In this episode of Quality Living With Peaceful Support, host Amanda Whittemore speaks with returning guest, author and advocate Joanie Lindenmeyer, about spiritual connection, authenticity, and promoting quality living. Joanie emphasizes the importance of living one’s truth, particularly for LGBTQ+ individuals, and the healing power of community support and physical connection. She discusses gratitude, self-love, […]
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Episode Transcript
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(00:14):
We are here in the KCIW
radio station in Brookings, Oregon,
somewhere at some time
with the Quality Living
with Peaceful support show. And, yes, that is
with,
on, at, and, or around.
Thank you, listeners, for your open ears and
(00:34):
your open heart and your open mind because
quality living with peaceful support
is
does its best. And it it is not
always rainbows and butterflies and juicy happiness. We
try to do our best, but sometimes
the things we talk about here
is
(00:54):
more than we ever even imagined having happened
to any of us. So thank you for
sharing your stories,
being patient, listening, and being that peaceful support
that this Curry County
and our global audience deserves is a whole
lot of quality
and attention.
And we all just need love.
(01:16):
And
all we need is love.
Love.
Love is all we need.
Yeah. And that is Joni
Lindenmeier.
Hi, Amanda. Good to see you. Good to
have you on the quality living with us
again. We're gonna have you on, like, whenever
we just whenever we want. Whenever we wanna
chitchat, Yeah. Absolutely. I love it. And and
(01:38):
you have such a great title of your
show, Quality Living,
Peaceful Support. Oh, my gosh. We all need
that.
Yeah.
We do. And and it is here for
all of us. And,
we are so glad to I'm so glad
to have met you. You're just this joy
of inspiration.
And one of your books, Joni, is
(02:01):
a author of three books.
Joyously Free
is one of her books. The other one
is Healing Religious Hurts.
Yes. Did I say that right? Yes. You
did. Healing Religious Hurts, as in healing them.
And then
none better
by Joni Lindenmeyer.
Right. And
to be able to produce three books as
(02:22):
an author in such a short amount of
time is just
so glorious.
It is. It is. And it it's a
miracle how it all happened. And I guess
that's where I believe in divine intervention
and that we're spiritual beings, not just human
beings. And I think that ties in with
your peace and support and your quality of
living because when you're coming from the inside
(02:43):
out and you've got that connection with a
higher power or in my sense, a God
and a Jesus and a Holy Spirit
that Amen. Amen. Amen. I don't mean to
get religious here, but at the same time,
we are spiritual beings. And when you can
really combine that with your true humanity, which
is what joyously free is all about is
living your truth as LGBTQ
(03:04):
or people or parents or allies anywhere on
that spectrum, but to live your honest truth,
you find that peace. Mhmm. You find that
and you live out of that peace. Mhmm.
And so sort of like those songs, don't
worry, be happy.
Do do do do do do do do
do do. Exactly.
Exactly. And it takes a lot of internal
work to have that peace and to trust
(03:28):
in that. Yeah. And you need a friend,
you call me. Call me. You need a
friend? Absolutely. Absolutely.
And that's where our community comes in. Mhmm.
And how much we rely on each other
in this community and to find people that
can bring you that peace.
It's so true because
and and we what I learned, I don't
know about you, is that not all of
it is for all the time. That's right.
(03:49):
And to be okay with that and to
not be
so, like, ideal of, like, oh, this one
person gives me all these things and this
energy and the support. Well, it may not
be it might just be for that day
or that moment. It could be for the
rest of your life. I have a friend,
sister Somaya. She passed away, and she's used
to say to us,
(04:10):
people come into your life for a season,
a reason, or a lifetime. Oh, I love
it. I love it. And I and I
believe that. I believe that.
Mhmm. And I think that comes back to
what, again, I call the divinity, the God
ordained time, because that's working in a different
kind of time and atmosphere,
a different orbit, so to speak. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. That that is beautiful what
(04:31):
she said. And it sounds like you live
that way, Amanda. I do. I do. And
I I try to pay attention. I do
pay attention to the patterns. Sometimes they don't
show themselves right away and I don't recognize
it, but there are patterns. And when do
these people show up? How?
Mhmm. What's happening?
What time of year is it? It's like,
oh, every October, so and so shows up.
(04:52):
It's just, you know, those things happen.
Right.
Right.
Yep. Yep. And For sure. The really, really
radical,
one super special reason, listeners, why I really
wanted Joni Linda Meyer to join today on
the peaceful support,
radio program here is because she will be
(05:13):
having her own show Yes. On KCIW.
My golly. Thank you to to you and
KCIW
and to Tom Bozak. And,
oh my gosh. You know? And that's how
it all came about was because Tom was
helping me do the audiobook of none better.
Mhmm. And lo and behold, I got more
and more connected to the the what KCIW
(05:34):
is all about. Yeah. And I believe in
the philosophy of community. I believe in what
we're doing here for our local town. And
so it was like when I was given
that opportunity, I I just grabbed it. And
so so I I already got my I've
been practicing. Okay. Are you ready? Yes.
You are listening to joyously free
with none better, best author, Joni Lindenmayer. This
(05:55):
is KCIW
one hundred point seven, Brookings,
Oregon.
Yes. I am super excited. It's just
woah. It's a set of firecrackers inside. There
we go. There we go. And and welcome
listeners because that's what it's all about. That's
who we're talking with. Yeah. Even though we're
(06:15):
across from each other right now with a
plexiglass
between us, Amanda. You know? Bottom line is
we're with For audio control. Just Is that
what it is? Yes. Okay.
But it's it's about the listeners and who
we get to talk to and that we
have such a variety of people in our
county that hopefully we will say and talk
about things that hit somebody
in their heart of hearts. Mhmm. And to
(06:37):
our global audience, I take that little link
right there that, I I go to kciw.0rg/quality-living.
Or if you go to kciw.0rg
and you go to the schedule, you can
click on any show. You can listen, subscribe
online. So I take that. I email it
and text it and WhatsApp and Instagram
(07:00):
and social media to all my friends and
family to Barcelona,
to Colombia,
to Thailand, to Costa Rica,
to
Boise. You know?
What? And it just it sends the whole
the whole aired
show. Everything. It's an online podcast. It's an
online podcast globally.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. That is so cool.
(07:23):
You're going global, girl. Oh my gosh. That
is so cool.
You know? And that's like my healing religious
hurts and joyously free and none better. You
know? They are global.
Yes. They are global. Exactly. Accessible. And then
you put your Amazon link right there next
to the KCIW link. Mhmm. Boom.
Fire. Oh my gosh. How fun.
How fun. And to think that we're talking
(07:44):
to people and listening to people from Australia
or New Zealand or or the countries you
just mentioned, that is so cool. Mhmm. Carl,
remember the days when our world was so
far apart and we didn't have connections to
those? And and I'm 67 years old. I
think you're a little bit younger than me.
A little bit. But us old farts, you
know, we didn't have those worldly connections.
(08:07):
And now because of the Internet, because of
cell phones, because of FaceTime, all the different
links and whatever we wanna call it, we
can actually
see somebody and talk to somebody Yeah. Live
on the spot. And that to me is
peaceful support.
Oh, there you go. It's like, you know,
when you're like,
it's raining outside or your car's broke down
or this and that, all these things are
(08:28):
happening. You just pick up that telephone and
it works. You just call somebody. You can
do a video call and they are there
for you. It doesn't matter who it is.
Call anybody and they are ready to hear.
And if you don't have anybody call, you
go to kciw.0rg
and you listen to Joanie's new new radio
program. Joyously free. Remember that. Joyously free.
(08:49):
I love it. Oh, that's cool. That's cool.
And that's why. I I love your connection,
how you talked about that, Amanda. Mhmm. That's
really neat. Yeah. We're we're here for for
everyone. And and I I attempt to remind
myself that, you know,
there's somebody
so far away that is so close to
us right now. Mhmm.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Just give them a big hug.
(09:12):
There you go. I like that. I'm all
into hugs. Yeah. Me too. Yep. Yep. Oh
my gosh. Yes. Yeah. It's funny because people
in our local town here, they've they've given
me two titles. One is the great communicator
Mhmm. And that I can speak LGBTQ, and
I can speak church spirit spirituality and re
and religion. And and that's gonna be a
whole bunch of the show show that I'm
gonna do joyously free. And then the other
(09:33):
one, they say, I'm I'm the great Brookings
hugger. I'm the great Brookings hugger. You know?
And so We'll get you a t shirt.
There's this guy in Thailand I met. Uh-huh.
And I'm downtown somewhere in Chiang Mai, Chiang
Rai, and he has a shirt on. It's
all white and it's, you know, looks like
it's hand painted, but it didn't scare me
for some reason. Didn't bother me. He has,
(09:53):
you know, long hair and a hug. He's
probably 70 and it says free hugs. And
I was like, really? I could use a
hug right now. I just went up to
him. We just had the best hug. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And do you know that's a
national program in the in the gay world?
Is it a national program? Oh my gosh.
Free mom hugs. It began, I think, in
the seventies. Somebody would have to look up
(10:13):
the exact date, but it happened because people
were at a pride,
and they were disowned from their family. Mhmm.
And so this woman who was there with
her gay son Yeah. Said to this person,
I will be your mom. I will give
you a free hug. And so she started
a national organization
called Mom's Free Hugs, and it's especially for
(10:34):
LGBTQ
people that oftentimes
are literally
disowned from their family or their community.
And so every pride you go to, you
will find somebody there from that organization
wearing those hugs. And now they have free
dad hugs Yes. You know, or free uncle
hugs or free aunt hugs. Yes. You know?
But that's what it's all about. It is.
(10:54):
And and what do hugs do? They give
you peace. Mhmm. They give you support. Mhmm.
And they help you to have a quality
life because all of a sudden, you are
now loved and accepted,
celebrated, and cherished. And supported. And supported. And
you got oxytocins going.
Talk about that. You're here to go talk
about that. All those natural Ex exactly. Just
(11:16):
gets the whole vibration of the vitality of
being alive in in the serotonin's going and
and reminds us to be happy and to
why we're here on Earth. Mhmm. Mhmm. And
that brings us to one of our questions.
I'm not sure if we asked you last
time. Okay. Go for it. What
is being
alive to you?
What it means? What is it? Yeah. What
(11:38):
does it mean to you? What is it?
How how what does it mean to you?
Yeah. Being alive.
Oh, there's so many facets to that.
Probably number one is grateful for what I'm
able
to do physically.
Mhmm. So I'm able to use my legs
and my hands and my arms and my
eyes. And you think of the five senses
(11:59):
Mhmm. And how valuable those are and to
not ever take those for granted. And I
learned that really, really well when my honey
Carol had her stroke. And for eight years,
she did not have much of a left
side. Mhmm. So she was paralyzed on that
left side. But,
so that's one thing is the aliveness of
what we physically can do. Right. And then
(12:20):
there's the alive part of
of my heart,
my truth, my honesty,
my sharing of
who I am from the inside out. Mhmm.
You know? Not worrying if somebody's gonna judge
me. Not really caring if they like me
or they don't like me because I call
that self love. Mhmm. And I think self
(12:41):
love is a big part of being alive.
Majorly.
You have to compare yourself. You don't have
to have to have everybody like you,
you know, like yourself. And if you don't
like yourself,
you know and there have been times in
my life where I definitely needed to improve
some things in my life, and that's what
also brought me to being alive. Who do
(13:01):
I want to be? Right. You know? Yeah.
And I I'm happy with me. Yeah. I'm
happy with me. Yes. You know?
One thing I did read, I told you
before we started the show, so I graciously
was I had, received these one of the
books, Healing Religious Hurts, for one of my
own assigned author's copy.
And then also one is None Better, an
(13:24):
amazing love story. All both of these are
by Joni
obviously, because that's who we're here in the
studio talking with. I said I didn't read
it, but I did read something. I just
you just reminded. Okay.
I read
the foreword of the
people
that wrote comments about you, and I know
some of these people. They're in our town.
(13:46):
And I
listened I was listening. I was because I
I listened to myself when I read. Uh-huh.
I was the foreword, the thank yous, and
the people, the acknowledgments. And some of the
people I'm not gonna ruin it. I'm not
gonna tell you guys. Some people are give
spoiler alerts. That's not happening here. Uh-huh. However,
the
people who wrote about you
(14:08):
in here that know you, that know me,
that I know that's like it just made
it just gave me tingles everywhere, fascia tingles.
I was like,
this is really accreditable.
Like, this is people in the community that
fully support you, and this is like, you
are so supported and loved here in the
area.
And it just amplified everything I already it's
(14:30):
like confirmation. It was like, I already knew,
but now it's like, wow.
Well, thank you. Thank you. You know? And
I I think you hit the nail on
the head, and I'm so grateful to 2sisterswriting.com,
my publishing team of Elizabeth Atkins and Katharine
Greenspan.
And Elizabeth and I cowrote
these books Okay. Healing Religious Hurts and Joyously
(14:52):
Free. And one of the things that came
to me in prayer at the time I
asked her if she would be willing to
coauthor them was that also I want to
involve other people. I've heard so many stories
as I went around and did book tour
for a year with none better. So many
people's stories and their heart journeys. And so
in joyously free,
32
(15:12):
contributing writers
across America,
across America. And in Healy religious herds, there's
17 people. So when you talk about those
acknowledgments
or the contributing writers, those are the ones
that were so excited to jump on board
and and put their writing and put their
name next to something. And I I I
just feel so precious. And like you said,
(15:35):
I feel so loved because they're a part
of this. I never consider it my book.
Right. It's always our book. Exactly.
Our book. It is. It's you know? And
books last forever. They do. And books like
so think of the legacies in those people's
families. I know. Yeah. I know. You know?
So at some point in time, they're gonna
be able to show their their mother, their
(15:56):
father, their grandfather, their cousin, their grandkids, their
great grandkids.
Yeah. Look, I'm in a book. I'm in
a published book that's gone around the world.
Exactly. You know? Exactly. And it's accessible. I
was watching I don't know what I was
watching. It was on YouTube,
and they were showing us how
I was a kid that grew up in
the library. So,
I mean, I know we have libraries. However,
(16:18):
where we would go to the card catalog
Right. And filter through
all the lookup
Right. Catalog and find the topic of the
book of the aisle. And then you had
to go find the aisle and find the
book. And
it was a big, like like, almost a
treasure treasure map. Mod quest. Yeah. Treasure hunt.
Exactly. Yes.
And now kids get to people get to
(16:41):
just go online
and look at Amazon.com,
and they just go to none batter and
poof, there you are. And they don't need
to go
downtown
to the library,
look through the card index. Right.
And it's it's something that is so tangible
and so accessible,
and it's such a gift, kinda like the
KCIW
(17:01):
online. It is, It is. You know, and
and working with two sisters writing.com,
they have said, because they work with Ingram
Sparks, which is the publishers or the printers,
39,000
websites
carry these books. 78,000
globally. Wow. Think about that one. 30 nine
thousand. You know? And then in just locally,
I want everybody to know if you do
(17:22):
not wanna buy the book and you want
to go to the library,
Del Norte Library in Crescent City has this.
Okay. Port Orford has it. Oh, yeah. Chetco
Library system and and the the whole system
within the Chetco Library has it. If you're
thinking you wanna go to a a bookstore
locally,
mark at Forecastle Books right here in Brookings.
(17:42):
And then we have Paula Wyndham keeps them
in her pedicure in her salon
for sale. And then we have Debbie Stover
in Crescent City at Del Norte office.
And then we have Seawolfe up in Port
Port Orford. And so, I mean, if we
and I can keep going. I have Under
the Umbrella in Salt Lake City. How about
Powell's Books in Portland?
And all these different places
(18:05):
carry the the actual book. And what I'm
excited about, Amanda,
the audiobook of none better is we are,
like, oh, I don't know, weeks off from
having that. And then people can just stream
it. Yeah. And listen it in their ear
earbuds Yeah. And on their phones and in
their cars.
Right. You know? Yeah. Without flipping a page
(18:25):
as they're cruising.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So whether it's an ebook,
paper book, hardback, or audiobook,
it's gonna be out there. I love it.
I absolutely love it. And and it brings
about peace
and joy Yeah. And healing. Mhmm. And that's
the whole point. It is. That's the whole
point. And I appreciate that because, you know,
flipping through those channels,
(18:47):
flipping this is scary. I'm just gonna say
it on the podcast now nowadays,
because k c I w dot o r
g is on Podchaser. Do you know about
Podchaser? I don't. Tell me about it. So
it's a
top 25 of all the podcast in the
world. Oh, okay. So Okay. Well, I'm I
believe that you will get to you will
wait. And I do podcast every Friday with
(19:08):
Elizabeth Atkins. So Podchaser
is Podchaser.
Okay. And it it it goes through all
the podcasts that people are listening to,
and it has millions and millions of titles,
probably billions of podcasts. Wow. And what it
does is as you go to I don't
know what it is. Podchaser. And
(19:28):
every iPhone, every every galaxy,
every
type of cell phone has ability to access
it. And so what they show me is
once a month, they'll show me the top
25
podcasts that are happening in the world. Is
that what you have right now on your
phone? No. I tried to do it, but
I don't I didn't wanna distract myself. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Multitasking It's like the top 40
(19:49):
back in the day. Exactly right. Like the
billboards. Casey. Yeah.
Yeah. Casey Kasem.
Yeah. At the top 40. So pod chasers.
Pod chasers. Okay, listeners. Did you hear that?
Yeah. Oh my golly. Now I have another
goal, something else to look forward to. Exactly.
And the ability
to have shows like we have, like your
new show that's coming to KCIW,
(20:10):
your new and, like, Quality Living to get
us to move up the ladder. Because when
I for the last three months, maybe even
a year Uh-huh. I look at the top
25, they are scary.
Oh. And they are just so full of
all the words I don't like to say.
Right. Or even acknowledge at all because I
stay in my bubble. I know what's out
there. I've been there. I've been really deep
(20:32):
in it and I've chosen
to remove myself from it and surround myself
with love and peace and
all the lovely qualities
because I believe where I put my energy,
that's what will happen to me. Absolutely. And
so when I see those things, I'm like,
oh, change the channel. I I grew up
on Alfred Hitchcock and used to watch all
the scary movies, but I can't Can't do
that anymore.
(20:53):
Yeah.
But so, yeah, to have ability to have
these books and the audio and the podcast
to give
Earth a chance.
Positive. Mhmm. Positive.
Yes. Oh, boy. I'm I'm gonna have to
download that app as soon as I get
out of here today. I think I'm gonna
download that and see what's on there. You
know? And that's why I do TikTok. And
that's why, you know, I did Facebook because
(21:13):
I never did social media before,
and my publishers recommended, again, Elizabeth Atkins and
Katharine Greenspan from two sisters. They said, Joni,
it would be a good idea to have
a social media influence.
And I said, oh, really? Not just meeting
somebody at Les Schwab or the pizza deli
or used to be called the pizza deli,
Wild River Pizza Correct. You know, but to
actually have a social media influence.
(21:33):
And so I just try to anytime I'm
on TikTok or Facebook or any of that,
I wanna keep it positive.
I wanna keep it positive. It's it's such
a good I I appreciate that. I really,
really do. That's why I was going with
say thank you. You're welcome, and thank you.
Mhmm. You know? And when you and you
meet somebody that is a kindred soul like
that, then the energy level just gets even
higher Yeah. And more love spreads. It's like
(21:55):
dropping that pebble in a pond, and it
just spreads.
You know? So and and I've been in
that other world before too. Mhmm. You know?
And so I guess that's why I have
and believe no bullying,
no hate speech,
no hate behaviors. You take those three things
out of your life, and you're back to
that peace and love and quality living. Mother
(22:16):
Teresa said it best. She says, do not
invite me to any anti anything. Invite me
to a pro peace rally, and I will
be there. Oh, wow.
Oh, wow. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah. You
know? And spirituality,
you know, and church wise, you mentioned Mother
Teresa. I am so excited that the pope
(22:36):
pope our pope Francis in the Catholic church,
which I'm I'm Cath Episcopal now.
That's a whole other story. I'll save that
for my one of my my shows. But
anyhow, pope Francis has, just appointed
cardinal McElroy,
who used to be bishop McElroy in San
Francisco, then he went to San Diego. And
cardinal McElroy,
is
(22:57):
a correspondent, a wonderful friend of Carol and
I in terms of, always supporting us with
these books. But he he is now going
to be back in Washington, DC.
And so Oh. Great things are happening for
the the church
in that realm too because he's a supporter
of, like, mother Teresa Mhmm. Not the anti,
but what can we be pro about?
(23:17):
Exactly. Exactly.
It's a real And I don't mean pro
life. I I mean pro
in in another kind of sense. Solution.
Do not show me the problem. Show me
the answer. Show me the solution. Because we
can riddle ourselves till we die of diseases
of all the problems, but what what are
we gonna do about it? Right. What are
the answers? And I feel like
(23:38):
these books are tools, Healing Religious Hurts, None
Better, Joyously Free Yep. KCIW podcast and radio
stations. And these small,
you know, volunteer based,
full donation,
nonprofit, all all these ways of giving just
a little bit once a month, once a
day,
just gives
(23:59):
that avenue for
solutions to grow. Exactly.
Exactly. And that's why I I don't know
if I told you, but joyously free, Elizabeth
and I have already created our training
for teachers and staffs and students, and so
we're already hitting the road doing that. And
so if you are a educator around anywhere
(24:19):
that we either do them by Zoom or
we do them in person and it's an
incredible PowerPoint presentation
and you actually use the book as writing
prompts and use the book as your teaching
guide just like a book in a class
that you take, Mhmm. You know? And so
when the presenter leaves, I leave, then you
know what? You still have the book.
And you have lesson plans for your students
(24:41):
Yes. Right there. And that's what I'm doing
now is is focusing on those trainings, and
that is super, super exciting. So whether it's
a business or a school district, we are
doing those trainings for. Isn't that cool? That
is genius. Yeah. And so maybe this will
be part of a regular curriculum
at university
or at a high school. Oh, of course.
Think back when you were in high school.
(25:01):
What was the always the English book that
everybody read?
Oh,
in high school, did you say? In high
school.
Is it different for different eras? Probably.
Probably.
I remember To Kill a Mockingbird. Exactly. Yeah.
Exactly. So how about I've never read it.
How about starting in 2025
(25:21):
instead of well, in in addition to, To
Kill the Mockingbird, it's joyously free. That feels
so much better. Wouldn't that be cool? Think
about that as a possibility.
That is just amazing. It really is. It's
amazing. It's a gift. It's a gift. And
that keeps on giving. Lives will be touched.
Yeah. Yeah. And alleviated.
Mhmm. Totally alleviated Mhmm. With purpose. Mhmm. Mhmm.
(25:45):
Exactly. Purpose. Oh, there's another part of quality
living. Mhmm. Oh my gosh. When you have
a purpose in your life and you feel
like you're on a on a mission or
you're being called to something
bigger than you, the bigger purpose.
Oh, man.
What's your biggest purpose right now in life?
You know, honestly
(26:07):
Yeah. It's,
what I'm feeling called is is this holistic
I'm diving deep into this holistic platform where
I had everything kinda branched off and people
look at it as,
wow. You wear too many hats. You juggle
too much. You're a jack of all trades,
(26:27):
the ace of none. I'm like, actually,
I've spent quite a lot of time individually
in all these avenues. Uh-huh. Instead of ignoring
them or letting them all go, I'm tying
them into this, like, master plan
and being a holistic health coach
with end of life
doula
Right. With real estate,
(26:48):
with teaching
how teaching quality living.
Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. Because it it we
need a place to live for qual for
me, I need a place to live for
quality living, the best nutrition,
the best movements,
you know,
coming in and out of Earth like the
others. Just just
(27:08):
quality living is my master plan. Right on.
Right on. Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you for
asking.
Absolutely.
You know, and I'd love to listen to
people, and that's what you do on the
show. And
Absolutely. Yeah. We listen.
So thank you everybody for listening today on
KCIW
one hundred point seven with quality living and
(27:30):
peaceful support with Amanda Whittemore. And I just
happen to be a special guest today. So
goodbye, everybody. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you, Joni Lindemeyer,
and we look forward to your new show,
joyously free with Joni Lindemeyer.
Thank you so much. Alright.
Thank you. Big hugs. Yeah. Big hugs. Yeah.
Big hugs.
We are here in the KCIW
radio station in Brookings, Oregon,
somewhere at some time
with the Quality Living
with Peaceful support show. And, yes, that is
with,
on, at, and, or around.
Thank you, listeners, for your open ears and
(00:34):
your open heart and your open mind because
quality living with peaceful support
is
does its best. And it it is not
always rainbows and butterflies and juicy happiness. We
try to do our best, but sometimes
the things we talk about here
is
(00:54):
more than we ever even imagined having happened
to any of us. So thank you for
sharing your stories,
being patient, listening, and being that peaceful support
that this Curry County
and our global audience deserves is a whole
lot of quality
and attention.
And we all just need love.
(01:16):
And
all we need is love.
Love.
Love is all we need.
Yeah. And that is Joni
Lindenmeier.
Hi, Amanda. Good to see you. Good to
have you on the quality living with us
again. We're gonna have you on, like, whenever
we just whenever we want. Whenever we wanna
chitchat, Yeah. Absolutely. I love it. And and
(01:38):
you have such a great title of your
show, Quality Living,
Peaceful Support. Oh, my gosh. We all need
that.
Yeah.
We do. And and it is here for
all of us. And,
we are so glad to I'm so glad
to have met you. You're just this joy
of inspiration.
And one of your books, Joni, is
(02:01):
a author of three books.
Joyously Free
is one of her books. The other one
is Healing Religious Hurts.
Yes. Did I say that right? Yes. You
did. Healing Religious Hurts, as in healing them.
And then
none better
by Joni Lindenmeyer.
Right. And
to be able to produce three books as
(02:22):
an author in such a short amount of
time is just
so glorious.
It is. It is. And it it's a
miracle how it all happened. And I guess
that's where I believe in divine intervention
and that we're spiritual beings, not just human
beings. And I think that ties in with
your peace and support and your quality of
living because when you're coming from the inside
(02:43):
out and you've got that connection with a
higher power or in my sense, a God
and a Jesus and a Holy Spirit
that Amen. Amen. Amen. I don't mean to
get religious here, but at the same time,
we are spiritual beings. And when you can
really combine that with your true humanity, which
is what joyously free is all about is
living your truth as LGBTQ
(03:04):
or people or parents or allies anywhere on
that spectrum, but to live your honest truth,
you find that peace. Mhmm. You find that
and you live out of that peace. Mhmm.
And so sort of like those songs, don't
worry, be happy.
Do do do do do do do do
do do. Exactly.
Exactly. And it takes a lot of internal
work to have that peace and to trust
(03:28):
in that. Yeah. And you need a friend,
you call me. Call me. You need a
friend? Absolutely. Absolutely.
And that's where our community comes in. Mhmm.
And how much we rely on each other
in this community and to find people that
can bring you that peace.
It's so true because
and and we what I learned, I don't
know about you, is that not all of
it is for all the time. That's right.
(03:49):
And to be okay with that and to
not be
so, like, ideal of, like, oh, this one
person gives me all these things and this
energy and the support. Well, it may not
be it might just be for that day
or that moment. It could be for the
rest of your life. I have a friend,
sister Somaya. She passed away, and she's used
to say to us,
(04:10):
people come into your life for a season,
a reason, or a lifetime. Oh, I love
it. I love it. And I and I
believe that. I believe that.
Mhmm. And I think that comes back to
what, again, I call the divinity, the God
ordained time, because that's working in a different
kind of time and atmosphere,
a different orbit, so to speak. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. That that is beautiful what
(04:31):
she said. And it sounds like you live
that way, Amanda. I do. I do. And
I I try to pay attention. I do
pay attention to the patterns. Sometimes they don't
show themselves right away and I don't recognize
it, but there are patterns. And when do
these people show up? How?
Mhmm. What's happening?
What time of year is it? It's like,
oh, every October, so and so shows up.
(04:52):
It's just, you know, those things happen.
Right.
Right.
Yep. Yep. And For sure. The really, really
radical,
one super special reason, listeners, why I really
wanted Joni Linda Meyer to join today on
the peaceful support,
radio program here is because she will be
(05:13):
having her own show Yes. On KCIW.
My golly. Thank you to to you and
KCIW
and to Tom Bozak. And,
oh my gosh. You know? And that's how
it all came about was because Tom was
helping me do the audiobook of none better.
Mhmm. And lo and behold, I got more
and more connected to the the what KCIW
(05:34):
is all about. Yeah. And I believe in
the philosophy of community. I believe in what
we're doing here for our local town. And
so it was like when I was given
that opportunity, I I just grabbed it. And
so so I I already got my I've
been practicing. Okay. Are you ready? Yes.
You are listening to joyously free
with none better, best author, Joni Lindenmayer. This
(05:55):
is KCIW
one hundred point seven, Brookings,
Oregon.
Yes. I am super excited. It's just
woah. It's a set of firecrackers inside. There
we go. There we go. And and welcome
listeners because that's what it's all about. That's
who we're talking with. Yeah. Even though we're
(06:15):
across from each other right now with a
plexiglass
between us, Amanda. You know? Bottom line is
we're with For audio control. Just Is that
what it is? Yes. Okay.
But it's it's about the listeners and who
we get to talk to and that we
have such a variety of people in our
county that hopefully we will say and talk
about things that hit somebody
in their heart of hearts. Mhmm. And to
(06:37):
our global audience, I take that little link
right there that, I I go to kciw.0rg/quality-living.
Or if you go to kciw.0rg
and you go to the schedule, you can
click on any show. You can listen, subscribe
online. So I take that. I email it
and text it and WhatsApp and Instagram
(07:00):
and social media to all my friends and
family to Barcelona,
to Colombia,
to Thailand, to Costa Rica,
to
Boise. You know?
What? And it just it sends the whole
the whole aired
show. Everything. It's an online podcast. It's an
online podcast globally.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. That is so cool.
(07:23):
You're going global, girl. Oh my gosh. That
is so cool.
You know? And that's like my healing religious
hurts and joyously free and none better. You
know? They are global.
Yes. They are global. Exactly. Accessible. And then
you put your Amazon link right there next
to the KCIW link. Mhmm. Boom.
Fire. Oh my gosh. How fun.
How fun. And to think that we're talking
(07:44):
to people and listening to people from Australia
or New Zealand or or the countries you
just mentioned, that is so cool. Mhmm. Carl,
remember the days when our world was so
far apart and we didn't have connections to
those? And and I'm 67 years old. I
think you're a little bit younger than me.
A little bit. But us old farts, you
know, we didn't have those worldly connections.
(08:07):
And now because of the Internet, because of
cell phones, because of FaceTime, all the different
links and whatever we wanna call it, we
can actually
see somebody and talk to somebody Yeah. Live
on the spot. And that to me is
peaceful support.
Oh, there you go. It's like, you know,
when you're like,
it's raining outside or your car's broke down
or this and that, all these things are
(08:28):
happening. You just pick up that telephone and
it works. You just call somebody. You can
do a video call and they are there
for you. It doesn't matter who it is.
Call anybody and they are ready to hear.
And if you don't have anybody call, you
go to kciw.0rg
and you listen to Joanie's new new radio
program. Joyously free. Remember that. Joyously free.
(08:49):
I love it. Oh, that's cool. That's cool.
And that's why. I I love your connection,
how you talked about that, Amanda. Mhmm. That's
really neat. Yeah. We're we're here for for
everyone. And and I I attempt to remind
myself that, you know,
there's somebody
so far away that is so close to
us right now. Mhmm.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Just give them a big hug.
(09:12):
There you go. I like that. I'm all
into hugs. Yeah. Me too. Yep. Yep. Oh
my gosh. Yes. Yeah. It's funny because people
in our local town here, they've they've given
me two titles. One is the great communicator
Mhmm. And that I can speak LGBTQ, and
I can speak church spirit spirituality and re
and religion. And and that's gonna be a
whole bunch of the show show that I'm
gonna do joyously free. And then the other
(09:33):
one, they say, I'm I'm the great Brookings
hugger. I'm the great Brookings hugger. You know?
And so We'll get you a t shirt.
There's this guy in Thailand I met. Uh-huh.
And I'm downtown somewhere in Chiang Mai, Chiang
Rai, and he has a shirt on. It's
all white and it's, you know, looks like
it's hand painted, but it didn't scare me
for some reason. Didn't bother me. He has,
(09:53):
you know, long hair and a hug. He's
probably 70 and it says free hugs. And
I was like, really? I could use a
hug right now. I just went up to
him. We just had the best hug. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And do you know that's a
national program in the in the gay world?
Is it a national program? Oh my gosh.
Free mom hugs. It began, I think, in
the seventies. Somebody would have to look up
(10:13):
the exact date, but it happened because people
were at a pride,
and they were disowned from their family. Mhmm.
And so this woman who was there with
her gay son Yeah. Said to this person,
I will be your mom. I will give
you a free hug. And so she started
a national organization
called Mom's Free Hugs, and it's especially for
(10:34):
LGBTQ
people that oftentimes
are literally
disowned from their family or their community.
And so every pride you go to, you
will find somebody there from that organization
wearing those hugs. And now they have free
dad hugs Yes. You know, or free uncle
hugs or free aunt hugs. Yes. You know?
But that's what it's all about. It is.
(10:54):
And and what do hugs do? They give
you peace. Mhmm. They give you support. Mhmm.
And they help you to have a quality
life because all of a sudden, you are
now loved and accepted,
celebrated, and cherished. And supported. And supported. And
you got oxytocins going.
Talk about that. You're here to go talk
about that. All those natural Ex exactly. Just
(11:16):
gets the whole vibration of the vitality of
being alive in in the serotonin's going and
and reminds us to be happy and to
why we're here on Earth. Mhmm. Mhmm. And
that brings us to one of our questions.
I'm not sure if we asked you last
time. Okay. Go for it. What
is being
alive to you?
What it means? What is it? Yeah. What
(11:38):
does it mean to you? What is it?
How how what does it mean to you?
Yeah. Being alive.
Oh, there's so many facets to that.
Probably number one is grateful for what I'm
able
to do physically.
Mhmm. So I'm able to use my legs
and my hands and my arms and my
eyes. And you think of the five senses
(11:59):
Mhmm. And how valuable those are and to
not ever take those for granted. And I
learned that really, really well when my honey
Carol had her stroke. And for eight years,
she did not have much of a left
side. Mhmm. So she was paralyzed on that
left side. But,
so that's one thing is the aliveness of
what we physically can do. Right. And then
(12:20):
there's the alive part of
of my heart,
my truth, my honesty,
my sharing of
who I am from the inside out. Mhmm.
You know? Not worrying if somebody's gonna judge
me. Not really caring if they like me
or they don't like me because I call
that self love. Mhmm. And I think self
(12:41):
love is a big part of being alive.
Majorly.
You have to compare yourself. You don't have
to have to have everybody like you,
you know, like yourself. And if you don't
like yourself,
you know and there have been times in
my life where I definitely needed to improve
some things in my life, and that's what
also brought me to being alive. Who do
(13:01):
I want to be? Right. You know? Yeah.
And I I'm happy with me. Yeah. I'm
happy with me. Yes. You know?
One thing I did read, I told you
before we started the show, so I graciously
was I had, received these one of the
books, Healing Religious Hurts, for one of my
own assigned author's copy.
And then also one is None Better, an
(13:24):
amazing love story. All both of these are
by Joni
obviously, because that's who we're here in the
studio talking with. I said I didn't read
it, but I did read something. I just
you just reminded. Okay.
I read
the foreword of the
people
that wrote comments about you, and I know
some of these people. They're in our town.
(13:46):
And I
listened I was listening. I was because I
I listened to myself when I read. Uh-huh.
I was the foreword, the thank yous, and
the people, the acknowledgments. And some of the
people I'm not gonna ruin it. I'm not
gonna tell you guys. Some people are give
spoiler alerts. That's not happening here. Uh-huh. However,
the
people who wrote about you
(14:08):
in here that know you, that know me,
that I know that's like it just made
it just gave me tingles everywhere, fascia tingles.
I was like,
this is really accreditable.
Like, this is people in the community that
fully support you, and this is like, you
are so supported and loved here in the
area.
And it just amplified everything I already it's
(14:30):
like confirmation. It was like, I already knew,
but now it's like, wow.
Well, thank you. Thank you. You know? And
I I think you hit the nail on
the head, and I'm so grateful to 2sisterswriting.com,
my publishing team of Elizabeth Atkins and Katharine
Greenspan.
And Elizabeth and I cowrote
these books Okay. Healing Religious Hurts and Joyously
(14:52):
Free. And one of the things that came
to me in prayer at the time I
asked her if she would be willing to
coauthor them was that also I want to
involve other people. I've heard so many stories
as I went around and did book tour
for a year with none better. So many
people's stories and their heart journeys. And so
in joyously free,
32
(15:12):
contributing writers
across America,
across America. And in Healy religious herds, there's
17 people. So when you talk about those
acknowledgments
or the contributing writers, those are the ones
that were so excited to jump on board
and and put their writing and put their
name next to something. And I I I
just feel so precious. And like you said,
(15:35):
I feel so loved because they're a part
of this. I never consider it my book.
Right. It's always our book. Exactly.
Our book. It is. It's you know? And
books last forever. They do. And books like
so think of the legacies in those people's
families. I know. Yeah. I know. You know?
So at some point in time, they're gonna
be able to show their their mother, their
(15:56):
father, their grandfather, their cousin, their grandkids, their
great grandkids.
Yeah. Look, I'm in a book. I'm in
a published book that's gone around the world.
Exactly. You know? Exactly. And it's accessible. I
was watching I don't know what I was
watching. It was on YouTube,
and they were showing us how
I was a kid that grew up in
the library. So,
I mean, I know we have libraries. However,
(16:18):
where we would go to the card catalog
Right. And filter through
all the lookup
Right. Catalog and find the topic of the
book of the aisle. And then you had
to go find the aisle and find the
book. And
it was a big, like like, almost a
treasure treasure map. Mod quest. Yeah. Treasure hunt.
Exactly. Yes.
And now kids get to people get to
(16:41):
just go online
and look at Amazon.com,
and they just go to none batter and
poof, there you are. And they don't need
to go
downtown
to the library,
look through the card index. Right.
And it's it's something that is so tangible
and so accessible,
and it's such a gift, kinda like the
KCIW
(17:01):
online. It is, It is. You know, and
and working with two sisters writing.com,
they have said, because they work with Ingram
Sparks, which is the publishers or the printers,
39,000
websites
carry these books. 78,000
globally. Wow. Think about that one. 30 nine
thousand. You know? And then in just locally,
I want everybody to know if you do
(17:22):
not wanna buy the book and you want
to go to the library,
Del Norte Library in Crescent City has this.
Okay. Port Orford has it. Oh, yeah. Chetco
Library system and and the the whole system
within the Chetco Library has it. If you're
thinking you wanna go to a a bookstore
locally,
mark at Forecastle Books right here in Brookings.
(17:42):
And then we have Paula Wyndham keeps them
in her pedicure in her salon
for sale. And then we have Debbie Stover
in Crescent City at Del Norte office.
And then we have Seawolfe up in Port
Port Orford. And so, I mean, if we
and I can keep going. I have Under
the Umbrella in Salt Lake City. How about
Powell's Books in Portland?
And all these different places
(18:05):
carry the the actual book. And what I'm
excited about, Amanda,
the audiobook of none better is we are,
like, oh, I don't know, weeks off from
having that. And then people can just stream
it. Yeah. And listen it in their ear
earbuds Yeah. And on their phones and in
their cars.
Right. You know? Yeah. Without flipping a page
(18:25):
as they're cruising.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So whether it's an ebook,
paper book, hardback, or audiobook,
it's gonna be out there. I love it.
I absolutely love it. And and it brings
about peace
and joy Yeah. And healing. Mhmm. And that's
the whole point. It is. That's the whole
point. And I appreciate that because, you know,
flipping through those channels,
(18:47):
flipping this is scary. I'm just gonna say
it on the podcast now nowadays,
because k c I w dot o r
g is on Podchaser. Do you know about
Podchaser? I don't. Tell me about it. So
it's a
top 25 of all the podcast in the
world. Oh, okay. So Okay. Well, I'm I
believe that you will get to you will
wait. And I do podcast every Friday with
(19:08):
Elizabeth Atkins. So Podchaser
is Podchaser.
Okay. And it it it goes through all
the podcasts that people are listening to,
and it has millions and millions of titles,
probably billions of podcasts. Wow. And what it
does is as you go to I don't
know what it is. Podchaser. And
(19:28):
every iPhone, every every galaxy,
every
type of cell phone has ability to access
it. And so what they show me is
once a month, they'll show me the top
25
podcasts that are happening in the world. Is
that what you have right now on your
phone? No. I tried to do it, but
I don't I didn't wanna distract myself. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Multitasking It's like the top 40
(19:49):
back in the day. Exactly right. Like the
billboards. Casey. Yeah.
Yeah. Casey Kasem.
Yeah. At the top 40. So pod chasers.
Pod chasers. Okay, listeners. Did you hear that?
Yeah. Oh my golly. Now I have another
goal, something else to look forward to. Exactly.
And the ability
to have shows like we have, like your
new show that's coming to KCIW,
(20:10):
your new and, like, Quality Living to get
us to move up the ladder. Because when
I for the last three months, maybe even
a year Uh-huh. I look at the top
25, they are scary.
Oh. And they are just so full of
all the words I don't like to say.
Right. Or even acknowledge at all because I
stay in my bubble. I know what's out
there. I've been there. I've been really deep
(20:32):
in it and I've chosen
to remove myself from it and surround myself
with love and peace and
all the lovely qualities
because I believe where I put my energy,
that's what will happen to me. Absolutely. And
so when I see those things, I'm like,
oh, change the channel. I I grew up
on Alfred Hitchcock and used to watch all
the scary movies, but I can't Can't do
that anymore.
(20:53):
Yeah.
But so, yeah, to have ability to have
these books and the audio and the podcast
to give
Earth a chance.
Positive. Mhmm. Positive.
Yes. Oh, boy. I'm I'm gonna have to
download that app as soon as I get
out of here today. I think I'm gonna
download that and see what's on there. You
know? And that's why I do TikTok. And
that's why, you know, I did Facebook because
(21:13):
I never did social media before,
and my publishers recommended, again, Elizabeth Atkins and
Katharine Greenspan from two sisters. They said, Joni,
it would be a good idea to have
a social media influence.
And I said, oh, really? Not just meeting
somebody at Les Schwab or the pizza deli
or used to be called the pizza deli,
Wild River Pizza Correct. You know, but to
actually have a social media influence.
(21:33):
And so I just try to anytime I'm
on TikTok or Facebook or any of that,
I wanna keep it positive.
I wanna keep it positive. It's it's such
a good I I appreciate that. I really,
really do. That's why I was going with
say thank you. You're welcome, and thank you.
Mhmm. You know? And when you and you
meet somebody that is a kindred soul like
that, then the energy level just gets even
higher Yeah. And more love spreads. It's like
(21:55):
dropping that pebble in a pond, and it
just spreads.
You know? So and and I've been in
that other world before too. Mhmm. You know?
And so I guess that's why I have
and believe no bullying,
no hate speech,
no hate behaviors. You take those three things
out of your life, and you're back to
that peace and love and quality living. Mother
(22:16):
Teresa said it best. She says, do not
invite me to any anti anything. Invite me
to a pro peace rally, and I will
be there. Oh, wow.
Oh, wow. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah. You
know? And spirituality,
you know, and church wise, you mentioned Mother
Teresa. I am so excited that the pope
(22:36):
pope our pope Francis in the Catholic church,
which I'm I'm Cath Episcopal now.
That's a whole other story. I'll save that
for my one of my my shows. But
anyhow, pope Francis has, just appointed
cardinal McElroy,
who used to be bishop McElroy in San
Francisco, then he went to San Diego. And
cardinal McElroy,
is
(22:57):
a correspondent, a wonderful friend of Carol and
I in terms of, always supporting us with
these books. But he he is now going
to be back in Washington, DC.
And so Oh. Great things are happening for
the the church
in that realm too because he's a supporter
of, like, mother Teresa Mhmm. Not the anti,
but what can we be pro about?
(23:17):
Exactly. Exactly.
It's a real And I don't mean pro
life. I I mean pro
in in another kind of sense. Solution.
Do not show me the problem. Show me
the answer. Show me the solution. Because we
can riddle ourselves till we die of diseases
of all the problems, but what what are
we gonna do about it? Right. What are
the answers? And I feel like
(23:38):
these books are tools, Healing Religious Hurts, None
Better, Joyously Free Yep. KCIW podcast and radio
stations. And these small,
you know, volunteer based,
full donation,
nonprofit, all all these ways of giving just
a little bit once a month, once a
day,
just gives
(23:59):
that avenue for
solutions to grow. Exactly.
Exactly. And that's why I I don't know
if I told you, but joyously free, Elizabeth
and I have already created our training
for teachers and staffs and students, and so
we're already hitting the road doing that. And
so if you are a educator around anywhere
(24:19):
that we either do them by Zoom or
we do them in person and it's an
incredible PowerPoint presentation
and you actually use the book as writing
prompts and use the book as your teaching
guide just like a book in a class
that you take, Mhmm. You know? And so
when the presenter leaves, I leave, then you
know what? You still have the book.
And you have lesson plans for your students
(24:41):
Yes. Right there. And that's what I'm doing
now is is focusing on those trainings, and
that is super, super exciting. So whether it's
a business or a school district, we are
doing those trainings for. Isn't that cool? That
is genius. Yeah. And so maybe this will
be part of a regular curriculum
at university
or at a high school. Oh, of course.
Think back when you were in high school.
(25:01):
What was the always the English book that
everybody read?
Oh,
in high school, did you say? In high
school.
Is it different for different eras? Probably.
Probably.
I remember To Kill a Mockingbird. Exactly. Yeah.
Exactly. So how about I've never read it.
How about starting in 2025
(25:21):
instead of well, in in addition to, To
Kill the Mockingbird, it's joyously free. That feels
so much better. Wouldn't that be cool? Think
about that as a possibility.
That is just amazing. It really is. It's
amazing. It's a gift. It's a gift. And
that keeps on giving. Lives will be touched.
Yeah. Yeah. And alleviated.
Mhmm. Totally alleviated Mhmm. With purpose. Mhmm. Mhmm.
(25:45):
Exactly. Purpose. Oh, there's another part of quality
living. Mhmm. Oh my gosh. When you have
a purpose in your life and you feel
like you're on a on a mission or
you're being called to something
bigger than you, the bigger purpose.
Oh, man.
What's your biggest purpose right now in life?
You know, honestly
(26:07):
Yeah. It's,
what I'm feeling called is is this holistic
I'm diving deep into this holistic platform where
I had everything kinda branched off and people
look at it as,
wow. You wear too many hats. You juggle
too much. You're a jack of all trades,
(26:27):
the ace of none. I'm like, actually,
I've spent quite a lot of time individually
in all these avenues. Uh-huh. Instead of ignoring
them or letting them all go, I'm tying
them into this, like, master plan
and being a holistic health coach
with end of life
doula
Right. With real estate,
(26:48):
with teaching
how teaching quality living.
Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. Because it it we
need a place to live for qual for
me, I need a place to live for
quality living, the best nutrition,
the best movements,
you know,
coming in and out of Earth like the
others. Just just
(27:08):
quality living is my master plan. Right on.
Right on. Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you for
asking.
Absolutely.
You know, and I'd love to listen to
people, and that's what you do on the
show. And
Absolutely. Yeah. We listen.
So thank you everybody for listening today on
KCIW
one hundred point seven with quality living and
(27:30):
peaceful support with Amanda Whittemore. And I just
happen to be a special guest today. So
goodbye, everybody. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you, Joni Lindemeyer,
and we look forward to your new show,
joyously free with Joni Lindemeyer.
Thank you so much. Alright.
Thank you. Big hugs. Yeah. Big hugs. Yeah.
Big hugs.
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