Healing and Wholeness: The 18-Inch Journey from Head to Heart

"The glory of God is man fully alive." —St. Irenaeus

"God does not love some ideal version of you. He loves you—with your particular history, wounds, and desires."

This episode takes you on what may be the most important journey of your life: the 18 inches from the head to the heart. Through the story of Blaise Pascal's mystical night of fire, the gentle wisdom of Harvey's Elwood P. Dowd, and the wisdom of the Church, we explore what it means to become an integrated person—one who lives not in fragmentation, but in communion.

We are not just minds or spirits—we are embodied, emotional, historical persons. And while trauma, generational wounds, and spiritual lies may have fractured our inner life, God is drawing us back into wholeness. This is not a journey of perfection, but of integration—of learning to live fully alive.

You'll hear about:

• The role of the family in shaping our early spiritual imagination

• The wounds that distort identity and the lies we carry into adulthood

• How emotional maturity, spiritual direction, and community lead us to healing

• How God re-parents us through His Word, His Church, and His sacraments

This episode is an invitation to courageously face the inner story you've believed—and to let God write a new one with you.

Reflection & Journaling Questions for Prayer

1. Where in my life do I live more from my head than from my heart?

   Where do I hide behind intelligence, control, or performance rather than love, vulnerability, and trust?

2. Have I made the 18-inch journey from being right to being real?

   What would it mean to let go of needing to prove myself and instead seek communion?

3. What were the spoken or unspoken rules in my family growing up?

   ("Don't feel," "Be perfect," "Never be weak," etc.)

4. What emotions were welcomed in my childhood? What emotions were avoided or punished?

5. What role did I play in my family system?

   (Hero, invisible one, peacekeeper, rebel…) How does that still shape me today?

6. What is one lie I have believed about myself?

   ("I am only loved if…"; "I must always… to be safe.")

   Ask: Where did I learn this? What is the truth that God wants to speak there?

7. What pattern have I inherited from my family or past that I want to bring into the light of Christ?

   Pray: "Lord, show me where You were when I felt unseen."

8. Which of life's tasks—work, friendship, or love—do I tend to avoid?

   Ask: Where do I need more courage to live generously and not self-protect?

9. Do I see emotional strength as a way to protect myself or to give myself away?

   What would it mean to see my strength as a gift for others?

10. What private logic or internal script still shapes how I see myself, God, and others?

    Bring one of those to prayer. Ask: "Jesus, walk with me through the rooms of my childhood. What do You want to show me?"