Category: The Healing Journey

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The Super Mario Effect: Mark Rober’s Ted Talk

Mark Rober is one of my sons’ favorite Youtube stars. Having seen the game walk throughs, ridiculous movie reviews, and general garbage they watch, I wrote him off before watching any of his videos.

My sons are tenacious and I quickly learned that this guy is the real deal. He comes up with exciting goals and engineers his way to reaching them.

When I found out that he’s done a couple Ted Talks, I took the chance on one of our We Each Get to Pick One Youtube Video Before Bed nights.

The talk is about how a goal-focused approach to learning leads to more success and more lessons learned. Negative point scoring (as in tests) discourages people and focuses them on the mistakes rather than how to overcome obstacles to reach a goal.

It’s hard to trust the freedom I give my sons when they’re watching a pale waif of a boy (man?) scream at pixels on a screen. I don’t know if I’ll ever understand the value they find there. On the flip side are the Mark Rober and how-to videos. They take ownership in what they want to consume. When learners take ownership, they are empowered.

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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.