Podcasts about Wonder Woman

主播：Jerry | 翩翩 歌曲 : Hero今天，带大家解锁美国流行文化——superheroes（超级英雄）。像蝙蝠侠、蜘蛛侠、钢铁侠、绿巨人等等，都是“Superheroes”（超级英雄），他们是美国流行文化中一个特别特别重要的部分。今天这期节目里，Jerry将要给大家讲清楚：美国人为什么这么迷恋superheroes。1. 美国流行文化——SuperheroesAmerican superhero moviesare definitely gaining popularity around the world. 美国超级英雄电影，在全球范围内，都比较流行。比如Avengers（复仇者联盟系列），Avengers: Endgame（《复仇者联盟4：终局之战》）是the second most successful movie in the world（是全球第二成功的电影）。（The 1st most successful movie in the world is Avatar（《阿凡达》）.）复仇者系列，还有Avengers: Infinity War（《复仇者联盟3：无限战争》）是the fifth most successful movie in the world，Spiderman（《蜘蛛侠》）是the sixth most successful movie in the world。许多人可能会认为，‘superheroes are just for kids, not me.' （超级英雄是给孩子们看的。）但superheroes可绝对不仅是给孩子看的，而是美国5大流行文化符号之一。美国5大流行文化符号：(1) Hollywood 好莱坞(2) Hip-pop 嘻哈(3) Super Bowl 超级碗(4) Superhero 超级英雄(5) Hotdog 热狗2. 美国两大superhero制作公司——漫威&DC美国有2 main superheroes production companies（两大制作公司），专门制作超级英雄。l Marvel: it is more popular in terms of movies. 在电影制作方面更受欢迎。漫威制作的superheroes有Iron Man（钢铁侠）、Spiderman（蜘蛛侠）、Hulk（绿巨人）、Thor（雷神）。l DC (Detective Comics) DC 漫画DC制作的superheroes有Superman（超人）、Batman（蝙蝠侠）、Joker〔蝙蝠侠中的villain（反派）〕、Wonder Woman（神奇女侠）。*villain /ˈvɪlən/ n. 反派角色尽管两家公司都create superheroes，但是他们有a very different vibe（作品感觉）。漫威有cooler visual effects（更炫酷的视觉体验），并且 has a very bright, hopeful side（作品风格比较明快，有充满希望的一面）。相比较而言，DC经常portraysthe dark side of reality（描绘现实的黑暗面），而且DC的影片常有比较深刻的satiricalmessage（讽刺含义）。DC会通过作品，讽刺current issues or politics（当下的事件或者政治）。比如说，Batman蝙蝠侠是在Gotham City（高潭市） performs his duties（行侠仗义）。Gotham City其实反映的就是纽约的danger and corruption（危险与堕落）。*vibe /vaɪb/ n. ……的感觉或氛围*portray /pɔːrˈtreɪ/ v. 描绘，刻画*satirical /səˈtɪrɪkl/ adj. 讽刺的*corruption /kəˈrʌpʃn/ n. 腐败DC漫画公司（Detective Comics）与漫威漫画公司（Marvel Comics）并称美国两大漫画巨头。这两大公司都是做 comic books （漫画书）起家的。DC创立于1934年，漫威紧跟其后，在1939创立。当时，他们就在漫画中创立了这些superheroes，比如Ironman, Batman, Superman。而且，the popularity of these comics was unbelievable.这些漫画火得一塌糊涂。20世纪，还没有智能手机，电影行业was in its infancy（在起步阶段）。由于超级英雄从20世纪初就非常受欢迎，这意味着许多成年人，甚至是七八十岁的人，were and are big fans of superheroes（过去和现在都是超级英雄的超级粉丝）。Superheroes apply to everyone.老少皆宜。*unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈli:vəbl/ adj. 好得令人难以置信的*infancy /ˈɪnfənsi/ n. 婴儿期；初期翩翩就见过一个美国老头，he has a collection of these figures（收集超级英雄的模型）。这些模型每一个都很贵。Many Marvel and DC figures are easily over $1000. （动不动就得1000多美金）。Jerry朋友的爸爸就有一套Marvel Superheroes collection（漫威超级英雄系列收藏），当Jerry感叹“Wow！This must have cost a lot”时，这位爸爸非常风趣地说，“I am planning on selling one of them every time I need money.”（正打算缺钱了就卖一个。）*collection /kəˈlekʃn/ n. 收藏20世纪，光靠漫画书，这些superheroes就已经gained so much popularity（变得非常流行）。后来，到了21世纪，因为电影发展起来了，the popularity of comic books died out（漫画书不火了）。顺应时代的发展，Marvel and DC started jumping into the film industry（进军电影业），并且reaped greater rewards（取得了更大的收获）。这让他们reach a wider, global audience（拥有了更多的全球观众）。*die out 逐渐消失*film industry电影业*reap /ri:p/ 收获*reward /rɪˈwɔːrd/ n. 回报我们中的很多也是他们global audience中的一员，翩翩是，Jerry也是。但翩翩的first interaction with superheroes（最早接触的超级英雄）是Altman（奥特曼），后面才慢慢接触到Spiderman这些。*interaction /ˌɪntərˈækʃn/ n. 互动3. 为什么美国人对superheroes这么狂热为了further dive into（深入研究）为什么superheroes在美国狂热，Jerry杜克大学的教授did a deep analysis of it（深入分析过）。USA was founded in 1776. 1776年建国，美国的历史是less than 250 years。美国有很多honorable figures or real-life heroes（值得尊敬的人物或现实生活中的英雄），比如说美国第一位总统George Washington（乔治·华盛顿），黑人民权运动领袖Martin Luther King Jr.（马丁·路德·金），美国梦其实就是这些 honorable figures以及real-life heroes的。这是这个国家的文化基因。正是因为历史太短，American desires more figures that they can look up to and inspire them. （美国人渴望有更多他们能够尊敬并且能激励他们的人物。）*dive into钻研*analysis /əˈnæləsɪs/ n. 分析*honorable /ˈɑːnərəbl/ adj. 可敬的*desire /dɪˈzaɪər/ v. 渴望*look up to尊重/敬仰……*inspire /ɪnˈspaɪər/ 激励韩国也崇拜real-life heroes，他们look up to（崇拜）King Sejong（世宗大王），General Lee Sun Sin（圣雄李舜臣）。*King Sejong世宗大王：一位开创太平盛世的圣君，因创制训民正音而受到后世朝鲜半岛尤其是韩国的极高推崇。*Lee Sun Sin李舜臣：朝鲜王朝中期武臣，朝鲜半岛历史上著名的军事家、民族英雄。我们中国人崇拜的real-life heroes太多啦，每个行业都有。政治：秦皇汉武，唐宗宋祖医学：李时珍、华佗、扁鹊、张仲景书法：王羲之、颜真卿、欧阳询、褚遂良文学：随便一个宋朝朝堂上，都是群星荟萃！我们崇拜的real-life heroes are countless（数不胜数）。但是，中国并不是一个个体崇拜的国家。这种东西方文化差异出现是因为：西方文明的基因是游牧文化，但是中华文明是农耕文化，是由集体创造的。4. 新蝙蝠侠有何深意最新的蝙蝠侠在北美依然是超受欢迎。和其他DC出品的电影一样，it had a deeper meaning（有更深的含义）。Batman和serial killer（连环杀手）the Riddler都有一个traumatic past（创伤的过去）:Batman's parents were murdered. 蝙蝠侠的父母被谋杀了。The Riddlerwas abandoned by his parents. The Riddler被他的父母抛弃了。因此，他们都 try to punish evil figures（惩治恶人）：Batman goes around beating bad guys up. 到处打坏蛋。The Riddler goes around killing corrupt politicians. 杀贪腐官员。虽然都是punish evil figures，Batman被看作superhero，the Riddler却是the bad guy。因为他们的intention（意图、出发点）不同。Batman的intention 是去save other innocent people（救无辜人民）。但the Riddler是因为he was angry at the society（报复社会）。一个发心不同，就决定了行为的性质截然不同。*traumatic /trəˈmætɪk/ adj. 创伤的*abandon /əˈbændən/ v. 抛弃*corrupt/kəˈrʌpt/ adj. 腐败的*intention /ɪnˈtenʃn/ n. 意图*innocent /ˈɪnəsnt/ adj. 无辜受害的欢迎大家留言告诉我们：你看过哪些superhero movies? 你更喜欢Marvel出品的，还是更喜欢DC出品的？

Melissa Megan returns to the podcast to discuss the latest breakthrough in VR technology, mouth haptics! Ever wanted to feel the sensation of having spiders in your mouth? Now you can! The TC crew also talks about dinosaurs, crossovers, Batgirls, Blood Syndicates, Death, and comics!Books: Wonder Woman #787, Batgirls #6, Captain America: Symbol of Truth #1, Seven Secrets #17, Crossover #13, Naomi Season 2 #3, Justice League vs the Legion of Superheroes #3, Judgment Day: Avengers X-Men Eternals, Cold Iron #1, Eight Billion Genies #1, Grim #1, Jurassic League #1, Spectators #1-15, Tales From Harrow County: Lost Ones #1, Karmen #1-5, Gender Queer: A Memoir, Blood Syndicate #1, Suicide Squad: Get Joker #3Other Stuff: Batman Unburied - Episodes 3-4 (podcast), The Boys Season 3The Comic Book Podcast is brought to you by Talking Comics (www.talkingcomicbooks.com). The podcast is hosted by Steve Seigh, Bob Reyer, Joey Braccino, Aaron Amos, and John Burkle, who weekly dissect everything comics-related, from breaking news to new releases. Our Twitter handle is @TalkingComics, and you can email us at podcast@talkingcomicbooks.com.

Samantha Alleyne, the first female Stormtrooper, shares so many stories about her career as actress and model. Since THE FORCE AWAKENS, she has played about 15 different parts in each Star Wars film, with crazy on-set stories for each one. What subtle pieces were changed in the Stormtrooper armor to accommodate her feminine shape? What was her most embarrassing moment on set? You'll learn how she and her hand worked directly with Tony Gilroy to create a pivotal on-screen moment in ROGUE ONE. Samantha is also proud to be an inspiration for the next generation, especially women of color.   Samantha will also be a special guest at the Boonta Eve Cantina pre-celebration bash on May 25th, so if you will be joining us, you can meet her and get her autograph. Like Misty Rosas, she may even grace us with a karaoke song!   Social Media: @saminthecity79 @samkkalleyne     Today In Star Wars History: Part 1 - January through June is now available for pre-order!! Click here for all the details, packages and discounts. Sarah just finalized some of the items included in the pre-order package.     Where We Will Be   May 25, 2022: 3rd Annual Boonta Eve Cantina! Join us LIVE at Big's Bar and Grill in Fullerton for an evening of podcasting, singing, celebrity signings and our Official Book Launch of Today in Star Wars History: Part 1 - January through June! Check out the Facebook Events for details.   May 27, 2022: Disneyland After Dark - Star Wars Nite   May 26 - May 29, 2022: Star Wars Celebration Anaheim   May 26 at 3pm: Fandom Through the Generations - Richard and Sarah Woloski, Panel Hosts on the Fan Stage May 27 at 2pm: Star Wars Tourism: Visiting the Galaxy Far, Far Away on Earth - Richard and Sarah Woloski, Panel Guests, James Floyd (Star Warsologies), Panel Host on the Fan Stage May 27 at 5pm: Skywalking Network Variety Show on the Podcast Stage - a variety show of several Skywalking Network podcast hosts! May 28 at 12pm: Celebrating the Ewok Adventures - Richard and Sarah Woloski, Panel Hosts on the Fan Stage     Check out these SKYwalking NETwork Podcasts:   Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics - Delving into each issue of the Star Wars comic series 1977-1986 The Max EFX Podcast - Chronicling the 35-year Special Effects film career of Max Cervantes Neverland Clubhouse - Two sisters, and best friends, sharing Disney adventures Talking Apes - focusing on the original Planet of the Apes films and TV shows Totally Tell Me Everything - Two ladies, one topic, three questions. Sarah Woloski and Bryn MacKinnon learn, share and grow. Star Warsologies - A podcast about Science and Star Wars   SPONSORS   Small World Vacations is an official sponsor of Skywalking Through Neverland. Contact them for a no obligation price quote at www.smallworldvacations.com. Tell them Skywalking Through Neverland sent you.   SUPPORT THE SHOW   Find out how you can become a part of the Skywalking Force and unlock bonus content.   CONTACT US   Instagram: http://instagram.com/skywalkingpod Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkywalkingPod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skywalkingthroughneverland Send emails to share@skywalkingthroughneverland.com and follow us on Facebook.   If you dug this episode, click over to iTunes | Stitcher | YouTube and leave us a review!   Never Land on Alderaan!  

Look, up in the sky! Etc, etc... this episode has a whole lot of superheores in it is what I'm implying here. We got Superman, we got Wonder Woman, we got Dyan Cannon... the holy trinity really.  This episode covers the following... epiosdes: Dyan Cannon, Christopher Reeve, and Lynda Carter yaaaaaaaaayyyyy! Kermitment has a Patreon! Running a podcast is deceptively expensive work, so by becoming our Patron, you help us cover those costs and allow us to do funner, cooler stuff in the future! Find out more here! Visit our website to find a link to the Kermitment Patreon, logo pin and more fun stuff at http://Kermitment.com! If you can't get enough Kermitment, follow @KermitmentPod, where we'll tweet fun stuff and interact with our listeners! And you can follow each of us individually: Matt: @MatthewGaydosSam: @im_sam_schultz

When Oscar®-nominated, Emmy® award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay teams with some of cinema's most noted directors in the new HBO Max original docuseries One Perfect Shot, movie lovers will see dazzling, unprecedented views inside memorable shots from film history. The series provides a never-before-possible perspective on filmmaking, allowing directors to step into their favorite shots and take viewers on amazing 360º views of their visions. DuVernay and her production company, ARRAY Filmworks, selected CBS VFX (www.CBS-VFX.com) to produce these visually breathtaking moments. Created for television by DuVernay and inspired by a popular Twitter account of the same name, each episode of One Perfect Shot arms one acclaimed director with an arsenal of visual tools to pull back the curtain on their most iconic shots. Filmmakers share their obstacles, challenges, lessons and triumphs as they detail the road to their one perfect shot. The series features prolific filmmakers Patty Jenkins, Aaron Sorkin, Kasi Lemmons, Jon M. Chu, Malcolm D. Lee and Michael Mann, as well as blockbuster films including Wonder Woman, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Harriet, Crazy Rich Asians, Girls Trip and Heat. Making the incredible images in One Perfect Shot required CBS VFX to use more than 25 years of visual effects innovation. Much of the work integrates the visual effects company's proprietary Parallax virtual production system, which brings three-dimensional technology and an intricate level of detail to virtual locations. Combining Parallax with new tools in the Unreal Engine from Epic Games – including real-time rendering and ray tracing – led to remarkable production flexibility. The digital production techniques from CBS VFX incorporated into One Perfect Shot represent an evolution of the work the visual-effects studio has done to replicate real-world locations in virtual sets and improve virtual production – which has been particularly important during the challenges of the pandemic. CBS VFX has developed groundbreaking technology and created visual effects for multiple series across many networks, including Apple TV's upcoming Roar, The Offer for Paramount+, This Is Us on NBC, Netflix's Dead to Me, and Big Shot on Disney+. CBS VFX maintains a dedicated virtual production soundstage, and its team is available to television production professionals for live demonstrations of virtual production, digital set extension and realtime pre-viz technologies. In this Episode, Allan McKay interviews Craig Weiss, Executive Creative Director at CBS VFX and Jim Berndt, Head Virtual Production at CBS VFX about their work on One Perfect Shot created for HBO Max by Ava DuVernay, the creative process and challenges of short deadlines, the promise of virtual production and realtime — and the future of VR; as well as their work on some technologically innovative projects. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/351/.

GGACP celebrates the 60th birthday (May, 14, 1962) of actor-director Danny Huston (“The Aviator,” “Hitchcock,” “Wonder Woman”) with this ENCORE presentation of a 2019 interview. In this episode, Danny regales Gilbert and Frank with stories about meeting Orson Welles, directing Robert Mitchum, getting inside the heads of big-screen bad guys and growing up with (and working alongside) his legendary father, John Huston. Also, Hal Roach cozies up to Mussolini, Katharine Hepburn makes like Eleanor Roosevelt, George Raft turns down the role of a lifetime and Danny reflects on the career of his grandfather, Oscar-winner Walter Huston. PLUS: “The Other Side of the Wind”! Remembering Robert Evans! The mystery of B. Traven! The punk rock cinema of Bernard Rose! And Danny and Gilbert reenact a scene from “Chinatown”! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you were asked to create a fictional character to represent total confidence, how would you create that character? Most people would make this fictional character a combination of Wonder Woman (knows every language, knows everything), Superman (stronger and faster than everyone else), and Captain America (no matter how scary the situation, he has enough courage to always act without struggle). But know-it-alls and people like Superman or Captain America are not an accurate picture of confidence. In fact, confidence is not know something already. It is the belief that you can figure it out. And how do you develop this belief?  Listen, and enjoy!

Dans l'épisode 79 de Wake Up, Rise Up & Shine, j'ai l'immense plaisir d'échanger avec Marie Eloy, sélectionnée par Forbes en 2020 parmi les 40 femmes inspirantes en France et nommée Chevaleresse de l'Ordre National du Mérite en 2021.Ancienne journaliste à RFI puis co-fondatrice d'une école Montessori dans le Morbihan, Marie Eloy a fondé plusieurs réseaux pour promouvoir la place des femmes dans l'Economie.En 2014, elle crée Femmes de Bretagne, réseau d'entraide pour créer son entreprise.En 2019, le réseau est dupliqué au niveau national : Femmes des Territoires, cofondé avec la Fondation Entreprendre, a pour ambition d'accompagner 75 000 femmes dans leur création d'entreprise d'ici 2030.En parallèle, en 2016, Marie créé Bouge ta Boite, le réseau business pour les entrepreneures qui veulent gagner en expertise, en leadership et en croissance. 1 700 Bougeuses se réunissent dans 120 Cercles en France, soit 400 réunions de travail par mois. En 2021, elle lance Bouge ton Groupe, destiné aux femmes cadres et managers pour accroître la mixité dans les entreprises.Marie est également animatrice du podcast des Echos « Elles ont osé », membre du comité « Gouvernance » du Medef et intervenante régulière sur Europe 1 et sur la chaine Bsmart.Dans cet épisode nous abordons les points suivants:Comment aider les femmes à être actrices de leur vie, de leur carrière et de leur impactCe qui permet de faire décoller un projetLa situation actuelle concernant la place des femmes dans l'économieComment savoir si le projet que nous développons est vraiment celui qui est le nôtreComment aller au-delà du “ça va jamais marcher”Comment oser se dépasserPourquoi faire ce qui nous fait plaisir peut contribuer à notre réussiteLes accélérateurs que les femmes peuvent activer dans l'entrepreneuriatSi les thématiques autour de l'entrepreneuriat féminin vous intéresse, je vous invite à écouter les épisodes suivants :ÉPISODE 73 | Être entrepreneure au Féminin | Conversation avec Solène PignetÉPISODE 70 | Être perennial : rêver notre vie quelque soit notre âge | Conversation avec Josiane AsmaneÉPISODE 50 | De la Wonderwoman à la Badass, une nouvelle possibilité pour les femmes d'aujourd'hui | Conversation avec Ida Gennari-El HicheriÉPISODE 40 | Opting out : comment les femmes redessinent la réussite sociale | Conversation avec Céline Alix===================Comment soutenir ce podcast ?Le meilleur moyen de le faire est de vous abonner au podcast Wake Up, Rise Up & Shine! sur Apple Podcast, et d'y laisser votre avis en lui donnant 5 étoiles ! *Et bien sûr, n'hésitez pas à faire connaître Wake Up, Rise Up & Shine! en le partageant à toutes les personnes qui vous sont chères et qui aspirent elles aussi à briller et ne plus vivre leur vie à moitié endormi !Aller plus loin ensemble ?Abonnez-vous à ma newsletter

Is it possible to start with Wonder Woman and end with the gospel? My guest, Frank Turek says yes— popular superhero movies point to the real superhero, Jesus. Frank and I had a fun conversation about his new book, Hollywood Heroes, and how popular movies can help start gospel conversations.

Welcome to Comics From The Multiverse, our DC comics podcast! Discussed this week: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:04:42 - ComiXology Top 10 0:22:50 - News 0:44:55 - Superman: Son of Kal-El #11 (Tom Taylor and Cian Tormey) 1:06:39 - Wonder Woman #787 (Becky Cloonan & Michael Conrad and Emanuela Lupacchino) 1:21:30 - Batgirls #6  (Becky Cloonan & Michael Conrad and Jorge Corona)  1:28:10 - Batman: Urban Legends #15 1:41:21 - Naomi Season 2 #3  (Brian Michael Bendis & David F Walker and Jamal Campbell) 1:57:19 - Jurassic League #1 (Juan Gedeon & Daniel Warren Johnson) 2:13:25 - The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country #2 (James Tynion IV and Lisandro Estherren) 2:21:59 - Picks of the Week patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mildfuzztv twitter: @DCComicsPodcast Audio: https://comicsfromthemultiverse.podbean.com/  UK Merch store: https://shop.spreadshirt.co.uk/mild-fuzz-tv/ US Merch store: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/mild-fuzz-tv-us

DC Comics Ep 423: Batman Urban New York Legends, Superman Son of Trusting Everyone & DC Comics Addition by Subtraction - This week, we have DC Comics that aren't all Batman, even though a lot still are!  We also discuss who has the best fast food and why Jim isn't on Tinder. Join our Patreon and help us feel loved for as little as $1/Month @ Patreon.com/WeirdScience This Week's Badass Patreon Spotlight Show: Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #3 & The Jurassic League #1 Click Here for Weird Science Links: https://campsite.bio/weirdsciencecomics Time Stamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:11:14 - Batman: Urban Legends #15 0:55:01 - I Am Batman #9 1:09:58 - Superman: Son of Kal-El #11 1:33:10 - Mail 1:49:18 - Batgirls #6 2:10:11 - Wonder Woman #787

Nothing good comes from lies, and today's episode of Anime Was (Not) A Mistake is no exception. This month's Sinister Six misadventure concludes with Wonder Woman 1984. Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, is living in the neon-coated 1980s and fighting crime outside of the public eye. Working at a museum by day, Diana meets an archeologist named Barbara Minerva (who wears glasses, eww). A stupid special wishing stone comes into their possession, but it's quickly stolen by the charming conman Maxwell Lord. Diane's secret wish is granted and her fallen boyfriend Steve Trevor returns to life. Barbara's wish is also grant, allowing her to ditch her glasses and become really mean. Diana and Steve resolve to stop Maxwell Lord from plunging the world into chaos with his inconsistent wish-granting powers. But stopping Lord may require a bigger sacrifice than Diana is willing to make. And then Barbara becomes a cat. It's complicated. So if you're ready, hop on board the nearest invisible jet and join us for the latest installment of Anime Was (Not) A Mistake. (And this episode is over two hours long, so please remember to stay hydrated.) Rate, Review, Subscribe, and Listen to Us on Podbean/iTunes/Stitcher/Spotify Follow us on Instagram:@animewasnotamistakepodcast Or on Facebook:@animewasnotamistakepod Music Provided by: "Danse Macabre" Saint-Saëns - Rock/Metal Version Cover – EXMORTUS TV “Live and Learn” – Crush 40 - Main Theme of Sonic: Adventure 2 “Chromaggia” – Repo! The Genetic Opera: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

SUMMARY:  In this weeks podcast, we have my dearest friend Shala Nicely talking about how she manages mental compulsions.  In this episode, Shala shares her lived experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and how she overcomes mental rituals. In This Episode: How to reduce mental compulsions for OCD and GAD. How to use Flooding Techniques with Mental Compulsions Magical Thinking and Mental Compulsions BDD and Mental Compulsions Links To Things I Talk About: Shalanicely.com Book: Is Fred in the Refridgerator? Book: Everyday Mindfulness for OCD ERP School: https://www.cbtschool.com/erp-school-lp Episode Sponsor: This episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit is brought to you by CBTschool.com.  CBTschool.com is a psychoeducation platform that provides courses and other online resources for people with anxiety, OCD, and Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.  Go to cbtschool.com to learn more. Spread the love! Everyone needs tools for anxiety... If you like Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast, visit YOUR ANXIETY TOOLKIT PODCAST to subscribe free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like Your Anxiety Toolkit, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (maybe even two). EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION This is Your Anxiety Toolkit - Episode 284. Welcome back, everybody. We are on the third video or the third part of this six-part series on how to manage mental compulsions. Last week's episode with Jon Hershfield was bomb, like so good. And I will say that we, this week, have Shala Nicely, and she goes for it as well. So, I am so honored to have these amazing experts talking about mental compulsions, talking about what specific tools they use.  So, I'm not going to take too much time of the intro this time, because I know you just want to get to the content. Again, I just want to put a disclaimer. This should not replace professional mental health care. This series is for educational purposes only. My job at CBT School is to give you as much education as I can, knowing that you may or may not have access to care or treatment in your own home. So, I'm hoping that this fills in a gap that maybe we've missed in the past in terms of we have ERP School, that's an online course teaching you everything about ERP to get you started if you're doing that on your own. But this is a bigger topic. This is an area that I'd need to make a complete new course. But instead of making a course, I'm bringing these experts to you for free, hopefully giving you the tools that you need.  If you're wanting additional information about ERP School, please go to CBTSchool.com. With that being said, let's go straight over to this episode with Shala Nicely.  Kimberley: Welcome, Shala. I am so happy to have you here. Shala: I am so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Kimberley: Okay. So, I have heard a little bit of your views on this, but I am actually so excited now to get into the juicy details of how you address mental compulsions or mental rituals. First, I want to check in with you, do you call them mental compulsions, rituals, rumination? How do you address them? Shala: Yeah. All those things. I also sometimes call it mental gymnastics up in your head, it's all sorts of things you're doing in your head to try to get some relief from anxiety. Kimberley: Right. So, if you had a patient or a client who really was struggling with mental compulsions, whether or not they were doing other compulsions as well, how might you address that particular part of their symptomology? Shala: So, let me answer that by stepping back a little bit and telling you about my own experience with this, because a lot of the way I do it is based on what I learned, trying to manage my own mental rituals. I've had OCD probably since I was five or six, untreated until I was 39. Stumbled upon the right treatment when I went to the IOCDF Conference and started doing exposure mostly on my own. I went to Reid Wilson's two-day group, where I learned how to do it. But the rest of the time, I was implementing on my own. And even though I had quite a few physical compulsions, I would've considered myself a primary mental ritualizer, meaning if we look at the majority, my compulsions were up in my head. And the way I think about this is I think that sometimes if you have OCD for long enough, and you've got to go out and keep functioning in the world and you can't do all these rituals so that people could see, because then people will be like, “What's wrong with you? What are you doing?” you take them inward. And some mental compulsions can take the place of physical compulsions that you're not able to do for whatever reason because you're trying to function. And I'd had untreated OCD for so long that most of my rituals were up in my head, not all, but the great majority of them.  Exposure & Response Prevention for Mental Compulsions So, when I started to do exposure, what I found was I could do exposure therapy, straight up going and facing my fears, like going and being around things that might be triggering all I wanted, but I wasn't necessarily getting better because I wasn't addressing the mental rituals. So, basically, I'm doing exposure without response prevention or exposure with partial response prevention, which can make things either worse or just neutralize your efforts. So, what I did was I figured out how to be in the presence of triggers and not be up in my head, trying to do analyzing, justifying, figuring it out, replaying the situation with a different ending, all the sorts of things that I would do over and over in my head. And the way I did this was I took something I learned from Jonathan Grayson and his book, Freedom From OCD. I know you're having him on for this series too. And he talked about doing all this ERP scripting, where you basically write out the worst-case scenario, what you think your OCD thinks is going to happen and you write it in either a worst-case way or an uncertainty-focused way. And what I did was after reading his book, I took that concept and I just shortened it down, and anything that my OCD was afraid of, I would just wrap may or may not surround it.  So, for instance, an example that I use in Is Fred in the Refrigerator?, my memoir, Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life was that I used to-- when I was walking through stores like Target, if I saw one of those little plastic price tags that had fallen on the ground, if I didn't pick it up and put it out of harm's way, I was afraid somebody was going to slip and fall and break their neck. And it would be on some security camera that I just walked on past it and didn't do anything. So, a typical scrupulosity obsession. And so, going shopping was really hard because I'm cleaning up the store as I'm shopping. And so, what I would do is I would either go to Target, walk past the price tag. And then as I'm just passing the price tag, I would say things. And in Target, I obviously couldn't do this really out loud, mumble it out loud as best, but I may or may not cause somebody to kill themselves by they're going to slip and fall on that price tag because I didn't pick it up. I may or may not be an awful, terrible rotten human being. They may or may not catch me and throw me into jail. I may or may not rot in prison. People may or may not find out what a really bad person I really am. This may or may not be OCD, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  And that would allow me to be present with the obsessions, all the what-ifs – those are basically what-ifs turned into ‘may or may nots' – without compulsing with them, without doing anything that would artificially lower my anxiety. So, it allowed me to be in the presence of those obsessive thoughts while interrupting the pattern of the mental rituals. And that's really how I use ‘may or may nots' and how I teach my clients to use ‘may or may nots' today is using them to really be mindfully present of what the OCD is worried about while not interacting with that content in a way that's going to make things worse. So, that's how I developed it for myself. And I think that-- and that is a tool that I would say is an intermediary tool. So, I use that now in my own recovery. I don't have to use 'may or may nots'. It's very often at all. If I get super triggered, which doesn't happen too terribly often, but if I get super triggered and I cannot get out of my head, I'll use 'may or may nots'.  But I think the continuum is that you try to do something to interrupt the mental rituals, which for me is the 'may or may nots'. You can also-- people can write down the scripts, they can do a worst-case scenario. But eventually, what you're trying to get to is you're trying to be able to hear the OCD, what-ifs in your head and completely ignore it. And I call that my shoulders back, the way of thinking about things. Just put your shoulders back and you move on with your day. You don't acknowledge it.  What I'll do with clients, I'll say, “If you had the thought of Blue Martian is going to land on my head, I mean, you wouldn't even do anything with that thought. That thought would just go in and go out and wouldn't get any of your attention.” That's the way we want to treat OCD, is just thoughts can be there. I'm not going to say, “Oh, that's my OCD.” I'm not going to say, “OCD, I'm not talking to you.” I'm not going to acknowledge it at all. I'm just going to treat it like any other weird thought that we have during the day and move on.  Your question was, how would you help somebody who comes in with mental rituals? Well, first, I want to understand where are they in their OCD recovery? How long have they been doing these mental rituals? What percentage of their compulsions are mental versus physical? What are the kind of things that their OCD is afraid of? Basically, make a list or a hierarchy of everything they're afraid of. And then we start working on exposure therapy. And when I have them do exposures, the first exposure I do with people, we'll find something that's-- I start in the middle of the hierarchy. You don't have to, but I try. And I will have them face the fear. But then I'll immediately ask them, what is your OCD saying right now? And they'll tell me, and I'll say, “I want you to repeat after me.” I have them do this, and everyone that I see hates this, but I have them do it. Standing up with their shoulders back like Wonder Woman, because this type of power pose helps them. It changes the chemistry of your body and helps you feel more powerful.  OCD thinks it's very powerful. So, I want my clients to feel as powerful as they can. So, I have them stand like Wonder Woman and they repeat after me. Somebody could-- let's just say we are standing near something red on the floor. And I'll say, “Well, what is your OCD saying right now?” And they'll say, “Well, that's blood and it could have AIDS in it, and I'm going to get sick.” I'll say, “Well, that may or may not be a spot of blood on the floor. I may or may not get sick and I may or may not get AIDS, but I want to do this. I'm going to stay here. OCD, I want to be anxious, so bring it on.”  And that's how we do the exposure, is I ask them what's in their head. I have them repeat it to me until they understand what the process is. And then I'm having them be in the presence of this and just script, script, script away. That's what I call it scripting, so that they are in the presence of whatever's bothering them, but they're not up in their head. And anytime something comes in their head, I teach them to pull it down into the script. Never let something be circulating in your head without saying it out loud and pulling it into the script.  I will work on this technique with clients as we're working on exposures, because eventually what we'll want to do is instead of going all over the place, “That may or may not be blood, I may or may not get AIDS, I may or may not get sick,” I'll say, “Okay, of all the things you've just said, what does your OCD-- what is your OCD scared of the most? Let's focus on that.” And so, “I may or may not get AIDS. I may or may not get AIDS. I may or may not have HIV. I may or may not get AIDS,” over again until people start to say, “Oh, okay. I guess I don't have any control over this,” because what we're trying to do is help the OCD habituate to the uncertainty. Habituate, I know that'd be a confusing word. You don't have to habituate in order for exposure to work due to the theory of inhibitory learning, but we're trying to help your brain get used to the uncertainty here. Kimberley: And break into a different cycle instead of doing the old rumination cycle.  Shala: Yes. And so then, I'll teach people to just find their scariest fear. They say that over and over and over again. Then let's hit the next one. “Well, my family may or may not survive if I die because if I get a fatal disease and I die and my family may or may not be left destitute,” and then over and over. “My family may or may not be left destitute. My family may or may not be left destitute, whatever,” until we're hitting all the things that could be circulating in your head.  Now, some people really don't need to do that scripting because they're not up in their head that much. But that's the minority of people. I think most people with OCD are doing something in their head. And a lot of people aren't aware of what they're doing because these mental rituals are incredibly subtle at times. And so, as people, as my clients go out and work on these exposures, I'll have them tell me how it's going. I have people fill out forms on my website each day as they're doing exposures so I can see what's going on. And if they're not really up in their head and they don't really need to do the ‘may or may nots', great. That's better. In fact, just go do the exposure and go on with your life. If they're up in their head, then I have them do the 'may or may nots'. And so, that's how I would start with somebody.  And so, what I'm trying to do is I'm giving them what I call a bridge tool. Because people who have been mental ritualizing for a long time, I have found it's virtually impossible to just stop because that's what your mind is used to doing. And so, what I'm doing is I'm giving them a competing response. And I'm saying here, instead of mental ritualizing, I'd like you to say a bunch of 'may or may nots' statements while standing up and say them out loud while looking like Wonder Woman. Everybody rolls their eyes like, “Really?” But that's what we do as a bridge tool. And so, they've lifted enough mental weights, so to speak, with this technique that they can hear the OCD and start to disengage and not interact with it at all. Then we move to that technique. Flooding Techniques for Mental Rumination Kimberley: Is there a reason why-- and for some of the listeners, they may have learned this before, but is there a reason why you use 'may or may nots' instead of worst-case scenarios? Shala: For me, for my personal OCD recovery journey, what I found with worst-case scenario is I got too lost in the content. I remember doing-- I had had a mammogram, it had come back with some abnormal findings. I spent the whole weekend trying to do scripting about what could happen, and I was using worst-case scenario. Well, I end up in the hospital, I end up with breast cancer, I end up dead. And by the end of the weekend, I was completely demoralized. And I'm like, “Well, I don't bother because I'm going to be dead, because I have breast cancer.” That's where my mind took it because I've had OCD long enough that if I get a really scary and I start and I play around in the content, I'm going to start losing insight and I'm going to start doing depression as a compulsion, which is the blog we did talk about, where you start acting depressed because you're believing what the OCD says like, “Oh, well, I might as well just give up, I have breast cancer,” and then becoming depressed, and then acting like it's true. And then that's reinforcing the whole cycle.  So, for me, worst-case scenario scripting made things worse. So, when I stayed in the uncertainty realm, the ‘may or may nots' that helped because I was trying to help my brain understand, “Well, I may or may not have breast cancer. And if I do, I mean, I'll go to the doctor, I'll do what I need to do, but there's nothing I can do about it right now in my head other than what I'm doing.” Some people like worst-case scenario and it works fine for them. And I think that works too. I mostly use 'may or may nots' with clients unless they are unable through numbing that they might be doing. If they're unable to actually feel what they're saying, because they're used to turning it over in their head and pulling the anxiety down officially, and so I can't get a rise out of the OCD because there's a lot of really little subtle mental compulsions going on, then I'll insert some worst-case scenario to get the anxiety level up, to help them really feel the fear, and then pull back into 'may or may nots'. But there's nothing wrong with worst-case scenario. But for me, that was what happened. And I think if you are prone to depression, if you're prone to losing insight into your OCD when you've got a really big one, I think that's a risk factor for using that particular type of scripting.  Magical Thinking and Mental Compulsions  Kimberley: Right. And I found that they may or may not have worked just as well, except the one thing, and I'm actually curious on your opinion on this and I have not had this conversation, is I find that people who have a lot of magical thinking benefit by worst-case scenario, like their jinxing compulsions and so forth, like the fear of saying it means it will happen. So, saying the worst-case is the best exposure. Is that true for you? Shala: I have not had to use it much on my own magically. I certainly had a lot of magical thinking. Like, if I don't hit this green light, then somebody's going to die. But I think the worst-case scenario, I could actually work well in that, because if you use the worst-case scenario, it can make it seem so ridiculous that it helps people let go of it more easily. And I think you can do that with 'may or may nots' too. I'll try to encourage people to use the creativity that they have because everybody with OCD has a ton of creativity. And we know that because the OCD shares your brain and it's certainly the creative stuff And to one-up the OCD, you use the scripting to be like, “Gosh, I may or may not get some drug-disease and give it to my entire neighborhood. I may or may not kill off an entire section of my county. We may or may not infect the entire state of Georgia. The entire United States may or may not blow up because I got this one disease. So, they may or may not have to eject me off the earth and make me live on Mars because I'm such a bad person.” This ‘may or may not' is in all this crazy stuff too, because that's how to win, is to one up the OCD. It thinks that's scary, let's go even scarier. But the scary you get, it also gets a little bit ridiculous after a while. And then the whole thing seems to be a little bit ridiculous. So, I think you can still use that worst-case stuff with may or may not. Kimberley: Right. Okay. So, I mean, I will always sort of-- I know you really well. I've always held you so high in my mind in just how resilient and strong you are in doing this. How might you, or how do you help people who feel completely powerless at even addressing this? For you to say it, it sounds very like you're just doing it and it's so powerful. But for those who are really struggling with this idea of like, you said, coming out of your head, can you speak to how you address that in session if someone's really struggling to engage in 'may or may nots' and so forth? Shala: Yeah. Well, thank you for the kind words, first off. I think that it's really common for people with OCD by the time they get to a therapist to feel completely demoralized, especially if they've been to multiple therapists before they get to somebody who does ERP. And so, they feel like they're the victim at the hands of a very cruel abuser that they can't get away from. And so, they feel beaten down and they don't know how to get out of their heads. They feel like they're trapped in this mental prison. They can't get out. And if somebody is struggling like that, and they're doing the 'may or may nots' and the OCD is reacting, which of course, it will, and coming back at them stronger, which I always warn people, this is going to happen. When you start poking at this, the OCD is going to poke back and poke back even harder, because it wants to get you back in line so it can keep you prisoner.  So, what I'll often do in those situations, if I see somebody is really feeling like they have been so victimized, that they're never going to be able to get over this, is the type of script I have them do is more of an empowerment script, which could sound like this: “OCD, I'm not listening to you anymore. I'm not doing what you want. I am strong. I can do this.” And I might add some 'may or may nots' in there. “And I want to be anxious. Come on, bring it on. You think that's scary? Give me something else.”  I know you're having Reid Wilson on as part of this too. I learned all that “bring it on” type stuff and pushing for the anxiety from him. And I think helping people say that out loud can be really transformative. I've seen people just completely break down in tears of sort of, “Oh my gosh, I could do this,” like tears of empowerment from standing up and yelling at their OCD.  If people like swearing, I also just have them swear at it, like they would really swear at somebody who had been abusing them if they had a chance, because swearing actually can make you feel more powerful too, and I want to use all the tools we can. So, I think scripting comes in a number of forms. It's all about really taking what's in your head, turning it into a helpful self-talk and saying it out loud. And the reason out loud is important for any type of scripting is that if you're saying it in your head, it's going to get mixed up with all the jumble of mental ruminating that's going on. And saying it out loud makes it hard for you to ruminate. It's not impossible, but it's hard because you're saying it. Your brain really is only processing one thing at a time. And so, if you're talking and really paying attention to what you're saying, it's much harder to be up in your head spinning this around.  And so, adding these empowerment scripts in with the 'may or may nots' helps people both accept the uncertainty and feel like they can do this, feel like they can stand up to the OCD and say, “You've beaten me enough. No more. This is my life. I'm not letting you ruin it anymore. I am taking this back. I don't care how long it takes. I don't care what I have to do. I'm going to do this.” And that builds people up enough where they can feel like they can start approaching these exposures. Kimberley: I love that. I think that is such-- I've had that same experience of how powerful empowerment can be in switching that behavior. It's so important. Now, one thing I really want to ask you is, do you switch this method when you're dealing with other anxiety disorders – health anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder? What is your approach? Is there a difference or would you say the tools are the same? Shala: There's a slight difference between disorders. I think health anxiety, I treat exactly like OCD. Even some of the examples I gave here were really health anxiety statements. With panic disorder-- and again, I learned this from Reid and you can ask him more about this when you interview him. But with pain disorder, it's all about, I want to feel more shorter breath, more like their elephant standing on my chest. I want my heart to be faster. But I'm doing this while I'm having people do exercises that would actually create those feelings, like breathing through a little bit of cocktail straw, jogging, turning up a space heater, and blowing it on themselves. So, we're trying to create those symptoms and then talk out loud and say, “Come on, I want more of this. I want to feel more anxious. Give me the worst panic attack you've ever had.” So, it's all about amping up the symptoms.  With social anxiety, it's a little bit different because with social anxiety, I would work on the cognitions first. Whereas with OCD, we don't work on the cognitions at all, other than I want you to have a different cognitive relationship with your disorder and your anxiety. I want you to want the anxiety. I want you to want the OCD to come and bother you because that gives you an opportunity to practice. That's the cognitive work with OCD. I do not work on the cognitive work on the content. I'm not going to say to somebody, “Well, the chance you're going to get AIDS from that little spot of blood is very small.” That's not going to be helpful  With social anxiety, we're actually working on those distorted cognitions at the beginning. And so, a lot of the work with social anxiety is going to be going out and testing those new cognitions, which really turns the exposures into what we call behavioral experiments. It's more of a cognitive method. We're going out and saying, “Gosh, my new belief, instead of everybody's judging me, is, well, everybody is probably thinking about themselves and I'm going to go do some things that my social anxiety wouldn't want me to do and test out that new belief.” I might have them use that new belief, but also if their anxiety gets really high and they're having a hard time saying, “Well, that person may or may not be judging me. They may or may not be looking at me funny. They may or may not go home and tell people about me.” But really, we're trying to do something a little bit different with social anxiety. Kimberley: And what about with generalized anxiety? With the mental, a lot of rumination there, do you have a little shift in how you respond? Shala: Yeah. So, it's funny that the talk that Michelle Massi and others gave at IOCDF-- I think it was at IOCDF this year about what's the difference between OCD and GAD is they're really aligned there. I mean, I treat GAD very similarly the way I treat OCD in that people are up in their heads trying to do things. They're also doing other types of safety behaviors, compulsive safety behaviors, but a lot of people GAD are just up in their head. They're just worried about more “real-life” things. But again, a lot of OCD stuff can be real-life things. I mean, look at COVID. That was real life. And people's OCD could wrap itself around that. So, I treat GAD and OCD quite similarly. There are some differences, but in terms of scripting, we call it “worry time” in GAD. It's got a different name, but it's basically the same thing. Kimberley: Right. Okay. Thank you for answering that because I know some folks here listening will be not having OCD and will be curious to see how it affects them. So, is that the practice for you or is there anything else you feel like people need to know going in, in terms of like, “Here is my strategy, here is my plan to target mental rituals”? What would you say? Shala: So, as I mentioned, I think the 'may or may nots' are bridge tool that are always available to you throughout your entire recovery. My goal with anybody that I'm working with is to help them get to the point where they can just use shoulders back. And the way that I think about this is what I call my “man in the park” metaphor. So, we've all probably been in a park where somebody is yelling typically about the end of the world and all that stuff. And even if you were to agree with some of the things that the person might say from a spiritual or religious standpoint, you don't run home and go, “Oh my gosh, we got to pack all our things up because it's the end of the world. We have to get with all of our relatives and be together because we're all going to die.” We don't do that. We hear what this guy's saying, and then we go on with our days, again, even if you might agree with some of the content. Now, why do we do that? We do that because it's not relevant in our life. We realize that person probably, unfortunately, has some problems. But it doesn't affect us. We hear it just like when we might hear birds in the background or a car honking, and we just go on with our day. That's how we want to treat OCD. What we do when we have untreated OCD is we run up to the man in the park and we say, “Oh my gosh, can I have a pamphlet? Let me read the pamphlet. Oh my gosh, you're right. Tell me more, tell me more.” And we're interacting with him, trying to get some reassurance that maybe he's wrong, that maybe he does really mean the end of the world is coming soon. Maybe it's going to be like in a hundred years. Eventually, we get to the point where we're handing out pamphlets for him. “Here, everybody, take one of these.” What we're doing with 'may or may nots' is we're learning how to walk by the man in the park and go, “The world may or may not be ending. The world may or may not be ending. I'm not taking a pamphlet. The world may or may not be ending.” So, we're trying to not interact with him. We're trying to take what he's saying and hold it in our heads without doing something compulsive that's going to make our anxiety higher. What we're trying to do is practice that enough till we can get to the point where we can be in the park with the guy and just go on with our day. We hear him speaking, but we're really-- it's just not relevant. It's just not part of our life. So, we just move on. And we're not trying to shove him away. It's just like any other noise or sound or activity that you would just-- it doesn't even register in your consciousness. That's what we're trying to do.  Now I think another way to think about this is if you think-- say you're in an art gallery. Art galleries are quiet and there are lots of people standing around, and there's somebody in there that you don't like or who doesn't like you or whatever. You're not going to walk up to that person and tap on their shoulder and say, “Excuse me, I'm going to ignore you.” You're just going to be like, “I know that person is there. I'm just going to do what I'm doing.” And I think that's-- I use that to help people understand this transition, because we're basically going from 'may or may nots' where we're saying, “OCD, I'm not letting you do this to me anymore,” so we are being really aggressive with it, to this being able to be in the same space with it, but we're not talking to it at all because we don't need to, because we can be in the presence with the intrusive thoughts that the OCD is reacting to, just like the presence of all the other thousands of thoughts we have each day without interacting with them. Kimberley: That's so interesting. I've never thought of it that way.  Shala: And so, that's where I'm trying to get people because that is the strongest, strongest recovery, is if you can go do the things that you want to do, be in the presence of the anxiety and not do compulsions physical or mental, you don't give anything for OCD to work with. I have a whole chapter in my memoir about this after I heard Reid say at one of the conferences, “We need to act as though what OCD is saying doesn't matter.” And that was revolutionary to me to hear that. And that's what we're trying to do both physically and mentally. Because if you can have an obsession and focus on what you want to focus on, do what you want to do, you're not giving OCD anything to work with. And typically, it'll just drain away. But this takes time. I mean, it has taken me years to learn how to do this, but I went untreated for 35 years too. It may not take you years, but it may. And that's okay. It's a process. And I think if you have trouble trying to do shoulders back, man in the park, use 'may or may nots'. You can use the combination. But I think we're trying to get to the point where you can just be with the OCD and hear it flipping out and just go on with your day. OCD, BDD, and Mental Rituals  Kimberley: In your book, you talk about the different voices. There is a BDD voice and an OCD voice. Was it harder or easier depending on the voice? Was that a component for you in that-- because the words and the voice sound a little different. I know in your memoir you give them different names and so forth, which if anyone hasn't read your memoir, they need to go right now and read it. Do you have any thoughts on that in terms of the different voices or the different ways in which the disorders interact? Shala: That's a really great question because yes, I think OCD does shift its voice and shift its persona based on how scared it is. So, if it's a little bit scared, it's probably going to speak to you. It's still going to be not a very nice voice. It might be urgent and pleading. But if it's super scared, I talk about mine being like the triad of hell, how my OCD will personify into different things based on how scared it is. And if it's super scared and it's going to get super big and it's going to get super loud in your head because it's trying desperately to help you understand you've got to save it because it thinks it's in danger. That's all its content. Then I think-- and if you have trouble ignoring it because it's screaming in your head, like the man in the park comes over with his megaphone, puts it right up against your ear and starts talking, that's hard to ignore. That's hard to act like that's not relevant because it hurts. There's so much noise.  That's when you might have to use a may or may not type approach because it's just so loud, you can't ignore it, because it's so scared. And that's okay. And again, sometimes I'll have to use that. Not too terribly often just because I've spent a long time working on how to use the shoulder's back, man in the park, but if I have to use it, I use it. And so, I think your thought about how do I interact with the OCD based on how aggressive it's being also plays into this. Kimberley: I love all this. I think this is really helpful in terms of being able to be flexible. I know sometimes we want just the one rule that's going to work in all situations, but I think you're right. I think that there needs to be different approaches. And would you say it depends on the person? Do you give them some autonomy over finding what works for them, or what would you say?  Shala: Absolutely. If people are up in their heads and they don't want to use 'may or may nots', I'll try to use some other things. If I really, really think that that's what we need right now, is we need scripting, I'll try to sell them on why. But at the end of the day, it's always my client's choice and I do it differently based on every client. For some clients, it might be just more empowering statements. For some clients where it's more panicky focused, it might be more about bringing on your anxiety. Sometimes it might be pulling self-compassion in and just saying the self-compassion statements out loud. So, it really does vary by person. There's no one-size-fits-all, but I think, I feel that people need to have something to replace the mental ritualizing with at the beginning that they've been doing it for a long time, just because otherwise, it's like, I'm giving them a bicycle, they've never ridden a bicycle before and I won't give them any training wheels. And that's really, really hard. Some people can do it. I mean, some people can just be like, “Oh, I'm to stop doing that in my head? Okay, well, I'll stop doing that in my head.” But most people need something to help them bridge that gap to get to the point where they can just be in the presence with it and not be talking to it in their heads. Kimberley: Amazing. All right. Any final statements from you as we get close to the end? Shala: I think that it's important to, as you're working on this, really think about what you're doing in your head that might be subtle, that could be making the OCD worse. And I think talking and being willing to talk about this to therapists about putting it all out there, “Hey, I'm saying this to myself in my head, is that helpful or harmful?” Because OCD therapy can be pretty straightforward. I mean, ERP, go out and face your fears, don't do rituals. It sounds pretty straightforward. But there is a lot of subtlety to this. And the more that you can root out these subtle mental rituals, the better that your recovery is going to be.  And know too that if you've had untreated OCD for a long time, you can uncover mental rituals, little bitty ones, for years after you get out of therapy. And that's okay. It doesn't mean you're not in recovery. It just means that you are getting more and more insightful and educated about what OCD is. And the more that you can pick those little things out, just the better your recovery will be. But we also don't want to be perfectionistic about that like, “I must eliminate every single mental ritual that I have or I'm not going to be in a good recovery.” That's approaching your ERP like OCD would do. And we don't want to do that. But we do want to be mindful about the subtleties and make sure to try to pull out as many of those subtle things that we might be doing in our heads as possible.  Kimberley: Amazing. Thank you. Tell us-- again, first, let me just say, such helpful information. And your personal experience, I think, is really validating and helpful to hear on those little nuances. Tell us where people can hear about you and the amazing projects you've got going on. Shala: You can go to ShalaNicely.com and I have lots of free blog posts I've written on this. So, there are two blog posts, two pretty extensive blog posts on 'may or may nots'. So, if you go on my website and just search may or may not, it'll bring up two blog posts about that. If you search on shoulders back or man in the park, you'll find two blog posts on how to do that technique. I also have a blog post I wrote in the last year or so called Shower Scripting, which is how to do ERP, like just some touch-up scripting in the shower, use that time. So, I would say go to my website and you can find all sorts of free resources. I've got two books. You can find on Amazon, Everyday Mindfulness for OCD, Jon Hershfield and I co-wrote. And we talk about ‘may or may nots' and shoulders back and some of the things in there just briefly. And then my memoir, Is Fred in the Refrigerator?: Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life, is also on Amazon or bookstores, Audible, and that kind of thing.  Kimberley: I wonder too, if we could-- I'm going to put links to all these in the show note. I remember you having a word with your OCD, a video? Shala: Oh yes, that's true. Kimberley: Can we link that too? Shala: Yes. And that one I have under my COVID resources, because I'm so glad you brought that up. When the pandemic started, my OCD did not like it, as many people who have contamination OCD can relate to. And it was pretty scary all the time. And it was making me scared all the time. And eventually, I just wrote it a letter and I'm like, “Dude, we're not doing this anymore.” And I read it out loud and I recorded it out loud so that people could hear how I was talking to it.  Kimberley: It was so powerful. Shala: Well, thank you. And it's fun to do. I think the more that you can personify your OCD, the more you can think of it as an entity that is within you but is not you, and to recognize that your relationship with it will change over time. Sometimes you're going to be compassionate with it. “Gosh, OCD, I'm so sorry,” You're scared we're doing this anyway. Sometimes you're going to be aggressive with it. Sometimes you just ignore it. And that changes as you go through therapy, it changes through your life. And I think that recognizing that it's okay to have OCD and to have this little thing, I think of like an orange ball with big feet and sunglasses is how I think about it when it's behaving – it makes it less of an adversarial relationship over time and more like I have an annoying little sibling that, gosh, it's just not going to ever not be there, but it's fine. We can live together and live in this uncertainty and be happy anyway. Kimberley: I just love it. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your experience and your knowledge. It's so wonderful. Shala: Thank you so much for having me.

SUMMARY:  In this weeks podcast, we have my dearest friend Shala Nicely talking about how she manages mental compulsions.  In this episode, Shala shares her lived experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and how she overcomes mental rituals. In This Episode: How to reduce mental compulsions for OCD and GAD. How to use Flooding Techniques with Mental Compulsions Magical Thinking and Mental Compulsions BDD and Mental Compulsions Links To Things I Talk About: Shalanicely.com Book: Is Fred in the Refridgerator? Book: Everyday Mindfulness for OCD ERP School: https://www.cbtschool.com/erp-school-lp Episode Sponsor: This episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit is brought to you by CBTschool.com.  CBTschool.com is a psychoeducation platform that provides courses and other online resources for people with anxiety, OCD, and Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.  Go to cbtschool.com to learn more. Spread the love! Everyone needs tools for anxiety... If you like Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast, visit YOUR ANXIETY TOOLKIT PODCAST to subscribe free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like Your Anxiety Toolkit, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (maybe even two). EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION This is Your Anxiety Toolkit - Episode 284. Welcome back, everybody. We are on the third video or the third part of this six-part series on how to manage mental compulsions. Last week's episode with Jon Hershfield was bomb, like so good. And I will say that we, this week, have Shala Nicely, and she goes for it as well. So, I am so honored to have these amazing experts talking about mental compulsions, talking about what specific tools they use.  So, I'm not going to take too much time of the intro this time, because I know you just want to get to the content. Again, I just want to put a disclaimer. This should not replace professional mental health care. This series is for educational purposes only. My job at CBT School is to give you as much education as I can, knowing that you may or may not have access to care or treatment in your own home. So, I'm hoping that this fills in a gap that maybe we've missed in the past in terms of we have ERP School, that's an online course teaching you everything about ERP to get you started if you're doing that on your own. But this is a bigger topic. This is an area that I'd need to make a complete new course. But instead of making a course, I'm bringing these experts to you for free, hopefully giving you the tools that you need.  If you're wanting additional information about ERP School, please go to CBTSchool.com. With that being said, let's go straight over to this episode with Shala Nicely.  Kimberley: Welcome, Shala. I am so happy to have you here. Shala: I am so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Kimberley: Okay. So, I have heard a little bit of your views on this, but I am actually so excited now to get into the juicy details of how you address mental compulsions or mental rituals. First, I want to check in with you, do you call them mental compulsions, rituals, rumination? How do you address them? Shala: Yeah. All those things. I also sometimes call it mental gymnastics up in your head, it's all sorts of things you're doing in your head to try to get some relief from anxiety. Kimberley: Right. So, if you had a patient or a client who really was struggling with mental compulsions, whether or not they were doing other compulsions as well, how might you address that particular part of their symptomology? Shala: So, let me answer that by stepping back a little bit and telling you about my own experience with this, because a lot of the way I do it is based on what I learned, trying to manage my own mental rituals. I've had OCD probably since I was five or six, untreated until I was 39. Stumbled upon the right treatment when I went to the IOCDF Conference and started doing exposure mostly on my own. I went to Reid Wilson's two-day group, where I learned how to do it. But the rest of the time, I was implementing on my own. And even though I had quite a few physical compulsions, I would've considered myself a primary mental ritualizer, meaning if we look at the majority, my compulsions were up in my head. And the way I think about this is I think that sometimes if you have OCD for long enough, and you've got to go out and keep functioning in the world and you can't do all these rituals so that people could see, because then people will be like, “What's wrong with you? What are you doing?” you take them inward. And some mental compulsions can take the place of physical compulsions that you're not able to do for whatever reason because you're trying to function. And I'd had untreated OCD for so long that most of my rituals were up in my head, not all, but the great majority of them.  Exposure & Response Prevention for Mental Compulsions So, when I started to do exposure, what I found was I could do exposure therapy, straight up going and facing my fears, like going and being around things that might be triggering all I wanted, but I wasn't necessarily getting better because I wasn't addressing the mental rituals. So, basically, I'm doing exposure without response prevention or exposure with partial response prevention, which can make things either worse or just neutralize your efforts. So, what I did was I figured out how to be in the presence of triggers and not be up in my head, trying to do analyzing, justifying, figuring it out, replaying the situation with a different ending, all the sorts of things that I would do over and over in my head. And the way I did this was I took something I learned from Jonathan Grayson and his book, Freedom From OCD. I know you're having him on for this series too. And he talked about doing all this ERP scripting, where you basically write out the worst-case scenario, what you think your OCD thinks is going to happen and you write it in either a worst-case way or an uncertainty-focused way. And what I did was after reading his book, I took that concept and I just shortened it down, and anything that my OCD was afraid of, I would just wrap may or may not surround it.  So, for instance, an example that I use in Is Fred in the Refrigerator?, my memoir, Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life was that I used to-- when I was walking through stores like Target, if I saw one of those little plastic price tags that had fallen on the ground, if I didn't pick it up and put it out of harm's way, I was afraid somebody was going to slip and fall and break their neck. And it would be on some security camera that I just walked on past it and didn't do anything. So, a typical scrupulosity obsession. And so, going shopping was really hard because I'm cleaning up the store as I'm shopping. And so, what I would do is I would either go to Target, walk past the price tag. And then as I'm just passing the price tag, I would say things. And in Target, I obviously couldn't do this really out loud, mumble it out loud as best, but I may or may not cause somebody to kill themselves by they're going to slip and fall on that price tag because I didn't pick it up. I may or may not be an awful, terrible rotten human being. They may or may not catch me and throw me into jail. I may or may not rot in prison. People may or may not find out what a really bad person I really am. This may or may not be OCD, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  And that would allow me to be present with the obsessions, all the what-ifs – those are basically what-ifs turned into ‘may or may nots' – without compulsing with them, without doing anything that would artificially lower my anxiety. So, it allowed me to be in the presence of those obsessive thoughts while interrupting the pattern of the mental rituals. And that's really how I use ‘may or may nots' and how I teach my clients to use ‘may or may nots' today is using them to really be mindfully present of what the OCD is worried about while not interacting with that content in a way that's going to make things worse. So, that's how I developed it for myself. And I think that-- and that is a tool that I would say is an intermediary tool. So, I use that now in my own recovery. I don't have to use 'may or may nots'. It's very often at all. If I get super triggered, which doesn't happen too terribly often, but if I get super triggered and I cannot get out of my head, I'll use 'may or may nots'.  But I think the continuum is that you try to do something to interrupt the mental rituals, which for me is the 'may or may nots'. You can also-- people can write down the scripts, they can do a worst-case scenario. But eventually, what you're trying to get to is you're trying to be able to hear the OCD, what-ifs in your head and completely ignore it. And I call that my shoulders back, the way of thinking about things. Just put your shoulders back and you move on with your day. You don't acknowledge it.  What I'll do with clients, I'll say, “If you had the thought of Blue Martian is going to land on my head, I mean, you wouldn't even do anything with that thought. That thought would just go in and go out and wouldn't get any of your attention.” That's the way we want to treat OCD, is just thoughts can be there. I'm not going to say, “Oh, that's my OCD.” I'm not going to say, “OCD, I'm not talking to you.” I'm not going to acknowledge it at all. I'm just going to treat it like any other weird thought that we have during the day and move on.  Your question was, how would you help somebody who comes in with mental rituals? Well, first, I want to understand where are they in their OCD recovery? How long have they been doing these mental rituals? What percentage of their compulsions are mental versus physical? What are the kind of things that their OCD is afraid of? Basically, make a list or a hierarchy of everything they're afraid of. And then we start working on exposure therapy. And when I have them do exposures, the first exposure I do with people, we'll find something that's-- I start in the middle of the hierarchy. You don't have to, but I try. And I will have them face the fear. But then I'll immediately ask them, what is your OCD saying right now? And they'll tell me, and I'll say, “I want you to repeat after me.” I have them do this, and everyone that I see hates this, but I have them do it. Standing up with their shoulders back like Wonder Woman, because this type of power pose helps them. It changes the chemistry of your body and helps you feel more powerful.  OCD thinks it's very powerful. So, I want my clients to feel as powerful as they can. So, I have them stand like Wonder Woman and they repeat after me. Somebody could-- let's just say we are standing near something red on the floor. And I'll say, “Well, what is your OCD saying right now?” And they'll say, “Well, that's blood and it could have AIDS in it, and I'm going to get sick.” I'll say, “Well, that may or may not be a spot of blood on the floor. I may or may not get sick and I may or may not get AIDS, but I want to do this. I'm going to stay here. OCD, I want to be anxious, so bring it on.”  And that's how we do the exposure, is I ask them what's in their head. I have them repeat it to me until they understand what the process is. And then I'm having them be in the presence of this and just script, script, script away. That's what I call it scripting, so that they are in the presence of whatever's bothering them, but they're not up in their head. And anytime something comes in their head, I teach them to pull it down into the script. Never let something be circulating in your head without saying it out loud and pulling it into the script.  I will work on this technique with clients as we're working on exposures, because eventually what we'll want to do is instead of going all over the place, “That may or may not be blood, I may or may not get AIDS, I may or may not get sick,” I'll say, “Okay, of all the things you've just said, what does your OCD-- what is your OCD scared of the most? Let's focus on that.” And so, “I may or may not get AIDS. I may or may not get AIDS. I may or may not have HIV. I may or may not get AIDS,” over again until people start to say, “Oh, okay. I guess I don't have any control over this,” because what we're trying to do is help the OCD habituate to the uncertainty. Habituate, I know that'd be a confusing word. You don't have to habituate in order for exposure to work due to the theory of inhibitory learning, but we're trying to help your brain get used to the uncertainty here. Kimberley: And break into a different cycle instead of doing the old rumination cycle.  Shala: Yes. And so then, I'll teach people to just find their scariest fear. They say that over and over and over again. Then let's hit the next one. “Well, my family may or may not survive if I die because if I get a fatal disease and I die and my family may or may not be left destitute,” and then over and over. “My family may or may not be left destitute. My family may or may not be left destitute, whatever,” until we're hitting all the things that could be circulating in your head.  Now, some people really don't need to do that scripting because they're not up in their head that much. But that's the minority of people. I think most people with OCD are doing something in their head. And a lot of people aren't aware of what they're doing because these mental rituals are incredibly subtle at times. And so, as people, as my clients go out and work on these exposures, I'll have them tell me how it's going. I have people fill out forms on my website each day as they're doing exposures so I can see what's going on. And if they're not really up in their head and they don't really need to do the ‘may or may nots', great. That's better. In fact, just go do the exposure and go on with your life. If they're up in their head, then I have them do the 'may or may nots'. And so, that's how I would start with somebody.  And so, what I'm trying to do is I'm giving them what I call a bridge tool. Because people who have been mental ritualizing for a long time, I have found it's virtually impossible to just stop because that's what your mind is used to doing. And so, what I'm doing is I'm giving them a competing response. And I'm saying here, instead of mental ritualizing, I'd like you to say a bunch of 'may or may nots' statements while standing up and say them out loud while looking like Wonder Woman. Everybody rolls their eyes like, “Really?” But that's what we do as a bridge tool. And so, they've lifted enough mental weights, so to speak, with this technique that they can hear the OCD and start to disengage and not interact with it at all. Then we move to that technique. Flooding Techniques for Mental Rumination Kimberley: Is there a reason why-- and for some of the listeners, they may have learned this before, but is there a reason why you use 'may or may nots' instead of worst-case scenarios? Shala: For me, for my personal OCD recovery journey, what I found with worst-case scenario is I got too lost in the content. I remember doing-- I had had a mammogram, it had come back with some abnormal findings. I spent the whole weekend trying to do scripting about what could happen, and I was using worst-case scenario. Well, I end up in the hospital, I end up with breast cancer, I end up dead. And by the end of the weekend, I was completely demoralized. And I'm like, “Well, I don't bother because I'm going to be dead, because I have breast cancer.” That's where my mind took it because I've had OCD long enough that if I get a really scary and I start and I play around in the content, I'm going to start losing insight and I'm going to start doing depression as a compulsion, which is the blog we did talk about, where you start acting depressed because you're believing what the OCD says like, “Oh, well, I might as well just give up, I have breast cancer,” and then becoming depressed, and then acting like it's true. And then that's reinforcing the whole cycle.  So, for me, worst-case scenario scripting made things worse. So, when I stayed in the uncertainty realm, the ‘may or may nots' that helped because I was trying to help my brain understand, “Well, I may or may not have breast cancer. And if I do, I mean, I'll go to the doctor, I'll do what I need to do, but there's nothing I can do about it right now in my head other than what I'm doing.” Some people like worst-case scenario and it works fine for them. And I think that works too. I mostly use 'may or may nots' with clients unless they are unable through numbing that they might be doing. If they're unable to actually feel what they're saying, because they're used to turning it over in their head and pulling the anxiety down officially, and so I can't get a rise out of the OCD because there's a lot of really little subtle mental compulsions going on, then I'll insert some worst-case scenario to get the anxiety level up, to help them really feel the fear, and then pull back into 'may or may nots'. But there's nothing wrong with worst-case scenario. But for me, that was what happened. And I think if you are prone to depression, if you're prone to losing insight into your OCD when you've got a really big one, I think that's a risk factor for using that particular type of scripting.  Magical Thinking and Mental Compulsions  Kimberley: Right. And I found that they may or may not have worked just as well, except the one thing, and I'm actually curious on your opinion on this and I have not had this conversation, is I find that people who have a lot of magical thinking benefit by worst-case scenario, like their jinxing compulsions and so forth, like the fear of saying it means it will happen. So, saying the worst-case is the best exposure. Is that true for you? Shala: I have not had to use it much on my own magically. I certainly had a lot of magical thinking. Like, if I don't hit this green light, then somebody's going to die. But I think the worst-case scenario, I could actually work well in that, because if you use the worst-case scenario, it can make it seem so ridiculous that it helps people let go of it more easily. And I think you can do that with 'may or may nots' too. I'll try to encourage people to use the creativity that they have because everybody with OCD has a ton of creativity. And we know that because the OCD shares your brain and it's certainly the creative stuff And to one-up the OCD, you use the scripting to be like, “Gosh, I may or may not get some drug-disease and give it to my entire neighborhood. I may or may not kill off an entire section of my county. We may or may not infect the entire state of Georgia. The entire United States may or may not blow up because I got this one disease. So, they may or may not have to eject me off the earth and make me live on Mars because I'm such a bad person.” This ‘may or may not' is in all this crazy stuff too, because that's how to win, is to one up the OCD. It thinks that's scary, let's go even scarier. But the scary you get, it also gets a little bit ridiculous after a while. And then the whole thing seems to be a little bit ridiculous. So, I think you can still use that worst-case stuff with may or may not. Kimberley: Right. Okay. So, I mean, I will always sort of-- I know you really well. I've always held you so high in my mind in just how resilient and strong you are in doing this. How might you, or how do you help people who feel completely powerless at even addressing this? For you to say it, it sounds very like you're just doing it and it's so powerful. But for those who are really struggling with this idea of like, you said, coming out of your head, can you speak to how you address that in session if someone's really struggling to engage in 'may or may nots' and so forth? Shala: Yeah. Well, thank you for the kind words, first off. I think that it's really common for people with OCD by the time they get to a therapist to feel completely demoralized, especially if they've been to multiple therapists before they get to somebody who does ERP. And so, they feel like they're the victim at the hands of a very cruel abuser that they can't get away from. And so, they feel beaten down and they don't know how to get out of their heads. They feel like they're trapped in this mental prison. They can't get out. And if somebody is struggling like that, and they're doing the 'may or may nots' and the OCD is reacting, which of course, it will, and coming back at them stronger, which I always warn people, this is going to happen. When you start poking at this, the OCD is going to poke back and poke back even harder, because it wants to get you back in line so it can keep you prisoner.  So, what I'll often do in those situations, if I see somebody is really feeling like they have been so victimized, that they're never going to be able to get over this, is the type of script I have them do is more of an empowerment script, which could sound like this: “OCD, I'm not listening to you anymore. I'm not doing what you want. I am strong. I can do this.” And I might add some 'may or may nots' in there. “And I want to be anxious. Come on, bring it on. You think that's scary? Give me something else.”  I know you're having Reid Wilson on as part of this too. I learned all that “bring it on” type stuff and pushing for the anxiety from him. And I think helping people say that out loud can be really transformative. I've seen people just completely break down in tears of sort of, “Oh my gosh, I could do this,” like tears of empowerment from standing up and yelling at their OCD.  If people like swearing, I also just have them swear at it, like they would really swear at somebody who had been abusing them if they had a chance, because swearing actually can make you feel more powerful too, and I want to use all the tools we can. So, I think scripting comes in a number of forms. It's all about really taking what's in your head, turning it into a helpful self-talk and saying it out loud. And the reason out loud is important for any type of scripting is that if you're saying it in your head, it's going to get mixed up with all the jumble of mental ruminating that's going on. And saying it out loud makes it hard for you to ruminate. It's not impossible, but it's hard because you're saying it. Your brain really is only processing one thing at a time. And so, if you're talking and really paying attention to what you're saying, it's much harder to be up in your head spinning this around.  And so, adding these empowerment scripts in with the 'may or may nots' helps people both accept the uncertainty and feel like they can do this, feel like they can stand up to the OCD and say, “You've beaten me enough. No more. This is my life. I'm not letting you ruin it anymore. I am taking this back. I don't care how long it takes. I don't care what I have to do. I'm going to do this.” And that builds people up enough where they can feel like they can start approaching these exposures. Kimberley: I love that. I think that is such-- I've had that same experience of how powerful empowerment can be in switching that behavior. It's so important. Now, one thing I really want to ask you is, do you switch this method when you're dealing with other anxiety disorders – health anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder? What is your approach? Is there a difference or would you say the tools are the same? Shala: There's a slight difference between disorders. I think health anxiety, I treat exactly like OCD. Even some of the examples I gave here were really health anxiety statements. With panic disorder-- and again, I learned this from Reid and you can ask him more about this when you interview him. But with pain disorder, it's all about, I want to feel more shorter breath, more like their elephant standing on my chest. I want my heart to be faster. But I'm doing this while I'm having people do exercises that would actually create those feelings, like breathing through a little bit of cocktail straw, jogging, turning up a space heater, and blowing it on themselves. So, we're trying to create those symptoms and then talk out loud and say, “Come on, I want more of this. I want to feel more anxious. Give me the worst panic attack you've ever had.” So, it's all about amping up the symptoms.  With social anxiety, it's a little bit different because with social anxiety, I would work on the cognitions first. Whereas with OCD, we don't work on the cognitions at all, other than I want you to have a different cognitive relationship with your disorder and your anxiety. I want you to want the anxiety. I want you to want the OCD to come and bother you because that gives you an opportunity to practice. That's the cognitive work with OCD. I do not work on the cognitive work on the content. I'm not going to say to somebody, “Well, the chance you're going to get AIDS from that little spot of blood is very small.” That's not going to be helpful  With social anxiety, we're actually working on those distorted cognitions at the beginning. And so, a lot of the work with social anxiety is going to be going out and testing those new cognitions, which really turns the exposures into what we call behavioral experiments. It's more of a cognitive method. We're going out and saying, “Gosh, my new belief, instead of everybody's judging me, is, well, everybody is probably thinking about themselves and I'm going to go do some things that my social anxiety wouldn't want me to do and test out that new belief.” I might have them use that new belief, but also if their anxiety gets really high and they're having a hard time saying, “Well, that person may or may not be judging me. They may or may not be looking at me funny. They may or may not go home and tell people about me.” But really, we're trying to do something a little bit different with social anxiety. Kimberley: And what about with generalized anxiety? With the mental, a lot of rumination there, do you have a little shift in how you respond? Shala: Yeah. So, it's funny that the talk that Michelle Massi and others gave at IOCDF-- I think it was at IOCDF this year about what's the difference between OCD and GAD is they're really aligned there. I mean, I treat GAD very similarly the way I treat OCD in that people are up in their heads trying to do things. They're also doing other types of safety behaviors, compulsive safety behaviors, but a lot of people GAD are just up in their head. They're just worried about more “real-life” things. But again, a lot of OCD stuff can be real-life things. I mean, look at COVID. That was real life. And people's OCD could wrap itself around that. So, I treat GAD and OCD quite similarly. There are some differences, but in terms of scripting, we call it “worry time” in GAD. It's got a different name, but it's basically the same thing. Kimberley: Right. Okay. Thank you for answering that because I know some folks here listening will be not having OCD and will be curious to see how it affects them. So, is that the practice for you or is there anything else you feel like people need to know going in, in terms of like, “Here is my strategy, here is my plan to target mental rituals”? What would you say? Shala: So, as I mentioned, I think the 'may or may nots' are bridge tool that are always available to you throughout your entire recovery. My goal with anybody that I'm working with is to help them get to the point where they can just use shoulders back. And the way that I think about this is what I call my “man in the park” metaphor. So, we've all probably been in a park where somebody is yelling typically about the end of the world and all that stuff. And even if you were to agree with some of the things that the person might say from a spiritual or religious standpoint, you don't run home and go, “Oh my gosh, we got to pack all our things up because it's the end of the world. We have to get with all of our relatives and be together because we're all going to die.” We don't do that. We hear what this guy's saying, and then we go on with our days, again, even if you might agree with some of the content. Now, why do we do that? We do that because it's not relevant in our life. We realize that person probably, unfortunately, has some problems. But it doesn't affect us. We hear it just like when we might hear birds in the background or a car honking, and we just go on with our day. That's how we want to treat OCD. What we do when we have untreated OCD is we run up to the man in the park and we say, “Oh my gosh, can I have a pamphlet? Let me read the pamphlet. Oh my gosh, you're right. Tell me more, tell me more.” And we're interacting with him, trying to get some reassurance that maybe he's wrong, that maybe he does really mean the end of the world is coming soon. Maybe it's going to be like in a hundred years. Eventually, we get to the point where we're handing out pamphlets for him. “Here, everybody, take one of these.” What we're doing with 'may or may nots' is we're learning how to walk by the man in the park and go, “The world may or may not be ending. The world may or may not be ending. I'm not taking a pamphlet. The world may or may not be ending.” So, we're trying to not interact with him. We're trying to take what he's saying and hold it in our heads without doing something compulsive that's going to make our anxiety higher. What we're trying to do is practice that enough till we can get to the point where we can be in the park with the guy and just go on with our day. We hear him speaking, but we're really-- it's just not relevant. It's just not part of our life. So, we just move on. And we're not trying to shove him away. It's just like any other noise or sound or activity that you would just-- it doesn't even register in your consciousness. That's what we're trying to do.  Now I think another way to think about this is if you think-- say you're in an art gallery. Art galleries are quiet and there are lots of people standing around, and there's somebody in there that you don't like or who doesn't like you or whatever. You're not going to walk up to that person and tap on their shoulder and say, “Excuse me, I'm going to ignore you.” You're just going to be like, “I know that person is there. I'm just going to do what I'm doing.” And I think that's-- I use that to help people understand this transition, because we're basically going from 'may or may nots' where we're saying, “OCD, I'm not letting you do this to me anymore,” so we are being really aggressive with it, to this being able to be in the same space with it, but we're not talking to it at all because we don't need to, because we can be in the presence with the intrusive thoughts that the OCD is reacting to, just like the presence of all the other thousands of thoughts we have each day without interacting with them. Kimberley: That's so interesting. I've never thought of it that way.  Shala: And so, that's where I'm trying to get people because that is the strongest, strongest recovery, is if you can go do the things that you want to do, be in the presence of the anxiety and not do compulsions physical or mental, you don't give anything for OCD to work with. I have a whole chapter in my memoir about this after I heard Reid say at one of the conferences, “We need to act as though what OCD is saying doesn't matter.” And that was revolutionary to me to hear that. And that's what we're trying to do both physically and mentally. Because if you can have an obsession and focus on what you want to focus on, do what you want to do, you're not giving OCD anything to work with. And typically, it'll just drain away. But this takes time. I mean, it has taken me years to learn how to do this, but I went untreated for 35 years too. It may not take you years, but it may. And that's okay. It's a process. And I think if you have trouble trying to do shoulders back, man in the park, use 'may or may nots'. You can use the combination. But I think we're trying to get to the point where you can just be with the OCD and hear it flipping out and just go on with your day. OCD, BDD, and Mental Rituals  Kimberley: In your book, you talk about the different voices. There is a BDD voice and an OCD voice. Was it harder or easier depending on the voice? Was that a component for you in that-- because the words and the voice sound a little different. I know in your memoir you give them different names and so forth, which if anyone hasn't read your memoir, they need to go right now and read it. Do you have any thoughts on that in terms of the different voices or the different ways in which the disorders interact? Shala: That's a really great question because yes, I think OCD does shift its voice and shift its persona based on how scared it is. So, if it's a little bit scared, it's probably going to speak to you. It's still going to be not a very nice voice. It might be urgent and pleading. But if it's super scared, I talk about mine being like the triad of hell, how my OCD will personify into different things based on how scared it is. And if it's super scared and it's going to get super big and it's going to get super loud in your head because it's trying desperately to help you understand you've got to save it because it thinks it's in danger. That's all its content. Then I think-- and if you have trouble ignoring it because it's screaming in your head, like the man in the park comes over with his megaphone, puts it right up against your ear and starts talking, that's hard to ignore. That's hard to act like that's not relevant because it hurts. There's so much noise.  That's when you might have to use a may or may not type approach because it's just so loud, you can't ignore it, because it's so scared. And that's okay. And again, sometimes I'll have to use that. Not too terribly often just because I've spent a long time working on how to use the shoulder's back, man in the park, but if I have to use it, I use it. And so, I think your thought about how do I interact with the OCD based on how aggressive it's being also plays into this. Kimberley: I love all this. I think this is really helpful in terms of being able to be flexible. I know sometimes we want just the one rule that's going to work in all situations, but I think you're right. I think that there needs to be different approaches. And would you say it depends on the person? Do you give them some autonomy over finding what works for them, or what would you say?  Shala: Absolutely. If people are up in their heads and they don't want to use 'may or may nots', I'll try to use some other things. If I really, really think that that's what we need right now, is we need scripting, I'll try to sell them on why. But at the end of the day, it's always my client's choice and I do it differently based on every client. For some clients, it might be just more empowering statements. For some clients where it's more panicky focused, it might be more about bringing on your anxiety. Sometimes it might be pulling self-compassion in and just saying the self-compassion statements out loud. So, it really does vary by person. There's no one-size-fits-all, but I think, I feel that people need to have something to replace the mental ritualizing with at the beginning that they've been doing it for a long time, just because otherwise, it's like, I'm giving them a bicycle, they've never ridden a bicycle before and I won't give them any training wheels. And that's really, really hard. Some people can do it. I mean, some people can just be like, “Oh, I'm to stop doing that in my head? Okay, well, I'll stop doing that in my head.” But most people need something to help them bridge that gap to get to the point where they can just be in the presence with it and not be talking to it in their heads. Kimberley: Amazing. All right. Any final statements from you as we get close to the end? Shala: I think that it's important to, as you're working on this, really think about what you're doing in your head that might be subtle, that could be making the OCD worse. And I think talking and being willing to talk about this to therapists about putting it all out there, “Hey, I'm saying this to myself in my head, is that helpful or harmful?” Because OCD therapy can be pretty straightforward. I mean, ERP, go out and face your fears, don't do rituals. It sounds pretty straightforward. But there is a lot of subtlety to this. And the more that you can root out these subtle mental rituals, the better that your recovery is going to be.  And know too that if you've had untreated OCD for a long time, you can uncover mental rituals, little bitty ones, for years after you get out of therapy. And that's okay. It doesn't mean you're not in recovery. It just means that you are getting more and more insightful and educated about what OCD is. And the more that you can pick those little things out, just the better your recovery will be. But we also don't want to be perfectionistic about that like, “I must eliminate every single mental ritual that I have or I'm not going to be in a good recovery.” That's approaching your ERP like OCD would do. And we don't want to do that. But we do want to be mindful about the subtleties and make sure to try to pull out as many of those subtle things that we might be doing in our heads as possible.  Kimberley: Amazing. Thank you. Tell us-- again, first, let me just say, such helpful information. And your personal experience, I think, is really validating and helpful to hear on those little nuances. Tell us where people can hear about you and the amazing projects you've got going on. Shala: You can go to ShalaNicely.com and I have lots of free blog posts I've written on this. So, there are two blog posts, two pretty extensive blog posts on 'may or may nots'. So, if you go on my website and just search may or may not, it'll bring up two blog posts about that. If you search on shoulders back or man in the park, you'll find two blog posts on how to do that technique. I also have a blog post I wrote in the last year or so called Shower Scripting, which is how to do ERP, like just some touch-up scripting in the shower, use that time. So, I would say go to my website and you can find all sorts of free resources. I've got two books. You can find on Amazon, Everyday Mindfulness for OCD, Jon Hershfield and I co-wrote. And we talk about ‘may or may nots' and shoulders back and some of the things in there just briefly. And then my memoir, Is Fred in the Refrigerator?: Taming OCD and Reclaiming My Life, is also on Amazon or bookstores, Audible, and that kind of thing.  Kimberley: I wonder too, if we could-- I'm going to put links to all these in the show note. I remember you having a word with your OCD, a video? Shala: Oh yes, that's true. Kimberley: Can we link that too? Shala: Yes. And that one I have under my COVID resources, because I'm so glad you brought that up. When the pandemic started, my OCD did not like it, as many people who have contamination OCD can relate to. And it was pretty scary all the time. And it was making me scared all the time. And eventually, I just wrote it a letter and I'm like, “Dude, we're not doing this anymore.” And I read it out loud and I recorded it out loud so that people could hear how I was talking to it.  Kimberley: It was so powerful. Shala: Well, thank you. And it's fun to do. I think the more that you can personify your OCD, the more you can think of it as an entity that is within you but is not you, and to recognize that your relationship with it will change over time. Sometimes you're going to be compassionate with it. “Gosh, OCD, I'm so sorry,” You're scared we're doing this anyway. Sometimes you're going to be aggressive with it. Sometimes you just ignore it. And that changes as you go through therapy, it changes through your life. And I think that recognizing that it's okay to have OCD and to have this little thing, I think of like an orange ball with big feet and sunglasses is how I think about it when it's behaving – it makes it less of an adversarial relationship over time and more like I have an annoying little sibling that, gosh, it's just not going to ever not be there, but it's fine. We can live together and live in this uncertainty and be happy anyway. Kimberley: I just love it. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your experience and your knowledge. It's so wonderful. Shala: Thank you so much for having me.

The great George Perez is no longer with us. Here is our discussion of his influence on the Wonder Woman film. @Spinnerrack Out!!! *Manhattan - MNN - 56/1996 (Wednesday 8pm) *Brooklyn - Bric - 79/68 (Saturday 8:30am & 7:30pm) *Bronx - Bronxnet - Channel 68/34 (Wednesday 8pm) *Youtube Channel - https://youtu.be/P1CMJMRGU7s *Instagram - the_spinner_rack *Soundcloud - The Spinner Rack

On this episode of X-Ray Vision, Jason Concepcion and Rosie Knight open up the mailbag of madness! First in Previously On (3:09), Jason and Rosie discuss the Avatar 2 trailer, the new Ms. Marvel teaser and the MCU's changes to her powers, and celebrate the lives of Neal Adams & George Pérez, two legends of comics who sadly passed away recently. In the Airlock (20:45), Jason and Rosie dive deep (deeeep) into the mailbag to answer YOUR questions (and some of their own) for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Finally, in Hive Mind (1:17:57) Jason and Rosie interview Multiverse of Madness & Loki screenwriter Michael Waldron, touching on the influence of wrestling in Michael's work, how Mad Men's Don Draper helped him write Doctor Strange, what it was like to work with Sam Raimi, and confirming some of our recommendations from the Multiverse of Madness reading list. Tune in every Friday and don't forget to Hulk Smash the Follow button!Nerd Out Submission Instructions!Send a short pitch and 2-3 minute voice memo recording to xray@crooked.com that answers the following questions: 1) How did you get into/discover your ‘Nerd Out?' (2) Why should we get into it too? (3) What's coming soon in this world that we can look forward to or where can we find it?Follow Jason: twitter.com/netw3rkFollow Crooked Uncultured on Twitter & IGRosie Knight will be at Pulp Fiction in Long Beach for Transformers Day on May 21 – details here!Listener's GuideNEAL ADAMSBatman (beginning with Detective Comics #395, 1970) with Dennis O'Neil, inks by various including Dick Giordano, and letters by various including Ben Oda – re-establishing a darker, grittier tone for the masked vigilante.Green Arrow / Green Lantern (beginning with issue #76, April 1970) with Dennis O'Neil, inks by various including Frank Giacoia, colors by Cory Adams, & letters by John Costanza – Lantern & Arrow take a socially-conscious journey across the US.X-Men (beginning with X-Men #56, 1969) with Roy Thomas and ink by Tom Palmer and letters by Herb Cooper.GEORGE PÉREZCrisis on Infinite Earths (1985) with Marv Wolfman and inks by Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo, and Jerry Ordway.Teen Titans (The New Teen Titans #1, 1980) with Marv Wolfman, inks by Romeo Tanghal, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda.Infinity Gauntlet (1991) with writer Jim Starlin and co-pencilled by Ron Lim, inks by various, colors by Jack Morelli, letters by Max Scheele & Ian Laughlin.Wonder Woman (1986) - Reinvigorated WW alongside co-writer Len Wein and inker Bruce Patterson, for an unforgettable near 5 year long run.DIRE WRAITHS OR NOT? + STRANGE ACADEMY + HULKRom the Space Knight – A Parker bros. toy (designed by Bing McCoy) turned comics hero in the eponymous series (1979-1986) by Bill Mantlo & Sal Buscema; currently owned by Hasbro.Strange Academy (#1, March 2020) – Skottie Young (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils & inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters).Incredible Hulk #140 (1971) - Harlan Ellison (writer), Roy Thomas (writer), Herb Trimpe (penciler), Sam Grainger (inker), Artie Simek (letterer). KANG COMICSAvengers #267-269 (1986) – Roger Stern (writer), John Buscema (breakdowns), Tom Palmer (finishes), Howard Mackie (assistant editor), Mark Gruenwald (editor).Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective (1993) – Mark Gruenwald (writer), Mike Gustovich (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inker), Chris Matthys (colorist), Steve Dutro (letters).Timeless (2021) – Jed Mackay (writer), Kev Walker (art), Greg Land (art), Jay Leisten (art), Mark Bagley (art), Andrew Hennessy (art), Marte Garcia (colors), VC's Ariana Maher (letters).West Coast Avengers: Outta Time (#17-24) – Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Joe Sinnott / Kim DeMulder / Romeo Tanghal / Mike Machlan (inks), Ken Feduniewicz (colors), Janice Chieng (letters), Mark Gruenwald (editor). ___With our constitutionally protected right to abortion under attack, abortion funds are working nonstop to make sure people can still access (and afford) abortion.Visit votesaveamerica.com/roe to learn more, donate, and take action.

Jennifer Cassetta's mission in life is to help woman feel more strong and powerful from the streets to the boardroom. This has led her to teach empowerment and self defense classes to women everywhere. In this episode she dives deep into her Art of Badassery which shows others how to protect their space and how to defy boundaries by learning “blocking”. In this episode:Using martial arts as a metaphor, Jenn explains how she teaches how to block not only the physical aspects in lifeDefining your own boundariesMaking your own hell no and hell yes you want out of lifeLearning how to embrace "the suck" and accept the things you can not changeThe importance of learning self defenseBased in Los Angeles, Jennifer Cassetta is a nationally recognized speaker, empowerment coach and self defense expert. She has worked with tens of thousands of professional women around the country to help them unleash their inner badass. Equipped with her 3rd degree black belt in HapKiDo, Master's degree in Nutrition, and health coaching certification, she develops programming that helps women feel strong, safe and powerful from the streets to the boardroom. With clients that include: American Airlines, British Airways, Del Monte, Nike, Uber and UBS, Jennifer has rocked over one hundred stages across the country with her super power combination of engaging content and contagious enthusiasm.Connect with Jennifer:InstagramLinkedInFacebookTikTokGet Jennifer Cassetta's book: The Art of Badassery: Unleash Your Mojo With Wisdom of the DojoFollow along @trustandbelievepod on Instagram for all of the latest updatesPlease take a moment to Review The Trust and Believe Podcast here! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Y'know, as I've said before in these episode descriptions, doing this podcast can be a precarious endeavor sometimes. Some weeks, we get to watch ridiculous oddities like The Luck of the Irish or delightful obscure gems like Life With Mikey...and then there's weeks like this one, when the almighty randomizer sees fit to say "Hey look, two episodes of a made-for-YouTube NatGeo documentary series from last year about the ongoing Puerto Rican water crisis and the life-or-death struggle of homeless black trans women! Make jokes about THAT, pathetic humans!" And we are forced to obey. Join Tony Goldmark, Anarkee, Kyle Kallgren and Chris Nebergall as they brace for IMPACT WITH GAL GADOT, season one, episodes three and four, "The Ripple Effect" and "Coming Home!" Learn more about Remora Water: https://remorawater.com/ Learn more about My Sistah's House Memphis: https://mshmemphis.org/ Check out my guests' stuff! ANARKEE Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anarkee/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itsanarkee Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsanarkee  KYLE KALLGREN Twitter: https://twitter.com/KyleKallgren  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/oancitizen  Theatre Company: https://worlds-elsewhere.com CHRIS NEBERGALL Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisNebergall  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq9hpBl49TYkjc_lzqStkCA  And check out this show on social media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/efvdpodcast Host's Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonygoldmark Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/972385353152531 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tonygoldmark Hear new episodes a day early by supporting this show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tonygoldmark

Happy Mothers day!In this sermon, Pastor Tony shares with us about King Lemuel's last words of wisdom that he can offer to other. That last word is from his own mother. In this sermon we focus on the three Ws; ways, wine, words.Support the show

Hollywood Heroes: How Your Favorite Movies Reveal God - https://amzn.to/3yo0OXb   Frank Turek is an award-winning author or coauthor of several books, including "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" and his latest, "Hollywood Heroes". He hosts a weekly TV program  broadcast to 32 million homes and an apologetics podcast on over 180 stations. As founder and president of CrossExamined.org, Frank speaks over 100 times  per year, often to youth and college students. He has debated several prominent atheists, including Christopher Hitchens and Michael Shermer.   Seven fictional stories — Captain America, Iron Man, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Batman, and Wonder Woman — point us to the Ultimate Hero, Jesus Christ.   Think about it. What if Batman knew your name and wanted to be friends with you? What if you were the one Tony Stark died to save? What if it was you Luke Skywalker would stop at nothing to redeem? Hollywood Heroes will awaken you to these questions and help you see the God who stops at nothing to redeem you. And it will strengthen you to invite others into conversations of faith and life in Jesus.   Fictional stories about heroes help us realize that there is evil to fight, there are souls to be won, and there is growth to be achieved. These heroes help us recognize that regardless of religious or cultural beliefs, sacrificing your life for another is a powerful and beautiful display of love.   Fictional heroes help us to reconsider what is tangibly in front of us through the lens of story rather than just living through another day in our ordinary lives. Appealing  straight to the heart, the stories bypass artificial barriers that would normally block them because our worldview has been threatened.    When we examine out-of-this-world qualities like idealism, genius, a willingness to sacrifice, discipline,  loyalty, humility, courage, wisdom, focus, power, and love, we discover that Jesus practices them perfectly.   Connect with Dr. Turek & Cross Examined: Website - https://crossexamined.org/   YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CrossExamined   Podcast - https://pod.link/1297439270   IG - https://www.instagram.com/drfrankturek/   --   Connect with Frank and The Super Human Life on Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachfrankrich/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/584284948647477/   Website: http://www.thesuperhumanlifepodcast.com/tshlhome   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjB4UrpxtNO2AFtDURMzoKQ  

Sometimes the gifts we see celebrated in others can keep us from using the inherent abilities God has given each one of us. In this Mother's Day message, Ps. Michael shares how wonderful qualities in women can have a profound impact on society.

Here's a heartfelt, emotional and heartwarming conversation that Julie Hirtzel had with John Clayton. It'll probably surprise you and yes, warm your heart – it might even bring tears to your eyes. BUT that's one of the reasons you'll want to be sure to hear this unique Christian woman called Julie Hirtzel share some of her innermost thoughts about the big C, and the steps she's taking towards beating it. Listen to it tonight.

We're going way back to ancient myths in this episode, taking a look at some books and movies that reimagine these eternal, compelling stories in a sexy-modern, romantic and exciting way.Thanks to my special guest--listener and writer Mariah--for gushing with me yet again on this episode. You're the best!https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.comBooksNeon Gods is the spectacular Book 1 in the Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert. Electric Idol is the fabulous Book 2, and the third book of the four-book series, Wicked Beauty, will be published next month. I'm beyond excited.This episode included an excerpt from Stephen Fry's fantastic Mythos audiobook. It's a collection of Greek myths, retold by the beloved British writer, actor and comedian.Movies/TV ShowsJoseph Campbell's The Power of Myth is a classic book and TV show, and both are well worth the time. I don't watch a lot of movies based on comic book characters, but I was absolutely stunned at how compelling and impressive Wonder Woman was —both the movie and the title character, played by Gal Gadot (one day, I'll pronounce her entire name correctly).Mighty Aphrodite is an ironic take on the eternal push-pull of love and desire. Not every joke has aged well but there's still a lot of clever charm in the story. Mira Sorvino is phenomenal — she won an Oscar and Golden Globe for her performance.Lore Olympus is a super popular webtoon that's now being adapted as a YA animated series.Support the show

In today's episode, Erik speaks with Tracy Gorham. We talk a lot about superhero's on this podcast and Tracy is the telecommunications and education sector's Wonder Woman. Tracy is the Founder and CEO of ConexED. Tracy's experiences in the foster home community inspired her to build a company that ensures the successful enrollment to graduation for all students regardless of ability or location.The first all-in-one success platform, ConexED makes it possible for students to connect with the right person, at the exact time they need help, in the way that works best for them. ConexED removes roadblocks, and simplifies success. Thank you Tracy, we want to be like you when we grow up.   5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling.   Have Erik speak at your conference: eq@equalman.com   Motivational Speaker | Erik Qualman has inspired audiences at FedEx, Chase, ADP, Huawei, Starbucks, Godiva, FBI, Google, and many more on Digital Leadership.   Learn more at https://equalman.com

It's a bit of a sad beginning, with Roe V Wade about to get pulled, but we find the humor and Gaudy-ness we need with Jasmine Ellis. In this episode we talk about the fetish roots of wonder woman, yitty, ball tanning, and so much more! Get your ears ready for this one! FOLLOW AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF! @gaudypositiveshow @jasmineelliscomedy @jennyzigrino @styleethic  

Captain America assembles the Avengers. Iron Man battles Thanos. Luke Skywalker duels Darth Vader. Aragorn charges Mordor. Batman confronts the Joker. Superman destroys Doomsday. Wonder Woman defeats Ares. We are captivated. Why? We are entranced by stories that take us to a world where heroes fight evil and sacrifice themselves for the greater good because we long for our world to be free from pain, suffering, and struggle. That’s the real hope and promise of Jesus—when He returns to set things right.

It's a special bonus episode with screenwriter, producer, and comic book creator, Allan Heinberg, joining Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke in the pool house. Hear about Allan's start in writing/acting and how he came to be a writer on the OC. Allan also talks about what it's like to be in a writer's room, some of his favorite on-screen and off-screen moments from the OC, and what exactly is in the Seth Cohen starter pack. He also discusses how he got his start in comic books and the path to writing the Wonder Woman feature film. Also, hear some great Sex and the City trivia, a Grey's Anatomy easter egg on the OC that no one knew about, and what exactly is the naked man test… Leave the OC, Bitches a message: https://www.speakpipe.com/ocbitches Please support our sponsors: Article has launched their new line of Outdoor products for Summer ‘22. With 42 new pieces, plus a selection of best-sellers from seasons past, Article has what you need to outfit the deck of your dreams this summer. Go to https://www.article.com/theoc to get $50 dollars off your first purchase of $100 or more. Billie's razors are designed for womankind - made to hug your curves and crannies with five precision blades, for a close, smooth shave. Go to https://www.mybillie.com/oc to get the best razor you will ever own for only nine dollars. BetterHELP is a new online therapy program that will assess your needs and match you with a therapist within 48 hours. Go to https://www.betterhelp.com/theoc to get 10% off your first month. Cocofloss is like loofah for your teeth, it's made up of more than 500 textured woven interwoven filaments that snatches plaque and debris from between your teeth and gums. Go to https://www.cocofloss.me/oc to get 30% off and free shipping. Right now is the perfect time to try out Peloton. The Peloton Bike Plus is now $500 less, it's the best price yet! Including FREE delivery and setup. Visit https://www.onepeloton.com to learn more. Follow @rachelbilson and @themelindaclarke on Instagram. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 642: Justice League #75 aka Death of the Justice League: As the build to Dark Crisis continues, Sean and Jim do a focused episode on the events of Justice League 75. Note: The news of Neal Adams passing came after this was recorded. We will address next week. Upcoming: Joker , Flashpoint Beyond, Batman Killing Time, World of Krypton Contact Info (Social Media and Gaming): https://ragingbullets.com/about/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/401332833597062/ Show Notes: 0:00 Show opening, http://www.heroinitiative.org, http://cbldf.org/,http://www.DCBService.com, http://www.Instocktrades.com, show voicemail line 1-440-388-4434 or drnorge on Skype, and more.   2:38 Justice League 75 1:08:15 Closing We'll be back in a few days with more content.  Check our website, Twitter and our Facebook group for regular updates. Superheroes, Orphans & Origins: 125 years in comics exhibit April 1- August 22, 2022 http://foundlingmuseum.org.uk https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/superheroes-orphans-origins/

Jace and Rocky break down the final issue of the Trial of the Amazons. They also talk about their impressions of the event overall, what worked and what didn't. Plus some thoughts on what might be coming up next for Wonder Woman and her allies.

A review of the horror movie "The Cursed", part 2 of a retrospective DC Comics review of "Infinite Crisis", Paeter predictions for the biggest video game news coming this summer, and how Geeks can gain stability and successfully live their purpose by living out Psalm 1! PLUS, more assorted topics based on your questions, feedback and Paeter's Geek Week!TIMESTAMPS00:00:30 Intro00:01:34 The Cursed Review00:10:47 CGC & Christian Geek Entertainment News00:22:11 The Weekly Word (2 Kings 12-25, Isaiah 1-39, Psalms 104-117)00:37:13 Infinite Crisis, Part 2 (Essential Issues DC Comics Retrospective Review)01:30:02 Blessings When Geeks Prioritize God (Reflections On Psalm 1)01:46:19 Summer Gaming News Predictions 202202:20:19 Listener/Viewer Questions & Feedback (Angels, Demons Or Aliens In Ezekiel?) 02:23:13 Paeter's Geek Week (Justice League: Darkseid War, DC Universe Rebirth[Titans Hunt, Wally West, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman/Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, Green Lanterns Simon Baz & Jessica Cruz, Aquaman, Green Arrow:"Social Justice Warrior"], Far Cry 5[Playing With My Sons], Far Cry 6[Post-game Offline],)02:58:18 Next Episode03:02:31 Babylon 5 SchawarmaSupport this podcast and enjoy exclusive rewards at https://www.patreon.com/spiritbladeproductions SUMMER INSANITY '22 Info Page: https://christiangeekcentral.blogspot.com/2022/01/summer-insanity-22.html“Weekly Word” Bible Reading Plan & Info: https://christiangeekcentral.blogspot.com/2021/12/read-bible-in-year-with-me-weekly-word.html Episodes #0-500 of this podcast were published as "The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast" and are archived and available for download at www.spiritblade.com , Resources used to prepare the "In Search Of Truth" Bible Study include:"Expositor's Bible Commentary", Frank E. Gaebelein General Editor (Zondervan Publishing House),"The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament", by Dr. John H. Walton, Dr. Victor H. Matthews & Dr. Mark W. Chavalas (InterVarsity Press), "The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament", by Dr. Craig S. Keener (InterVarsity Press),Thayer's Greek Lexicon, Strong's Exhaustive ConcordanceBlueletterbible.org (primarily for search functionality), The Christian Geek Central Statement Of Faith can be found at: http://christiangeekcentral.blogspot.com/p/about.html The Christian Geek Central Podcast is written, recorded and produced by Paeter Frandsen. Additional segments produced by their credited authors. Logo created by Matthew Silber. Copyright 2007-2022, Spirit Blade Productions. Music by Wesley Devine, Bjorn A. Lynne, Pierre Langer, Jon Adamich, audionautix.com and Sound Ideas. Spazzmatica Polka by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Freesound.org effects provided by: FreqMan

Imagine: if there were a FUN way to get your kids more interested in God and Christianity. if you could relate the Gospel to people by citing stories THEY enjoy. if you could reveal biblical life lessons to people of all ages without getting preachy. You can! Frank's son Zach Turek joins the podcast to show how you can do all this by watching your favorite movies! They do this by drawing on their brand new book, Hollywood Heroes: How your Favorite Movies Reveal God. It's amazing how many filmmakers include central elements of the Christian story in their movies (often unknowingly), and how the heroes create a point to the ultimate hero—Jesus of Nazareth. In this episode, Frank and Zach show how Iron Man, Harry Potter, Batman, and the Lord of the Rings do this. In next week's show, they'll cover Star Wars, Wonder Woman, and Captain America and reveal the characteristics that make Jesus the ultimate hero. This book is great for anyone who likes movies and is especially helpful to parents and youth leaders. Also, remember! If you pre-order your copy BEFORE May 3, you'll get the audiobook for free too! Go here and follow the cues. If you would like to submit a question to be answered on the show, please email your question to Hello@Crossexamined.org. Subscribe on Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/CrossExamined_Podcast Rate and review! Thanks!!! Subscribe on Google Play: https://cutt.ly/0E2eua9 Subscribe on Spotify: http://bit.ly/CrossExaminedOfficial_Podcast Subscribe on Stitcher: http://bit.ly/CE_Podcast_Stitcher  

Appalachian history is riddled with poverty, exploitation, crooked politics, lack of jobs, lack of healthcare, lack of opportunity.  A woman named Eula Hall believed her Eastern Kentucky town deserved more, and she never stopped fighting for what she believed.  She believed in the people of Appalachia. This is the story of Eula Hall taking matters into her own hands. For more check out the book Mud Creek Medicine by Kiran Bhatraju. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jessie-bartholomew/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jessie-bartholomew/support

Onrs - 4-28-22 - Ep 543   Changes to Onrs coming   Woman in electric wheelchair leaving through the employee entrance   The deaf grill employee situation. No pens   The happy shitter: humming while he poops   Dudes that wear Wonder Woman shirts are weak   Explain to me how my Fb donation went to my wife account.   Why are birds chirping at 1:45 in the morning?   Thanks to amber for the fan art Juan for his patreon donation And Michael Perry for his generous donation   Neighborhood sunflower thief   Owens pee fence hiding chair   Would you feel weird owning a human skull?   Lego flowers   Owen feels bad for busting his neighbor playing with light sabers   Who is the next legacy band ?   Safety training At work     90s timetravel hookup   Fran dresher Pam Anderson Wwe sunny Tammy sytch   ohnowrestling.com ohnomedia.com patreon.com/onrs ohnoradioshow.com Leave a VM at 407-906-6466 Find our FB Group. Ohno Wrestling

Appalachian history is riddled with poverty, exploitation, crooked politics, lack of jobs, lack of healthcare, lack of opportunity.  A woman named Eula Hall believed her Eastern Kentucky town deserved more, and she never stopped fighting for what she believed.  She believed in the people of Appalachia. This is the story of Eula Hall taking matters into her own hands. For more check out the book Mud Creek Medicine by Kiran Bhatraju. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jessie-bartholomew/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jessie-bartholomew/support

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs learn to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Batman and Robin come to Metropolis to catpure Poison Ivy but must help Superman stop Metallo in Batman/Superman: World's Finest #1. Henri Ducard is hired by Alfred to track down Bruce Wayin in Batman: The Knight #3. When Nulliflex attacks the city, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle respond in Blue & Gold #7. The Titans respond when Earth is attacked by the Citadel in Titans United #7. Diana wakes up a prisoner of Themyscira in Wonder Woman: Evolution #5. Catwoman teams up with Onyx Adams and Dario Tamasso to get back at his father in Catwoman #41. The Justice League and The Justice League Dark work together to stop Xanadoth in Justice League #74. Oracle calls in the fastest man alive when assassins are sent after Dick Grayson and burn his building down in Nightwing #90. After returning from Gem World, Wally gets an alert and discovers Johnny Quick from Earth-3 is trying to steal the cosmic treadmill from the Flash Museum in The Flash #780. Diana goes to the Temple of Athena for guidance and meets a ghost that tells her to enter the trials in Wonder Woman #785. Batman returns to Gotham City to discover Arkham Tower in Chaos in Detective Comics #1057. All this plus, DC News, DC TV, Shout Outs, and much, much more!   ------------------------   Table of Contents   0:00:00 Show Open 0:01:24 DC News 0:11:27 Batman/Superman: World's Finest #1 0:15:18 Batman: The Knight #3 0:19:31 Blue & Gold #7 0:25:38 Titans United #7 0:27:36 Wonder Woman: Evolution #5 0:31:42 Catwoman #41 0:36:38 Justice League #74 0:47:02 Nightwing #90 0:51:32 The Flash #780 0:56:48 Wonder Woman #785 1:03:36 Detective Comics #1057 1:18:58 The Flash S8 Ep8 – The Fire Next Time 1:29:16 Naomi S1 Ep9 – Keep Your Friends Close 1:38:48 Superman & Lois S2 Ep9 – 30 Days and 30 Nights 1:48:22 Show Close   Links   Batman/Superman: World's Finest #1 Batman: The Knight #3 Blue & Gold #7 Titans United #7 Wonder Woman: Evolution #5 Catwoman #41 Justice League #74 Nightwing #90 The Flash #780 Wonder Woman #785 Detective Comics #1057 Booster Gold (2007-2011): Day of Death (Cletus's Read More Comics Pick) Earth Station One Tales of the Station Earth Station One Tales of the Station Vol. 2 The Chameleon Chronicles: Colors of Fate The Chameleon Chronicles: Sisters of the Thorn Want to Donate to the Show or Sponsor our Comics Talk for this week? No problem! Just click on the donate button below! If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 564-9133 (remember long distance charges may apply) or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

Unlimited Justice Ep #16: Justice League “In Blackest Night” Part 1  Welcome back to Unlimited Justice!  In this episode Phil and Lilith continue the animated series reviews with a live watch of the Justice League episode “In Blackest Night” Part 1. PLUS: reviews of NEW issues Green Lantern #12, Wonder Woman #786 and Superman: Son of Kal-El #10. Show Notes: Unlimited Justice Ep #16: Justice League “In Blackest Night” Part 1  Find all of our Social Media & Merchandise here: https://linktr.ee/capesandlunatics Follow Phil Perich on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Nightwingpdp Follow Lilith Hellfire on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LilithHellfire Produced by: Capes and Lunatics Sidekicks Podcast Production Team: Phil Perich Support the Capes and Lunatics Podcast on Patreon www.patreon.com/capesandlunatics Cash App: $CapesandLunatics

4-27-2022 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Appalachian history is riddled with poverty, exploitation, crooked politics, lack of jobs, lack of healthcare, lack of opportunity.  A woman named Eula Hall believed her Eastern Kentucky town deserved more, and she never stopped fighting for what she believed.  She believed in the people of Appalachia. This is the story of Eula Hall taking matters into her own hands. For more check out the book Mud Creek Medicine by Kiran Bhatraju. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jessie-bartholomew/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jessie-bartholomew/support

In today's episode CesarRespino.com brings to you Gina M. Garcia to You Can Overcome Anything! Podcast show.Gina M. Garcia is the 1%. Ninety-nine percent of all children abducted by a stranger are murdered within the first 24 hours, according to NCMEC. Gina, age 8 saved herself by jumping out of a moving car half-naked, after being brutally raped and assaulted at knife point, in a Florida mall on October 12, 1981. She was taken by the same person that murdered Adam Walsh, (son of John Walsh from America's Most Wanted).With Gina's understanding of the journey of healing from sexual trauma, she was inspired to write a script with hopes of helping other survivors. At a chance meeting she asked Patty Jenkins to direct her film. Patty said “No Gina-- you have to tell your story.” Gina stated she wasn't a director, but Patty's response was “you will be when you are done”. Gina flexed her own manifesting muscle and the director of ‘Monster' taught her how to be her own ‘Wonder Woman!' With Patty Jenkins as mentor, Gina wrote, produced and directed her life story in her directorial debut “Untold: This is My Story” which she self-funded. Gina believes that when it comes to trauma, no story should go UNTOLD!Gina's message to you is:You have a voice and can get to the other side of trauma. No story should ever go Untold.To Connect with Gina Garcia go to:Personal Website: www.ginamgarcia.comgo get her movie and learn more about it at:Movie Website: www.untoldthefilm.comTo Connect with CesarRespino go to: