The Work of Being Human

This week, we focus on the daily work we must do to keep our minds clear and grounded. Mental health doesn't just take place in therapy sessions and light bulb moments. It's a day-to-day focus of disciplining our minds to think thoughts that are congruent and supportive of our mental and emotional health. We discuss how to distinguish between what *feels* true and what *is* true. We look at false beliefs and negative thoughts and talk about how and when they originated. Then we talk through how to halt negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. This week's episode is essential if we want to keep growing every day.

Our mind can justify anything, but the body never lies. This week's podcast focuses on the inherent wisdom of the body and why and how to listen to it. In the myriad of life decisions we all must make, the body is a safeguard. It warns us when danger is present - both emotional and relational - and our only job is to listen to it. Mental and emotional health is holistic; this means we incorporate the body's innate wisdom into our overview of health. This week's podcast focuses on the wisdom of the body and why we should and can trust it.

A diet is not a weight loss strategy. It's a word that describes what we take in - day by day - that either fuels us or drains us. The Emotional Diet is a list of the emotional needs you have to live an optimum, emotionally "healthy" life. From the need to be heard to our shared need for community to our deep need for validation, we all share the same emotional needs, in different amounts, at different times. This week, learn what needs you have and ask yourself: are these being met? You need vitamin C. And you need your emotional needs fulfilled. This is being a healthy human being.

In this episode I interview Angela Wittenberg. Angela is the founder and Executive Director of Hananiah House, a nonprofit that provides housing, support, care, guidance, and healing to women who have recently been released from prison. No stranger to prison work, Angela has been actively involved in a maximum security prison here in Nashville for many years. She's brought a 12-step meeting (ACOA) to the prison, taught anger management classes, and served as as volunteer chaplain. The community knows Angela as counselor, mentor, teacher, fellow traveler, and confidant. Personally, Angela and I became close friends as she sponsored me in the ACA program and walked with me as I took my first passage through the 12 steps. The old saying goes: we go from hurting to healing to helping. Angela shows us how healed people heal people. To learn more about or make a donation to Hananiah House, click here: https://www.hananiah.house For more information on ACOA (Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families), click here: https://adultchildren.org

How do we know when we're making progress? What are some markers of healing? Today we look at seven distinct ways you can know you're on the healing path. We know we're healing when 1. we stop comparing ourselves to others, 2. we stop beating ourselves up, 3. we bounce back more easily, 4. the victim narrative isn't attractive to us anymore, 5. our True Self is present in more areas of our lives, 6. we stop insisting on feeling no fear before we take a risk, and 7. we have in inward smile. The work we're doing should be working. Today we look at markers of real growth.

This week, we take a deep dive into cultish ideologies and how subtly they can migrate into our belief systems. I'll unpack my own history with cults and the roles that dogma and fear play in our indoctrination into belief systems that can easily be identified as cultish. You don't have to follow a charismatic leader to a tropical forest and drink Kool-Aid to have cultish ideologies. All you need to do is believe that someone else has "the answer" to your pain and the solution to your fear.

Of all the troubling and trouble-making dynamics we encounter in relationship, this is the one that does the most harm. It's denial. Denial is the wall that stands between our issues and our growth. It's the narrative we tell ourselves when we can't face the truth. This week, we unpack what it is and how to come out of it.

In this month's interview, we explore how to create healing spaces with Brad Ramsey, a Nashville-based interior designer. Brad is known for the depth and richness of his design. His palates are calming, earthy, and soothing to the soul. But how does he create that? Brad takes us on his own journey of coming out, starting his own business, and finding his "voice" in the design world. We learn about the elements of space that make it a healing space. In everything he does, Brad serves as a mirror for the clients he services. He wants every room to feel like them. And he talks to us about the qualities of personality and design that allow him to do just that. Healing isn't just an inside job. Eventually, the world we create reflects our healing. The first place is our home. Brad's designs can be found at www.bradramseyinteriors.com Follow him on Instagram @bradramseyinteriors

When we think of abandonment, we imagine it means leaving something or someone physically. An abandoned house, an abandoned dog. It's something of value that no one's taking responsibility for. But abandonment doesn't have to mean a physical abandonment. Sometimes abandonment is as subtle as a quiet withdrawal. Abandonment is scorching when someone storms out on someone, but it can be just as devastating if we are left wondering what the truth is when someone withholds it from us. This week, we look at abandonment in all of its forms and ask ourselves: was I abandoned, even in small ways? Do I abandon others? And how do I heal?

We all want love and we want to love others. But sometimes the love we're giving isn't what is needed, wanted, or even liked. This week, we unpack how we love. And we ask ourselves some honest questions: Why do I love the way I do? Is it what others want? If not, how will I know?