karen Read investigation, also worked the Walshe case. Several investigators tied to the Proctor scandal may be called as witnesses. The defense has every reason to lean into this — if they can paint the investigation as tainted or sloppy, it creates doubt. And after what happened in the Karen Read trial, Massachusetts juries may be more skeptical of state police testimony than they've ever been. Then there's what happened to Walshe himself. In September 2025, he was stabbed in jail at the Norfolk County Correctional Center. His attorneys pushed for a trial delay, arguing he couldn't adequately assist in his own defense after the attack. The judge ordered a 40-day mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital. Walshe was cleared to stand trial just two weeks before opening statements. The jury won't hear about any of that — but it's context that matters for understanding where this defendant's head might be. And then there's the fundamental problem the jury has to wrestle with: Brian Walshe has already admitted he disposed of his wife's body. He pleaded guilty to it. Now they have to decide if they can separate that admission from the murder charge. Legally, they're supposed to. Psychologically? That's a different question. In this episode, Eric Faddis breaks down the trial dynamics that could shape the outcome. We discuss how the Proctor scandal might be weaponized by the defense, what "consciousness of guilt" jury instructions actually mean, and what typically makes or breaks no-body murder cases. Eric also tells us what he's watching for as this trial moves into its second week. #BrianWalshe #BrianWalsheTrial #MichaelProctor #KarenReadCase #MassachusettsStatePolice #NoBodyMurder #JuryInstructions #ConsciousnessOfGuilt #MentalCompetency #EricFaddis #TrueCrime #TrialAnalysis #WhatToWatch #LegalAnalysis #NorfolkCounty #Dedham #CriminalJustice #TrueCrimeCommunity #CourtAnalysis #TrialDynamics Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Send us a textDrive change through leadership, not title. In this bold episode, we get honest about the illusion of “psychological safety” and why so many teams talk about it but don't live it. Together, we break down what true safety looks like, how to lead yourself when your environment feels toxic, and why real growth starts long before your boss catches on. This one's for every quiet leader ready to stop waiting for permission and start setting the tone. We're not here to fix the system. We're here to rewrite it. Press play and lead from the inside out.Here are the related episodes, each one builds on today's conversation:#448 | What REAL Validation Looks Like - https://apple.co/4hECPHQ #435 | The Hidden Signs You're Burnt Out (and Don't Know It Yet) - https://apple.co/3LjFaw1Evolve Together Experiences:

Click Below for Freeing Yourself From the Narcissist in Your Life https://tinyurl.com/mppxyba7   Click Below for Recovering and Healing After the Narcissist https://tinyurl.com/2s4janb7   Click Below for The Mental Health Radio News Network https://tinyurl.com/3j2ds9nb

Why They Prosecuted the Wrong Men — Inside the Yogurt Shop Confession Fiasco In this segment, we tear open the wounds of the original investigation. Two men—Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott—were convicted decades ago based almost entirely on confessions that they later recanted. DNA would later exclude them entirely. What pushed investigators to pursue confessions so hard? Tunnel vision, coercive interview tactics, and information “leaks” that allowed suspects to parrot back nonpublic details. Over 50 people confessed at one point or another to this crime—many obviously false.We dig into how interview design (false‑evidence ploys, minimization, sleep deprivation) creates a dangerous illusion of certainty. Legally, these strategies drive miscarriages of justice. Psychologically, they turn confessions into weapons rather than tools of truth. In this part you'll learn: Why confessions, especially in homicide, are dangerously persuasive How contamination and leading questions distort memory What happens when investigators stop listening for disconfirmation After you hear the mistakes, you'll see how fragile the case was from the start—and why we can't treat confession = guilt as an assumption ever again. #FalseConfession #WrongfulConviction #YogurtShopCase #InterrogationTactics #TunnelVision #CriminalJusticeReform #AustinMurders #InvestigativeFailures #CriminalPsychology #InnocenceProject #YogurtShopMurders Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872