Listen for REAL

Listen for REAL

By Jennifer Oliver BrownSociety & CultureRelationships
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Listen for REAL episodes

  • Self-love vs. Self-destruction
    Invest 90 seconds into feeling something now OR stuff it and foster a lifetime of neuroses- good times! Jen and Kim discuss love of self as a prerequisite to loving others. It's not hippy, self-indulgent, or weird...it's essential. We expand into eating disorders and other process addictions.
    57 min
  • Overwhelm meets her problem-solving guru
    Jen admits her tendency toward overwhelm and occasional tantrums when "things don't go right" - while Amanda provides methodical, constructive guidance with her #icann method of problem solving. These two couldn't be more different when it comes to life and career choices, but what a conversation!
    51 min
  • Feminism and the patriarchy? New input for the echo chamber
    Jen confesses her ignorance regarding feminism, patriarchy, misogyny and other big words that she pretty much ignored or misjudged. Julie Gohring is a progressive thinker and feminist focused on human rights and equality. A random question about “mansplaining” brought them together and it has led to many REAL conversations since…
    50 min
  • Marriage: lifetime covenant OR lease option? (part 2 with Staci Bartley)
    Jen embarks on a second episode with her friend and relationship guru, Staci Bartley, to discuss the institution of marriage over history (shocking!) and the origin of the shame and guilt often attributed to the marriage narrative. As you may recall from their first episode, Jen admits her view on marriage has been limited - the "holy grail and right way” being a long term, contract/covenantal marriage. Staci brings a new perspective stating that relationships may be better under a “lease option” scenario. A definite #antidotetotheechochamber kind of episode.
    40 min
  • Marriage: lifetime covenant OR lease option?
    Jen hosts friend and relationship guru, Staci Bartley, to discuss marriage and a whole new perspective on long term happiness. Both women talk candidly about their own marriages (past and present) and the idea that a successful marriage is not limited to the one model that Jen held dear for the past 5 decades. Staci proposes questions such as, "Is it possible that our concept of marriage is dead since it does not guarantee the life and outcome many of us (including Jen) crave?"
    56 min
  • Why Listen for REAL?
    Jen talks candidly about why she created this podcast; from the embarrassing truth of being called out on social media to recognizing and owning her own limited viewpoints.
    16 min

About Listen for REAL

From the publisher's feed

I'm Jen, a white, cisgendered, straight-identifying, American-born woman with a history of Christian and conservative influences. My lived experience is one of solid economic security and educational privilege. All of this shaped the lens through which I viewed life for the majority of my adult years - and it created a comfortable echo chamber where “my existing views were neatly reinforced and alternative ideas were rarely considered…” This no longer works for me.