Category: The Healing Journey

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The Tom Woods Show: Socialism as a Secular Creed: A Worldwide Study

The Tom Woods Show: Ep. 1826 Socialism as a Secular Creed: A Worldwide Study

This episode of The Tom Woods Show would be enough to share as a fascinating discussion of the religious structure of socialist theory. However, what excites me more is that the guest, Andrei Znamenski, sounds like a Russian Christopher Walken.

Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Enjoy and be educated.

Book discussed:

By Tom Woods:

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Free Speech February: Ignorance and Fear

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

The Hiding Place is the story of Corrie ten Boom and her family during Germany’s occupation of Holland during WWII. The movie is very good and it may be free on Amazon. Amazon also has various documentaries about her.

It’s an unbelievable journey of faith that I was not familiar with, but should be shared without fear of the symbols of history.

Corrie and her sister were Christians who ran a safe house for Jews escaping German persecution. Their bravery as they were taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp is astounding. Their ability to keep and spread God’s Word while under guard is inspiring. Corrie’s sister died in that camp.

We had the privilege of being a part of Pages Alive Theater’s production. Westen and Isaac had the heavy weight of playing villianous Nazis and a traitorous spy.

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Free Speech February: Bridget Phetasy

When I gave up cable news, I discovered Dennis Miller’s podcast. It was a brilliantly funny review and takedown of current events. I started to see how I didn’t need a daily diet of mainstream media to lead a happy and productive life.

He went off the air and I checked out of most news shows. I listen to tons of podcasts, but they tend to run deeper than the news of the day.

Last year, I found Bridget Phetasy talking about being 40 and sober and it spoke to me. She’s hilarious, self-deprecating, and doesn’t fall into a tidy, ideological box. A lot like Miller.

Dumpster Fire tackles the news of the week and highlights the absurd.

Check out the latest episode: https://youtu.be/JqU5Gdm5IfI

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Hof’n in Suburbia

28°F, 3 inches of snow on the ground, sleet and freezing rain bouncing off me, and a smile on my face.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

I prefer to lie down for my Wim Hof Method breathing exercises, but I have yet to get comfortable with precipitation peppering my face.

It took about 15 minutes for me to complete 5 rounds of breathing. I stopped timing myself months ago as I found more value in meditation, prayer, and body awareness practices.

I tried walking around with bare feet, but realized it was quickly becoming painful. After finishing and coming inside, I had to run to my car for my journal. I again tried with bare feet and it was much easier.

This practice makes everything easier. One of the affirmations I learned from reading Louise Hay is, “I live with ease.” This is can be difficult to recite in my mind while I am refusing to let my body breathe (each round of the breathing ends with an exhale and extended hold).

I also take this time each morning to thank God. I’m thankful for snow and all the fun we’ll have in it, friends to join us, my breath and body, the challenge of this practice, Wim Hof’s positive energy in this world, and the love I feel for Jesus, myself, and those around me.

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Anniversary Ambush

It is almost three years since I lost Mary. Two days ago the TV digital date read “12 February.” I never had a need to set it correctly and now it’s reminding me of the upcoming anniversary.

And now a friend sends me pictures from January 30th, the day Mary first felt ill.

One of my dearest friends also lost her husband on this day, four years ago.

All here to remind me of the worst two weeks I have known. Two weeks that exploded in my brain, shattering who I thought I was.

Worst and best? How would I know myself so well now if I hadn’t had my mind dashed against the rocks, destroying the roles I had substituted for Self. How would I have this journey and a clear path to ever deepening self awareness without all that pain?

There’s a story I can’t find. A story I could swear my dad told me as a child that he doesn’t recall. It’s a story of a petulant god who went to his mistress, whining about having nothing with which to entertain himself. The powerful mistress smashed him into pieces and launched them toward Earth saying, “Go find yourself.” The pieces became the first humans.

This, apparently fake, story lodged in my brain. I wasn’t connecting with people for a long time. I connected deeply with Mary and then that connection was demolished. I started to reach out to people, largely out of loneliness. Mary and I communicated and shared with each other constantly, exchanging messages throughout our days. I felt that missing part of my life the hardest, at first. I connected with people from my past, strangers, and widows. It took time, but I realized that my loneliness wasn’t driven by fear of being alone, but by a love for other people.

Now, I’m much more comfortable with creating relationships and letting go of expectations. I embrace what is and allow what will be to come. I value each connection and see it as one step closer to wholeness.

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Dave Smith Surprises Me

I’m not even halfway through this debate and Dave Smith may have convinced me to join a political party.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

Should the Ron Paul Liberty Movement Go LP or GOP? Dave Smith Debates Eric Brakey! https://castbox.fm/vb/348029014

Bonus knowledge:

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Not a Resolution, Evolution

When progress means regress.

Ten days ago I started a new morning routine. Wim Hof Breathing is still first thing, but taking it outside in below-freezing temperatures feels like a new experience. I may even regret the onset of spring. Maybe I’ll get an ice tub like the crazies I follow on social media.

I make some tea, grab my journal to put down a few words, and come here to write a post, or, at least, start one.

One morning, as I was finishing the routine, my son found and brought me my first journal, from when I was about 15-years-old. I’ve written about how cruel I remember being at that age, how much I had hardened against the world and used my empathy as a weapon. The journal doesn’t betray that narrative, but adds color to my dark picture. I was searching for answers, frustrated at not finding them. I was writing poetry. It started as extra credit and became much of my public and private personas. I was falling in love for the first time. There was plenty of cynicism too. I saw the attention my writing got me and enjoyed it. Just a mixed up kid trying to figure himself out.

It was around that time that I began experimenting with alcohol. I liked the romantic notion of famous alcoholic writers and started to quote them and identify with them. I thought I was too clever to fall into the traps, or I was pessimistic enough to not care.

That pattern solidified through college. I stopped writing. “Everyone gets writer’s block,” is what I told myself. I had self-medicated myself into a stupor because I was still afraid to face the big emotions I feared as a child.

I’m not afraid anymore. My big emotions are my path to healing. It’s a regressive path traveling into my youth and further, into previous generations of programming and trauma. I’m winding back toward that 15-year-old who was falling in love and wondering what this is all about. I still have more questions than answers, but I’m impossibly optimistic about the truth.

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Our Kind of Classroom

Our learning lifestyle changed dramatically in 2020. Almost all of our learning is done socially. As government Lockdowns partnered with fear-driving media, it became impossible to find people to learn from and with. The dozens (hundreds?) of individuals we interacted with per week was whittled down to a couple of families.

Fortunately, the mom of one of those families was sure that there were more of us who recognized the need for social learning. I was a naysayer, but backed her efforts to start a new group of families as the summer of Lockdowns began. On our first “official” get together, there were eight families and most of us didn’t know each other. The group has grown and the core families have become fast friends. I’ve witnessed (and received) material, emotional, and spiritual gifts given everyday through our various chats and group texts. Our weekly gatherings have grown into multiple days of video gaming, analog gaming, Lego building, cooking, and all types of learning meet-ups.

The latest adventure was brought to us by a mom brand new to homeschooling. She may have been considered a Crisis, or Isolation, Schooler when she met us. Lockdown restrictions on schools did not work for her family. I don’t know how she found our group, but she and her children have been a blessing to us in a number of ways.

One way was an invite to participate in Junior Rifle Club, a weekly meet of children to get instruction on gun safety and usage.

It was an early start and my boys struggled a bit with hearing the initial safety speech repeated a few times as new participants arrived. Although unplanned, I believe it was important for them to hear the messages multiple times (which, of course, they would continue to hear throughout the morning).

They took turns shooting and observing for close to three hours without complaint. They got to watch their improvement on the targets and the learning was off the charts, too much to absorb in one morning. I have no doubt that this will become an important part of our week and we will be broadening our skills in significant ways.