Fierce and Lovely

Heather Caliri shares insight from personal experience and now in her mini-course about managing anxiety. "It starts with being honest with ourselves. This leads to discernment in knowing what our body is feeling and needing. We become less alienated from ourselves." Join Beth Bruno and Heather in a discussion about becoming more whole.

Reflection Questions:

1. If you’re a mom, do you feel like you’re involved in meaningful work? What is that? Do your kids see you doing it?

2. What do you make of Heather’s comment to her girls: “You don’t have to sacrifice your selfhood and giftedness to care for other people.”

3. Heather says that sometimes lovely isn’t soft and pretty, but ugly and raw. Do you relate?

4. Regardless of what you struggle with, how can you begin to name it for what it is?

5. What are simple things you can insert into your life that are life-giving? They don’t have to be complicated, christian-y, or expensive. Heather mentions yoga, coloring, puzzles, music, etc.

Connect with Heather:

IG: @heathercaliri
FB: https://www.facebook.com/heathercaliriwriter/
Website: https://www.heathercaliri.com/
Free course: https://www.heathercaliri.com/anxiety

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A VOICE Becoming Book

While Sandhya's story is unique, we all have an "origin" story. Where have you come from? Jump in to Beth's conversation with a new friend to gain ideas of how to share these sorts of stories with the women in your life. Questions below to help.

Reflection Questions:

1. What about your story? Are there parts you can have a righteous anger toward?

2. What words would you choose to mark your body with significance?

3. Did  you have experiences as a child that no-one ever entered into with you?

4. Sandhya describes The Lenses Institute and Biblical Oneness as working toward oneness, not sameness. What are your thoughts around that? Does your table include others that are different from you?

5. If you’ve walked through a transformation, what marks it for you? Do you still need to mark it?

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A VOICE Becoming Book

Beth Bruno and Aundi Kolber discuss how to cultivate compassionate attention for ourselves. Aundi weaves her work as a therapist with her personal journey in her new book, Try Softer. An accessible, "regular person" counseling book, Try Softer is a kind guide to help you better understand and care for yourself. Listen in and follow the discussion guide to consider how this conversation might impact your story.

Podcast Discussion Guide:

1. What do you think of Aundi's description of her own fierce and lovely? "Fierceness is the willingness to protect the lovely. Setting boundaries is a fierce love for oneself."

2. Aundi talks about our window of tolerance. Do you have a sense of what your window of tolerance is?  She says: "We can get stuck in looking for things to help the pain. From the outside, this may look like indulgence. From a trauma-informed perspective, it's not fully addressing what is going on. It's not what we actually need."

3. Aundi says a Try Softer approach begins with becoming aware of our bodies. Where do you notice responses in your body? Compassionate attention starts with curiosity. "What might I need right now to be more gentle with myself?" Ask yourself this the next time you notice you're reacting to something. 

4. What do you think your attachment style might be? 

5. Have you been in "systems" as an adult that chipped away at your secure attachment with oneself?

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Try Softer Book

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A VOICE Becoming Book

Beth Bruno and Katy Johnson start off talking about community development in Bangladesh and #4justgirls, a girl-led campaign to end gender based violence in their country. (To learn more, see links.) Then they dive into the feminine metaphors in scripture and reading the Bible through a feminine lens. 

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Katy's Website

World Renew

#4JustGirls Fierce & Lovely Giving Team

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Beth Bruno and Danielle Rueb Castillejo discuss the impact of culture on marriage roles and the delightful discovery of the meaning of the biblical word "ezer"; the difference between being a witness vs. observer; her work with the sex trade in Seattle and more!

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Red Tent Living Writing

Arise Podcast

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Join Beth Bruno as she walks you through how she explores a new city through the lens of women who have helped shape it.

Mentioned on the Show:

Slow Reads: Books Worth the Linger

Theology of the Womb by Christy Bauman 

Episode 23 with Christy Bauman

Fragile Album with Nichole Nordeman

Episode 29 & 30 with Nichole Nordeman

World Renew's #4JustGirls Campaign (Video)

Fierce & Lovely #4JustGirls Team

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Beth Bruno and Melissa D'Arabian talk about our relationship with food and what God has to say about it. In a well-developed theology of food, Melissa challenges, encourages, and blesses the sacred  invitation to view it differently. 

Restoration Counseling Center: How Your Story May be at Work this Holiday Season

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Tasting Grace Book

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Beth Bruno and Eliza Cortes Bast talk about reading scripture through a cultural lens and how reading the book of Ruth through an immigrant lens changes the way Eliza thinks about Boaz's mother, Rahab. A leader in a church denomination and pursuing a PhD, Eliza is mother, wife, practitioner, leader, and academic living a fierce and lovely life in Michigan. 

Books Mentioned:

Hermanas: Deepening Our Identity and Growing Our Influence by Natalia Kohn Rivera, Noemi Vega Quinones, and Kristy Garza Robinson

The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

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Red Tent Living

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A VOICE Becoming Book

Beth Bruno and Richella Parham talk about the very normal and yet crippling beast of comparison so many of us struggle with. In Richella's new book, Mythical Me, she writes of her own story of comparison due to a visible birthmark as well as her lifelong journey of comparing herself to a composite woman. Finally determining to end the constant comparison, she launched out on a quest to find freedom.

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Mythical Me Book

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A VOICE Becoming Book

Beth Bruno and Kaitlin Rogers Perez talk as white women who care deeply about systemic racism, white supremacy, and our role in the fight. Kaitlin is the co-founder of Sweet Rest, a subscription based educational tool for white women which helps fund sabbaticals for black women. On this episode, Kaitlin names 4 things it takes to be a truth seeker around race:

Katilin's Recommendations:

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Sweet Rest

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