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In this episode Jackie answers a question from a friend and one that many people have when they start therapy and are in the process of doing their own work.  It is a valid question when there are painful and traumatic things we have experienced in the past.  Why go there if there isnt a good reason? Well, there is a good reason.  The past never stays put in past.  We arrive in adulthood with unfinished business and not knowing or understanding how to connect with our own personal power and what to do with it.  

In this episode, I am honored to have special guest Mark Nepo talking about Heartwork: being a spirit in the world. Beloved as a poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark Nepo, the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awakening, has been called "one of the finest spiritual guides of our time," "a consummate storyteller," and an"eloquent spiritual teacher."  His many books have been translated into more than twenty languages. 

In his upcoming talk presented by The Jung Society of Utah, Mark will explore the heartwork required to inhabit our lives by engaging our ongoing relationships to self, other, work, community, and Source. The integrity of our heartwork depends on integrating who we are with what we do. Regardless of the service we’re called to, the central questions have always been: How will we inhabit our time on Earth? How can we live fully in the face of death? And how can we love fully in the face of life? This of course leads to other questions: How will we know and be known? How do we hold each other as we tumble along in the story of our lives? How will we care for each other in the face of crisis? 

Given the hardships of living through the pandemic, we are called to renew our covenant with life and each other in order to survive the storms of our day and to leave the world more authentic and loving than we found it.

Tickets for the SLC event are availble online at https://my.arttix.org/27979/27980  or by calling 801-355-ARTS or 888-451-ARTS.

You can register for Mark's upcoming webinar The Gift of Relationship: helping each other stay awake at:  live.marknepo.com

In this episode Jackie asked two of her colleagues, Rachel Allen and Amy Smith, both previous guests on the podcast to join her talking about Christmas songs through the therapy lens.  Therapy can put things into perspective or make us questions things we previously haven't questioned, whether you are a client of therapy or a therapist.  We had some fun talking about Christmas songs whose time has come and gone or songs that just hit wrong.  We also talk about some of our favorite Christmas songs. 

This week Jackie talks about her experience as both a participant and a facilitator in GLI (group leadership intensive).  So many of us live our lives in our own bodies without giving ourselves the opportunity to actually see ourselves and to know how others experience us.  It is a gift, that we typically will shy away from, to be present with others and ourselves in the struggle...and yet there is so much to be learned when we can give ourselves this gift.  And be open to receiving feedback from others as part of this gift.  It is an opportunity for the unfinished business within us to manifest in a way that we can face and acknowledge while also finding a way forward.  

We all make choices every single day—some big, some small. Some are choices related to time and money. Others are related to the life roles we each prioritize. There are a billion things we could do, but we must make choices with our limited time. Is there a difference between making a decision and a choice? How does trauma impact the ability to make "good" choices? 

In this episode Jackie wraps up the series on the Twelve Principles by Dr. Patrick Carnes.  Generativity is principle twelve.   Generativity refers to "making your mark" on the world by caring for others as well as creating and accomplishing things that make the world a better place. It’s leaving the community, culture, and world better than you found it. This principle aligns with step twelve, which is all about having had a spiritual awakening,  By practicing the twelfth step along with the twelvth principle we are set to make the world, our communities, our families, and our friendships more meaningful and more purposeful.

Life is messy.  It has always been messy.  Life is full of loose ends, uncertainty, confusion, and frustration.  Yet nothing is wasted or random or pointless.  Everything that happens is nourishing compost for our spiritual and emotional growth. It is in the midst of the messiness of life that we often find meaning or, sometimes, that meaning finds us. 

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Merriam Webster defines responsiveness like this: reacting in a desired or positive way; quick to respond. We all probably think about speed when we think about responsiveness, too, but how many of us take the time to make sure our responses are positive? That we are responding in a timely and reliable way? Responsiveness is more than just a way to communicate.  It becomes a way of being with ourselves, with others and with the world. 

In this episode Jackie talks about how commitment plays a role in our recovery as well as in our relationships.  When we make a commitment, we are saying that we will do all we can to make it happen.  There are factors that get in the way of us keeping our commitments.  As we work to deepen our recovery, our ability to make commitments becomes an important part of our recovery.  How we commit to ourselves and to others is a deciding factor in our success.