Naming the Real

Meditation is great, its benefits incredible. And…most of us resist it. Not just because we are busy, but because meditation—like any space of quiet—would have us face stories and beliefs that we pre…

Every story is an arousal story, because arousal is the soul’s ultimate energy: we long for connection and become panicked at the possibility of disconnection. Arousal, in this sense, is far greater …

In this short, we explore the importance of naming our emotions at a granular level as well as exploring how “negative emotions” may be (1) protecting us while (2) keeping us from what we long for. T…

In this Short, we confront our human and cultural tendency to focus on what we don’t have rather than what we do. This pressure keeps us from being here and now, in reality, which is the only place w…

In this Short, we confront the pervasive pressure that the word “should” can exert in our lives. In considering how we actually change—becoming the people we want to be—“should” has very limited powe…

In this Short, we explore a simple two-step practice for seizing the day rather than letting the day seize you. The practice is straightforward: a commitment to spend a few moments in a slow, unhurri…

In this Naming the Real Short—a bonus episode in our Storytelling Series—we explore the idea of “discharging a loyal soldier,” which is releasing a belief/part of us that kept us safe but now keeps u…

The person that we are includes many parts, organized around our true Self. But many times we feel stuck, because we believe our most frustrated or seemingly dysfunctional part is our actual identity…

In this episode—our first Naming the Real SHORT—we explore the two primary ways that Celtic spirituality helps us see the world differently than the way promulgated by Western Imperial Christianity. 

Human beings tend to resist and avoid; it’s a default state for us. But resistance and avoidance lock us into a life of gray horizons—on automatic, far from the thrill of fully feeling or fully flour…

Most people feel, to some degree, that they are on trial, that they must prove themselves and “be enough.” Some people experience such accusations in the form of an inner critic who torments and even…

In this conversation with Dr. Christy Bauman, we explore the wisdom of the womb and the infinite guidance it offers us. In a world where God has largely been conceived of as male, what does it mean t…

We live in a time of crisis, with faith in traditional institutions and power structures falling precipitously, leaving us a dearth of meaningful narratives to which to cling. Many are deconstructing…

What we are we talking about when we talk about God? The God image that has dominated Western history is of an “old man in the sky.” Even if we know this image is metaphorical and laughable, it never…

There is perhaps no experience more visceral and soul-consuming than shame. And shame is opportunistic—it can enter our lives and bodies not only through things we’ve done, but by things done to us. …

Our culture is in crisis, revealed in skyrocketing rates of anxiety and depression, even (and especially) amongst the most comfortable and well-off. Dr. Anna Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation, diagno…

In part 2 of a conversation with Dr. Stephen Backhouse, we explore how Christian Nationalism trains people to be anti-Christ. You cannot walk the way of Jesus—the way of non-violence and of caring fo…

In this conversation with Dr. Stephen Backhouse, we explore how the philosophy of 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard illuminates the dynamics of our own day. Specifically, how the phen…