Be Encouraged

Your breath can agitate or calm. Of course you breathe naturally, but with just a bit of effort you can develop a tool to help you find calm in your storms.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

From the news to your own life, things can get to be too much to handle. Lately that seems more likely than ever. Wars, crises, personal problems all add up to go beyond our ability to cope. Here are some ideas to help.   Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

Deferring maintenance is a sure way to breakdown. And not just with our cars, houses, or machinery but with you! Go too long and the cost of repair is much higher. Listen up for maintaining your unique self.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

If you find it easy to relax, you don't need this podcast. But if you drive yourself so hard that you never let down, then you need to learn to relax. If you struggle with the anxiety so common to so many now, then you need to learn to relax. Our personal lives plus the wars and weather crises in the news fuel fear and worry. But you can learn to do something about it. Listen for a different...

Wonder is all around and in us. It's good for you! I challenge you to find ways you might invite more wonder into your life. Why?  Because it deepens your insight, expands your experience of your world, and might make you a better person! Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

Are you staying busy and keeping up with your social media? Are you keeping everybody else happy? If so, you are probably out of touch, living life on autopilot, unaware of yourself and your impact on others.  Are you out of touch? This episode helps you see if you are, and tells you what to do about it.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtf...

Everyone loves the holidays and everyone gets stressed. Take some time to settle down. Use some skills that are built into your system to grab a few moments away from the tension. Listen to this brief podcast and give yourself a break! Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

When you see the sky it can reveal lots of things. it can be blue sky happy weather, dark sky ominous precipitation coming, or the smoke of a tragedy nearby. What do you see in your life? Are you looking? Once you see it, how do you understand and respond to it? This episode explores all this with some encouraging answers! Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in th...

It is our expectations of life that get us in trouble! If you didn't go into situations expecting things to go your way you wouldn't get so upset when they often don't. Expectations are a disease that we all have to varying degrees. Controlling dictator types are the worst, but you have it too, even in small things. We want family to behave certain ways, our work to go our way, even...

When you watch someone die on your phone it is traumatic. When we learn shocking news almost continually we get overwhelmed. It shouldn't be this way, but it is. How to manage? How to not lose your mind or your emotional balance when the world is so crazy? When we are wounded we need healing. We can't go on collecting wounds and ignore the urgent care we need. There's no cure for th...

We are often so hurried or preoccupied that we miss the sacred when it is right in front of us. What if we noticed more? You might see more if you slow down just a bit, looked and saw. And then you could also let yourself be seen!  Listen to this episode for some inspiration for seeing the sacred in the everyday.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment,...

Wouldn't you like your view to be clear? Who wants obstructions in the way when they are trying to see? It is the same in life as in windows, we want to see what we are looking for, not clutter. But what can you do when there are obstructions? Fight reality or complain? Maybe there is another choice.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thought...

Your life will be ruined if you choose wrong, right? It all hangs on each choice. Is decision making easy or hard for you? Do you fear making the wrong decisions? You might be surprised that there is some comfort in accepting your imperfection, your inability to know that each decision is the right one.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtfu...

Consider the joy of a box that holds useful things. We are like boxes ourselves, containers holding things. Sometimes we hold little, sometimes just right, often we hold too much. Look around you and see the boxes. They are there. And they are most useful when they hold just the right amount, not too much, not too little. For a lot of reasons, we lean toward holding too much. We should hold faith,...

The bucket of your life that is always pouring out. Lately it is not getting enough to refill it. Self-care isn’t keeping up with your sacrifice of time and attention on others. It seems impossible to keep up with the bad news as the stresses of our world have gotten worse. Listen in for some understanding and tips for carrying on in tough times! Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged pod...

Have you noticed that your thoughts come and go all day? Each of us has our own  internal running monolgue. Sometimes thoughts seem to chase and torment us. Other thoughts delight us. Either way, we can spend too much time on some of them. We may even "entertain them." Do you want to spend energy "entertaining" your thoughts? Or maybe it would be better to choose which thoughts...

If you don't have the skill of interrupting you need it! Your life and contentment depends on it. Consider why and how to interrupt in your inner life so you can "take your thoughts captive" and not be captive to your thoughts! Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

Good sleep requires preparation, and some mental discipline at times. First, put away all screens 30 minutes or more before lying down. Do exercise earlier as well. See your doctor if your lack of sleep is causing physical symptoms.  This episode gives a method that has worked for Jay. And it relates to being more in the moment. It might just do the trick for you! Send us Fan Mail Support the show...

Just for fun, here is an episode on spiders! Experiences with them and lessons from them. Don't underestimate small things, especially in nature.  See what you think! Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

When the world around you seems to be going crazy, what can you do, where do you go to come back to center?  Your want to feel safe and grounded. Your nervous system is seeking balance. And we will do almost anything to get balance, often unconsciously.  But how we get there includes some unique techniques.  First you must: 1. Identify that you are upset and what upset you, 2. Consider whether its...

You’re riding along and someone says, “brace yourself.” What do you do? You tense up. Tensing up is common these days for all kinds of reasons.  But it's helpful to notice when you do it, and learn ways to manage it. The reflex actions like tensing that we do often leads to more harm than good. Consider what else you can do in this episode.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged pod...

Here's a great summary of how we often live life: wishing it could be different. We often miss the reality of life because while actual events are happening we are full of thoughts of how it ought to be instead. Like a childish tantrum we say, "I don't like this! I want something else!"  This causes us to miss out on real time experience, the imperfect relationship, the less th...

When life is on automatic pilot, lots of blind spots keep you from seeing, even seeing yourself clearly. Look! Notice what is there, in yourself, and around you.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in the moment, thoughtful encouragement. 

We live in an unsettled time. Many different things, from personal to global can make us wary, tense or upset. We go on living but with an unsettled background running all the time.  What can you do? Can't control nature or politicians. But we can do some things ourselves to move away from a constant state of vigilance.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show Be Encouraged podcast is practical, in...

The very word "distraction" indicates being taken away from something and led into something less important. When life distracts us, we lose focus on what we thought we wanted to be doing. We are captured by some seductive idea or passtime that sucks up time and attention.  That's normal, but not a good thing. This episode explores distraction and what you should do about it! Send u...