I have some news! 

About a month ago I felt a shift. It was something that I was obedient to and in doing that I felt a shift in my trajectory in life and that some other things were going to start to happen and change.

I believe obedience is spiritual warfare and I have been saying for awhile that I want my life's movie line to be "say when". l I want to get to a point when God directs me to do something I obey, and so I am obeying in this as well. 

Thank you so much to all of you who have stayed with me on this journey. You have been a blessing, and I hope you have found encouragement and hope in these episodes. 

Please take a listen to my final message.

When we self-punish we for a small time feel better. So the next time we feel guilt and shame if we have not learned how to manage those emotions, or whatever emotion caused us to go into self-punishment we will go to what has made us feel better, even if just temporary, and that is more self-punishment. Discipline means education, instruction, cultivation and improvement, correction, subject to laws and rules. Punishment is pain or suffering inflicted on a person for a crime or offense. We need discipline to study, lose weight, to not eat too many donuts, to learn another language or new skill...

When I did something at work that I felt wasn't as good as someone else or wrong I felt bad. I felt bad, in some cases I felt shameful for not knowing or doing better, and others I felt guilt due to the impacts on others or a project. Of course my co-workers will helpful and supportive, but I felt I needed to receive some kind of chastising, penalty, or mental beating to help ease the guilt and shame I felt. I could not move past the error until I had received enough punishment. Well really, what is enough...

I self-punished mostly due to guilt and shame, and how I self-punished could be different from someone else; however, the reasons are usually similar. Dealing with the reasons behind why we self-punish is important, and for me building and understanding my relationship with God really helped me. Learning who I was/am in Christ was a game changer for me.  If you would like more information about who you are in Christ you can find more at this link.

Support the podcast! Follow the podcast where you listen please. Give the podcast a five star rating and/or a written review (even better). Written reviews let's others know they can find encouragement here too.

Website: itripoverflatsurfaces.com

Curiosity is a place of neutral, where judgement takes a side. Curiosity expands knowledge and understanding. Judgement keeps us stagnant. When we stop coming or approaching already from a place of decision we can experience, we can grow, we can show kindness and love, we can effect change in ourselves and others. 

Being curious can keep you from getting upset, from saying something or doing something you may later regret, from keeping you stuck in a negative self-image. Being curious can even help you find those missing keys or phone. Being curious can help you discovery a new place to eat. Being curious takes some work, and means you have to be willing to put aside self, and to move outside of a place of self-comfort. Being curious is also giving the benefit of the doubt.

I think we can be curious in all areas of our life. Even recording this episode I am being reminded of areas where I can really do much more to practice this in my own life! Listen to the full episode for more!

Support the podcast! Follow the podcast where you listen please. Give the podcast a five star rating and/or a written review (even better). Written reviews let's others know they can find encouragement here too.

Website: itripoverflatsurfaces.com

We believe we know how other think about us and it impacts how we think about ourselves, but actually we should not be giving the thoughts of others, or the thoughts we have about others thoughts power over our minds and lives! 

We make assumptions of how or what people will think about us, and it makes us feel self-conscience, we have self-doubt, we can feel rejection before we even give someone a chance. We can actually even think the opposite, that everyone loves us, loves things we do b/c they have never voiced their thoughts to us and so we build those relationships on a lack of trust and understanding. We internalize negative thoughts and feeling and start to feel shameful that we did or said something; feel fear of rejection that can cause us to do or say things we do not really want or believe in; dread being around others because we believe we know for sure they think poorly of us, don't want to be with us, or have an alterative motive.

We think we know what other's think about and it has a negative impact on us, but caring about what others think about us is limiting who we are and who we can be. Stop giving perceived thoughts from others power over who you are and what you can do!

Let's work to not give power outside of being responsible for our own thoughts and not the thoughts of others.

Listen to the full episode for more, and some takeaways to help you not give away your power to other's thoughts.

Support the podcast! Follow the podcast where you listen please. Give the podcast a five star rating and/or a written review (even better). Written reviews let's others know they can find encouragement here too.

Website: itripoverflatsurfaces.com

Changing from thinking negative thoughts to only positive thoughts can feel overwhelming and impossible; however, if we look at doing this in smaller actionable steps we will achieve success.  This episode talks about the smaller steps I took to help me think more positive, and I give you recommendations on how you can do this too.

Support the podcast! Follow the podcast where you listen please. Give the podcast a five star rating and/or a written review (even better). Written reviews let's others know they can find encouragement here too. 

Website: itripoverflatsurfaces.com

Mika Liu Chawla is the host of the 1-800-Goal-Digger podcast. Mika is so witty and funny, and her podcast is fantastic. In this episode Mika talks about a seed of fear that was planted in her at a young age and how it grew over the years, leading her to a place where she had a difficult time expressing herself. 

Mika talks about being young and not having much fear about adventures, but how a comment made in childhood caused her keep from talking, speaking up, or just having a basic conversation.  This really caused self-doubt to grow along with that seed of fear, and this fear and self-doubt started to control how she did or did not communicate. 

Mika went through a process to relearn how to best communicate with others, to speak up and out. Mika has put this into practice with her podcast. Did I say she is witty and funny! Mika is so clever, witty, and funny, seriously! Her podcast has made me enjoy listening to podcasts more. I cannot image if she hadn't found her voice!

GUEST INFORMATION:

Support the podcast! Follow the podcast where you listen please.

I can now say I have a regular on the podcast, and that is my friend David.  David and I met many, many years ago, and we have a lot of differences.

We are talking about the fear of people who are different from us. It could be someone that looks different, acts different, maybe in a different political party, or just someone new. All of these make us uncomfortable, and who wants to be uncomfortable. For some people, based on a past experiences, it could bring up a fearful past event.

You know love is how you treat someone. Love isn't about feeling excited to see someone. It isn't about what someone does for you, and it is a commitment, and at times very hard. We don't always feel happy or excited to care for a child or family member, but you do it because you love them. You are loving them in how you do for them, talk to them, treat them, and think about them.

You are living your life the best you can. Well... so are others. Some people are harder to love than others, but maybe they were never shown love so they don't know how to show it to others. Differences can be choices to learn and grow.

I think the biggest combat to the fear of others and their differences is love.

This is a good discussion on people's differences, the differences David and I have, and how love is really at the foundation of life itself, and how we can combat fear. 

Support the podcast! Follow the podcast where you listen please.

I am very glad to have met Jules. Jules is my guest on this podcast short, and she is talking about using fear as a motivator.

In episode 29 my guest said she used fear as fuel to propel her from a very scary health situation to starting a business. Well Jules has done something similar, using fear in a positive way.

Jules is a creator. She creates in her daily career, and she also created her own podcast, Pop Culture Makes Me Jealous. She turned a fear of being true to her creative side and relabeled it motivation. This takes a decision that is scary, but everyone who I have talked to who took that scary step has seen success in personal growth. They wouldn't change anything but to have taken that step sooner.

I would like to say I have used my fear to motivate me to do the thing, but something I am still working through. So let’s all be what we want to be. Do the thing we want to do, and have the experiences we want to have. I have people in my life I am amazed at the things they do despite it being scary, and sometimes I even amaze myself. Like starting a podcast...

Make sure to listen to this short to hear Jules talk about using fear she had about starting something new motivated her to actually start.

GUEST INFORMATION: Jules Washington

Support the podcast!