“How do I get off of that wild roller coaster, that hamster wheel that I’m on…and find my way back to center, rooted and grounded in love?” -Chuck DeGroat, PhD, LPC

We all know what it feels like to be running at a pace we can't sustain, where the demand on our bodies—or our souls—becomes too much. The constant adrenaline carries us through...until it runs out, and we shut down or numb out just to find some rest.

But what if there was a different way to function? What if you could find a more compassionate way to live in your body—accessing resources that allow you to stay connected to yourself and to God, even when life gets hard?

In this episode, author, therapist, and spiritual director Chuck DeGroat invites us to imagine the kind voice of God, calling to us with compassionate questions that invite us to come "home." He shares his journey of learning to retrain his brain and body, offers tools for supporting our nervous system, and illuminates the connection between our bodily intuitions and spiritual lives.

Listen as we talk about things like: 

• The intersection of spirituality and mental health
• Understanding the ways our nervous system responds to overwhelm
• Practices for returning to center, or "coming home"
• The connection between our bodies and spiritual lives
• Considering God's questions in the garden as a framework for connection
• The roles of compassion and imagination as we encounter God
• How to offer a kind welcome to our thoughts, emotions, and embodied sensations

I hope this conversation will give you permission to look bravely and honestly within, believing that, as Chuck writes, "God's heart is always ready to help you find your way back home."

Chuck DeGroat is a professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, where he also serves as executive director of the clinical mental health counseling program. He is an author, licensed therapist, church consultant, and spiritual director. He and his wife, Sara, have two daughters.

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CONNECT WITH CHUCK:

• Website - chuckdegroat.net
• Substack - https://sitwithchuck.substack.com/
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chuckdegroat/ or Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/chuck.degroat
• Healing What's Within: Coming Home to Yourself—and to God—When You're Wounded, Weary, and Wandering by Chuck DeGroat

OTHER RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Take What You Need: Soft Words for Hard Days by Aundi Kolber
• Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation by Martin Laird
• The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life by Henri Nouwen
• Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
• Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth E. Bailey

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