The process of deconstruction and reconstruction can have a lot of up’s and down’s. Sometimes in the midst of it, we may just feel stuck. So what do we do when we feel stuck? How do we know if our truest voice is speaking or if it is a voice from our past? I asked Therapist and Spiritual Coach Amanda Waldron to jump into this conversation to help us find new ways and better questions to continue down a healthy reconstruction path. This conversation swerves around and we touch on everything from the somatic enneagram, purity culture, getting unstuck and what kind of people we need during different seasons of our lives.

Learn more about Amanda on her website www.heyamandawaldron.com or follow her on instagram (@heyamandawaldron).

Reconstruction Calls is hosted by Trained Spiritual Director, Aaron Manes

A big part of the deconstruction journey begins with doubt. A doubt may be small when it creeps in but real deconstruction happens when you just cannot ignore it any more. In this episode I am talking to Brian Aadland - who is the pastor of Revolution Church in Minneapolis as well as the host of the Sacred Collective Podcast. Brian recently gave a talk at Revolution Church about doubt and I wanted to have him on to hear a little of his own story and to talk together about grappling with our own doubts, what scripture has to say about it and hopefully find some peace along the way.

Find Brian on Instagram - @RogueTheologian

Reconstruction Calls is hosted by Trained Spiritual Director, Aaron Manes

In each one of these podcasts I introduce myself as “Spiritual Director Aaron Manes.” But what is a spiritual director? Sure, you can google it, you can look up the big spiritual direction entity that is Spiritual Directors International (www.sdicompanions.org) and find a definition, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to have my friends and fellow Spiritual Director’s Kim Verriere and Emily Turner on to talk about this with me. Kim and Emily have both been on the podcast before so you can listen back to find out their typologies and a little more about each of them. If you would like to know more about what happens during spiritual direction, what sorts of things are discussed and how working with a trained listener affects your life, then this podcast is for you. 

Reconstruction Calls is hosted by Trained Spiritual Director, Aaron Manes

Church - for so many people right now, it is complicated. I recently did a talk for a spiritual ministry here in Dallas and it was about this idea of America becoming less religious and more spiritual. One of the best metaphors I know is from author Robert Putnam. He says that interest in bowling is at an all time high and yet interest in bowling leagues is at an all time low.

You see, people want to bowl but they don’t want to do it formally. The church trend trackers are seeing similar trends when it come to going to church. What has become apparent for a lot of people I know is that they discovered they didn’t need to go sit in a sanctuary to have church, to have community. Their faith community they realized were the people that care about them and those who they care about.

In this first edition of "It's Complicated," there isn't a guest. Just me talking about the reality of church-going and living a more spiritual life. The truth of the spiritual or reconstructing life is that often what irks us, is just an invitation in disguise. 

Reconstruction Calls is hosted by Trained Spiritual Director, Aaron Manes

By the time someone has gone through the deconstructing process, they often find themselves in a new place - even a whole new person. Many people talk about feeling more open-hearted, more connected, more of a lot of things. And it is from that place that they take on new things. In this episode, I am talking with my friend Lindsay O’Connor who is a great follow on social media for all her book wisdom. (Instagram: @LindsayLOConnor) but she is also an enneagram knower and is on a journey doing racial reconciliation. All of this work found her with a desire to go to seminary and that is something I wanted to talk to her more about.

Learn more about reconstruction & spiritual direction at www.aaronmanes.com

Have you ever decided to pick up and move across the country? Maybe you haven't made a physical change but you have experienced a change of faith. There are so many steps and experiences that come with change. On this episode, I am talking with some of my old friends: Jacob and Katie Eckeberger. One of the things I am always so impressed with is their ability to navigate change. They seem to handle it so well and then they turn around and create music, community and new ideas from their experiences. The other fascinating thing is that as a couple they are Enneagram 3 & 4 and that is a lot of feeling. So listen closely to how they express their early feelings of knowing when to change and how to make a move. 

This episode (S2:E3) is with Jacob and Katie Eckeberger. Jacob is on the executive leadership team for YouthWorks and Katie is a worship leader and together they both write and lead worship for their band My Anchor Holds. Learn more about their music at www.myanchorholds.net. 

Deconstruction & Reconstruction are an invitation to never stop believing. In this conversation with Rev. Jared Houze, we discover that part of the process is that before we can believe, we must first belong. Knowing that we belong to community gives us a place to believe from. This insight came from a real curious question related to what he would like for his kids -- being that he grew up baptist and is now an Episcopal priest. Come listen into this call to also hear some real wisdom in the work of reconciliation and how the church is uniquely positioned to bring people together. 

Rev. Jared Houze is the senior minister at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Abilene, Texas. 

We are 21 episodes in and are planning a second season. We are taking a little break as we work on new conversations, new topics and new places to go as we work together to grow in our faith. So here is what I am asking... I want to know what you want to talk about and we have a new way to make this happen. Please go visit www.anchor.fm/reconstructioncalls and in the top right you will see a button that says "message." When you click that button from your computer or smart device, it will set you up to leave a message for me.

When we began the COVID lockdown, many of us made plans that would help us get through. But then it just kept going. The gift of 2020 may be clarity in our lives as things got simpler or required us to live differently. You might say that 2020 has caused many of us to renovate our lives. Because of this the question arises, what do we do next? If we don't feel called to something specifically, what should we do to discern our next steps? That is what I brought Spiritual Director Kim Verriere back to talk about. Kim was on in episode 5 (Dreams And A Deep Trust) and we talked about her dream work. What I learned in that episode is that sometimes hearing the voice of God means trusting our deepest selves. We will talk about discernment, next steps and how to begin noticing the voice of God all around us.

Learn more about Kim at www.greaterlovecollective.org