LivingToBe – When Faith Stops Working

You understand why you do it. You’ve decided to stop. A few weeks later, you’re doing it again.

Why is lasting change so hard, even with insight, motivation and determination?

My guest, Dr. Alena Čandová, works at the meeting point of neuroscience, nervous system regulation and behavioural change. She is a Doctor of Chiropractic, a neurocoach, the author of Grace Over Grit: The Neuroscience of Claiming Your Inner Authority and the creator of the Grace Over Grit Method.

Her starting point: the obstacle isn’t always a lack of willpower. Some of our patterns are learned responses and protective adaptations that run beneath conscious awareness. They shape how we react to stress, handle relationships and make decisions.

In this conversation we look at why we can know so much about ourselves and still stay stuck, how past experience shapes the present, and what it takes to create the conditions for change that lasts.

#LivingToBe #GraceOverGrit #Neuroscience #NervousSystem #BehaviouralChange #Neurocoaching #InnerAuthority #PersonalGrowth #Podcast

More Information:

https://www.sattvaintegralhealth.com/

Book:

Grace Over Grit

What does it really mean to live a good life? In a world focused on achievement, external rewards, and constant noise, ancient wisdom reminds us that a meaningful life begins with a different question: What kind of person are you becoming?

In this episode of LivingToBe: Finding Purpose in Uncertain Times, I explore Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), an ancient Jewish text that offers five timeless principles for living well: keep learning, examine yourself, master your impulses, serve others, and take action.

These teachings invite us to look beyond what we believe or know and consider how our wisdom translates into everyday life. How can we create space between feeling and reacting? How do we turn self-awareness into compassion? And what stops us from acting on what we already know matters?

Join me for a reflection on the journey from knowledge to experience, from belief to practice, and ultimately, from knowing how to live to becoming the person we want to be.

Because wisdom is not simply what you know. It's what you become through what you know.

🎧 Enjoying LivingToBe? Subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform so you never miss an episode. If this conversation resonates with you, please share it with someone who might find it meaningful, and leave a rating or review to help others discover the podcast.

Thank you for being part of the LivingToBe community. Let's keep exploring what it means to live with greater awareness, purpose, and authenticity.

#LivingToBe #PirkeiAvot #AncientWisdom #PersonalGrowth #Spirituality #MindfulLiving #SelfAwareness #EmotionalIntelligence #FindingPurpose #MeaningfulLiving #InnerWisdom #SpiritualGrowth

More Information:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.reinogevers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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⁠⁠⁠Subscribing to Letters from the Threshold⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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How much of what you say actually needs to be said?

We live in a world of instant reactions. We comment, post, defend ourselves, argue, and respond—often before we’ve had time to understand what is happening within us.

But ancient wisdom offers another possibility: the pause between feeling and speaking.

In this episode of LivingToBe, I explore a teaching from Pirkei Avot, the ancient Jewish collection of ethical teachings: “I have found nothing better for the body than silence.”

What might that mean for us today?

Not that we should remain silent when something needs to be said. There are times when you need to speak the truth, establish boundaries, defend others, or confront injustice.

The deeper question is: Why am I speaking?

Am I trying to clarify—or to win?
Am I responding from reflection—or reacting from anger?
Will these words create something in the world that I actually want to create?

Sometimes the space between an emotion and a response reveals something we couldn't see while caught up in the reaction. Beneath the anger, there may be fear. Beneath the need to be right there may be insecurity. And sometimes we discover that what felt urgent a moment ago doesn't need to be said at all.

Perhaps silence isn't about withdrawing from life.

Perhaps it is about creating enough inner space to choose our words consciously.

Words chosen rather than words discharged.

In a world that constantly invites us to react, could learning to pause be a form of freedom?

#LivingToBe #WisdomOfSilence #ConsciousLiving #MindfulCommunication #AncientWisdom #Spirituality #InnerWisdom #Mindfulness #SelfAwareness #PersonalGrowth #PirkeiAvot #Silence #ConsciousSpeech

More Information:

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://reinodiary.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠Subscribing to Letters from the Threshold⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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How can ordinary, seemingly good people turn against their fellow human beings—and sometimes participate in terrible cruelty?

This is a question I have carried with me for much of my life.

From Rwanda and Nazi Germany to my own childhood in apartheid South Africa, history repeatedly confronts us with the uncomfortable reality that compassion and cruelty can exist within the same person.

In this episode, I explore the idea of the shadow—the fear, resentment, shame, anger, insecurity and woundedness we would rather not acknowledge within ourselves.

What happens when we refuse to see these parts of ourselves?

Fear can become suspicion. Humiliation can become hatred. Pain can become aggression. And the need for security can become the search for someone to blame.

But the shadow doesn't necessarily have to be destroyed. It can be brought into consciousness and transformed.

Perhaps the journey towards a less divided world begins not by changing other people, but by becoming aware of what divides within yourself.

From fear to connection.
From separation to wholeness.
From the unconscious shadow into the light.

#LivingToBe #TheShadowWithin #ShadowWork #Fear #InnerWork #Spirituality #Consciousness #HumanNature #Compassion #Healing #PersonalGrowth #SpiritualJourney #FromFearToConnection

Have you ever entered a place and felt something shift — a sense of peace, connection or presence you couldn’t quite explain?

In this episode of LivingToBe, Reino Gevers explores the idea of thin places: landscapes where the boundary between the ordinary and something deeper seems to become remarkably thin. Drawing on his experiences of pilgrimage and walking the Camino, he reflects on sacred landscapes, memory, creativity and our relationship with the places we inhabit.

Perhaps a thin place isn't somewhere heaven breaks through into earth. Perhaps it is simply somewhere you become quiet enough to notice what has always been there.

Have you experienced a thin place in your own life?
#LivingToBe #ThinPlaces #Spirituality #Pilgrimage #CaminoDeSantiago #SacredPlaces #MeaningAndPurpose

More Information:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.reinogevers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://reinodiary.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠Subscribing to Letters from the Threshold⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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What if the words you use every day were shaping your health, your relationships, and the way you see the world?

In this episode, I explore the surprising science behind language — from a landmark study linking angry, hostile speech on social media to higher rates of heart disease, to research showing how a lifetime of reading may protect the ageing brain.

We'll look at why leaders who normalise belittling language give everyone else permission to do the same, why mantras and prayer have endured for thousands of years, and why choosing curiosity over contempt, or compassion over blame, isn't just a nicety — it may be one of the most powerful things you can do for your wellbeing.

This isn't about banning negative words or pretending everything is fine. It's about noticing the vocabulary you live inside of, and asking: what kind of emotional climate am I creating — for myself, and for the people around me?

#LivingToBe #PowerOfWords #Mindfulness #WellbeingPodcast #Neuroscience #Language #MentalHealth #Resilience #Reading #Mindset #HealthyAgeing #PsychologicalScience #Podcast

More Information:

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://reinodiary.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Subscribing to Letters from the Threshold⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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What if facing death could teach us how to live more fully?

In this deeply moving episode of LivingToBe, I speak with Catherine Duncan, author, chaplain, ordained minister and long-time companion to the dying.

Catherine’s journey began at just ten years old, when she was diagnosed with childhood cancer. That early encounter with mortality led her into a private life of prayer and a profound awareness of the preciousness of life. Years later, a near-death experience while whitewater rafting changed the course of her life and ultimately led her away from a successful career in advertising and toward theology, spiritual direction and hospice care.

Catherine has since accompanied hundreds of people through the final stages of life, as well as several members of her own family. Along the way, she has witnessed something remarkable: as people approach death, many of the things they once believed were important begin to fall away. What remains, she says, is love and forgiveness.

In our conversation, we explore some of the deepest questions we can ask:

What actually happens as we approach death?
What might lie beyond this life?
Can the dying teach us something about the soul and consciousness?
What do people most regret leaving unresolved?
And what can death teach us about how we should live today?

Catherine's work offers a powerful reminder that death need not be something we simply fear or avoid. If we are willing to face it, it may become one of our greatest teachers.

Because ultimately, this conversation isn't only about dying.

It's about learning how to live.

#LivingToBe #CatherineDuncan #WhatHappensAfterDeath #DeathAndDying #NearDeathExperience #LifeAfterDeath #Spirituality #Consciousness #Soul #EndOfLife #Hospice #GriefAndLoss #MeaningOfLife #LivingFully #Purpose #SpiritualJourney #Mindfulness #Love #Aging #LivingToBePodcast

More Information:

https://www.catherineduncan.org/

Book: Everyday Awakening

What if the warnings you keep waiting for are already the message?

In this episode of LivingToBe, I revisit an old story about Angelo, a man who refuses to leave his home during a devastating flood because he trusts that God will save him. A neighbour comes. A fire engine comes. A rescue worker comes. Finally, a helicopter arrives. Angelo refuses every offer of help—and ultimately drowns.

The story is funny on the surface, but beneath it lies a profound question:

How often do you fail to recognise the help, warnings and opportunities that are already in front of you?

Walking through Wandsworth Common during another extraordinary European summer, I found myself noticing the dry grass, struggling trees and exhausted wildlife—and thinking about how nature communicates with us through patterns, seasons and change.

This is not simply an episode about climate change. It is about faith, listening, uncertainty, and the courage to question what we think we know.

Perhaps faith is not about waiting for someone to rescue us.

Perhaps faith means having the wisdom to recognise the helicopter when it arrives—and the courage to climb aboard.

What is life trying to tell you?

#LivingToBe #FindingPurpose #ClimateChange #Faith #Spirituality #Nature #Mindfulness #Wisdom #PersonalGrowth #PurposeInLife #DeepWalking #ClimateAwareness #LifeLessons #Listening #InnerWisdom #Resilience #ConsciousLiving

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More Information:

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Dr. Jack Groppel spent his career translating elite athletic training into principles anyone can use. A Hall of Fame coach, scientist, and cofounder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, he's spent decades showing business leaders, healthcare professionals, and organizations worldwide that peak performance isn't about pushing harder — it's about managing energy well.

In this episode, we talk about what sport science can teach us off the field: how elite athletes train their energy, and what the rest of us can borrow from that to work better, feel better, and live with more purpose.

#HumanPerformance #EnergyManagement #PeakPerformance #Leadership #Wellbeing #SportsScience #Podcast #LivingToBe #PersonalDevelopment #Mindset

More Information

Dr. Jack Groppel's book: Mountains Within

https://noboringbooks.com/books/mountains-within/

Website: https://jackgroppel.net/

For more than five decades, poet, photographer, andbestselling author Ulrich Schaffer has invited millions of readers to slow down, embrace life's uncertainties, and discover the sacred hidden in ordinarymoments.

In this inspiring conversation, we explore the differencesbetween religion and spirituality, the gifts of solitude, caring for a loved one through dementia, aging with grace, and why a meaningful life begins withpaying attention. If you're searching for more presence, hope, and authenticity, this episode offers gentle wisdom for the journey.

More Information:

Website: https://www.ulrichschaffer.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Ulrich-Schaffer-100044312745416/

#LivingToBe #UlrichSchaffer #ConsciousLiving #Mindfulness#Spirituality #Poetry #Purpose #Grief #Hope #AgingWell #PersonalGrowth#InnerJourney