Podcasts about psychologically

Sacrificing Her Dignity, or Her Husband's Life? The doctor tells her what she has to do to save her husband. Based on a post by Dan Draper Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Robert's Decline. The wait was excruciating for Robert Carson. He and his wife, Stella, have been waiting in the doctor's office for nearly half an hour, waiting for the results of his medical tests. Robert hasn't been feeling well for several months. No other doctor has been able to figure out what was wrong with him. The other doctors were able to determine that it was not cancer or a heart condition, which Robert was grateful to hear, but still couldn't come up with any other explanation for what was wrong with him. Two of Stella's lady friends recently lost their husbands, and Robert's condition seems very similar to those men. The widows weren't as helpful as Stella hoped. Connie just said; “I guess I knew Bill was going downhill. It's one thing to prolong living, but why prolong dying, Stella?” Finally, they were sent to Dr. Morris, a specialist on men's health and geriatrics; to determine what might be wrong with him. Patients from all over the country came to see him for medical problems no other doctor could solve. Robert and Stella were lucky that they were able to get an appointment with him. When Stella mentioned to Carol about the appointment with Dr. Morris, Carol just said; “He's an asshole.“ But Carol refused to talk about it anymore. Last week, Connie asked Stella if Robert could come by and change the furnace filters. But Stella thought it was just because Connie was lonely, and maybe desperate for a man's attention. “Sorry, Connie, Robert's doing a long list of chores and is not available.” She suggested finding a handyman. ‘Damn if I'll let that hottie anywhere near my man!' Stella resolved. At The Men's Clinic. After several days of tests, where every aspect of his body was thoroughly examined, they were asked to come in, to go over the final results. Dr. Morris finally arrived. He was an older man with thin-rimmed glasses and a big smile on his face. He greeted Robert and Stella, apologized for being late, and sat down behind his desk. "So, I've got good news for you, Robert. You should be just fine," said Dr. Morris. Robert and Stella both let out a big sigh of relief. After having to wait so long in the office, they were both worried that it meant bad news. "So, what's going on with me, Doc?" Robert asked. "Why do I feel sick all the time?" The doctor answered. "It's a progressive neurological condition that's throwing off your biological functions. It should be easy to take care of with a simple set of treatment regimens.  There are no medical out-of-pocket costs, under your health insurance. You'll have to keep up with the treatments for the rest of your life, but other than that, you'll live a long, happy, and healthy life." “What do I have to give up, Doc?” Robert braced himself for a lecture. “Dr. Morris chuckled; “Robert, if the treatment is implemented, not only will you improve, you'll also love the treatments.” "That's great to hear, doctor," said Stella very happily. "I've been worried sick about Robert for months now." "That brings me to you, Stella," said Dr. Morris. "I need to talk to you in private, if you don't mind." Robert and Stella gave each other a concerning look, then looked back at Dr. Morris. "Is something wrong?" Stella asked. "I just want to talk to you about some simple things you can do, to help make Robert feel better, Mrs. Carson," Dr. Morris assured her. "Robert, you don't need to wait around and listen to these lengthy, boring details. You should probably wait in the lobby. She'll go over the process with you, when we're done." "He's probably right, honey," said Stella. "In fact; get yourself some fresh air. I'll meet you at the café next door, a little later." Robert agreed to leave. He was tired of all these damned doctor visits, and was glad to be out of there. He was sick of Stella nagging him about going to the doctors for stupid stuff. Now he heard the first good news about his condition in months, and couldn't wait to finally be done with doctors. Robert shook the doctor's hand, thanked him for his help, and left the office. When Dr. Morris was sure that Robert was gone, he turned his attention to Stella. "Mrs. Carson; Stella, your husband is chronically ill," Dr. Morris revealed. "His condition is much more serious than I let on." "What?" Stella asked, with a shocked expression. "How much time does he have left." "A few weeks, at the most." Stella was now trembling and breathing heavily. She could feel her heart pounding hard in her chest. She had never felt so scared about anything in her life. Several of her lady friends were already widows. She and Robert were just beginning retirement and she had so many plans for him. "This is unbelievable. Why the hell did you tell him that he was going to live?" she asked. "Because I needed him out of the office, So I could talk to you about his condition, and how you're the only one who could help him. I've seen this situation before. This is deeply personal stuff. I need to talk to you about things that usually are better said, when I talk to the wife about it in private." The Treatment Plan. "Okay, I think I understand." said Stella, as she began to calm down a little. "I need my husband! I'll do anything to help my husband. Tell me what I need to do." "First, you need to know that there are both physical and psychological impairments that are progressing rapidly. We need to aggressively treat everything, and all at once. The treatment needs to be applied with cheerful enthusiasm and It's most successful when the wife has processed the plan fully, and details it to her ailing husband. “ “But what is this treatment? What does it involve?” We cannot risk Robert hearing your negative responses, but to be fair; you will need to let yourself process this information honestly and openly, without hurting Robert any more than he's already suffering.” “I see.” Stella said, nervously. “I'm already feeling some anxiety about what you're going to tell me.”  Let's start with his diet. I understand you got him on a vegan diet. Is that right?" "Yes, it's much healthier," said Stella. "Stop that immediately; that diet is killing him," he told her. "But it's a healthier lifestyle and Robert loves it." Dr. Morris continued. "It is healthier for most people, but not for people with Robert's condition. That diet is throwing off the neurological functions of his brain, and that's affecting his entire body. He needs to start eating meat immediately. He needs iron and protein from beef. Pork and poultry are okay, but beef is especially therapeutic." Stella was stunned by the revelation. She was sure being a vegan was a healthy way to live, but she had no idea that it was hurting Robert. She would not have pushed him to do it if she knew what it was doing to him. "Okay, I'll start getting him on all kinds of meat right away," she assured the doctor. "It's not just meat he needs to start eating. You need to cook for him whatever he likes as well. If he suggests it, you can't question it. Just cook it for him, no matter what it is. Don't trust restaurants to do this. You need to know what's in the food he consumes. And you must be punctual with his regular mealtimes." "Yes, of course I will," Stella replied nervously. "That's good to hear. Now that brings me to my next subject. He shouldn't be doing so much physical labor around the house. He's too weak to be doing this stuff, so it needs to all be done by you. At least for the first  months, and then he might bounce back enough to do a little more. Yardwork, moving furniture, plumbing, painting, electrical problems, and so on. Anything you expect a husband should be doing around the house now needs to be done by you alone." "But I already do all the traditional duties of a housewife. Do I have to do that stuff as well?" she asked, perplexed. "Yes, you have to do it all," Dr. Morris continued. "And don't pay anybody to do this stuff either, it all needs to be done by you. He specifically told me that he's been really stressed about money lately. So, having to spend more money on people to do work around the house would be very stressful for him. And that stress could have a terrible effect on his neurological disorder. You being so needy, is a huge part of the neurological decline he's facing." "Um, Okay, I'll try my best," said Stella. "I'll do all of his chores, and I think I can get one or two people who could help me for free, so no money will be involved." "Excellent, this is going much better than I hoped. Most wives I've had to tell this to, are not as agreeable as you're being. Now, I must emphasize this next part. Don't criticize or hen-peck him. Any more. It emasculates him. His testosterone is so low, But fake testosterone shots don't fix this set of complications. Too many men turn to androgen and end up with prostate cancer." "As I said, I am willing to do anything to help Robert." "That brings me to my next subject, and this is where it gets very personal," the doctor began to say. "You need to be more sexually available for him." "Are you sure? We already have a very good sex life as it is," Stella revealed. "Even with his illness, we try to be sexual once a week, sometimes more, if I straddle his face." Dr. Morris continued. "Well, it needs to be a lot more than that. As much sex as you two are having right now, he has not been getting as much sex as he needs. You need to double, even triple the amount of sex you two are already having." "What?" she asked, very confused. "His libido needs to be in overdrive, because of his neurological disorder, and by not fulfilling those sexual needs, it's hurting his body and weakening his immune system." "He never told me he needed more sex." "He told me specifically that. Out of concern for you, he didn't want to pressure you for more sex. So, I'm telling you for him; that you need to copulate with your husband a lot more, if you want him to live. Nagging him is a big part of what's killing him. And never use sex as a bargaining device, ever! He needs to know that you just can't wait for your next romp." "Oh, wow," Stella said, very shocked at what she had just heard. "I always thought we had plenty of sex already. My girlfriends are jealous of me for it. But Okay, if I have to, I'll give him more sex." Stella began to wonder when she would have time to triple the amount of sex she already had with Robert when the doctor had already told her she had to do so much more around the house for him. "That brings me to the different acts of sex you have. How often do you give him fellatio? You know? Oral?" Stella began to feel embarrassed. She had no idea of how personal this was all going to be. "Occasionally, well, one his birthday, or if I feel guilty about something," she replied. "But do you bring him to completion?" Dr. Morris asked. "Sometimes." "And when you do, do you swallow; or let him cum on you?" "A little of both, I guess." "You need to start swallowing his cum every single time," said Dr. Morris. "And I don't just mean only whatever shoots out into your mouth. You must suck out whatever remains in his penis after he has finished ejaculating. Leaving any cum inside of his dick after a blowjob could be detrimental to his already compromised psyche." Swallowing his ejaculate is a powerful way of showing him how desirable he still is. He must see himself as a desirable man.” "Um; sure, whatever you say." Stella didn't mind swallowing her husband's cum, she just didn't like to do it every single time. She preferred that he cums on her face or tits, after a blowjob, or that he waits to cum in her vaginally. But she told herself that she was willing to swallow every drop of cum, if it meant helping Robert. "And you need to fondle his testicles a little, while you're blowing him." "Huh?" she asked, very confused. "His testicles are very problematic right now, and a good massage with your tongue could be very helpful. The circulation improves, and is essential to production of both sperm and natural testosterone." Stella sat there, wide-eyed from having to listen to all of this. She wanted to question the doctor about the reasoning for all of this. But she decided that he was the expert, and she should probably listen to what he had to say, even if she didn't entirely understand any of it. "Is there anything else?" she asked, feeling a little worried about what she might hear next. "Yes, he needs to stop providing you with oral sex as well." "What?" Stella snapped at him. "It's not good for him. He says you're using estrogen cream. Is that accurate?” “Yes, I apply it vaginally, once a week. “ “You need to apply it at least 4 times a week. It helps your vagina restore firm and ridged walls. That is essential to aiding Robert's sexual stimulation. He's developing some neuropathy of his glans penis. But the cream, while essential to the lifesaving treatment regimen; is contraindicated for his testosterone levels. You need to coat his penis with a massage oil prior to intercourse, so that his skin does not absorb your estrogen. The oil also aides his sensory functions. Quadrupling the estrogen will also make your sexual tasks much, much more pleasant, and even help you be more enthusiastic about his needs.” “Do I need a prescription oil?” “No, Sweet Almond oil is odorless and inexpensive. The neurological disorder is causing his body much stress, both physically and psychologically. But back to the matter of orally arousing you. He needs to focus on pleasure, not stress. Worrying about getting you off, will only exacerbate this situation even more." "Can he at least finger me?" she choked back her tears, hoping for a positive answer. "Only lightly, and never to get you to orgasm. Your body needs to be optimal for aiding his vaginal copulation. If you orgasm before he's ready to, the withdrawal which your vagina goes through, will thwart his treatment success." "You have got to be fucking kidding me?" Stella said, as she was starting to get angry at the doctor. Dr. Morris continued his explanation. "In fact, he also shouldn't be working to get you to orgasm during vaginal sex, either. It would stress out his neurological disorder if he had to concentrate on getting you off. You should just let him have sex with you, focus on getting his own orgasm, and focus on the relaxation he derives from accomplishing it. And you need to be happy about it; to make him happy, so he won't stress out about having to get you off as well." Stella was seriously getting pissed off right now. She was being asked to give up so much for her husband already, and now she was being asked to give up all of her own sexual priorities. "Is there anything else I should know about?" She asked, trying to keep herself from screaming at him. "Okay, let's move on to the next part of his treatment objectives. Do you have any attractive friends?" Stella was afraid of where this was going, but she thought she needed to be honest with the doctor. "Yes, a few of them are very attractive," she answered. She almost audibly added, ‘with sexier bodies than mine.' "Can you refer me to one of them?" A Team Effort. Stella felt confused, but also a little relieved. She was afraid he was going to suggest that also Robert fuck her girlfriends, for the betterment of his health. Asking her if she could hook him up with one of her attractive friends, was still very strange and probably unethical, but it was still better than what she had thought. "No, I'm sorry, doctor. I'm not comfortable with hooking you up with any of my friends." "That's no problem," said Dr. Morris. "But it's probably best that you get your friends to fuck Robert as much as possible." "Dammit!" Stella screamed. "You can't be serious." "It's for the betterment of his health," Dr. Morris assured her. "By having sexual relations with other women;" "That's it, I'm calling bullshit on all of this!" Stella yelled at him. "This has got to either be a messed-up joke or some kind of fucking scam you're pulling. There's no way all this needs to be done for my husband's health." "I assure you, Stella, this is all real. He'll be dead very soon if you don't." "No way. You're lying about all of this. In fact, I think Robert is probably in on all of this, too; so he could get whatever he wants, even more sex from me and other women." To prove he was telling the truth, Dr. Morris spent the next hour providing Stella with absolute proof of Robert's condition. He not only showed Robert's medical results, but also documentation and studies of Robert's condition, provided by hundreds of doctors over the last 50 years; to show the methods of treating his condition. He even showed her online interviews of women who had to do the same exact things that Dr. Morris suggested, for their own husbands; and how it helped save their husbands' lives. Stella was dumbfounded when she saw all this evidence. She looked over every detail, trying to find something to suggest the doctor was wrong, or lying to her about everything. Eventually, Stella had no choice but to concede that not only was Dr. Morris telling the truth, but also that Robert needed all of those things that the doctor told her to do for him, in order for him to live. “Mrs. Carson; your husband is a devoted man. Perhaps to a fault. He perceives that he's no longer sufficient for you. And it registers as rejection, in his psyche. Rather than fooling around behind your back, he has man you too influential. You control his self-esteem. Your libido is waning, but he really believes that you're less than satisfied, and he subconsciously translates that as his becoming less and less of a man. He won't ask for more, because he fears rejection, and the crushing effect it would have on his fragile self-image.” “His emotional damages are now becoming physiological impairments. As you fully and earnestly implement these therapies; and I mean all of them; Robert will come alive, again. Psychologically, he's become very emasculated. Psychiatrists often mis-diagnose this as clinical depression. But their psychotropic drugs only make the condition worse. He'd become completely impotent, and probably suicidal. But we're not done going over the treatment plan, yet. Shall we continue?” "Okay, I concede that everything you're telling me is absolutely true," said Stella. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before. I'll do everything you say, and I'll see what I can do to get my attractive girlfriends to fuck Robert. If any of them say no, I'll help him get sexual satisfaction from other women, no matter what. I just can't see how sharing him with other women will save his life?" "Mrs. Carson; the treatment protocols will reset his self-image, impressing upon him that you know he's a very desirable man. Your love will manifest as selflessness and self-reflection. It will impress upon him that he's so amazing and desirable to all women.” “I'm sure this is not going to be easy for you, since you're being asked to do a lot to help Robert," said Dr. Morris. "But you'll be doing a great thing for him, and he can live a long and happy life. He admits that he's been cranky and impatient, Mrs. Carson. I can encourage you by saying that women who adopt these changes, all say that their husbands are so much more pleasant to be around. Some of them even return to more recreation and entertainment, eventually." "As long as he gets to live, that's all that matters," said Stella. "That's good to hear," said the doctor. "Inviting a girlfriend to join your sexual treatments, will be a way of dealing with your own orgasms, so long as one of you two ladies save yourselves for Robert, first. If a girlfriend stimulates you to orgasm, it must be in Robert's presence, and You have to let him have his way with your girlfriend, before she has an orgasm by your ministrations.” “Do I have to be there while he fucks my girlfriend? I don't think I can bear to watch him fuck another woman, especially one of my floozy friends?” “Yes! He needs to see her as a gift from you, for his healthy recovery. The stress of feeling like he's cheating on you; could kill him. Trust me. Men die during sex, because of the stress they undergo. We just don't report that the death was from sex-related stress. The survivors are simply told that they died in their sleep.” “Oh! Two of my girlfriends said their husbands died in bed. This really is serious, isn't it, Doctor?” Stella thought about Carol, her friend from the Bridge Club. Carol used to gripe about how disgusting her husband would be about sex. But last spring, Carol said she came home from brunch and errands, only to find Carl lying lifeless and naked in bed, at 1:30 in the afternoon. Carol claims it was his heart condition and stress, that killed him. Now Carol is angry with Carl for disserting her, and now she's miserable. “By the way, you also need to let him copulate anally, with you, especially early on, while his sensory nerves are limited by penile neuropathy. Your vagina will restore it's tight and ridged attributes after a few weeks of regular Estrogen cream therapy. Then Robert will find your vagina sufficient to arouse and stimulate his glans nerves, and he'll have much better sexual response. But until then, Use a lube and utilize the attributes of your anal muscles, to achieve the immediate outcomes he needs right away." "Sure, why not?" Stella replied sullenly. "Also, when he has sex with other women involved, I emphasize that you always be there, and join them. And definitely let him sit back and watch you ladies have sexual pleasures. Don't allow him to further shame himself by thinking he's not faithful to you. He will always be faithful to you, Mrs. Carson. It may kill him, but he will always be faithful. That's who he is. If you arrange the events and keep a happy attitude about it, He will see it as a complimentary dynamic, and not a competitive threat. Do you want me to explain to you why that's important?" "No need. I'm sure there's a good reason for all of that as well." When they were finally done, Dr. Morris walked her out to the nurse's station and handed her a written directive for treatment. They shook hands and said their goodbyes. Stella left the doctor's office, thinking about all the humiliating tasks she was directed to provide. She put the 6 pages of directives in her purse, and went to the café, next door, where Robert was waiting for her at a corner table. She sat in the chair in front of him, and he handed her the coffee that he had ready for her. "You were with the doctor for a long time. Is everything alright?" Robert asked. "Robert,” Stella paused. The prospect of no more of his skilled cunnilingus, overwhelmed her.  “There's no easy way for me to tell you this, Robert.” Stella thought about the anal sex they once tried, some 25 years ago. It was so degrading to her. Trembling, she blurted out; “Robert. you're going to die." "What?" Robert shouted. "Doc said he was confident that I was going to be just fine." "He lied! He just didn't want to be the one to tell you, so he wanted me to tell you for him. He's a fucking coward. He was crying like a little bitch after you left. We're never going back to him, again! I'm so sorry, Robert, but that's how it is." "How much time do I have left?" "A few weeks; at the most." Robert was hyperventilating. He had never felt so scared in his life. "Oh my God. Is there anything that can be done to save me?" Robert asked. "Absolutely nothing," she replied. “I don't know how I'm going to go on, after you're gone, Robert. Hold me, please! Based on a post by Dan Draper, for Literotica.

Sacrificing Her Dignity, or Her Husband's Life? The doctor tells her what she has to do to save her husband. Based on a post by Dan Draper Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Robert's Decline. The wait was excruciating for Robert Carson. He and his wife, Stella, have been waiting in the doctor's office for nearly half an hour, waiting for the results of his medical tests. Robert hasn't been feeling well for several months. No other doctor has been able to figure out what was wrong with him. The other doctors were able to determine that it was not cancer or a heart condition, which Robert was grateful to hear, but still couldn't come up with any other explanation for what was wrong with him. Two of Stella's lady friends recently lost their husbands, and Robert's condition seems very similar to those men. The widows weren't as helpful as Stella hoped. Connie just said; “I guess I knew Bill was going downhill. It's one thing to prolong living, but why prolong dying, Stella?” Finally, they were sent to Dr. Morris, a specialist on men's health and geriatrics; to determine what might be wrong with him. Patients from all over the country came to see him for medical problems no other doctor could solve. Robert and Stella were lucky that they were able to get an appointment with him. When Stella mentioned to Carol about the appointment with Dr. Morris, Carol just said; “He's an asshole.“ But Carol refused to talk about it anymore. Last week, Connie asked Stella if Robert could come by and change the furnace filters. But Stella thought it was just because Connie was lonely, and maybe desperate for a man's attention. “Sorry, Connie, Robert's doing a long list of chores and is not available.” She suggested finding a handyman. ‘Damn if I'll let that hottie anywhere near my man!' Stella resolved. At The Men's Clinic. After several days of tests, where every aspect of his body was thoroughly examined, they were asked to come in, to go over the final results. Dr. Morris finally arrived. He was an older man with thin-rimmed glasses and a big smile on his face. He greeted Robert and Stella, apologized for being late, and sat down behind his desk. "So, I've got good news for you, Robert. You should be just fine," said Dr. Morris. Robert and Stella both let out a big sigh of relief. After having to wait so long in the office, they were both worried that it meant bad news. "So, what's going on with me, Doc?" Robert asked. "Why do I feel sick all the time?" The doctor answered. "It's a progressive neurological condition that's throwing off your biological functions. It should be easy to take care of with a simple set of treatment regimens.  There are no medical out-of-pocket costs, under your health insurance. You'll have to keep up with the treatments for the rest of your life, but other than that, you'll live a long, happy, and healthy life." “What do I have to give up, Doc?” Robert braced himself for a lecture. “Dr. Morris chuckled; “Robert, if the treatment is implemented, not only will you improve, you'll also love the treatments.” "That's great to hear, doctor," said Stella very happily. "I've been worried sick about Robert for months now." "That brings me to you, Stella," said Dr. Morris. "I need to talk to you in private, if you don't mind." Robert and Stella gave each other a concerning look, then looked back at Dr. Morris. "Is something wrong?" Stella asked. "I just want to talk to you about some simple things you can do, to help make Robert feel better, Mrs. Carson," Dr. Morris assured her. "Robert, you don't need to wait around and listen to these lengthy, boring details. You should probably wait in the lobby. She'll go over the process with you, when we're done." "He's probably right, honey," said Stella. "In fact; get yourself some fresh air. I'll meet you at the café next door, a little later." Robert agreed to leave. He was tired of all these damned doctor visits, and was glad to be out of there. He was sick of Stella nagging him about going to the doctors for stupid stuff. Now he heard the first good news about his condition in months, and couldn't wait to finally be done with doctors. Robert shook the doctor's hand, thanked him for his help, and left the office. When Dr. Morris was sure that Robert was gone, he turned his attention to Stella. "Mrs. Carson; Stella, your husband is chronically ill," Dr. Morris revealed. "His condition is much more serious than I let on." "What?" Stella asked, with a shocked expression. "How much time does he have left." "A few weeks, at the most." Stella was now trembling and breathing heavily. She could feel her heart pounding hard in her chest. She had never felt so scared about anything in her life. Several of her lady friends were already widows. She and Robert were just beginning retirement and she had so many plans for him. "This is unbelievable. Why the hell did you tell him that he was going to live?" she asked. "Because I needed him out of the office, So I could talk to you about his condition, and how you're the only one who could help him. I've seen this situation before. This is deeply personal stuff. I need to talk to you about things that usually are better said, when I talk to the wife about it in private." The Treatment Plan. "Okay, I think I understand." said Stella, as she began to calm down a little. "I need my husband! I'll do anything to help my husband. Tell me what I need to do." "First, you need to know that there are both physical and psychological impairments that are progressing rapidly. We need to aggressively treat everything, and all at once. The treatment needs to be applied with cheerful enthusiasm and It's most successful when the wife has processed the plan fully, and details it to her ailing husband. “ “But what is this treatment? What does it involve?” We cannot risk Robert hearing your negative responses, but to be fair; you will need to let yourself process this information honestly and openly, without hurting Robert any more than he's already suffering.” “I see.” Stella said, nervously. “I'm already feeling some anxiety about what you're going to tell me.”  Let's start with his diet. I understand you got him on a vegan diet. Is that right?" "Yes, it's much healthier," said Stella. "Stop that immediately; that diet is killing him," he told her. "But it's a healthier lifestyle and Robert loves it." Dr. Morris continued. "It is healthier for most people, but not for people with Robert's condition. That diet is throwing off the neurological functions of his brain, and that's affecting his entire body. He needs to start eating meat immediately. He needs iron and protein from beef. Pork and poultry are okay, but beef is especially therapeutic." Stella was stunned by the revelation. She was sure being a vegan was a healthy way to live, but she had no idea that it was hurting Robert. She would not have pushed him to do it if she knew what it was doing to him. "Okay, I'll start getting him on all kinds of meat right away," she assured the doctor. "It's not just meat he needs to start eating. You need to cook for him whatever he likes as well. If he suggests it, you can't question it. Just cook it for him, no matter what it is. Don't trust restaurants to do this. You need to know what's in the food he consumes. And you must be punctual with his regular mealtimes." "Yes, of course I will," Stella replied nervously. "That's good to hear. Now that brings me to my next subject. He shouldn't be doing so much physical labor around the house. He's too weak to be doing this stuff, so it needs to all be done by you. At least for the first  months, and then he might bounce back enough to do a little more. Yardwork, moving furniture, plumbing, painting, electrical problems, and so on. Anything you expect a husband should be doing around the house now needs to be done by you alone." "But I already do all the traditional duties of a housewife. Do I have to do that stuff as well?" she asked, perplexed. "Yes, you have to do it all," Dr. Morris continued. "And don't pay anybody to do this stuff either, it all needs to be done by you. He specifically told me that he's been really stressed about money lately. So, having to spend more money on people to do work around the house would be very stressful for him. And that stress could have a terrible effect on his neurological disorder. You being so needy, is a huge part of the neurological decline he's facing." "Um, Okay, I'll try my best," said Stella. "I'll do all of his chores, and I think I can get one or two people who could help me for free, so no money will be involved." "Excellent, this is going much better than I hoped. Most wives I've had to tell this to, are not as agreeable as you're being. Now, I must emphasize this next part. Don't criticize or hen-peck him. Any more. It emasculates him. His testosterone is so low, But fake testosterone shots don't fix this set of complications. Too many men turn to androgen and end up with prostate cancer." "As I said, I am willing to do anything to help Robert." "That brings me to my next subject, and this is where it gets very personal," the doctor began to say. "You need to be more sexually available for him." "Are you sure? We already have a very good sex life as it is," Stella revealed. "Even with his illness, we try to be sexual once a week, sometimes more, if I straddle his face." Dr. Morris continued. "Well, it needs to be a lot more than that. As much sex as you two are having right now, he has not been getting as much sex as he needs. You need to double, even triple the amount of sex you two are already having." "What?" she asked, very confused. "His libido needs to be in overdrive, because of his neurological disorder, and by not fulfilling those sexual needs, it's hurting his body and weakening his immune system." "He never told me he needed more sex." "He told me specifically that. Out of concern for you, he didn't want to pressure you for more sex. So, I'm telling you for him; that you need to copulate with your husband a lot more, if you want him to live. Nagging him is a big part of what's killing him. And never use sex as a bargaining device, ever! He needs to know that you just can't wait for your next romp." "Oh, wow," Stella said, very shocked at what she had just heard. "I always thought we had plenty of sex already. My girlfriends are jealous of me for it. But Okay, if I have to, I'll give him more sex." Stella began to wonder when she would have time to triple the amount of sex she already had with Robert when the doctor had already told her she had to do so much more around the house for him. "That brings me to the different acts of sex you have. How often do you give him fellatio? You know? Oral?" Stella began to feel embarrassed. She had no idea of how personal this was all going to be. "Occasionally, well, one his birthday, or if I feel guilty about something," she replied. "But do you bring him to completion?" Dr. Morris asked. "Sometimes." "And when you do, do you swallow; or let him cum on you?" "A little of both, I guess." "You need to start swallowing his cum every single time," said Dr. Morris. "And I don't just mean only whatever shoots out into your mouth. You must suck out whatever remains in his penis after he has finished ejaculating. Leaving any cum inside of his dick after a blowjob could be detrimental to his already compromised psyche." Swallowing his ejaculate is a powerful way of showing him how desirable he still is. He must see himself as a desirable man.” "Um; sure, whatever you say." Stella didn't mind swallowing her husband's cum, she just didn't like to do it every single time. She preferred that he cums on her face or tits, after a blowjob, or that he waits to cum in her vaginally. But she told herself that she was willing to swallow every drop of cum, if it meant helping Robert. "And you need to fondle his testicles a little, while you're blowing him." "Huh?" she asked, very confused. "His testicles are very problematic right now, and a good massage with your tongue could be very helpful. The circulation improves, and is essential to production of both sperm and natural testosterone." Stella sat there, wide-eyed from having to listen to all of this. She wanted to question the doctor about the reasoning for all of this. But she decided that he was the expert, and she should probably listen to what he had to say, even if she didn't entirely understand any of it. "Is there anything else?" she asked, feeling a little worried about what she might hear next. "Yes, he needs to stop providing you with oral sex as well." "What?" Stella snapped at him. "It's not good for him. He says you're using estrogen cream. Is that accurate?” “Yes, I apply it vaginally, once a week. “ “You need to apply it at least 4 times a week. It helps your vagina restore firm and ridged walls. That is essential to aiding Robert's sexual stimulation. He's developing some neuropathy of his glans penis. But the cream, while essential to the lifesaving treatment regimen; is contraindicated for his testosterone levels. You need to coat his penis with a massage oil prior to intercourse, so that his skin does not absorb your estrogen. The oil also aides his sensory functions. Quadrupling the estrogen will also make your sexual tasks much, much more pleasant, and even help you be more enthusiastic about his needs.” “Do I need a prescription oil?” “No, Sweet Almond oil is odorless and inexpensive. The neurological disorder is causing his body much stress, both physically and psychologically. But back to the matter of orally arousing you. He needs to focus on pleasure, not stress. Worrying about getting you off, will only exacerbate this situation even more." "Can he at least finger me?" she choked back her tears, hoping for a positive answer. "Only lightly, and never to get you to orgasm. Your body needs to be optimal for aiding his vaginal copulation. If you orgasm before he's ready to, the withdrawal which your vagina goes through, will thwart his treatment success." "You have got to be fucking kidding me?" Stella said, as she was starting to get angry at the doctor. Dr. Morris continued his explanation. "In fact, he also shouldn't be working to get you to orgasm during vaginal sex, either. It would stress out his neurological disorder if he had to concentrate on getting you off. You should just let him have sex with you, focus on getting his own orgasm, and focus on the relaxation he derives from accomplishing it. And you need to be happy about it; to make him happy, so he won't stress out about having to get you off as well." Stella was seriously getting pissed off right now. She was being asked to give up so much for her husband already, and now she was being asked to give up all of her own sexual priorities. "Is there anything else I should know about?" She asked, trying to keep herself from screaming at him. "Okay, let's move on to the next part of his treatment objectives. Do you have any attractive friends?" Stella was afraid of where this was going, but she thought she needed to be honest with the doctor. "Yes, a few of them are very attractive," she answered. She almost audibly added, ‘with sexier bodies than mine.' "Can you refer me to one of them?" A Team Effort. Stella felt confused, but also a little relieved. She was afraid he was going to suggest that also Robert fuck her girlfriends, for the betterment of his health. Asking her if she could hook him up with one of her attractive friends, was still very strange and probably unethical, but it was still better than what she had thought. "No, I'm sorry, doctor. I'm not comfortable with hooking you up with any of my friends." "That's no problem," said Dr. Morris. "But it's probably best that you get your friends to fuck Robert as much as possible." "Dammit!" Stella screamed. "You can't be serious." "It's for the betterment of his health," Dr. Morris assured her. "By having sexual relations with other women;" "That's it, I'm calling bullshit on all of this!" Stella yelled at him. "This has got to either be a messed-up joke or some kind of fucking scam you're pulling. There's no way all this needs to be done for my husband's health." "I assure you, Stella, this is all real. He'll be dead very soon if you don't." "No way. You're lying about all of this. In fact, I think Robert is probably in on all of this, too; so he could get whatever he wants, even more sex from me and other women." To prove he was telling the truth, Dr. Morris spent the next hour providing Stella with absolute proof of Robert's condition. He not only showed Robert's medical results, but also documentation and studies of Robert's condition, provided by hundreds of doctors over the last 50 years; to show the methods of treating his condition. He even showed her online interviews of women who had to do the same exact things that Dr. Morris suggested, for their own husbands; and how it helped save their husbands' lives. Stella was dumbfounded when she saw all this evidence. She looked over every detail, trying to find something to suggest the doctor was wrong, or lying to her about everything. Eventually, Stella had no choice but to concede that not only was Dr. Morris telling the truth, but also that Robert needed all of those things that the doctor told her to do for him, in order for him to live. “Mrs. Carson; your husband is a devoted man. Perhaps to a fault. He perceives that he's no longer sufficient for you. And it registers as rejection, in his psyche. Rather than fooling around behind your back, he has man you too influential. You control his self-esteem. Your libido is waning, but he really believes that you're less than satisfied, and he subconsciously translates that as his becoming less and less of a man. He won't ask for more, because he fears rejection, and the crushing effect it would have on his fragile self-image.” “His emotional damages are now becoming physiological impairments. As you fully and earnestly implement these therapies; and I mean all of them; Robert will come alive, again. Psychologically, he's become very emasculated. Psychiatrists often mis-diagnose this as clinical depression. But their psychotropic drugs only make the condition worse. He'd become completely impotent, and probably suicidal. But we're not done going over the treatment plan, yet. Shall we continue?” "Okay, I concede that everything you're telling me is absolutely true," said Stella. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before. I'll do everything you say, and I'll see what I can do to get my attractive girlfriends to fuck Robert. If any of them say no, I'll help him get sexual satisfaction from other women, no matter what. I just can't see how sharing him with other women will save his life?" "Mrs. Carson; the treatment protocols will reset his self-image, impressing upon him that you know he's a very desirable man. Your love will manifest as selflessness and self-reflection. It will impress upon him that he's so amazing and desirable to all women.” “I'm sure this is not going to be easy for you, since you're being asked to do a lot to help Robert," said Dr. Morris. "But you'll be doing a great thing for him, and he can live a long and happy life. He admits that he's been cranky and impatient, Mrs. Carson. I can encourage you by saying that women who adopt these changes, all say that their husbands are so much more pleasant to be around. Some of them even return to more recreation and entertainment, eventually." "As long as he gets to live, that's all that matters," said Stella. "That's good to hear," said the doctor. "Inviting a girlfriend to join your sexual treatments, will be a way of dealing with your own orgasms, so long as one of you two ladies save yourselves for Robert, first. If a girlfriend stimulates you to orgasm, it must be in Robert's presence, and You have to let him have his way with your girlfriend, before she has an orgasm by your ministrations.” “Do I have to be there while he fucks my girlfriend? I don't think I can bear to watch him fuck another woman, especially one of my floozy friends?” “Yes! He needs to see her as a gift from you, for his healthy recovery. The stress of feeling like he's cheating on you; could kill him. Trust me. Men die during sex, because of the stress they undergo. We just don't report that the death was from sex-related stress. The survivors are simply told that they died in their sleep.” “Oh! Two of my girlfriends said their husbands died in bed. This really is serious, isn't it, Doctor?” Stella thought about Carol, her friend from the Bridge Club. Carol used to gripe about how disgusting her husband would be about sex. But last spring, Carol said she came home from brunch and errands, only to find Carl lying lifeless and naked in bed, at 1:30 in the afternoon. Carol claims it was his heart condition and stress, that killed him. Now Carol is angry with Carl for disserting her, and now she's miserable. “By the way, you also need to let him copulate anally, with you, especially early on, while his sensory nerves are limited by penile neuropathy. Your vagina will restore it's tight and ridged attributes after a few weeks of regular Estrogen cream therapy. Then Robert will find your vagina sufficient to arouse and stimulate his glans nerves, and he'll have much better sexual response. But until then, Use a lube and utilize the attributes of your anal muscles, to achieve the immediate outcomes he needs right away." "Sure, why not?" Stella replied sullenly. "Also, when he has sex with other women involved, I emphasize that you always be there, and join them. And definitely let him sit back and watch you ladies have sexual pleasures. Don't allow him to further shame himself by thinking he's not faithful to you. He will always be faithful to you, Mrs. Carson. It may kill him, but he will always be faithful. That's who he is. If you arrange the events and keep a happy attitude about it, He will see it as a complimentary dynamic, and not a competitive threat. Do you want me to explain to you why that's important?" "No need. I'm sure there's a good reason for all of that as well." When they were finally done, Dr. Morris walked her out to the nurse's station and handed her a written directive for treatment. They shook hands and said their goodbyes. Stella left the doctor's office, thinking about all the humiliating tasks she was directed to provide. She put the 6 pages of directives in her purse, and went to the café, next door, where Robert was waiting for her at a corner table. She sat in the chair in front of him, and he handed her the coffee that he had ready for her. "You were with the doctor for a long time. Is everything alright?" Robert asked. "Robert,” Stella paused. The prospect of no more of his skilled cunnilingus, overwhelmed her.  “There's no easy way for me to tell you this, Robert.” Stella thought about the anal sex they once tried, some 25 years ago. It was so degrading to her. Trembling, she blurted out; “Robert. you're going to die." "What?" Robert shouted. "Doc said he was confident that I was going to be just fine." "He lied! He just didn't want to be the one to tell you, so he wanted me to tell you for him. He's a fucking coward. He was crying like a little bitch after you left. We're never going back to him, again! I'm so sorry, Robert, but that's how it is." "How much time do I have left?" "A few weeks; at the most." Robert was hyperventilating. He had never felt so scared in his life. "Oh my God. Is there anything that can be done to save me?" Robert asked. "Absolutely nothing," she replied. “I don't know how I'm going to go on, after you're gone, Robert. Hold me, please! Based on a post by Dan Draper, for Literotica.

Send us a textIn this episode, leadership expert Dr. Nancy Pacivich joins the host to discuss how property managers can become more effective leaders. They explore the importance of self-awareness, psychological safety, and delegation in building high-performing teams. Nancy shares practical strategies for fostering trust, supporting neurodiverse staff, and encouraging accountability. The conversation highlights the value of curiosity, empathy, and open communication in overcoming workplace challenges and preventing burnout. Listeners gain actionable insights on creating supportive environments where both employees and businesses thrive, making this episode essential for new property managers seeking to upskill their leadership abilities.Leadership as an inside-out process focused on self-awareness, values, and purpose.The importance of psychological safety in the workplace for employee engagement and growth.The role of curiosity and empathy in effective leadership and team dynamics.The significance of delegation and role clarity in leadership practices.The impact of self-awareness on leadership effectiveness and organizational success.Strategies for fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.The challenges of engaging leaders who lack self-awareness or resist seeking help.The need for tailored support for neurodiverse individuals in professional environments.The relationship between leadership practices and business outcomes, including productivity and employee satisfaction.The evolving definition of leadership in various contexts, emphasizing collaboration and partnership over authority.PM COLLECTIVE - GUIDE AND SHAPE AN ENJOYABLE FUTUREWe believe in making industry-leading education and support accessible to everyone. Our community is packed with free resources, expert insights, and innovative training designed to help business owners, property managers, and BDMs thrive. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Plumbing Bros This podcast is kindly sponsored by The Associates Co. The Associates Co provides fully trained professionals to assist you with scaling your property management department. They are ready to hit the ground running! Once a luxury, VA's are now a staple in every business, whether you are managing 5 properties or 500+Head over to www.theassociatesco.comSupport the show

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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:

What if the wisdom you seek exists outside the limits of your own mind? What if communication with non-physical entities is not just lore, but a fundamental human capacity now being rigorously tested by science?Welcome to Beyond the Veil, the podcast that dives deep into the most enduring mysteries of consciousness: channeling and mediumship.Channeling, broadly defined, is the communication of information to or through a physically embodied human being, from a source that is said to exist on some other level or dimension of reality than the physical as we know it, and that is not from the normal mind (or self) of the channel. This capacity stretches back thousands of years to the practices of shamans in aboriginal cultures and includes figures identified as channels such as Moses, Muhammad, Merlin, Nostradamus, and Emanuel Swedenborg. Even the roots of all the world's great religions contain channeling phenomena.Today, the scientific community is taking up the challenge using rigorous controlled methods. Researchers employ proxy sitters and apply stringent blinding protocols—including double, triple, and even quintuple-blind conditions—to eliminate all conventional explanations, such as rater bias, fraud, or cold reading, when evaluating anomalous information.The findings are compelling. Controlled studies using blinded evaluations have demonstrated statistically significant results indicating Anomalous Information Reception (AIR). In one study focusing on readings provided by mediums, the results were highly significant, yielding a z score of -3.89 (p < 0.0001).However, the question of how this anomalous information is received remains fiercely debated. Is accurate knowledge proof of the survival of consciousness—meaning the personality of the deceased persists beyond death? Or is it evidence for Super-Psi, suggesting the medium is tapping into a non-local psychic reservoir, a universal mind or group consciousness? Since the theoretical limits of living psychic ability are currently unknown, distinguishing between survival and Super-Psi is incredibly difficult. Adding to the complexity are the physiological realities. Research comparing trance and non-trance states generally finds no substantive differences in EEG, ECG, or galvanic skin response (GSR). However, voice analysis reveals marked changes, including significantly slower speech pace and lower valence (a measure of positive vs. negative attitude) during the channeling state. Psychologically, channelers often score higher on paranormal belief and experience and sensitivity, yet their scores for dissociative or psychotic symptoms remain below clinical cutoffs. The content of these communications, ranging from “ageless wisdom” and the “nature of reality” to specific suggestions for advancing channeling research, challenges our entire worldview. Join Beyond the Veil to explore the frontiers of human consciousness, examine the strict science used to validate these claims, and seek answers to the fundamental question: Is our mind merely a local phenomenon, or are we interdependent parts of an overall single Universal Mind?Listen now, and decide what truly lies beyond the veil.

This week, Jenny and James explore recent conversations that didn't go as well as they could have, because of different types of failures in the words we chose to use or the things we chose to reveal. Building on the work of recent guest Amy Edmondson, we look at the way that people in fearless organizations can talk—using the conversations that you have to frame the work, emphasize shared purpose to create joy even in everyday work, and demonstrate that you don't think you have all the answers. Workout of the week: Observe for conversations where you feel unclear—what was the point of this meeting, why are we having this conversation, what are our goals of care for this patient? Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72gzzWGegiXd9i2G6UJ0kP Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-center-for-medical-simulation/id1279266822 Leadership Coaching from Jenny Rudolph: https://harvardmedsim.org/personal-leadership-coaching-with-jenny-rudolph/

In this episode we welcome back friend of the podcast Carlton Turner to discuss the themes of his recent research on psychology, race and trauma in the church. We reflect a little on our work on race and wellbeing in the church of England, and then think about abuses of power, racism and the health of institutions. Thanks for joining me again and I hope you find it interesting!Trigger warning: we do not discuss individual cases of racial trauma but themes of racal trauma, racism and health disparities are discussed at various points.

The research career is hard in a way that's not often talked about. It's not just intellectually difficult — it's personally difficult. It functions a lot like entrepreneurship. You are left entirely to your own demise. You have near-total autonomy, and what that does is amplify whatever your default tendencies are.If you are a high-anxiety person — which describes a large number of successful researchers — you will likely internalize everything. You'll obsess, push harder, and feel like the world will fall apart if you don't accomplish something today. That's often why people succeed. But it also means you can burn yourself out or break down completely. The anxiety becomes the thing that eats you alive.On the flip side, if you are naturally more relaxed or chill, it's easy to default to avoidance. You just won't get much done. You tell yourself it'll be fine — and nothing happens. And nobody is really there to push you, because there's nobody watching.The whole system reinforces whatever your crutch is. If you're prone to loneliness, you'll feel it more. If you're prone to overwork, you'll overwork. If you need structure, there isn't any. And over time, it becomes clear that the hardest part isn't the research — it's regulating your own head.Most of the damage comes from being left to your own psychology. And that's what makes the research profession so much like building a startup. It's rarely about your ideas. It's whether you can survive being left to yourself.

Send us a textFrom October 13, 2025 until May 5, 2026,  Pluto will resume forward (direct) motion through Aquarius. Stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear what Pluto transiting through Aquarius means for your Zodiac sign!Power doesn't just change hands—it changes shape. With Pluto moving direct in Aquarius, we trace how buried pressure turns into decisive action, why elite control faces a reckoning, and where communities, networks, and technology become engines for reform. We unpack what this generational shift means for collective systems—government, economics, social justice—and for the psychology beneath it all: shadow work, cult dynamics, ego detox, and the phoenix effect of death and rebirth.Pluto is a slow-moving generational planet, but as the ruler of power and the collective, its transits signal deep transformation both globally and personally. As Pluto moves direct in Aquarius, we'll see major shifts in the collective—energies rising to the surface, systems breaking down, and new ones emerging. This is a time of death, rebirth, and purification—both outwardly in society and inwardly within our psyches.Psychologically, Pluto exposes distortions in perception and brings unconscious material to light. We may see this reflected in public figures as well as within ourselves. Pluto's direct motion in late 2025 through mid-2026 activates those with early fixed sign placements—Aquarius (January 20–25), Taurus (April 20–26), Leo (July 21–26), and Scorpio (October 22–26). These individuals will feel Pluto's transformative power most personally.In Vedic terms, Pluto carries the archetype of Shiva, the cosmic force of destruction and renewal. Its transits dismantle ego attachments and demand surrender—reminding us that we cannot take our illusions or control with us. During Pluto's retrograde from May through October 13, 2025, much of this work happened internally: hidden patterns surfaced, inner shadows were confronted, and old power dynamics were dissolved.Book a reading with Professional Astrologer: www.jilljardineastrology.comGet ready for the upcoming astrological shifts by getting your own Cosmic Tower!  https://thewellnessenterprise.com/product/cosmic-tower/?twe=AquarianWaveIntroducing the Cosmic Tower — a revolutionary energy harmonizing device designed to uplift your space, restore vitality, and bring coherence to your life. It's like plugging into the cosmos right from your living room.  These towers are transforming homes, clearing EMFs, and awakening higher frequencies — and now, you can experience it for yourself. Check out TheWellnessEnterprise.com and tap into the frequency of the future. Use code COSMIC10 at checkout for 10% off your own Cosmic Tower.Support the show

Porn is more than simple to either appreciate or explain, especially when it hurts another. Not talking doesn't HELP. But if ONLY one wants to talk, then Psychological Counseling can.Contact Us: TheWORDHouse.com; DrMDClay@The WORDHouse.com; @WORDHouse; or call 304-523-9673 (WORD).

Today's guest is Meg Adams!Meg is Senior Director of Engineering for the New York Times. With Meg, we talked about her fantastic journey in tech, from management in sales and retail, to learning software development from scratch, to management again, but this time in technology. And then we especially talked about Neuro Leadership, what it is, how you can apply it in practice in your team processes, and how things are different for ICs versus managers, and how you scale all of this to your whole organization.(01:22) Introduction(01:38) Meg's journey in tech(06:03) Managing skills in individual contribution(09:32) What is Neuroleadership?(11:06) Neuroleadership in tech(14:12) The SCARF model(21:18) Applying the SCARF(27:29) Designing good communication(30:42) Psychological safety(35:10) Identifying a threat(38:28) Making SCARF model part of a culture(41:27) A good example: Meg's time at Etsy—This episode is brought to you by Augment Code! Augment Code is the only AI engineering platform built for real engineering teams.Learn more at augmentcode.com!—You can also find this at:•

In the current climate, maintaining psychological safety in law departments requires much more than box-ticking – a stronger focus on culture, and use of AI to ensure greater focus on human issues, is paramount moving forward, says an Award-Winning and GC Powerlisted Group General Counsel. In this episode of The Corporate Counsel Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back former group GC of Tabcorp, Ivana Kovacevic, who now serves as a fractional GC and advisory board member for Thomson Reuters Practical Law, and keynote speaker, to discuss the importance of building psychological safety in legal teams in the current climate, her perception of what constitutes psychological safety for law departments, and how well the in-house sector is faring when it comes to ensuring such safety. Kovacevic also delves into the need to move beyond compliance box-ticking, the urgency is prioritising psychological safety, the starting point for in-house teams in creating and maintaining psychologically safe working environments, catering to idiosyncratic needs within one's team, practical steps she has taken within her own teams and what has worked, making time to implement changes, using AI to take a more human approach, leading by example, and the need to be curious and vulnerable. If you like this episode, show your support by  rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!

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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

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

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

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

Last time we spoke about the surrender of Japan. Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender on August 15, prompting mixed public reactions: grief, shock, and sympathy for the Emperor, tempered by fear of hardship and occupation. The government's response included resignations and suicide as new leadership was brought in under Prime Minister Higashikuni, with Mamoru Shigemitsu as Foreign Minister and Kawabe Torashiro heading a delegation to Manila. General MacArthur directed the occupation plan, “Blacklist,” prioritizing rapid, phased entry into key Japanese areas and Korea, while demobilizing enemy forces. The surrender ceremony occurred aboard the Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, with Wainwright, Percival, Nimitz, and UN representatives in attendance. Civilians and soldiers across Asia began surrendering, and postwar rehabilitation, Indochina and Vietnam's independence movements, and Southeast Asian transitions rapidly unfolded as Allied forces established control. This episode is the Aftermath of the Pacific War Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, 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 world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two 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 you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  The Pacific War has ended. Peace has been restored by the Allies and most of the places conquered by the Japanese Empire have been liberated. In this post-war period, new challenges would be faced for those who won the war; and from the ashes of an empire, a defeated nation was also seeking to rebuild. As the Japanese demobilized their armed forces, many young boys were set to return to their homeland, even if they had previously thought that they wouldn't survive the ordeal. And yet, there were some cases of isolated men that would continue to fight for decades even, unaware that the war had already ended.  As we last saw, after the Japanese surrender, General MacArthur's forces began the occupation of the Japanese home islands, while their overseas empire was being dismantled by the Allies. To handle civil administration, MacArthur established the Military Government Section, commanded by Brigadier-General William Crist, staffed by hundreds of US experts trained in civil governance who were reassigned from Okinawa and the Philippines. As the occupation began, Americans dispatched tactical units and Military Government Teams to each prefecture to ensure that policies were faithfully carried out. By mid-September, General Eichelberger's 8th Army had taken over the Tokyo Bay region and began deploying to occupy Hokkaido and the northern half of Honshu. Then General Krueger's 6th Army arrived in late September, taking southern Honshu and Shikoku, with its base in Kyoto. In December, 6th Army was relieved of its occupation duties; in January 1946, it was deactivated, leaving the 8th Army as the main garrison force. By late 1945, about 430,000 American soldiers were garrisoned across Japan. President Truman approved inviting Allied involvement on American terms, with occupation armies integrated into a US command structure. Yet with the Chinese civil war and Russia's reluctance to place its forces under MacArthur's control, only Australia, Britain, India, and New Zealand sent brigades, more than 40,000 troops in southwestern Japan. Japanese troops were gradually disarmed by order of their own commanders, so the stigma of surrender would be less keenly felt by the individual soldier. In the homeland, about 1.5 million men were discharged and returned home by the end of August. Demobilization overseas, however, proceeded, not quickly, but as a long, difficult process of repatriation. In compliance with General Order No. 1, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters disbanded on September 13 and was superseded by the Japanese War Department to manage demobilization. By November 1, the homeland had demobilized 2,228,761 personnel, roughly 97% of the Homeland Army. Yet some 6,413,215 men remained to be repatriated from overseas. On December 1, the Japanese War Ministry dissolved, and the First Demobilization Ministry took its place. The Second Demobilization Ministry was established to handle IJN demobilization, with 1,299,868 sailors, 81% of the Navy, demobilized by December 17. Japanese warships and merchant ships had their weapons rendered inoperative, and suicide craft were destroyed. Forty percent of naval vessels were allocated to evacuations in the Philippines, and 60% to evacuations of other Pacific islands. This effort eventually repatriated about 823,984 men to Japan by February 15, 1946. As repatriation accelerated, by October 15 only 1,909,401 men remained to be repatriated, most of them in the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the Higashikuni Cabinet and Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru managed to persuade MacArthur not to impose direct military rule or martial law over all of Japan. Instead, the occupation would be indirect, guided by the Japanese government under the Emperor's direction. An early decision to feed occupation forces from American supplies, and to allow the Japanese to use their own limited food stores, helped ease a core fear: that Imperial forces would impose forced deliveries on the people they conquered. On September 17, MacArthur transferred his headquarters from Yokohama to Tokyo, setting up primary offices on the sixth floor of the Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Building, an imposing edifice overlooking the moat and the Imperial palace grounds in Hibiya, a symbolic heart of the nation.  While the average soldier did not fit the rapacious image of wartime Japanese propagandists, occupation personnel often behaved like neo-colonial overlords. The conquerors claimed privileges unimaginable to most Japanese. Entire trains and train compartments, fitted with dining cars, were set aside for the exclusive use of occupation forces. These silenced, half-empty trains sped past crowded platforms, provoking ire as Japanese passengers were forced to enter and exit packed cars through punched-out windows, or perch on carriage roofs, couplings, and running boards, often with tragic consequences. The luxury express coaches became irresistible targets for anonymous stone-throwers. During the war, retrenchment measures had closed restaurants, cabarets, beer halls, geisha houses, and theatres in Tokyo and other large cities. Now, a vast leisure industry sprang up to cater to the needs of the foreign occupants. Reopened restaurants and theatres, along with train stations, buses, and streetcars, were sometimes kept off limits to Allied personnel, partly for security, partly to avoid burdening Japanese resources, but a costly service infrastructure was built to the occupiers' specifications. Facilities reserved for occupation troops bore large signs reading “Japanese Keep Out” or “For Allied Personnel Only.” In downtown Tokyo, important public buildings requisitioned for occupation use had separate entrances for Americans and Japanese. The effect? A subtle but clear colour bar between the predominantly white conquerors and the conquered “Asiatic” Japanese. Although MacArthur was ready to work through the Japanese government, he lacked the organizational infrastructure to administer a nation of 74 million. Consequently, on October 2, MacArthur dissolved the Military Government Section and inaugurated General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, a separate headquarters focused on civil affairs and operating in tandem with the Army high command. SCAP immediately assumed responsibility for administering the Japanese home islands. It commandeered every large building not burned down to house thousands of civilians and requisitioned vast tracts of prime real estate to quarter several hundred thousand troops in the Tokyo–Yokohama area alone. Amidst the rise of American privilege, entire buildings were refurbished as officers' clubs, replete with slot machines and gambling parlours installed at occupation expense. The Stars and Stripes were hoisted over Tokyo, while the display of the Rising Sun was banned; and the downtown area, known as “Little America,” was transformed into a US enclave. The enclave mentality of this cocooned existence was reinforced by the arrival within the first six months of roughly 700 American families. At the peak of the occupation, about 14,800 families employed some 25,000 Japanese servants to ease the “rigours” of overseas duty. Even enlisted men in the sparse quonset-hut towns around the city lived like kings compared with ordinary Japanese. Japanese workers cleaned barracks, did kitchen chores, and handled other base duties. The lowest private earned a 25% hardship bonus until these special allotments were discontinued in 1949. Most military families quickly adjusted to a pampered lifestyle that went beyond maids and “boys,” including cooks, laundresses, babysitters, gardeners, and masseuses. Perks included spacious quarters with swimming pools, central heating, hot running water, and modern plumbing. Two observers compared GHQ to the British Raj at its height. George F. Kennan, head of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, warned during his 1948 mission to Japan that Americans had monopolized “everything that smacks of comfort or elegance or luxury,” criticizing what he called the “American brand of philistinism” and the “monumental imperviousness” of MacArthur's staff to the Japanese suffering. This conqueror's mentality also showed in the bullying attitudes many top occupation officials displayed toward the Japanese with whom they dealt. Major Faubion Bowers, MacArthur's military secretary, later said, “I and nearly all the occupation people I knew were extremely conceited and extremely arrogant and used our power every inch of the way.” Initially, there were spasms of defiance against the occupation forces, such as anonymous stone-throwing, while armed robbery and minor assaults against occupation personnel were rife in the weeks and months after capitulation. Yet active resistance was neither widespread nor organized. The Americans successfully completed their initial deployment without violence, an astonishing feat given a heavily armed and vastly superior enemy operating on home terrain. The average citizen regarded the occupation as akin to force majeure, the unfortunate but inevitable aftermath of a natural calamity. Japan lay prostrate. Industrial output had fallen to about 10% of pre-war levels, and as late as 1946, more than 13 million remained unemployed. Nearly 40% of Japan's urban areas had been turned to rubble, and some 9 million people were homeless. The war-displaced, many of them orphans, slept in doorways and hallways, in bombed-out ruins, dugouts and packing crates, under bridges or on pavements, and crowded the hallways of train and subway stations. As winter 1945 descended, with food, fuel, and clothing scarce, people froze to death. Bonfires lit the streets to ward off the chill. "The only warm hands I have shaken thus far in Japan belonged to Americans," Mark Gayn noted in December 1945. "The Japanese do not have much of a chance to thaw out, and their hands are cold and red." Unable to afford shoes, many wore straw sandals; those with geta felt themselves privileged. The sight of a man wearing a woman's high-buttoned shoes in winter epitomized the daily struggle to stay dry and warm. Shantytowns built of scrap wood, rusted metal, and scavenged odds and ends sprang up everywhere, resembling vast junk yards. The poorest searched smouldering refuse heaps for castoffs that might be bartered for a scrap to eat or wear. Black markets (yami'ichi) run by Japanese, Koreans, and For-mosans mushroomed to replace collapsed distribution channels and cash in on inflated prices. Tokyo became "a world of scarcity in which every nail, every rag, and even a tangerine peel [had a] market value." Psychologically numbed, disoriented, and disillusioned with their leaders, demobilized veterans and civilians alike struggled to get their bearings, shed militaristic ideologies, and begin to embrace new values. In the vacuum of defeat, the Japanese people appeared ready to reject the past and grasp at the straw held out by the former enemy. Relations between occupier and occupied were not smooth, however. American troops comported themselves like conquerors, especially in the early weeks and months of occupation. Much of the violence was directed against women, with the first attacks beginning within hours after the landing of advance units. When US paratroopers landed in Sapporo, an orgy of looting, sexual violence, and drunken brawling ensued. Newspaper accounts reported 931 serious offences by GIs in the Yokohama area during the first week of occupation, including 487 armed robberies, 411 thefts of currency or goods, 9 rapes, 5 break-ins, 3 cases of assault and battery, and 16 other acts of lawlessness. In the first 10 days of occupation, there were 1,336 reported rapes by US soldiers in Kanagawa Prefecture alone. Americans were not the only perpetrators. A former prostitute recalled that when Australian troops arrived in Kure in early 1946, they “dragged young women into their jeeps, took them to the mountain, and then raped them. I heard them screaming for help nearly every night.” Such behaviour was commonplace, but news of criminal activity by occupation forces was quickly suppressed. On September 10, 1945, SCAP issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of reports and statistics "inimical to the objectives of the occupation." In the sole instance of self-help General Eichelberger records in his memoirs, when locals formed a vigilante group and retaliated against off-duty GIs, 8th Army ordered armored vehicles into the streets and arrested the ringleaders, who received lengthy prison terms. Misbehavior ranged from black-market activity, petty theft, reckless driving, and disorderly conduct to vandalism, arson, murder, and rape. Soldiers and sailors often broke the law with impunity, and incidents of robbery, rape, and even murder were widely reported. Gang rapes and other sex atrocities were not infrequent; victims, shunned as outcasts, sometimes turned to prostitution in desperation, while others took their own lives to avoid bringing shame to their families. Military courts arrested relatively few soldiers for these offenses and convicted even fewer; Japanese attempts at self-defense were punished severely, and restitution for victims was rare. Fearing the worst, Japanese authorities had already prepared countermeasures against the supposed rapacity of foreign soldiers. Imperial troops in East Asia and the Pacific had behaved brutally toward women, so the government established “sexual comfort-stations” manned by geisha, bar hostesses, and prostitutes to “satisfy the lust of the Occupation forces,” as the Higashikuni Cabinet put it. A budget of 100 million yen was set aside for these Recreation and Amusement Associations, financed initially with public funds but run as private enterprises under police supervision. Through these, the government hoped to protect the daughters of the well-born and middle class by turning to lower-class women to satisfy the soldiers' sexual appetites. By the end of 1945, brothel operators had rounded up an estimated 20,000 young women and herded them into RAA establishments nationwide. Eventually, as many as 70,000 are said to have ended up in the state-run sex industry. Thankfully, as military discipline took hold and fresh troops replaced the Allied veterans responsible for the early crime wave, violence subsided and the occupier's patronising behavior and the ugly misdeeds of a lawless few were gradually overlooked. However, fraternisation was frowned upon by both sides, and segregation was practiced in principle, with the Japanese excluded from areas reserved for Allied personnel until September 1949, when MacArthur lifted virtually all restrictions on friendly association, stating that he was “establishing the same relations between occupation personnel and the Japanese population as exists between troops stationed in the United States and the American people.” In principle, the Occupation's administrative structure was highly complex. The Far Eastern Commission, based in Washington, included representatives from all 13 countries that had fought against Japan and was established in 1946 to formulate basic principles. The Allied Council for Japan was created in the same year to assist in developing and implementing surrender terms and in administering the country. It consisted of representatives from the USA, the USSR, Nationalist China, and the British Commonwealth. Although both bodies were active at first, they were largely ineffectual due to unwieldy decision-making, disagreements between the national delegations (especially the USA and USSR), and the obstructionism of General Douglas MacArthur. In practice, SCAP, the executive authority of the occupation, effectively ruled Japan from 1945 to 1952. And since it took orders only from the US government, the Occupation became primarily an American affair. The US occupation program, effectively carried out by SCAP, was revolutionary and rested on a two-pronged approach. To ensure Japan would never again become a menace to the United States or to world peace, SCAP pursued disarmament and demilitarization, with continuing control over Japan's capacity to make war. This involved destroying military supplies and installations, demobilizing more than five million Japanese soldiers, and thoroughly discrediting the military establishment. Accordingly, SCAP ordered the purge of tens of thousands of designated persons from public service positions, including accused war criminals, military officers, leaders of ultranationalist societies, leaders in the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, business leaders tied to overseas expansion, governors of former Japanese colonies, and national leaders who had steered Japan into war. In addition, MacArthur's International Military Tribunal for the Far East established a military court in Tokyo. It had jurisdiction over those charged with Class A crimes, top leaders who had planned and directed the war. Also considered were Class B charges, covering conventional war crimes, and Class C charges, covering crimes against humanity. Yet the military court in Tokyo wouldn't be the only one. More than 5,700 lower-ranking personnel were charged with conventional war crimes in separate trials convened by Australia, China, France, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of the 5,700 Japanese individuals indicted for Class B war crimes, 984 were sentenced to death; 475 received life sentences; 2,944 were given more limited prison terms; 1,018 were acquitted; and 279 were never brought to trial or not sentenced. Among these, many, like General Ando Rikichi and Lieutenant-General Nomi Toshio, chose to commit suicide before facing prosecution. Notable cases include Lieutenant-General Tani Hisao, who was sentenced to death by the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal for his role in the Nanjing Massacre; Lieutenant-General Sakai Takashi, who was executed in Nanjing for the murder of British and Chinese civilians during the occupation of Hong Kong. General Okamura Yasuji was convicted of war crimes by the Tribunal, yet he was immediately protected by the personal order of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek, who kept him as a military adviser for the Kuomintang. In the Manila trials, General Yamashita Tomoyuki was sentenced to death as he was in overall command during the Sook Ching massacre, the Rape of Manila, and other atrocities. Lieutenant-General Homma Masaharu was likewise executed in Manila for atrocities committed by troops under his command during the Bataan Death March. General Imamura Hitoshi was sentenced to ten years in prison, but he considered the punishment too light and even had a replica of the prison built in his garden, remaining there until his death in 1968. Lieutenant-General Kanda Masatane received a 14-year sentence for war crimes on Bougainville, though he served only four years. Lieutenant-General Adachi Hatazo was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in New Guinea and subsequently committed suicide on September 10, 1947. Lieutenant-General Teshima Fusataro received three years of forced labour for using a hospital ship to transport troops. Lieutenant-General Baba Masao was sentenced to death for ordering the Sandakan Death Marches, during which over 2,200 Australian and British prisoners of war perished. Lieutenant-General Tanabe Moritake was sentenced to death by a Dutch military tribunal for unspecified war crimes. Rear-Admiral Sakaibara Shigematsu was executed in Guam for ordering the Wake Island massacre, in which 98 American civilians were murdered. Lieutenant-General Inoue Sadae was condemned to death in Guam for permitting subordinates to execute three downed American airmen captured in Palau, though his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1951 and he was released in 1953. Lieutenant-General Tachibana Yoshio was sentenced to death in Guam for his role in the Chichijima Incident, in which eight American airmen were cannibalized. By mid-1945, due to the Allied naval blockade, the 25,000 Japanese troops on Chichijima had run low on supplies. However, although the daily rice ration had been reduced from 400 grams per person per day to 240 grams, the troops were not at risk of starvation. In February and March 1945, in what would later be called the Chichijima incident, Tachibana Yoshio's senior staff turned to cannibalism. Nine American airmen had escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids on Chichijima, eight of whom were captured. The ninth, the only one to evade capture, was future US President George H. W. Bush, then a 20-year-old pilot. Over several months, the prisoners were executed, and reportedly by the order of Major Matoba Sueyo, their bodies were butchered by the division's medical orderlies, with the livers and other organs consumed by the senior staff, including Matoba's superior Tachibana. In the Yokohama War Crimes Trials, Lieutenant-Generals Inada Masazumi and Yokoyama Isamu were convicted for their complicity in vivisection and other human medical experiments performed at Kyushu Imperial University on downed Allied airmen. The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, which began in May 1946 and lasted two and a half years, resulted in the execution by hanging of Generals Doihara Kenji and Itagaki Seishiro, and former Prime Ministers Hirota Koki and Tojo Hideki, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace, specifically for the escalation of the Pacific War and for permitting the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war. Also sentenced to death were Lieutenant-General Muto Akira for his role in the Nanjing and Manila massacres; General Kimura Heitaro for planning the war strategy in China and Southeast Asia and for laxity in preventing atrocities against prisoners of war in Burma; and General Matsui Iwane for his involvement in the Rape of Nanjing. The seven defendants who were sentenced to death were executed at Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro on December 23, 1948. Sixteen others were sentenced to life imprisonment, including the last Field Marshal Hata Shunroku, Generals Araki Sadao, Minami Hiro, and Umezu Shojiro, Admiral Shimada Shigetaro, former Prime Ministers Hiranuma Kiichiro and Koiso Kuniaki, Marquis Kido Koichi, and Colonel Hashimoto Kingoro, a major instigator of the second Sino-Japanese War. Additionally, former Foreign Ministers Togo Shigenori and Shigemitsu Mamoru received seven- and twenty-year sentences, respectively. The Soviet Union and Chinese Communist forces also held trials of Japanese war criminals, including the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials, which tried and found guilty some members of Japan's bacteriological and chemical warfare unit known as Unit 731. However, those who surrendered to the Americans were never brought to trial, as MacArthur granted immunity to Lieutenant-General Ishii Shiro and all members of the bacteriological research units in exchange for germ-w warfare data derived from human experimentation. If you would like to learn more about what I like to call Japan's Operation Paper clip, whereupon the US grabbed many scientists from Unit 731, check out my exclusive podcast. The SCAP-turn to democratization began with the drafting of a new constitution in 1947, addressing Japan's enduring feudal social structure. In the charter, sovereignty was vested in the people, and the emperor was designated a “symbol of the state and the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people in whom resides sovereign power.” Because the emperor now possessed fewer powers than European constitutional monarchs, some have gone so far as to say that Japan became “a republic in fact if not in name.” Yet the retention of the emperor was, in fact, a compromise that suited both those who wanted to preserve the essence of the nation for stability and those who demanded that the emperor system, though not necessarily the emperor, should be expunged. In line with the democratic spirit of the new constitution, the peerage was abolished and the two-chamber Diet, to which the cabinet was now responsible, became the highest organ of state. The judiciary was made independent and local autonomy was granted in vital areas of jurisdiction such as education and the police. Moreover, the constitution stipulated that “the people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights,” that they “shall be respected as individuals,” and that “their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall … be the supreme consideration in legislation.” Its 29 articles guaranteed basic human rights: equality, freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin, freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Finally, in its most controversial section, Article 9, the “peace clause,” Japan “renounce[d] war as a sovereign right of the nation” and vowed not to maintain any military forces and “other war potential.” To instill a thoroughly democratic ethos, reforms touched every facet of society. The dissolution of the zaibatsu decentralised economic power; the 1945 Labour Union Law and the 1946 Labour Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to collective action; the 1947 Labour Standards Law established basic working standards for men and women; and the revised Civil Code of 1948 abolished the patriarchal household and enshrined sexual equality. Reflecting core American principles, SCAP introduced a 6-3-3 schooling system, six years of compulsory elementary education, three years of junior high, and an optional three years of senior high, along with the aim of secular, locally controlled education. More crucially, ideological reform followed: censorship of feudal material in media, revision of textbooks, and prohibition of ideas glorifying war, dying for the emperor, or venerating war heroes. With women enfranchised and young people shaped to counter militarism and ultranationalism, rural Japan was transformed to undermine lingering class divisions. The land reform program provided for the purchase of all land held by absentee landlords, allowed resident landlords and owner-farmers to retain a set amount of land, and required that the remaining land be sold to the government so it could be offered to existing tenants. In 1948, amid the intensifying tensions of the Cold War that would soon culminate in the Korean War, the occupation's focus shifted from demilitarization and democratization toward economic rehabilitation and, ultimately, the remilitarization of Japan, an shift now known as the “Reverse Course.” The country was thus rebuilt as the Pacific region's primary bulwark against the spread of Communism. An Economic Stabilisation Programme was introduced, including a five-year plan to coordinate production and target capital through the Reconstruction Finance Bank. In 1949, the anti-inflationary Dodge Plan was adopted, advocating balanced budgets, fixing the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar, and ending broad government intervention. Additionally, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was formed and supported the formation of conglomerates centered around banks, which encouraged the reemergence of a somewhat weakened set of zaibatsu, including Mitsui and Mitsubishi. By the end of the Occupation era, Japan was on the verge of surpassing its 1934–1936 levels of economic growth. Equally important was Japan's rearmament in alignment with American foreign policy: a National Police Reserve of about 75,000 was created with the outbreak of the Korean War; by 1952 it had expanded to 110,000 and was renamed the Self-Defense Force after the inclusion of an air force. However, the Reverse Course also facilitated the reestablishment of conservative politics and the rollback of gains made by women and the reforms of local autonomy and education. As the Occupation progressed, the Americans permitted greater Japanese initiative, and power gradually shifted from the reformers to the moderates. By 1949, the purge of the right came under review, and many who had been condemned began returning to influence, if not to the Diet, then to behind-the-scenes power. At the same time, Japanese authorities, with MacArthur's support, began purging left-wing activists. In June 1950, for example, the central office of the Japan Communist Party and the editorial board of The Red Flag were purged. The gains made by women also seemed to be reversed. Women were elected to 8% of available seats in the first lower-house election in 1946, but to only 2% in 1952, a trend not reversed until the so-called Madonna Boom of the 1980s. Although the number of women voting continued to rise, female politicisation remained more superficial than might be imagined. Women's employment also appeared little affected by labour legislation: though women formed nearly 40% of the labor force in 1952, they earned only 45% as much as men. Indeed, women's attitudes toward labor were influenced less by the new ethos of fulfilling individual potential than by traditional views of family and workplace responsibilities. In the areas of local autonomy and education, substantial modifications were made to the reforms. Because local authorities lacked sufficient power to tax, they were unable to realise their extensive powers, and, as a result, key responsibilities were transferred back to national jurisdiction. In 1951, for example, 90% of villages and towns placed their police forces under the control of the newly formed National Police Agency. Central control over education was also gradually reasserted; in 1951, the Yoshida government attempted to reintroduce ethics classes, proposed tighter central oversight of textbooks, and recommended abolishing local school board elections. By the end of the decade, all these changes had been implemented. The Soviet occupation of the Kurile Islands and the Habomai Islets was completed with Russian troops fully deployed by September 5. Immediately after the onset of the occupation, amid a climate of insecurity and fear marked by reports of sporadic rape and physical assault and widespread looting by occupying troops, an estimated 4,000 islanders fled to Hokkaido rather than face an uncertain repatriation. As Soviet forces moved in, they seized or destroyed telephone and telegraph installations and halted ship movements into and out of the islands, leaving residents without adequate food and other winter provisions. Yet, unlike Manchuria, where Japanese civilians faced widespread sexual violence and pillage, systematic violence against the civilian population on the Kuriles appears to have been exceptional. A series of military government proclamations assured islanders of safety so long as they did not resist Soviet rule and carried on normally; however, these orders also prohibited activities not explicitly authorized by the Red Army, which imposed many hardships on civilians. Residents endured harsh conditions under Soviet rule until late 1948, when Japanese repatriation out of the Kurils was completed. The Kuriles posed a special diplomatic problem, as the occupation of the southernmost islands—the Northern Territories—ignited a long-standing dispute between Tokyo and Moscow that continues to impede the normalisation of relations today. Although the Kuriles were promised to the Soviet Union in the Yalta agreement, Japan and the United States argued that this did not apply to the Northern Territories, since they were not part of the Kurile Islands. A substantial dispute regarding the status of the Kurile Islands arose between the United States and the Soviet Union during the preparation of the Treaty of San Francisco, which was intended as a permanent peace treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers of World War II. The treaty was ultimately signed by 49 nations in San Francisco on September 8, 1951, and came into force on April 28, 1952. It ended Japan's role as an imperial power, allocated compensation to Allied nations and former prisoners of war who had suffered Japanese war crimes, ended the Allied post-war occupation of Japan, and returned full sovereignty to Japan. Effectively, the document officially renounced Japan's treaty rights derived from the Boxer Protocol of 1901 and its rights to Korea, Formosa and the Pescadores, the Kurile Islands, the Spratly Islands, Antarctica, and South Sakhalin. Japan's South Seas Mandate, namely the Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, and Caroline Islands, had already been formally revoked by the United Nations on July 18, 1947, making the United States responsible for administration of those islands under a UN trusteeship agreement that established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In turn, the Bonin, Volcano, and Ryukyu Islands were progressively restored to Japan between 1953 and 1972, along with the Senkaku Islands, which were disputed by both Communist and Nationalist China. In addition, alongside the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan and the United States signed a Security Treaty that established a long-lasting military alliance between them. Although Japan renounced its rights to the Kuriles, the U.S. State Department later clarified that “the Habomai Islands and Shikotan ... are properly part of Hokkaido and that Japan is entitled to sovereignty over them,” hence why the Soviets refused to sign the treaty. Britain and the United States agreed that territorial rights would not be granted to nations that did not sign the Treaty of San Francisco, and as a result the Kurile Islands were not formally recognized as Soviet territory. A separate peace treaty, the Treaty of Taipei (formally the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty), was signed in Taipei on April 28, 1952 between Japan and the Kuomintang, and on June 9 of that year the Treaty of Peace Between Japan and India followed. Finally, Japan and the Soviet Union ended their formal state of war with the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, though this did not settle the Kurile Islands dispute. Even after these formal steps, Japan as a nation was not in a formal state of war, and many Japanese continued to believe the war was ongoing; those who held out after the surrender came to be known as Japanese holdouts.  Captain Oba Sakae and his medical company participated in the Saipan campaign beginning on July 7, 1944, and took part in what would become the largest banzai charge of the Pacific War. After 15 hours of intense hand-to-hand combat, almost 4,300 Japanese soldiers were dead, and Oba and his men were presumed among them. In reality, however, he survived the battle and gradually assumed command of over a hundred additional soldiers. Only five men from his original unit survived the battle, two of whom died in the following months. Oba then led over 200 Japanese civilians deeper into the jungles to evade capture, organizing them into mountain caves and hidden jungle villages. When the soldiers were not assisting the civilians with survival tasks, Oba and his men continued their battle against the garrison of US Marines. He used the 1,552‑ft Mount Tapochau as their primary base, which offered an unobstructed 360-degree view of the island. From their base camp on the western slope of the mountain, Oba and his men occasionally conducted guerrilla-style raids on American positions. Due to the speed and stealth of these operations, and the Marines' frustrated attempts to find him, the Saipan Marines eventually referred to Oba as “The Fox.” Oba and his men held out on the island for 512 days, or about 16 months. On November 27, 1945, former Major-General Amo Umahachi was able to draw out some of the Japanese in hiding by singing the anthem of the Japanese infantry branch. Amo was then able to present documents from the defunct IGHQ to Oba ordering him and his 46 remaining men to surrender themselves to the Americans. On December 1, the Japanese soldiers gathered on Tapochau and sang a song of departure to the spirits of the war dead; Oba led his people out of the jungle and they presented themselves to the Marines of the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Company. With great formality and commensurate dignity, Oba surrendered his sword to Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Kirgis, and his men surrendered their arms and colors. On January 2, 1946, 20 Japanese soldiers hiding in a tunnel at Corregidor Island surrendered after learning the war had ended from a newspaper found while collecting water. In that same month, 120 Japanese were routed after a battle in the mountains 150 miles south of Manila. In April, during a seven-week campaign to clear Lubang Island, 41 more Japanese emerged from the jungle, unaware that the war had ended; however, a group of four Japanese continued to resist. In early 1947, Lieutenant Yamaguchi Ei and his band of 33 soldiers renewed fighting with the small Marine garrison on Peleliu, prompting reinforcements under Rear-Admiral Charles Pownall to be brought to the island to hunt down the guerrilla group. Along with them came former Rear-Admiral Sumikawa Michio, who ultimately convinced Yamaguchi to surrender in April after almost three years of guerrilla warfare. Also in April, seven Japanese emerged from Palawan Island and fifteen armed stragglers emerged from Luzon. In January 1948, 200 troops surrendered on Mindanao; and on May 12, the Associated Press reported that two unnamed Japanese soldiers had surrendered to civilian policemen in Guam the day before. On January 6, 1949, two former IJN soldiers, machine gunners Matsudo Rikio and Yamakage Kufuku, were discovered on Iwo Jima and surrendered peacefully. In March 1950, Private Akatsu Yūichi surrendered in the village of Looc, leaving only three Japanese still resisting on Lubang. By 1951 a group of Japanese on Anatahan Island refused to believe that the war was over and resisted every attempt by the Navy to remove them. This group was first discovered in February 1945, when several Chamorros from Saipan were sent to the island to recover the bodies of a Saipan-based B-29. The Chamorros reported that there were about thirty Japanese survivors from three ships sunk in June 1944, one of which was an Okinawan woman. Personal aggravations developed from the close confines of a small group on a small island and from tuba drinking; among the holdouts, 6 of 11 deaths were the result of violence, and one man displayed 13 knife wounds. The presence of only one woman, Higa Kazuko, caused considerable difficulty as she would transfer her affections among at least four men after each of them mysteriously disappeared, purportedly “swallowed by the waves while fishing.” According to the more sensational versions of the Anatahan tale, 11 of the 30 navy sailors stranded on the island died due to violent struggles over her affections. In July 1950, Higa went to the beach when an American vessel appeared offshore and finally asked to be removed from the island. She was taken to Saipan aboard the Miss Susie and, upon arrival, told authorities that the men on the island did not believe the war was over. As the Japanese government showed interest in the situation on Anatahan, the families of the holdouts were contacted in Japan and urged by the Navy to write letters stating that the war was over and that the holdouts should surrender. The letters were dropped by air on June 26 and ultimately convinced the holdouts to give themselves up. Thus, six years after the end of World War II, “Operation Removal” commenced from Saipan under the command of Lt. Commander James B. Johnson, USNR, aboard the Navy Tug USS Cocopa. Johnson and an interpreter went ashore by rubber boat and formally accepted the surrender on the morning of June 30, 1951. The Anatahan femme fatale story later inspired the 1953 Japanese film Anatahan and the 1998 novel Cage on the Sea. In 1953, Murata Susumu, the last holdout on Tinian, was finally captured. The next year, on May 7, Corporal Sumada Shoichi was killed in a clash with Filipino soldiers, leaving only two Japanese still resisting on Lubang. In November 1955, Seaman Kinoshita Noboru was captured in the Luzon jungle but soon after committed suicide rather than “return to Japan in defeat.” That same year, four Japanese airmen surrendered at Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea; and in 1956, nine soldiers were located and sent home from Morotai, while four men surrendered on Mindoro. In May 1960, Sergeant Ito Masashi became one of the last Japanese to surrender at Guam after the capture of his comrade Private Minagawa Bunzo, but the final surrender at Guam would come later with Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi. Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi survived in the jungles of Guam by living for years in an elaborately dug hole, subsisting on snails and lizards, a fate that, while undignified, showcased his ingenuity and resilience and earned him a warm welcome on his return to Japan. His capture was not heroic in the traditional sense: he was found half-starving by a group of villagers while foraging for shrimp in a stream, and the broader context included his awareness as early as 1952 that the war had ended. He explained that the wartime bushido code, emphasizing self-sacrifice or suicide rather than self-preservation, had left him fearing that repatriation would label him a deserter and likely lead to execution. Emerging from the jungle, Yokoi also became a vocal critic of Japan's wartime leadership, including Emperor Hirohito, which fits a view of him as a product of, and a prisoner within, his own education, military training, and the censorship and propaganda of the era. When asked by a young nephew how he survived so long on an island just a short distance from a major American airbase, he replied simply, “I was really good at hide and seek.”  That same year, Private Kozuka Kinshichi was killed in a shootout with Philippine police in October, leaving Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo still resisting on Lubang. Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo had been on Lubang since 1944, a few months before the Americans retook the Philippines. The last instructions he had received from his immediate superior ordered him to retreat to the interior of the island and harass the Allied occupying forces until the IJA eventually returned. Despite efforts by the Philippine Army, letters and newspapers left for him, radio broadcasts, and even a plea from Onoda's brother, he did not believe the war was over. On February 20, 1974, Onoda encountered a young Japanese university dropout named Suzuki Norio, who was traveling the world and had told friends that he planned to “look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the abominable snowman, in that order.” The two became friends, but Onoda stated that he was waiting for orders from one of his commanders. On March 9, 1974, Onoda went to an agreed-upon place and found a note left by Suzuki. Suzuki had brought along Onoda's former commander, Major Taniguchi, who delivered the oral orders for Onoda to surrender. Intelligence Officer 2nd Lt. Onoda Hiroo thus emerged from Lubang's jungle with his .25 caliber rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand grenades. He surrendered 29 years after Japan's formal surrender, and 15 years after being declared legally dead in Japan. When he accepted that the war was over, he wept openly. He received a hero's welcome upon his return to Japan in 1974. The Japanese government offered him a large sum of money in back pay, which he refused. When money was pressed on him by well-wishers, he donated it to Yasukuni Shrine. Onoda was reportedly unhappy with the attention and what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. He wrote No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, a best-selling autobiography published in 1974. Yet the last Japanese to surrender would be Private Nakamura Teruo, an Amis aborigine from Formosa and a member of the Takasago Volunteers. Private Nakamura Teruo spent the tail end of World War II with a dwindling band on Morotai, repeatedly dispersing and reassembling in the jungle as they hunted for food. The group suffered continuous losses to starvation and disease, and survivors described Nakamura as highly self-sufficient. He left to live alone somewhere in the Morotai highlands between 1946 and 1947, rejoined the main group in 1950, and then disappeared again a few years later. Nakamura hinted in print that he fled into the jungle because he feared the other holdouts might murder him. He survives for decades beyond the war, eventually being found by 11 Indonesian soldiers. The emergence of an indigenous Taiwanese soldier among the search party embarrassed Japan as it sought to move past its imperial past. Many Japanese felt Nakamura deserved compensation for decades of loyalty, only to learn that his back pay for three decades of service amounted to 68,000 yen.   Nakamura's experience of peace was complex. When a journalist asked how he felt about “wasting” three decades of his life on Morotai, he replied that the years had not been wasted; he had been serving his country. Yet the country he returned to was Taiwan, and upon disembarking in Taipei in early January 1975, he learned that his wife had a son he had never met and that she had remarried a decade after his official death. Nakamura eventually lived with a daughter, and his story concluded with a bittersweet note when his wife reconsidered and reconciled with him. Several Japanese soldiers joined local Communist and insurgent groups after the war to avoid surrender. Notably, in 1956 and 1958, two soldiers returned to Japan after service in China's People's Liberation Army. Two others who defected with a larger group to the Malayan Communist Party around 1945 laid down their arms in 1989 and repatriated the next year, becoming among the last to return home. That is all for today, but fear not I will provide a few more goodies over the next few weeks. I will be releasing some of my exclusive podcast episodes from my youtube membership and patreon that are about pacific war subjects. Like I promised the first one will be on why Emperor Hirohito surrendered. Until then if you need your fix you know where to find me: eastern front week by week, fall and rise of china, echoes of war or on my Youtube membership of patreon at www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel.

Today's Topics: 1) A Tik-Toker has issued a warning, claiming that more violence will take place targeting children in religious schools and churches https://x.com/ShadowofEzra/status/1961446298143408543 2, 3) Minnesota trans-killer of Catholic school children inspired by "secret satanic network" https://thepostmillennial.com/minnesota-trans-killer-of-catholic-schoolchildren-inspired-by-secret-satanic-network-report 4) We must prepare the child when young to reject satanism https://www.tfp.org/we-must-prepare-the-child-when-young-to-reject-satanism/

Now Trump is saying he wants ABC and NBC's broadcast licenses revoked because ... reasons. This is the mentality of a dictator and every day it is getting more obvious how insecure he is and how much danger we are all in

#SWAMPWATCH / WAPO: Psychologically Rich Life / Men Having Babies / Ozempic Lawsuits.

Why is living in vows is so powerful? In order to get another decent human body, in a condition of a reasonable human life, we need many conditions for that. We are in charge of our life but we're not used to believing it, we somehow feel that someone out there will take care of us, but Buddhism doesn't talk like that. It's up to us. We have to decide what kind of rebirth we want. We have to decide, intention is - I will. To get another decent human mother we need bucket loads of rich intentional non-killing seeds in our mind. So we need to know how to create them. We need to have plenty of those so that when we die peacefully, that one of those seeds can be triggered, and we'll get another decent human mother, and keep on moving on our spiritual path. We've got to go through this inconvenient thing called death, and start again with a little baby body, and off we go again, it's a drag. But given that we have to do it, let's navigate it as well as possible. Let's be in charge of it! Don't just cross our fingers and hope for the best. There are four things that need to be in place in order to have a non-killing karmic seed drop into our complete karmic action bank vault. There has to be first the object of the action, a living being, for example a mouse. The second is your mind involved, discrimination - that is the mouse I must not kill, then the thought, the intention - I must not kill the mouse, now the crucial piece, the motivation is compassion for the mouse. The compassion, the motivation is what makes the action virtuous, and obviously the stronger the compassion, the more the action is virtuous, the more rich and delicious the karmic seed is. The third thing is the action, you save the mouse. Then fourth, the result, a happy living mouse. This is where we can turn an ordinary deluded action into a virtuous action by merely changing our motivation. This is the power of motivation. Let's look at the action of eating. First is the object, for example a cake. Second is your mind involved in it, you intend to eat the cake, normally that intention is completely mixed with attachment, spontaneously, we're programmed with attachment. So what we've got to do before we shove it in the mouth, we offer it to the Buddha, see it as empty of existing from it's own side, and think I'm going to eat this cake so I can be fat and healthy, so I can help others. You make it bodhichitta. It's actually so simple, if we understood how easy it is to create virtue, we'd be over the moon. This is so powerful! Then the cake goes in the mouth, but you've completely altered the character of that action. You've turned it from a typical negative action of mindless attachment to a positive action. It's so simple, it's incredible! That's why we have to remember, every action we do in the day - eating, sleeping, going to the toilet, going to bed, having sex with your lovely new boyfriend, whatever - you can put Bodhichitta in there. But we get shocked when we hear this because we think oh no that's bad, you can't do that, no no. Rubbish, of course you can! Don't go round killing people with Bodhichitta please, that's not cool. But get my point, all the ordinary things in the day that we can't imagine not doing, we can turn them into virtuous actions by being conscious and having a positive motivation. It's better than nothing, eventually when you are a Bodhisattva, it will only be a positive motivation, there won't be any taint of delusions, but we've got to start somewhere. Just to get another human body when we die, we need one seed, but you can't just rely on one, you've got to have plenty there. You need lots of non-killing karmic seeds. This is a really important point to get, this is where vows come in now. If I didn't have a vow not to kill, when I see a creature and intentionally decide that I will not kill, because of compassion, it's only then that I will drop a non-killing karmic seed into my bank vault. But if you don't meet many creatures, then how many times a day do you actually have the intention - I will not kill? Karma is proactive, it's intention, I will! Probably we are sitting here merely not killing, we're not killing at this moment, but we're not creating any virtuous karma of not killing. So how are we going to create the karma of not killing and have enough karmic seeds in our mind? So how do we then create bucketloads of non-killing karma without having to not kill? By living in vows of not killing. This is such a technical simple point, that if we did understand it, we would be sad not to live in vows. We really don't understand it. Psychologically vows are incredible! This is buddha's teaching! Vows are so powerful that they are like a subtle physical energy that can be seen by clairvoyants. Mahamudra Centre for Universal Unity, New Zealand, 19th April 2021.

Happiness is NOT necessarily the same as contentment: Learning to be satisfied comes from a combination of not only finding happiness, but doing so without harm to self or others.Contact Us: TheWORDHouse@frontier.com; TheWORDHouse.com; @WORDHouse; or calling 304.523.WORD (9673).

Continuing our work with the Third Chakra, today's insight is about channeling your life force, or zest, into positive action. Unaddressed anger can be a powerful but destructive energy. When you feel anger, it's often a sign of a boundary crossed or an unmet need. Spiritually, this is an opportunity to assert your will in a healthy way. Psychologically, studies show that channeling intense emotion into productive, goal-oriented activities (like creative work or exercise) can lead to a state of flow, reducing rumination and increasing feelings of accomplishment. WELCOME TO THIS WEEK'S SERIES: THE UNCONDITIONAL HEART: TURNING ANGER INTO POSITIVE ENERGY This series is your guide to transforming the energy of anger into something powerful and positive. We'll explore spiritual insights and practices rooted in the chakra system, a concept in Eastern traditions that describes energetic centers in the body. We'll move from the core of your power to the wellspring of your creativity, culminating in the limitless compassion of your heart. This is day 3 of a 7-day meditation series, "The Unconditional Heart: Turning Anger into Positive Energy," episodes 3360-3369. YOUR WEEKLY CHALLENGE Acts of Compassion Quest: For the next seven days, practice one small act of self-compassion and one act of gratitude each day. This could be as simple as acknowledging your own humanity when you make a mistake and consciously listing one thing you are thankful for. YOUR MEDITATION JOURNEY DURING THIS WEEK'S SERIES Day 1:   Releasing Anger Visualization Day 2:  Affirmation: "I give thanks to this present moment." Day 3:  Flowing River Breath Day 4:  Mudra to Trust Yourself Day 5:  Second chakra flow meditation Day 6: Flow meditation combining the week's techniques Day 7:  Weekly review meditation and closure SHARE YOUR MEDITATION JOURNEY WITH YOUR FELLOW MEDITATORS Let's connect and inspire each other! Please share a little about how meditation has helped you by reaching out to me at Mary@SipandOm.com or better yet -- direct message me on https://www.instagram.com/sip.and.om. We'd love to hear about your meditation ritual!  WAYS TO SUPPORT THE DAILY MEDITATION PODCAST SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a single episode. Consistency is the KEY to a successful meditation ritual. SHARE the podcast with someone who could use a little extra support. I'd be honored if you left me a podcast review. If you do, please email me at Mary@sipandom.com and let me know a little about yourself and how meditation has helped you. I'd love to share your journey to inspire fellow meditators on the podcast! All meditations are created by Mary Meckley and are her original content. Please request permission to use any of Mary's content by sending an email to Mary@sipandom.com. FOR DAILY EXTRA SUPPORT OUTSIDE THE PODCAST Each day's meditation techniques are shared at: sip.and.om Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sip.and.om/ sip and om Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SipandOm/ SIP AND OM MEDITATION APP Looking for a little more support? If you're ready for a more in-depth meditation experience, allow Mary to guide you in daily 30-minute guided meditations on the Sip and Om meditation app. Give it a whirl for 7-days free! Receive access to 2,000+ 30-minute guided meditations customized around a weekly theme to help you manage emotions. Receive a Clarity Journal and a Slow Down Guide customized for each weekly theme.  2-Week's Free Access on iOS https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sip-and-om/id1216664612?platform=iphone&preserveScrollPosition=true#platform/iphone All meditations are created by Mary Meckley and are her original content. Please request permission to use any of Mary's content by sending an email to Mary@sipandom.com.Let go of repetitive negative thoughts. The beach waves were composed by Mike Koenig. Music composed by Christopher Lloyd Clark licensed by RoyaltyFreeMusic.com, and also by musician Greg Keller.

Continuing our work with the Third Chakra, today's insight is about channeling your life force, or zest, into positive action. Unaddressed anger can be a powerful but destructive energy. When you feel anger, it's often a sign of a boundary crossed or an unmet need. Spiritually, this is an opportunity to assert your will in a healthy way. Psychologically, studies show that channeling intense emotion into productive, goal-oriented activities (like creative work or exercise) can lead to a state of flow, reducing rumination and increasing feelings of accomplishment. WELCOME TO THIS WEEK'S SERIES: THE UNCONDITIONAL HEART: TURNING ANGER INTO POSITIVE ENERGY This series is your guide to transforming the energy of anger into something powerful and positive. We'll explore spiritual insights and practices rooted in the chakra system, a concept in Eastern traditions that describes energetic centers in the body. We'll move from the core of your power to the wellspring of your creativity, culminating in the limitless compassion of your heart. This is day 2 of a 7-day meditation series, "The Unconditional Heart: Turning Anger into Positive Energy," episodes 3360-3369. YOUR WEEKLY CHALLENGE Acts of Compassion Quest: For the next seven days, practice one small act of self-compassion and one act of gratitude each day. This could be as simple as acknowledging your own humanity when you make a mistake and consciously listing one thing you are thankful for. YOUR MEDITATION JOURNEY DURING THIS WEEK'S SERIES Day 1:   Releasing Anger Visualization Day 2:  Affirmation: "I give thanks to this present moment." Day 3:  Flowing River Breath Day 4:  Mudra to Trust Yourself Day 5:  Second chakra flow meditation Day 6: Flow meditation combining the week's techniques Day 7:  Weekly review meditation and closure SHARE YOUR MEDITATION JOURNEY WITH YOUR FELLOW MEDITATORS Let's connect and inspire each other! Please share a little about how meditation has helped you by reaching out to me at Mary@SipandOm.com or better yet -- direct message me on https://www.instagram.com/sip.and.om. We'd love to hear about your meditation ritual!  WAYS TO SUPPORT THE DAILY MEDITATION PODCAST SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a single episode. Consistency is the KEY to a successful meditation ritual. SHARE the podcast with someone who could use a little extra support. I'd be honored if you left me a podcast review. If you do, please email me at Mary@sipandom.com and let me know a little about yourself and how meditation has helped you. I'd love to share your journey to inspire fellow meditators on the podcast! All meditations are created by Mary Meckley and are her original content. Please request permission to use any of Mary's content by sending an email to Mary@sipandom.com. FOR DAILY EXTRA SUPPORT OUTSIDE THE PODCAST Each day's meditation techniques are shared at: sip.and.om Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sip.and.om/ sip and om Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SipandOm/ SIP AND OM MEDITATION APP Looking for a little more support? If you're ready for a more in-depth meditation experience, allow Mary to guide you in daily 30-minute guided meditations on the Sip and Om meditation app. Give it a whirl for 7-days free! Receive access to 2,000+ 30-minute guided meditations customized around a weekly theme to help you manage emotions. Receive a Clarity Journal and a Slow Down Guide customized for each weekly theme.  2-Week's Free Access on iOS https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sip-and-om/id1216664612?platform=iphone&preserveScrollPosition=true#platform/iphone All meditations are created by Mary Meckley and are her original content. Please request permission to use any of Mary's content by sending an email to Mary@sipandom.com.Let go of repetitive negative thoughts. The beach waves were composed by Mike Koenig. Music composed by Christopher Lloyd Clark licensed by RoyaltyFreeMusic.com, and also by musician Greg Keller.

In this episode of Narcissist Apocalypse, Sarah shares her story about the psychological, sexual, and financial abuse she endured at the hands of her abusive ex. Sarah describes how her partner used 'logic' to manipulate her into compliance, isolation, feeling powerless, and trapped. It's a story of psychological abuse, coercive control, financial abuse, kernels of truth,  logic, isolation, compliance, ptsd, intergenerational trauma, gaslighting, relationship dynamics, invalidation, sexual coercion, and personal autonomy. *** CONTENT WARNING - We discuss Sexual Coercion in this episode. *** Sarah can be found at www.strategiesforhappiness.com If you want to be a guest on our survivor story podcast, please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or send us an email at narcissistapocalypse@gmail.com PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS: Perfect Prey With Dr. Christine Cocchiola | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Covert Narcissism Podcast | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bitch is a Bad Word | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ When Dating Hurts Podcast | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you or someone you know are experiencing abuse, you are not alone. DomesticShelters.org offers an extensive library of articles and resources that can help you make sense of what you're experiencing, connect you with local resources and find ways to heal and move forward. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.domesticshelters.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to access this free resource.  If you need help moving due to domestic violence, Shelter Movers may be able to help you. They operate by referral. Clients may be referred by any person of authority (social worker, doctor, police, crisis counselor, teacher, etc.) or public agency (shelter, hospital, school, workplace, place of worship, sexual assault centre, etc.).  To reach them, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our new Community Social Network at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://community.narcissistapocalypse.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Instagram Channel at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/narcissistapocalypse⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Youtube Channel at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpTIgjTqVJa4caNWMIAJllA⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Narcissist Apocalypse, Sarah shares her story about the psychological, sexual, and financial abuse she endured at the hands of her abusive ex. Sarah describes how her partner used 'logic' to manipulate her into compliance, isolation, feeling powerless, and trapped. It's a story of psychological abuse, coercive control, financial abuse, kernels of truth,  logic, isolation, compliance, ptsd, intergenerational trauma, gaslighting, relationship dynamics, invalidation, sexual coercion, and personal autonomy. *** CONTENT WARNING - We discuss Sexual Coercion in this episode. *** Sarah can be found at ⁠www.strategiesforhappiness.com⁠ If you want to be a guest on our survivor story podcast, please ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or send us an email at narcissistapocalypse@gmail.com PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS: Perfect Prey With Dr. Christine Cocchiola | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Covert Narcissism Podcast | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bitch is a Bad Word | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ When Dating Hurts Podcast | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you or someone you know are experiencing abuse, you are not alone. DomesticShelters.org offers an extensive library of articles and resources that can help you make sense of what you're experiencing, connect you with local resources and find ways to heal and move forward. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.domesticshelters.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to access this free resource.  If you need help moving due to domestic violence, Shelter Movers may be able to help you. They operate by referral. Clients may be referred by any person of authority (social worker, doctor, police, crisis counselor, teacher, etc.) or public agency (shelter, hospital, school, workplace, place of worship, sexual assault centre, etc.).  To reach them, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our new Community Social Network at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://community.narcissistapocalypse.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Instagram Channel at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/narcissistapocalypse⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Youtube Channel at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpTIgjTqVJa4caNWMIAJllA⁠⁠

We don't resist change because we're lazy. We resist it because it's psychologically costly. Read the article linked below or listed to learn what we can do to overcome it! Thrive Global Article:Why Change Is Psychologically Costly—and What We Can Do About ItAbout Lainie:Lainie Rowell is a bestselling author, award-winning educator, and TEDx speaker. She is dedicated to human flourishing, focusing on community building, emotional intelligence, and honoring what makes each of us unique and dynamic through learner-driven design. She earned her degree in psychology and went on to earn both a post-graduate credential and a master's degree in education. An international keynote speaker, Lainie has presented in 41 states as well as in dozens of countries across 4 continents. As a consultant, Lainie's client list ranges from Fortune 100 companies like Apple and Google to school districts and independent schools. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/lainierowell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Website - ⁠LainieRowell.com⁠Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@LainieRowell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn - @LainieRowellX/Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@LainieRowell ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Evolving with Gratitude, the book is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And now, Bold Gratitude: The Journal Designed for You and by You is available too!Both Evolving with Gratitude & Bold Gratitude have generous bulk pricing for purchasing 10+ copies delivered to the same location.

Welcome to Season 3 of Psychologically Speaking, hosted by psychologist and researcher Leila Ainge. This season, we explore joy not as a feeling to define, but as an experience that moves us, connects us, and shapes how we live and work. In this short teaser episode, Leila shares the story behind choosing joy as her word of the year, the psychology of positive emotions, and why joy matters more than ever in a world that often dismisses it as a distraction.We'll explore:The science behind joy, including Broaden-and-Build TheoryHow joy supports identity, motivation, and social connectionReal stories, guest interviews, and solo episodes that dig into joy's role in creativity, leadership, and everyday lifeIf you're curious about the psychology of joy, identity, and the subtle ways we shape our lives this season is for you.

3 Actions to Bring Forth SuccessSet a “trust checkpoint” daily: reflect on one moment where God showed up.Replace fear-based thoughts with affirmations grounded in scripture.Designate one space (physical or virtual) as your “safe sanctuary” to decompress, reflect, and reset.

What does it really mean to live a rich life? Today's guest, Dr. Shige Oishi, challenges what we usually think of happiness and meaning by introducing us to the concept of a "psychologically rich life."A psychologically rich life is about collecting diverse and transformative experiences that shift our perspectives and expand our minds, rather than just chasing positive feelings or a singular sense of purpose. Social psychologist and author of the new book, Life in Three Dimensions, Dr. Oishi shares why seeking variety, spontaneity, and novel experiences can profoundly enhance our growth, resilience, and overall fulfillment.You'll learn:- Why chasing happiness alone can set you up for disappointment—and what to pursue instead.- How psychological richness enhances well-being through diversity and depth of experience.- Practical strategies to incorporate more richness into your daily life and why spontaneity is key- The role fiction and storytelling play in expanding your emotional and cognitive horizons- How reframing setbacks as opportunities for interesting experiences fosters resilience.--------------The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

If you're an injured runner we can help you get back to running pain-free.Click the link to book a free call with ushttps://matthewboydphysio.com/booking/Running Fundamentals Coursehttps://matthewboydphysio.com/running-fundamentals-course/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/matthewboydphysio/SummaryThis episode explores the significance of sprint training for endurance runners, detailing its benefits in enhancing performance, preventing injuries, and promoting overall health. Matthew Boyd discusses the physiological advantages of sprint training, including increased muscular power, improved running economy, and enhanced anaerobic capacity. He also emphasizes the psychological benefits of maintaining a high level of physical activity as one ages. The conversation concludes with practical advice on how to effectively incorporate sprint training into a running regimen.TakeawaysEndurance runners benefit from sprint training despite not racing at sprint speeds.Sprint training increases muscular power, making slower running easier.Improved elastic recoil from sprint training enhances running efficiency.Anaerobic capacity is crucial for handling surges during races.Sprint training can improve VO2 max, raising performance ceilings.Stronger muscles from sprint training help protect against injuries.Sprint intervals can reduce all-cause mortality and improve health.Psychologically, sprint training helps combat the fear of injury as we age.Proper recovery is essential between sprint intervals for maximum effort.Sprint training should be incorporated regularly, regardless of age.

Hey there, welcome back to Authentically ADHD! I'm so glad you pressed play on this episode today, because its on a topic that when I learned it, i found out it was the work i never knew i was missing and this skill has given me so much more access to my authentic self. Today, we're diving into a big, messy, important topic: self-trust – or as I like to call it, the tangled web of self-trust. Now, if you just chuckled nervously or sighed "ugh, self-trust...", you're in the right place. Stick around for the next 25 minutes, and we'll untangle this web together with a healthy dose of honesty, humor, and hope.Host (conversational): So, self-trust. Raise your hand if you've ever said something like, "I can't trust myself to do anything right!" (I'm raising mine high, by the way). Maybe you promised yourself you'd start that project well before the deadline, only to find yourself pulling an all-nighter again. Or you swore you'd not forget your friend's birthday this time, and then... whoops, you did – again. If any of this rings a bell, you are so not alone. In fact, one ADHD coach bluntly observed: "This is the truth about ADHD and self-trust: it doesn't exist. ADHD adults don't trust themselves at all. Our self-concept begins to erode pretty early in life". Ouch, right? That sounds harsh, but for many of us it feels true. Our confidence in ourselves got pretty banged up over the years.Host (relatable anecdote): I want to start with a little story here. Picture late-diagnosed me a few years back, before I knew I had ADHD. Every morning I'd pep-talk myself: "Today, I'm gonna get everything on my to-do list done. I got this." And every evening I'd go to bed thinking, "I screwed it up again. What is wrong with me?" I remember once triple-booking my Saturday because Past Me didn't trust Future Me to actually remember my plans – I figured at least one of those events I'd flake on, so better to have backups!

To sign up for our Patreon go to-> Patreon.com/cultofconspiracypodcast To Join the Cajun Knight Patreon---> Patreon.com/cajunknight To Find The Cajun Knight Youtube Channel---> click hereTo Invest In Gold & Silver, CHECK OUT—-> Www.Cocsilver.com 10% OFF Rife Machine---> https://rifemachine.myshopify.com/?rfsn=7689156.6a9b5c To find the Meta Mysteries Podcast---> https://open.spotify.com/show/6IshwF6qc2iuqz3WTPz9Wv?si=3a32c8f730b34e79 50% OFF Adam&Eve products---> :adameve.com (promo code : CULT) To Sign up for our Rokfin go to --> Rokfin.com/cultofconspiracy Cult Of Conspiracy Linktree ---> https://linktr.ee/cultofconspiracyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cult-of-conspiracy--5700337/support.

Welcome to Coffee House Coaching, where great conversations are brewed one powerful question at a time. I'm your host, Gary Nowak, and each episode is caffeinated by 8 thought-provoking, no-fluff questions designed to tap into the Coaches insight, impact and inner work of their practice. Today's guest is John Schuster where he described  a  philosophical conversation with a client on epistemology (a.k.a. “How do we know what we know?”). "Presence, Poetry, and the Power of Stillness — Coaching with John Schuster."

What happens when you strip your smartphone of its “smart”? In this Doctor’s Desk deep dive, Justin and Kylie unpack a groundbreaking new study showing what really happens when people block mobile internet on their smartphones. The results? Better focus. Improved wellbeing. Healthier screen habits. Drawing on the science, personal experience, and insights from Jonathan Haidt and game designers themselves, this episode offers a wake-up call—and a way forward—for families navigating digital overload. KEY POINTS First-of-its-kind research: A randomised controlled trial published in PNAS Nexus found that blocking mobile internet improved sustained attention, mental health, and subjective wellbeing. 91% improved: Nearly all participants in the study saw measurable gains by turning off mobile internet for just two weeks. How behaviour changes: People spent more time socialising, exercising, and being in nature—activities that are strongly linked to happiness and resilience. Jonathan Haidt’s insight: The greatest harm of screens isn’t just anxiety—it’s the destruction of attention and the erosion of childhood development. Addiction by design: Game developers and social media engineers want you and your kids to be addicted. Their business depends on it. Not all screen time is equal: Watching a movie with someone? Often fine. Scrolling alone on a touchscreen? Psychologically harmful. QUOTE OF THE EPISODE “We are prisoners to our devices—and the smartest people on earth designed it that way.” RESOURCES MENTIONED Study: Blocking Mobile Internet on Smartphones Improves Sustained Attention, Mental Health, and Subjective Wellbeing (PNAS Nexus) The Anxious Generation – Jonathan Haidt The Parenting Revolution – Dr Justin Coulson happyfamilies.com.au The Light Phone 3 (Justin’s personal attempt at going “dumb”) ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS Block Internet Access on Phones Use settings or third-party tools to disable mobile internet on smartphones, especially for kids. Switch to “Dumb Mode” Calls and texts only. Move social and entertainment use to desktop computers to limit impulsive use. Model Change Yourself Consider your own phone use. Try a one-week mobile internet detox and note how your mind and mood change. Prioritise Real-World Activity Encourage (and plan for) more time in nature, exercise, and in-person connection. Educate & Equip Talk to your kids about how screens are designed. Teach them to spot manipulation—and reclaim their attention. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons are Gone | India Destroyed Pakistan Psychologically | Col Mayank Choubey

Introduction to Mental Alchemy Ever felt like life melted you down just to see what you're made of? I've been there... lying flat on my back after yet another surgery, stripped of my strength, dignity, and purpose. But that moment became my forge. That's when I discovered the real power of mental alchemy. This article dives into a transformational process that most high performers overlook. Mental alchemy isn't about ignoring pain or pushing through it. It's about transmuting it. We'll explore how ancient Hermetic wisdom, blended with modern performance psychology, can help you convert breakdowns into breakthroughs. You'll learn: What mental alchemy really is Why it matters more than ever How to implement it step-by-step Common mistakes to avoid Advanced strategies for those already on the path If you're ready to stop letting pain control you and start using it as fuel for your transformation, read on. What Is Mental Alchemy? Mental alchemy is the process of transforming emotional pain, limiting beliefs, and internal chaos into clarity, strength, and purpose. Rooted in Hermetic philosophy..."As within, so without"...mental alchemy teaches that true change happens from the inside out. Hermetic alchemists believed in transmuting base metals into gold. But modern mental warriors? We transmute shame into self-respect... trauma into triumph. Psychologically, this parallels the process of emotional integration, shadow work, and cognitive reframing. Neuroscience supports it too: by changing our interpretations and responses, we literally rewire our brains. That's mental alchemy in action. Many confuse it with "positive thinking." But this isn't about bypassing or sugarcoating reality. It's about facing darkness with courage, extracting its wisdom, and choosing who you want to become because of it. Why Mental Alchemy Matters More Than Ever In a world obsessed with hustle and optimization, few talk about what happens when your inner world crashes. Mental alchemy matters because breakdowns are inevitable. Burnout. Divorce. Betrayal. Injury. Business failure. I've been through them all. The question isn't if you'll face pain... it's what you'll do with it. Here's why mental alchemy is a non-negotiable skill: -> Clarity through chaos: When emotions cloud judgment, mental alchemy helps distill truth from the noise. -> Self-leadership: It returns sovereignty. No longer are you at the mercy of triggers or circumstances. -> Performance resilience: Alchemists don't crumble under pressure. They evolve through it. In my own life, surviving a deadly avalanche on Mt. Rainier forced me into alchemy. I came out more centered, focused, and connected to purpose than ever before. Pain became my portal. Common Challenges and Limiting Beliefs Mental alchemy sounds powerful...and it is...but many struggle with common mindset traps: "Pain means I'm weak": Truth? Avoiding pain is weakness. Facing it is strength. "I should be over this by now": Healing isn't linear. Alchemy is cyclical. "I can't change my wiring": Neuroplasticity proves otherwise. I used to believe I had to "man up" and push through everything. It wasn't until I confronted my stuttering, shame, and PTSD that true transformation began. The lie that strength means suppression nearly killed me. Mental alchemy means challenging these beliefs and rewriting your internal code. The Mental Alchemy Method: A Step-by-Step Guide Step 1: Calcination – Break the Illusion This is the ego burn. Identify the limiting identities that no longer serve you: perfectionist, victim, people-pleaser. Write them down. Burn them. Feel the loss. Let go. Step 2: Dissolution – Feel It to Free It Stop numbing. Feel the grief, anger, shame. Use breathwork, journaling, or guided somatic release. Emotions are energy. Let them move. Step 3: Separation – Extract the Lesson Look into the pain.

Continuing our theme of the importance of Sustainable Leadership, this episode is a little bit different.  Earlier this month, I facilitated a webinar with my good friend and collaborator Dr. Rachael Skews.  It was the first of our new series of free monthly webinars on the topic of Sustainable leadership - and I'll put a link to the booking site so you can see the details of the remaining sessions. The focus of our session was making the case for boosting psychological flexibility in leaders. I explained what we mean by sustainable leadership, Rachael introduced the concept of psychological flexibility, and then we looked at how it can address some of the many challenges leaders can face at work. We wrap up with exploring some of the ways leaders can cultivate these important skills. And while we have a lovely video recording of the webinar live on our YouTube channel, I know lots of you prefer to access this kind of information via audio, as you go for a walk or a run, do the housework, or navigate your daily commute. So here's a slightly edited copy of the audio from last week. As always, get in touch with your questions, comments and feedback by email via podcast@worklifepsych.com Thanks for listening! Resources for this episode The video recording of this webinar: https://youtu.be/QeGSpYbeguY  Download the slides that accompany this webinar here: https://www.worklifepsych.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Why-leaders-need-to-be-psychologically-flexible-slides.pdf  You can find all the resources that accompany this series at our dedicated page: https://www.worklifepsych.com/SustainableLeadership Download our free white paper on Sustainable Leadership here: https://www.worklifepsych.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Sustainable_Leadership_whitepaper.pdf We're also running a series of free leadership-focused webinars over the next few months. You can find out more and reserve your place by visiting our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/sustainable-leadership-4167563 Finally, you can learn all about Psychological Flexibility by visiting our resources page here: https://www.worklifepsych.com/PsychologicalFlexibility 

For many people, a good life is a stable life — a life that's predictable and filled with purpose. For others, happiness the point. They embrace moments of bliss and satisfaction. But what about a life that's focused on curiosity, exploration and a variety of experiences that broaden our world? University of Chicago psychology professor Shigehiro Oishi says that's a psychologically rich life — and in his new book, “Life in Three Dimensions,” he argues that a psychological rich life is just as important as a life filled with happiness and meaning. Professor Oishi joined Kerri Miller on this week's Big Books and Bold Ideas to discuss the markers of a good life. They talk about the value of risk, the importance of awe and how the American individualism can hinder a good life. Guest: Shigehiro Oishi is a celebrated professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. His latest book is “Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life.”Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Why Karen Read's Words to O'Keefe's Kids Are Psychologically Alarming Karen Read didn't just allegedly leave John O'Keefe in the snow. According to testimony and records, she also ranted to his orphaned niece and nephew—kids he was raising—calling him a “f-ing pervert,” a “f-ing loser,” and accusing him of cheating… all because someone mentioned a woman's name as a navigation marker. In this powerful conversation, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins us to discuss what these moments reveal about Karen Read's emotional control, potential narcissistic tendencies, and the trauma such behavior may cause to children. What does this say about Karen Read's mental state? Why is this moment so pivotal in the trial? And how might jurors interpret this mix of rage, projection, and cruelty? You won't want to miss this mental health deep dive into one of the most emotionally volatile true crime cases we've covered. #KarenRead #ShavaunScott #TrueCrimeCommunity #KarenReadTrial #JohnOKeefe #HiddenKillers #CourtroomBreakdown #NarcissismExposed #EmotionalAbuse #PsychologicalAnalysis 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 

Why Karen Read's Words to O'Keefe's Kids Are Psychologically Alarming Karen Read didn't just allegedly leave John O'Keefe in the snow. According to testimony and records, she also ranted to his orphaned niece and nephew—kids he was raising—calling him a “f-ing pervert,” a “f-ing loser,” and accusing him of cheating… all because someone mentioned a woman's name as a navigation marker. In this powerful conversation, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins us to discuss what these moments reveal about Karen Read's emotional control, potential narcissistic tendencies, and the trauma such behavior may cause to children. What does this say about Karen Read's mental state? Why is this moment so pivotal in the trial? And how might jurors interpret this mix of rage, projection, and cruelty? You won't want to miss this mental health deep dive into one of the most emotionally volatile true crime cases we've covered. #KarenRead #ShavaunScott #TrueCrimeCommunity #KarenReadTrial #JohnOKeefe #HiddenKillers #CourtroomBreakdown #NarcissismExposed #EmotionalAbuse #PsychologicalAnalysis 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

Are you living a psychologically rich life? In this episode we discuss what it means to be psychologically rich and how you can generate more richness. In "Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life", Shigehiro Oishi, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago,  shares his research and the ways leading a psychologically rich life can transform how you prioritize your days and goals. As Shige shares, “a  psychologically rich life is a life filled with diverse, unusual, interesting experiences that change your perspective; a life with twists and turns; a dramatic, eventful life instead of a simple and straightforward one”. For those of you who feel that something is missing from your lives, or that your dreams and goals don't fit with societal expectations, this conversation is for you. Shige Oishi has given us the language and concept for living our lives in search of experience, adventure, learning and connection.  Please share this episode with a frriend and follow us on Instagram at @meantforyoupod You can Sign up for our newsletter here Visit our website at www.meantforit.com Guest ideas? Partnership ideas? Comments? Email us directly at meantforitpod@gmail.com Get Shige's book  Topics Discussed: 05:07 - The the three pillars of a happy life  14:13 - How narrating your experiences enriches the experience 20:12 - A psychologically rich day involves a wide range of emotions 22:18 - Happiness used to be good luck and fortune, but now happiness is personal success 25:41 - Happiness is more like a batting average 32:03 - Happiness is not the intensity but the frequency of positive emotion 36:13 - As we age, curiosity and, and exploration wane, and how to balance it 39:09 - psychological richness mindset can help deal with difficult life situations  

In this episode of Narcissist Apocalypse, Julia shares her story of marrying a scary psychological abuser. Julia fell for her husband immediately. He was charismatic, a protector, great with children, and had aspirations to be a fireman. Julia's husband checked all of her boxes. He was the man of her dreams. But unfortunately for Julia, her husband slowly morphed from someone she trusted to someone she feared.  It's a story of caretaking, fear , feeling alien, being good enough, rage, double standards, gaslighting, infidelity, being voiceless, self esteem, patriarchal systems, generational trauma, nitpicking, body issues, mixed messages , cognitive dissonance, intimidation, security, safety, child self harm, suicidal ideation, guilt, trauma, and feelings. *** CONTENT WARNING - This episode has graphic descriptions of child self harm, physical intimidation, and strong language. *** If you want to be a guest on our survivor story podcast, please click here or send us an email at narcissistapocalypse@gmail.com To help out our podcast, please fill out our listener survey, click here. PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS: Perfect Prey With Dr. Christine Cocchiola | Click Here The Covert Narcissism Podcast | Click Here Something Was Wrong | Click Here When Dating Hurts Podcast | Click Here If you or someone you know are experiencing abuse, you are not alone. DomesticShelters.org offers an extensive library of articles and resources that can help you make sense of what you're experiencing, connect you with local resources and find ways to heal and move forward. Visit www.domesticshelters.org to access this free resource.  If you need help moving due to domestic violence, Shelter Movers may be able to help you. They operate by referral. Clients may be referred by any person of authority (social worker, doctor, police, crisis counselor, teacher, etc.) or public agency (shelter, hospital, school, workplace, place of worship, sexual assault centre, etc.).  To reach them, click here. Join our new Community Social Network at https://community.narcissistapocalypse.com/ Join our Instagram Channel at https://www.instagram.com/narcissistapocalypse Join our Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpTIgjTqVJa4caNWMIAJllA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ripping the Miami Dolphins for re-signing the one offensive lineman nobody wanted the team to bring back.

Do you crave a richer, more adventurous life? On today's episode, we're exploring the concept of a “psychologically rich life”—one filled with novel experiences, deeper connections, and a sense of wonder. It turns out, happiness and meaning aren't the only ingredients for a fulfilling life. Psychological richness can add depth and vibrancy to your everyday routine. I'm talking to Dr. Shigehiro Oishi, a leading happiness researcher, psychologist, and celebrated author of Life in Three Dimensions. With a career spanning groundbreaking research on human well-being, he's here to share what it means to live a truly adventurous and reflective life—and how you can start making small changes to experience richer, more fulfilling days. Some of the things we discuss are: What makes a “psychologically rich life” (and why it's different from happiness or meaning). Simple ways to add adventure and spontaneous joy to your daily routine. Why routines and rigid habits might be holding you back. A powerful mindset shift for navigating failures and setbacks. How storytelling can transform even ordinary experiences into extraordinary ones. Subscribe to Mentally Stronger Premium for exclusive content like bonus episodes, signed books, and 30-day challenges that will keep you growing stronger. Links & Resources Life in Three Dimensions Connect with the Show Buy Amy's books on mental strength Connect with Amy on Instagram — @AmyMorinAuthor Sponsors OneSkin — Get 15% off OneSkin with the code STRONGER at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Calm - Get 40% off a Calm Premium Subscription at calm.com/STRONGER ZocDoc — Go to Zocdoc.com/STRONGER to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today! AirDoctor — Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code STRONGER to get UP TO $300 off today! Shopify — Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at Shopify.com/mentallystronger! Branch Basics — Get 15% off Branch Basics with the code STRONGER15 at https://branchbasics.com/STRONGER15 #branchbasicspod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many calories do you burn up just eating and digesting the food you eat? It's an interesting question and the answer depends on what kind of food you are eating. Listen as I reveal the basics of what is called the Thermic Effect.https://www.revolution-pts.com/blog/understanding-the-thermic-effect-of-food The amount of data being collected about you every hour is staggering – detailed, intimate data. What may be more shocking is how that data is used to psychologically target you. Joining me to explain what that is and how it works is Sandra Matz. She is a professor at Columbia Business School and has an informative TED talk about the use of psychological targeting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkI_TrPmKgA). She is also author of the book Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior (https://amzn.to/4gGaTCc). In most of our everyday interactions, our questions are fairly shallow: “Hi, are you?” “What's going on?” “What kind of work do you do?” etc. Yet, if you go a little deeper and get a bit more curious with people, it can pay off for you in a very big way. This is according to Scott Shigeoka. He is a leading expert on the topic of curiosity. He is a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin and author of a book called Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World (https://amzn.to/4gQDbKr). Are you one of those people who cherishes the few extra minutes of sleep the snooze alarm gives you? Listen as I reveal some interesting facts about the snooze and why you may not want to use it too much https://www.rd.com/article/why-is-snooze-9-minutes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices