On The Trail

What story is your brain telling you? Is it true? In this episode, we wrap up our discussion about the joy elevator and the pain processing pathway with a closer look at the brain’s narrative engine.

“Show, don’t tell” is the thing to remember for resolving pain stuck at Level 4 of the pain processing pathway. In this episode, we start celebrating OTT’s 1-year anniversary, and we camp out on level 4 of the pain processing pathway. 

When the joy elevator in our brain gets stuck, our pain isn’t able to fully process. In this episode, we continue to unpack the joy elevator and the five levels of the pain processing pathway. 

Sometimes the joy elevator in our brain gets stuck and our pain isn’t able to fully process. In order for suffering to keep from becoming traumatic, our brains need to process the pain at all five levels of the pain processing pathway. In this episode, we begin to unpack the joy elevator and the pain processing pathway. 

It’s no secret – negativity robs our joy. Toxic thoughts can imprison us in unpleasant emotions. How do we get free and return to joy? In the next phase of our joy series, we’re discussing some of the brain science of toxic thoughts and strategies for how to replace them.

When emotions are dragging, there is an amygdala to soothe.  In this episode we finish our discussion about how to tame the amygdala and return to joy when we find ourselves trapped in one of the big six negative emotions.

We’re continuing our joy series with a little brain science. When something triggers the amygdala as “personal,” it sends out a signal of good, bad, or scary. If bad or scary is signaled, it triggers one of six emotions: sadness, shame, disgust, despair, anger, or fear.  For the next two episodes, we are talking about how to tame the amygdala and return to joy when we find ourselves trapped in one...

Would you describe your inner world as joyful?   Whether conscious of it or not, most of us live out of an inner world of fear or joy. Last episode we talked about tearing down that inner fear house. In this episode, we are talking about building an inner joy house. Building a joy house can also be thought of as growing resilience. This episode recaps the ABCs of Building Bounce and introduces an...

Let’s tear down the house of fear and build a house of joy. Last episode we introduced Joy Bonds. Our brains are designed to run on the fuel of joy, but they can default to fear. In this episode we’re looking at the counterpart—fear bonds. 

A joy-filled life is possible. Let’s talk about how to cultivate one. Marcus says two words blew up his old paradigm: Joy Bonds. His old paradigm said belief + choice = transformation, but what about joy and attachment?  We’re starting down a new trail for the summer where we explore the transformative nature of joy, and we hope you’ll join us!

Did your ancestors open the door to the devil?  We are wrapping up our series on the acrostic SOUL-L, which looks at five common areas where the devil claims ground in our lives and how to reclaim that surrendered ground. Today’s episode addresses lineage. Sometimes the enemy has permission to work in our lives because of the doors our ancestors opened to him. Sin has generational consequences.  W...

Can believing a lie give the devil permission to my life? We are in the midst of looking at five common areas where the devil claims ground in our lives and how to reclaim that surrendered ground. Today’s episode looks at lies we believe. The devil is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). When we believe Satan’s lies over God’s truth, it’s like shaking hands with the devil and saying, “You are right,...

We are in the midst of looking at five main areas where the devil claims ground in our lives and how to reclaim that surrendered ground. Today's episode looks at unforgiveness. The remedy for unforgiveness is forgiveness. In this episode we talk about what forgiveness is and what it is not. 

If sin is like leaving your front door unlocked for the enemy, the occult is like throwing open the garage door and hosting a block party. We are in the midst of looking at five main areas where the devil claims ground in our lives. The goal is to help us know where to revoke permissions and use our authority to reclaim that surrendered ground. These five areas can be remembered with the acrostic...

For the next few episodes we are looking at five main areas where the devil claims ground in our lives. These five areas can be remembered with the acrostic SOUL-L: Sin, the Occult, Unforgiveness, Lies we believe, and Lineage. Today's episode gives the overview of these five areas and then starts unpacking Sin.

Satan thought he had defeated Christ at the cross only to discover that Jesus had completely flipped the tables on him. Christ is Victor.  At the cross, Jesus Christ disarmed the principalities and powers and canceled the debt against us (Col. 2:14-15). This victory is the foundation of our freedom and our authority in Christ. What does it look like to have this authority?  In our current series,...

In this episode, we look over the various main approaches to spiritual warfare - from power encounters to a legal understanding. From there we examine the legal approach, digging into the concept of permission and authority. 

In this episode, we dig into some Scripture that exposes the devil's nature, and we begin to talk about some strategies for breaking and staying free of the enemy and his snares. 

Last episode we talked about R.E.A.L. Prayer and how to invite Jesus into our emotional healing. This episode we are digging deeper into that discussion and looking at some of the obstacles people encounter when engaging in inner healing prayer. Are your relational circuits off? Are you encountering demonic interference? Is it possible that a false Jesus could show up? Whether you are a prayer min...

Last episode we talked about listening prayer and how this practice can help us connect with God more intimately in our lifestyle. This episode we are digging into the emotional healing side of listening prayer and looking at the acrostic R.E.A.L.

In this episode, we are talking about prayer, especially as it relates to connecting with God. Do our attachment styles, maturity levels, or relational skills affect our prayer life? What is Listening Prayer (and what is it not )? This conversation focuses on listening prayer at the lifestyle level. In the next episode, we'll focus on R.E.A.L. Prayer at the healing level.

As we wrap up the Resilience series, we're looking at the final topic, "Connecting with God." What does it look like to connect with God - to know, trust, and obey Him? We also take the first part of the episode to discuss the Asbury Revival 2023. 

In this episode we continue our "Connecting with People" discussion by digging into the super helpful tool "VCR," which stands for Validate, Comfort, Recover. You can use this tool to help yourself and to help others. We talk about VCR in different situations and age groups, left- vs. right-brain emotions, and more. 

We've been talking about the ABCs of Bounce, and today we come to "C" - Connecting with People and with God. In this episode we're specifically looking at Connecting with People. What is belonging and why is it important? Vulnerability, empathy, boundaries - we're discussing all this and more. 

We're continuing the ABCs of Bounce with "B" for Beliefs. What is the connection between beliefs and emotions? How do attachments influence beliefs? How can we win the battle for our mind? We're looking at this and more in this week's episode.