Searching Inward

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram discuss how we remember our past and how it helps us tell our story. We remember our experiences in story form, and we share how the two selves - the experiencing self and the remembering self - work together, and how they don’t always agree. 

“Going back to your old narratives is really important.” -George [09:12]

“When you’re working with the reality of that emotion, then you can begin to change how you’re actually experiencing it.” -Seth [11:49]

“So, that’s me being conscious of what emotion is telling the story and trying to rewrite the narrative in a more positive direction.” -Anna [15:48]

“It doesn’t matter what has happened, where I’ve been, what have I struggled with, God and I can create a new beginning and write a new ending.” -Scott [27:18]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[01:13] Remembering self needs attention

[05:34] What emotion is telling the story?

[09:16] How to listen to the story

[17:17] Examples of small victories

[21:16] Final thoughts

[26:29] A final word of hope

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In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall and Seth Abram discuss how to change our factory settings. As we get older, we can get stuck in our ways, but the factory settings of our minds can be changed. Today we share how we can do that by creating a new response by transforming our paradigms. 

“It takes concentration. It takes self-discipline. It takes effort. It takes a supportive community. It’s going to take time.” -Scott [04:33]

“I think when people are able to allow into their hearts their community, then they can be informed by it.” -Seth [22:25]

“A negative is like velcro, and a positive is like Teflon. It slips off more quickly.” -George [22:52]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro 

[02:30] Central point of the book

[08:07] The polyvagal theory

[15:02] Motivated by value

[19:32] Unconscious habit of overconfidence

[24:26] How long will we keep punishing ourselves?

[28:11] Final thoughts

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In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram discuss the moments in our lives when we believe things that aren’t true. Thoughts based on flawed beliefs can create problems for us, and what one sees depends on what one looks for and expects. Listen as we talk about how self-awareness is one step in helping us interpret the reality in our lives and why community is also important for this.

“The beginning of self-awareness is something that can begin by ourselves, but the work of that goes way beyond just something that we do in our own heads and in our own hearts.” -George [03:00]

“Sharing our truths, sharing our stories from a place of humility can free us from denial, help us see what is really true and right, but there’s such dignity in all human beings when they tell the truth. You know what, this is what I struggle with. This is it. This is the truth.” -Scott [12:37]

“Humility is what Scott was saying, I think is what actually allows you to be here right now. Because it’s not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” -Seth [18:33]

“If I’m always looking for what’s good,… and not acknowledging what is actually causing injury to me and not processing my negative emotions, that is confirmation bias that can work in a favorable direction, but can also be hindering if it’s not balanced properly with realistic views of who I am and what I need.” -Anna [21:36]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro 

[00:52] Why self-awareness so important

[02:54] Realizing we don’t have to do it alone

[08:29] Two biases: over-confidence & insecurity

[12:53] Which biases the hosts tend to lean to

[17:30] Healthy shame vs toxic shame

[20:05] How to live more free from biases

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YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram talk about the seeds of possibility and learning how to grow beyond past failures and present crisis. Rethinking our identity and sowing the right seeds can help us shape the kind of harvest we desire.

“The most purest form of love that I’ve ever experienced in my life is Christ.” -Scott [04:43]

“Wholeness doesn’t mean perfection. Grace helps you realize that mistakes are integral to life, to being a whole person, to being a healthy person.” -Seth [07:35]

“The notion of thinking about seeds of possibility when things aren’t exactly like we hoped them to be, to believe that that’s possible would be a wonderful gift, because I think we wear ourselves out sometimes trying to work ourselves out of things.” -George [16:36]

“I think it’s a good reminder that there are ways that we can show up, but we can’t ultimately control every aspect of how life goes.” -Anna [25:22]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro 

[00:59] Sowing the right seeds

[05:21] The practicality of grace

[12:18] Free ourselves in world of measurements

[19:24] Start with surrender of circumstances

[27:14] Identifying the new seeds to plant

[30:28] Yielding to the love of God

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YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

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In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram discuss the science of God. The moment we encounter God or the idea of God, our brain begins to change.

“So with that frame of reference in mind, understanding that there is more to know about God than we currently have in our limited frame of reference.” -Anna [03:05]

“I think we all believe that a more loving, gracious experience of God leads to a more loving and gracious healing and growth of human beings in the world that we live in.” -George [13:41]

“I don’t know how we can work on a process of transformation. I don’t know how we can even live with a hope that is not tied to the belief that that’s the God who will love me no matter what I’ve done, where I’ve been, what I’ve struggled with and is always, always going to be there to help me fight my way out of that place, not from judgment, but from love.” -Scott [16:16]

“You know I tell my kids, I’m trying to teach them now that, you know, associate love with God. God with love. Those two things are synonymous. So you are not separate from God. You are a part of God and when you are embodying love to someone, you’re showing them God.” -Seth [21:57]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro 

[01:43] A new picture of God

[09:03] How to live more free

[14:06] It matters how we think about God

[17:49] A text out of Romans

[24:10] Why was this important for Day 15

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In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram talk about the process of rerouting our thoughts towards where we want to go. The mind is the most powerful instrument in our lives. The four hosts discuss how our thoughts can transform our lives and create a whole new beginning.

“The idea about how transformation actually comes to be, it says something about the reality of how transformation really works in one’s life.” -Seth [11:15]

“The mind is the most powerful instrument in our lives, because it will determine and dictate where we go, up or down.” -Scott [17:33]

“I love connecting to the concept of hope and how looking up is going to… it is going to determine our trajectory of where we go with our thoughts and our reality and our behavior.” -Anna [19:09]

“We need community. We need healing community to do this well.” -George [22:32]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:13] Intro 

[00:55] About Scott’s upcoming book

[03:26] Think about excellence

[06:40] Rerouting our thoughts

[13:45] The anticipation molecule

[18:09] The chemical of possibility

[22:30] We need community

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Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram discuss how to silence your inner critic. What we consistently tell ourselves about ourselves is what forms us. We discuss how our inner critic can affect the quality of our mental health and our relationship with that. We also share how to silence our inner critic.

“Understanding where our narrative comes from, how that inner critic has been informed through our circumstances, can help us to begin to change the narrative.” -Anna [11:03]

“So memories of those scars of where in our lives we have been shamed, they make a very powerful narrative, imprinted critical narrative.” -Scott [17:55]

“I like to think there’s an ability to turn the inner critic like a spy into the inner observer. I think this is much less about rejecting anything and more understanding to the fact that at some point in time, this voice was very important for our protection and being accepted in the environments that we grew up in childhood.” -Seth [23:50]

“That sounds like a way to silence the inner critic is to remember the past in a completely new way.” -George [28:51]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[01:34] Intensity, frequency and duration

[03:16] Conscious mind vs inner critic

[07:26] Our thoughts influence our behavior

[13:16] Feeling deeply inadequate

[18:07] Silencing our inner critic

[21:19] The inner observer

[26:15] Priming thoughts to do things boldly

[29:23] Growth requires risk and vulnerability

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In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram talk about the great and precious promises of God. They discuss how we change habits by changing the cues that activate behavior and exploring the motivation and context behind these habits.

“Context for me is very curated and that’s what allows for the motivation and the ambition to actually happen to get this stuff done.” -Seth [11:06]

“To change any habitual pattern in our lives, we have to sustain motivation. It always comes down to motivation.” -Scott [13:02]

“To me, the reward wasn’t about what was coming on the other side of that externally, but it was like what it was doing for me internally.” -Anna [15:32]

“So it’s a letting go of something and then in return, something is poured in.” -George [19:00]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[01:16] Celebration of Hope

[05:30] Habit formation

[12:37] Sustain motivation

[18:07] Kenosis and theosis

[22:21] Final thoughts

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In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram talk about habits and how to change our mindsets towards them by adding friction. We also discuss that to work with this transformation, we need to realize that this is also a matter of the heart.

“Bad habits are like comfortable beds. Easy to get into, but hard to get out of.” -George [01:46]

“God’s will is all about indwelling goodness and being fully ourselves, who he created us to be. It’s not so much figuring out is this the thing that God wants me specifically to be doing.” -Anna [11:23]

“I think what God’s will is more about human flourishing. What does it look like for us to flourish wherever we are doing whatever it is that we feel is our vocation.” -Seth [14:46]

“Freedom comes with a great cost and it takes courage to face this journey. And that’s why you cannot do it alone. You need a healing community.” -Scott [20:22]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[01:43] A matter of the heart

[04:57] Work with transformation

[07:17] God’s will

[12:33] The connection between God’s will and bad habits

[18:10] What will satisfy my soul?

[27:03] Final thoughts

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YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org

In this episode of the Searching Inward Podcast, George Stull, Scott Reall, Anna Bryant and Seth Abram explore the question “What’s going on here?” As we face adversaries, that question can create openings for new discoveries to help us no longer feel helpless or hopeless. We talk about how this transforms our consciousness and leads to change and perspective to help us get unstuck.

“Is the way I’m thinking about this part of the problem? Yeah, that’s a tough reality to face, but when you’re really willing to go there, something opens up. New possibilities open up.” -George [03:02]

“Letting go of control and letting go of old patterns, even when they’re dysfunctional, it’s almost systemic, I think, in the human condition. That’s the hardest thing for our journey, I think, is that transition to a new place, to a new consciousness.” -Scott [11:18]

“I think often the words “ego” and “false self” get conflated, because there will always be value on some level to having ego.” -Seth [22:50]

“The world doesn’t have to look exactly like how I imagine it might or my life doesn’t have to look exactly as I imagine it might for it to be good.” -Anna [29:16]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:05] Intro

[01:05] Transform your consciousness

[05:02] A place of exploring and curiosity

[09:46] Our inability to let go

[17:30] Facing adversity

[21:35] Detaching from the ego

[24:39] How George is being surprised

[26:43] Final thoughts

Follow and Contact

Facebook: Restore Small Groups

Instagram: @restoresmallgroups

YouTube: Searching Inward Podcast

Website: restoresmallgroups.org