This week, we pick up where we left off with joy vs happiness. We’ll talk more about more the differences between the two, why it feels like they are at odds with one another, and we’ll also look into what the Bible has to teach us on the subject.

2:45 - Recap of last week

4:00 - Why should we distinguish joy from happiness?

7:34  - Exploration of James 1:2 (“consider it pure joy when you face trials”)

17:05 - Why should we care about the original Hebrew and Greek  texts when we read into scripture?

27:34 - What does scripture have to specifically say about joy and happiness?

36:04 - A food analogy on the differences between happiness and joy (you can scratch that off your bingo board). Michael then shares an anecdote from being a parent at a kids’ basketball game to illustrate how we as Christians can cultivate joy.

46:45 - Michael gives a homework assignment

Hey y'all; this week we’re talking about joy, how it differs from fleeting happiness, and how we can cultivate in our lives. 

3:00 - Intro joy

8:20 - Etymology of happiness

10:00 - The difference between joy and happiness

20:50 - How does happiness connect with joy?

29:04 - The infectious nature of joy vs the silo effect of happiness

33:50 - The relationship between joy and gratitude

41:35 - Evan makes an Easter egg hunt analogy (on theme for the season) 

Today we're back on toxic positivity, but we're going to look at from a church-centric perspective as well as examine what the Bible has to say about it theologically

Notes:

4:00 - Re-itroduction to toxic positivity.

8:00 - Where does toxic positivity exist in Christian faith communities?

13:00 - When is it appropriate to express our sadness and when is it not?

16:30 - How do we balance the scriptural promises of joy with being honest with our sadness? What does the Bible specifically say about lament?

24:30 - Psalm 88 and unresolved sadness.

30:20 - Can you experience hope without embracing pain? Michael shares insights of academic studies on the correlation of racism and hope.

36:00 - Why karma doesn’t exist in Christianity, even though we sometimes act like it does.

42:00 - How to spot toxic positivity within our own lives, how to get help, and parting thoughts.

2:30 Intro to toxic positivity

5:00 - When does positivity become toxic?

13:40 - Why is toxic positivity easy, especially when we mean well?

16:00 - Some signs of toxic positivity, plus Lindsay gives Evan some free counseling

25:35 - How the Incredible Hulk models emotions in an unhealthy way, especially men

33:45 - Why discussions toxic positivity shouldn’t be ignored because of the presence of other issues

41:12 - Why toxic positivity doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to feel hopeful

Today we wrap up our three part series on change. We’ll talk about how to help others cope with major changes in their lives, how to balance giving help to others versus being their counselor, the stress of changes in life (including some anecdotes from our collective experiences choosing/changing majors back when we were in school), and how to cope with rapid changes happening in the world around us.

Welcome back to Not Alone a podcast about Faith and Wellness, we’re so glad you’re tuning in. Picking up from where we were a week ago, we are diving back into the subject of change. In this episode, we’re going to talk about how change is ever present in our lives, how it’s essential to Christian faith, and we’ll discuss the ways we contemplate change in our spiritual lives.

This episode is the official kickoff of season 2 of the podcast and we’re excited for all the new things we have in store for you in 2021. Change is in the air, folks. And because we’re tweaking our format a little, we thought it would be appropriate to kick things off by talking about change (reading Who Moved My Cheese? is not required though it is encouraged, mostly because we’re still looking for our cheese).

7:00 - what we’re excited about new format of the show

9:15 - Intro to change.

13:35 - clinical understanding of change

34:00 - how do we know when it’s time to change?

37:00 - the importance of seeing small changes, plus a look ahead to our next episode in this series.

Merry Christmas! We hope you’re taking care of yourselves this holiday season; with the pandemic still afoot we know many have had to alter their plans for the season, and while this has been a tough year in general, we’re hopeful at Christmas. Before listening to this episode, it is recommend that you procure a warm beverage of your choice and position yourself by a fireplace (or a live feed of one on YouTube).