Bliss and Grit

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Ep 19: Karma Jan 10, 2017

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It's a new year - and really why talk about New Year's Resolutions when we can talk about the big root ball underneath all the goal setting - karma! What seeds are you planting, what seeds are you watering - and how did the word "karma" get oh so very misunderstood!?

Ep 18: Emotional Contagion Dec 20, 2016

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Ram Dass once said- if you think you're enlightened go spend a week with your family. Just in time for the holidays we're talking about families and emotional contagion. How can you find sanity amidst the people most likely to push your buttons? What are the best ways to navigate your friends, family and loved ones? How can your own expectations and belief systems be creating havoc when all you want is peace and love? Get your hot cocoa and get ready for some holiday cheer.

Ep 17: What About Selfless Love? Dec 13, 2016

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Today's episode is the first of what we hope will be many where we answer a listener's question. As you may recall, we did a couple of episodes on self love, and afterwards we got a very thoughtful question asking, essentially, "well what about selfless love?" Vanessa and I, as usual, have a lot to say about what we often define as selfless love, and what true self love and selfless love really are. As Vanessa says in the episode, "All love technically is selfless." Boom.

Ep 16: Joy Phobia Dec 06, 2016

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After 3 episodes sitting with fear, today we're talking about joy. And yet Joy is such a profoundly vulnerable state that we can be a bit, or a lot, phobic of it actually. First, what do we mean by this word joy? And how is what we're talking about different than the pursuit of happiness? And why is it that even in the helpful places- like in meditation or mindfulness circles or in therapy- that we focus so heavily on the contents of the muck in the basement? If we want to welcome more joy into our lives, what are we up against really? I mean, what is up with the suppression of the sublime going on?!

Ep 15: How We Heal Nov 29, 2016

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In this episode we're literally "doing the work" on our internal reactions to current events. In the aftermath of the 2016 US election there's a lot of emotion and reactivity in the air, and we're feeling it! We're using this moment as an opportunity to give you an inside look at how we actually confront our own wounds and triggers that are up. From talking about our personal experience, to utilizing Byron Katie's process called the "work," we're having a frank exploration of how to confront and heal old traumas.

Ep 14: Unhooking From the Fear Crazy Train Nov 22, 2016

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Last week we started to talk about relating to fear, and then Vanessa's power went out and we had a cliffhanger on our hands about what tools we use to deconstruct fear. Well it turns out we had a lot more to say about fear because we did a whole deeper layer episode on it. Ok- so fear is GOING to arise in a human life and putting on the blinders or trying Pollyanna approaches, it turns out, doesn't really work. It just condenses and thickens fear in our systems. So when fear arises- and it usually comes on like a freight train and is totally consuming- how do we unhook it in the most honest, tender, and useful way? It can require a shocking amount of courage to relate with fear, and yet when we do it is very potent alchemy for our lives. There is actually a great deal of good news in fear.

Ep 13: Relating to Fear Nov 15, 2016

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Many spiritual traditions will say that everything in life can be recognized as either a movement of fear or a movement of love. But what does that really mean? Can fear ever be useful in life? What happens when you've learned not to hear your own internal alarm system? How would clarity or love sound different than fear? This is one of our most up close and personal talks yet. We started off this conversation with genuine questions and no preconceived notions of where the dialogue would go. Get ready to be front row center for an in-depth and intimate exploration of how the subtle workings of fear are showing up in our lives, and how they may be affecting you.

Ep 12: Getting Comfortable With Uncomfortable Nov 08, 2016

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At a certain (or many) points in our lives, if we want genuine evolution in our lives then we're going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. And what if we're most comfortable being uncomfortable? Well then we need to get comfortable with how uncomfortable it is to be comfortable! My inner Dr. Seuss is out! In today's episode we're leaning into the reality that anytime we want to make a change, we're going to find ourselves on unfamiliar turf psychologically- and also tangibly- as our lives unfold in new directions. We always say we want to make change, but really with our ego patrolling the boundaries, we get pretty freaked out with how foreign, risky, and, well, downright uncomfortable any change feels. So how do we navigate that with kindness and keep the ego from turning it into yet another hard project to manage?

Ep 11: On Spiritual Sensitivity Nov 01, 2016

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In this episode we're opening the door to the inner world of "Sensie's" aka Spiritually Sensitive people. What exactly is a spiritually sensitive person? How does being sensitive inform your life and your beliefs? Does it indicate a predisposition to spiritual paths? From discussions on culture and Psychology, to introversion vs. extroversion, to why a Sensey may load their suitcases full or remedies before a meditation retreat… we're diving into the subtle realities of the Highly Sensitive Person. Get ready to be overstimulated Sensey tribe lol.

Ep 10: Self-Love In Action Oct 25, 2016

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As a follow up to last week's conversation on self-love, today we're talking about what self-love looks like in action. Ultimately it's about living from what is true for you, and finding a way out of all the conditioning that tells you interesting things like that what's true for you is dangerous, what's true for you in not to be trusted, what's true for you simply ISN'T TRUE! We ponder if every action in our lives, large and small, gets born from either truth aka clarity, or fear and what that means for how we navigate the moment by moment present tense as it arises.

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