With and For hosted by Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King joins the Yale Center for Faith & Culture podcast, For the Life of the World, for a discussion of human development, purpose, relational intimacy, and spiritual connection—all through the integration of developmental psychology and theology. With host Evan Rosa (Yale Center for Faith & Culture), she reflects on human change and plasticity in the midst of a whole complex life; relation...

If we want to bear good fruit in our lives, we must have strong roots. Good fruit must lead to love. As the Rev. Dr. Pam King offers in this episode, “Root into love so that you can live out love.” Speaking on Jesus’s parable of the Tree and Its Fruits in Luke 6, she draws on theological and psychological resources to reflect on the role of active and intentional love in a thriving life. Luke 6:43...

“How did it go?” As we pursue purpose and spiritual health, we need regular opportunities to take stock and understand how our efforts are making an impact in our lives and in the lives of others. In the process of pursuing purpose, cultivating joy, and connecting more deeply to ourselves, we need to learn how to audit and assess how its going as we live out our spirituality and refine our values....

“Activate your skills, gifts, and passions for the benefit of others.” Activation is the practical step in the cycle of 5 A’s for Agility in Spiritual Health—where we implement a practice or exercise, make a move toward our values, or experiment with something to help us grow. In this episode, Dr. Pam King walks through the fourth step of the 5 A’s: Activate. This step in the cycle draws from each...

“When our life is aligned to what truly matters, that is when we experience the most enduring joy.” In this episode, Dr. Pam King explains the 3rd step in the 5 A’s of Agility for Spiritual Health. Alignment is the process of becoming more reflective, drawing connections between our thoughts and emotions—and our beliefs, values, habits, and the experiences that shape us. This is the step where we...

It’s not easy to reflect on our emotions without judging them or running away from them. It’s difficult to stay with challenging or frightening feelings and thoughts. But to cultivate awareness means taking an open, curious, and non-judgmental approach to observing our minds. More than simple or immediate observation (like Attunement), awareness asks us to get curious and reflect on our feelings,...

What’s happening right now? What do you feel? What physical sensations are present from head to toe? The first step in practicing the 5 A’s of Spiritual Health is Attunement—a simple, direct process of connecting to reality, perceiving your experience of the present moment, and paying attention to our physical sensations. It’s as simple as a clear-eyed consciousness: listening, feeling, acknowledg...

How can we cultivate agility and adaptivity in our chaotic, shifting times? Dr. Pam King offers a research-backed cycle of practices to incorporate into the rhythms of your daily life—helping you navigate change and work through life’s obstacles. She calls them the 5 A’s of Spiritual Health: Attunement, Awareness, Alignment, Activation, and Assessment. In this episode, she introduces the 5 A’s, ex...

In this episode, Dr. Pam King discusses why spirituality is so essential to the human experience, and how it operates as the antidote to the culture of anxiety and despair around us. She works through the Thrive Center’s 6 Facets of Spiritual Health (T.H.R.I.V.E). 1. Transcendence & Spirituality 2. Habits & Rhythms 3. Relationships & Community 4. Identity & Narrative 5. Vocation & Purpose 6. Ethic...

Pam King joins licensed therapist Dan Koch on his podcast, You Have Permission, for a discussion of the six facets of spiritual health. Show Notes Subscribe to Dan Koch’s podcast, You Have Permission and his Patreon at patreon.com/dankoch Pam’s research interests: positive developmental psychology and theology How do psychologists perceive religion, spirituality, and theology? How does spiritualit...

  Close your eyes, press your feet into the floor, notice your bottom in your seat, feel your lower back in the chair. Notice other sensations in the body and any tension in various places. Notice the movement of your chest. Starting at the top of the head and moving through each area of your body - paying attention to any sensations, energy, numbness, cold, hot, slowly moving your attention, noti...

Invite a time when you really wanted something - a job, a person to say, “yes,” or an acceptance letter. Imagine that you grabbed the handle of the red door and it was stuck.  You kicked the door because it was stuck. You were prepared to go through it but couldn’t, You shifted 180 degrees because it was stuck - and saw a yellow door, wide open. You crossed over to an opportunity that was open and...

Find posture, check in with your body, and take several deep, calming breaths. Be intentional about your motivation and find a place in us to understand that practices to cultivate our own wellbeing can also help others. This is a radical act of generosity Bring into your mind a situation that has been challenging in some way in the recent past - whether work, family, etc.. not too difficult, but...

Close your eyes and take 5 deep breaths. In your minds eye - set a table before you. You may invite anyone living or deceased who truly has your best interest in mind. Ask them if they love you. Invite your higher self - true eternal higher self - ask you if you love you. Ask you higher power if they love you. With all at your table sitting there - what do they need to tell you now? This is your c...

Practice modified from Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies Begin with breathing into the nose and out through the mouth Notice the space you are in - turning to the left and looking behind you, then turning to the right to see behind you.  Feel the stretch. Take in the space. Notice where the wall meets the ceiling.  Notice the...

We reflect on our motivation for doing the practice. We attempt to frame the practice from the idea that practicing is altruistic - helping ourselves and others. Bring into your mind and heart someone you know and love. Consider their difficulties.  As we breathe in, we practice removing their difficulties, and as we breathe out, we extend our love and our wishes for that person to be happy and fr...

Show Notes Why podcast about thriving and spiritual health? Pam’s deep desire for people to thrive and become who they’re meant to be, with and for others Practical and applicable insights for personal growth and well-being. Bringing in experts from different research methods, spiritual traditions, and cultural backgrounds Richie Davidson on declarative and procedural learning Dan Siegel on integr...

We live in a high-speed, high-efficiency, get-it-done-yesterday society. Why would we talk about patience? But the old adage, “Patience is a virtue” is true. A core ingredient to our spiritual health in our frenetic modern world is the ability to live fully in the moment, exercise control and stability through arduous or challenging (and even traumatic) circumstances—doing so with poise and style....

Developmental Psychologist William Damon, who has spent decades at Stanford University's Center on Adolescence, has focused his career on studying the human lifespan, growth, and thriving. His latest work introduces the concept of the Life Review as a tool for personal discovery and peace. Dr. Damon's research systematically studies purpose and its operationalization for human thriving. Purpose De...

Wellbeing begins with we. “If your community is not well, then you are not well.” Thriving is collective. But our atomic individualism and narrow focus on ourselves is constantly pulling us away from the mutual belonging, reciprocity, and vibrant flourishing that can only be found by seeking the good of the wider human community—the neighbor, the stranger, the migrant, the farm worker, and the poo...

Note: This episode contains content about trauma. Listener discretion is advised. The path toward hope and healing is often charted through pain, suffering, loss, and grief. Coming from two decades spent studying post-traumatic stress disorder, researcher and clinical psychologist Dr. Cynthia Eriksson Cynthia has worked with individuals and communities in the wake of major tragedy. Her psychologic...

In developmental science, there are lots of debates between nature and nurture. And Dr. Dan Siegel’s groundbreaking work in interpersonal neurobiology demonstrates that we are naturally wired for nurture—and furthermore, we cannot thrive without it. Over the past five decades, he has sought to explain through attachment theory and a study of the brain, how relationships shape our feelings, thought...

Seeing justice, equity, and social transformation through the lens of hip-hop culture and Christian faith, Rev. Dr. Dwight Radcliff offers a vision of freedom and unencumbered life for the future of the Black community to which we can all bear witness. Raising challenging questions about the meaning of thriving in a culture dominated by fear, he speaks in a prophetic voice, interweaving the powerf...

We’re in a crisis of meaning. It’s like our existential compasses are off kilter. Uprooted from faith, social, and civic communities—the very institutions that once supplied narratives, a sense of identity, and belonging. But meaning and purpose are central to our spiritual health and therefore thriving. And theology comes into play because psychologists are more concerned with how meaning is made...

We need each other. We are relational beings, and our thriving—or languishing—often hinges on relationships. In this episode, psychologists Sue Johnson and Jim Furrow not only explain why relationships are so important, they offer practical advice on how to pursue healing, emotional regulation, and lasting thriving in all kinds of relationships. Sue Johnson is the creator of Emotionally Focused Th...