Hosted by Jodi Hildebrandt Emotional and spiritual safety are often overlooked, because they are not tangible and concrete, however, they are vital to all healthy relationships. How safe are you, emotionally and spiritually? This episode begins with an invitation to self-assess by answering several questions. Emotionally healthy relationships embody certain characteristics, such as empathy, self-respect, freedom to be self, trust and safety. Emotional safety is forged as we are willing to become emotionally mature by taking feedback, taking responsibility for our own thoughts, feelings and choices, and being impeccably honest.

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Hosted by Jodi Hildebrandt Why is pornography such a rampant problem in today’s world? Why are so many people being “sucked in” to pornography, sexual and other addictions? Lust and disconnection are the culprits, and in our society, there are myriad opportunities and ways to disconnect from ourselves and others, and access lustful thinking. Messages bombard us from television, movies, the Internet, advertisements, music, video games, and so forth. Silent assumptions about roles, responsibilities, love, lust and other areas of life can alter our thinking without our knowledge. In this podcast, which contains information from the upcoming “Love vs. Lust” workbook and videos, Jodi covers a lot of ground, discussing ways lust and disconnection can creep into our lives, and how we can change our thinking, be on guard and protect ourselves and our families against encroaching disconnection.

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Hosted by Jodi Hildebrandt We all desire and need connection, yet many of us have never been taught the skill-set to connect in our relationships. It does not “just happen” as we might think. When bonding (including honesty, compassion, responsibility, validation, vulnerability, safety and humility) is present in any relationship, connection is the outcome, with anyone and every time. When we are honest and responsible, we embody and claim our roles as men and women, and we are able to create connection and experience the fulness of our sexual and spiritual power.

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There are many types of connection which we share with one another, including spiritual, emotional, intellectual, sensual, physical and sexual. So often, so many of us are deceived to believe that "connection" requires sexual connection. This is not the case. Sexual connection is only one type of connection, and unless the other types of connection are present, sexual acts will not lead to connection at all. There is great confusion surrounding these topics of what love, sexuality and connection are. Jodi breaks down these topics and explains them clearly, along with some real-world examples of how we are taught very confusing messages by our culture.

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Many of us struggle to forgive ourselves, even after we "clean up" or make right our mistakes with all others who have been affected. We may feel not only that we did wrong, but that we are bad. This The Voice (shame) precludes us from feeling guilt, offering forgiveness and experiencing a change of heart. Choosing guilt, repentance and forgiveness rather than The Voice (shame) will alleviate and protect you from suffering. Forgiving self is very challenging. In this podcast, Jodi walks through the process of recognizing, forgiving self and moving on. This process allows us to experience a change of heart, which is permanent change.

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Hosted by Jodi Hildebrandt The word “repentance” has triggering or religious associations for many people. I’d like to use the word not in a religious way, but instead to mean a complete, thorough process of change. When the process of repentance is engaged rigorously and completely, you change—your shame dissipates, your responsibility increases, your guilt is cared for, and your character is modified for the good. There is a specific, 10-step process we must all engage in order to engage the power of repentance and reconnect with self, others and God.

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This week, I expand on the idea of The Voice (shame) and introduce the idea of Faulty Core Beliefs -- a super important topic. When we feel shame and don't take responsibility (or don't know how) to move out of it, we "swallow" impressions that we are different from others, bad, unlovable, unworthy, etc. Our brains try to make sense of why we feel this way, and the results are beliefs about our core person that are distorted, self-aggressive, and flat wrong. As you can probably imagine, these beliefs are quite destructive. So how do we deal with them? That's the topic for this week.

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This week, I discuss the often-difficult emotion of anger. It can be difficult to manage, but anger is not bad. Emotions aren't "good" or "bad." They simply give us information, and we get to learn to respond to our emotions appropriately. How do we do that? I talk with a caller about anger and its relationships to shame and resentments. I also talk about how our expectations lead to resentments, and how we can choose to manage them.

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Most of the time, we lump shame and guilt into a general idea of "feeling bad about self." In fact, shame and guilt are more opposite than they are similar. In this episode, I talk with two callers about how the two are different, and why shame (The Voice) is so destructive.

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Hosted by Jodi Hildebrandt Very often, the words “sobriety” and “recovery” are used interchangeably, yet they are vastly different. In this episode, Jodi explains in detail the differentiation between these two key terms. Sobriety is the illusion of controlling the body by not partaking of one’s Drug of Choice. Recovery, on the other hand, is a complete change of character, incorporating impeccable emotional honesty, rigorous personal responsibility, and humility.

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