At Last She Said It

One of the hallmarks of a Big Idea is that there's always more to say about it! In bonus Episode 269, Cynthia and Susan have conversations with 3 women from the ALSSI community—Lisa, Brooke, and Michelle—exploring a few ideas they had in response to Season 11 topics.

One of the hallmarks of a big idea is that it's connected to so many others. In Episode 268, Susan and Cynthia revisit the Big Idea episodes that formed the theme of ALSSI Season 11. After discussing these topics, If there's one thing we're sure of it's that we only scratched the surface.

In Episode 267, Susan and Cynthia ask Jen, Jessie, and Anne, What Do You Say? It's the fifth installment of ALSSI's series of episodes involving questions, answers, and the wide-ranging conversations they inspire among Latter-day Saint women.

What would a generative day—one that might throw off energy into the rest of your life—look like? In Episode 266, Susan and Cynthia take on the concept of Sabbath. It's a conversation about abundance, rhythm, letting go, and what it means to rest. Also about not needing to earn or prove anything, liberation, eradicating oppression, and some of the ways Latter-day Saints may think too narrowly when...

Vocation at its deepest level is "something I can't not do, for reasons I'm unable to explain to anyone else and don't fully understand myself, but are nonetheless compelling." This description from Parker Palmer frames the journey of chaplain Jenny Richards. She says, "If there is an openness to life, then I think vocation is where we meet our desires and our love of God. They meet, and if I thin...

What do you think of when you hear the word 'myth?' You might use it to describe the opposite of what is real or factual, maybe a widely held but false belief. However, sacred narratives are also called myths—traditional or symbolic stories explaining the origin of the world, natural phenomena, or cultural customs. Most societies have their own creation myths, for instance. Sound familiar...maybe...

In Episode 263, Cynthia and Susan ask Stephenie, Blakelee, and Tedi, What Do You Say? It's the fourth installment of ALSSI's conversations-about-everything with wise women. Three randomly selected questions about their memories, insights, and beliefs, are answered through stories of their personal lives and experiences as Latter-day Saints.

We all know change can be hard, but what about changing our own thinking? Can the discomfort associated with conflicting ideas keep us from fully engaging with them, or prevent us from objectively weighing data? Why does 'putting it on the shelf' sometimes feel like our only option? The human tendency to seek validation for existing beliefs is called Confirmation Bias. Religions and politics both...

Some things in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seem to be changing more regularly than they have in the past. Many members have lived through decades where it felt like almost nothing changed in our meetings, curriculum, and official messaging, so this evolution comes with a diversity of feelings. How might Church leadership help members move forward more easily? Could adjusting th...

"The spiritualities of all great world religions teach us letting go, or how to step aside," writes Richard Rohr. Letting go is an intentional process. We may let go of our emotional attachments, limiting beliefs, or past events. We may give up control, the need to be successful, or the need to be right. It's an ongoing process of surrendering to what is, and adjusting accordingly. In Episode 260,...

In Episode 259, Susan and Cynthia ask Mer, Zinah, and Carol, What Do You Say? It's the third installment of ALSSI's wide-ranging conversations with wise Latter-day Saint women. Each guest answers randomly selected questions about their memories, insights, and beliefs through stories of their personal lives and experiences.

ALSSI doesn't usually focus on church announcements or events, but our conversations about Big Ideas do exist within the current context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Episode 258, Susan and Cynthia take a beat to discuss a few recent headlines and explore some questions raised by these changes.

Is there a richer text for Christians than the Beatitudes? Yet we don't all think or teach about them the same way. Many Latter-day Saints talk and teach about them as a list of saint-like attributes to which we should aspire, traits that will bring us closer to God and eventual exaltation. But Nadia Bolz-Weber suggests, "What if the Beatitudes aren't about a list of conditions we should try to me...

Shadow Work is a phrase that gets a lot of airplay, but it can be hard to get your head around exactly what it means or how it can apply in your life. The "shadow" consists of unconscious, repressed, or hidden parts of our personality. So what might it mean to uncover, understand, and integrate our shadow self? How might this work affect our responses and relationships? "The human soul wants belon...

In Episode 255, Cynthia and Susan ask Aubrey Chaves, Debbie Squires-Coleman, and Darice Auston, "What Do You Say?" It's 3 wide-ranging conversations with wise Latter-day Saint women answering questions about their memories, insights, and beliefs through stories of their own lives and experiences.

Does piety serve anything besides the ego? Is our piety an asset or a liability? And what are we—individually and collectively—getting from it? In Episode 254, Susan and Cynthia consider these questions and more in a conversation examining the piety that is a cultural hallmark of our church. For Latter-day Saints and other Christians, is a focus on outward appearances or superficial "churchiness"...

When Latter-day Saints hear the phrase "Purity Culture," they may associate it more with evangelical churches than with our own. LDS talks and lessons focus on words like virtue, modesty, morality, and chastity to describe our ideals. But regardless of the specific words used, the messages are the same. Therapist C.A. Larson points out, "Purity culture is a moral control system that ties worth to...

Many Latter-day Saint women feel some constraint when it comes to using our voices at church, but it can even be hard to express what we think, feel, and believe in our own homes or personal relationships. Writing down thoughts that don't fit neatly in the box and hitting publish can bring consequences, but once a woman begins to speak, she's likely to find the repercussions she feared were much b...

For 6 years, Susan and Cynthia have been asking podcast guests, "What do you know?" In Season 11, they'll be asking a variety of Latter-day Saint women new questions about their memories, insights, and beliefs, with a card game called, What Do You Say? Episode 251 introduces the game as C & S break out the decks of cards for a fun and wide-ranging conversation of questions and answers.

How do you feel about sin? Richard Rohr describes our inevitable human missteps as essential to our growth when he says, "Not doing it right seems to teach us much more than doing it perfectly." But for many Latter-day Saints who struggle with ongoing feelings of guilt and/or shame, Rohr's interpretation may sound a bit too good to be true. Our church's focus on worthiness can get in the way of me...

Latter-day Saints consider ours to be a non-credal religion, yet nearly all our Articles of Faith begin with the phrase, "We believe...." We're asked questions about our specific beliefs in official interviews where our temple worthiness is dependent on the answers. But what happens when one's beliefs shift over the course of time? How much does subscribing to a specific set of theological convict...

Latter-day Saints are often told that the contemporary Church is built on the same model Jesus Christ used to establish His church. In this bonus re-release, Cynthia and Susan offer a few thoughts on that idea, and also discuss the pattern they see: the Bible doesn't only show Jesus choosing women in the New Testament—beginning with Eve, women are cast in pivotal roles from the very start. The ori...

Curiosity should feel foundational for Latter-day Saints—it's the birthplace of our religious tradition. Any member of the Church can recite the story of young Joseph Smith seeking wisdom he lacked. Curiosity is where any search for God—or for anything beyond ourselves—begins. It's an open stance that can help us get comfortable when we find ourselves unexpectedly dropped into liminal space. Empat...

In a podcast season devoted to talking about change, it makes sense to revisit some previously covered topics to see whether there's been any. In Episode 246, Cynthia and Susan take another look at a foundational ALSSI discussion: What Women Don't Get In Our Church. What's the official messaging for Latter-day Saint women now, and does it reflect movement? Are we going forward? Backward? Nowhere?...

Every four years, D&C 132 comes around for study again. If you ask a Latter-day Saint woman what she keeps on her metaphorical faith "shelf," there's a good chance polygamy will be there. It's mostly ignored in contemporary church conversations and teachings, a murky doctrine wrapped in a historical wound that continues to fester, easier to ignore than to heal. Many friends and family members won'...