Between the Covers Podcast

Let's talk about trauma once more. As my understanding of trauma grows, we can expect more expansions on this topic. Last time I shared about trauma through the lens of "little t" and "big T" traumas. Some experts in the field still use this language, and others aren't fans and prefer to use post-traumatic stress (PTS) trauma and complex post-traumatic stress (CPTS) trauma when referring to different experiences that have an advers...

Sorry again for the bad audio. I swear we're almost done with these. I'm not too sure how many of these I recorded with my earbud, but there shouldn't be much more if this isn't the last one.

Let's talk about adverse experiences. Have you ever heard of ACEs? When I worked at becoming a coach, I learned about ACEs for the first time, and they are adverse childhood experiences. These have such a strong impact on our lives and the dec...

Apologies once again for the terrible audio. I'm almost through the batch I recorded with this bad microphone. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Let's talk about speaking your truth. In my journey to become the hero in my story, speaking my truth has been an important aspect of my walk. A couple of mentors of mine described it with this simple comparison: the difference between using the word "but" and "and" when you are talking...

For this month's hero study, I brought on my friend Brandon to share his story. He's a Christian, an engineer, pilot, a member of the Mid-Columbia Master Singers, and published author! We met through our gaming group and our friendship has grown since. Part of his story involves being ostracized by his friend group and finding acceptance from his mentors. He's also received incredible words against these thoughts throughout his lif...

Sorry again for the poor audio on this one. I recorded a couple of episodes before discovering how bad the headphones mic sounded.

Today, let's talk about the power that our words can have. Similar to my sticks and stones episode I released much earlier, our words have the power to destroy or build up. With some recent familial troubles, I experienced both. Some members of my family said things when emotions were high and hurt, man...

Let's talk about the stories we are hearing, or even telling ourselves, about what's masculine and what's feminine. I grew up hearing that it's masculine to not cry or show emotions, to disregard the emotions of others, and if I showed anything that is considered feminine, then there's something wrong with me as a man. Have you experienced similar messaging in your life? Whether or not, you will either experience or will know someo...

Today let's talk about reserving judgement. This come from the handiwork of the excellent podcast, White Homework, where Tori Williams and Benjamin Faye talk about the nature of being unhoused. Benji shared his story of how he found himself without a house and unable to find a job for reasons completely out of his control. This is something that I've struggled with when looking at the unhoused population here: I pass judgement on t...

I tried a new microphone for this and a couple of other recordings and it turns out that it's not a great one! My apologies for the terrible audio quality from me and I'll make sure to use my original microphone in the future.

For this month's hero's study, I interview my friend John Estey. He's another friend from our gaming group who is a teacher, thespian, and proud homosexual. He has some great insights in his years of teaching...

Let's talk about a way we can find hope. Thanks to White Homework for providing another inspiring quote! Today's episode comes from the quote, "I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I can see the light in all of you." This has been helpful since the time of the recording and now with the looming Big Beautiful Bill making it's way through, having ally nations warn their citizens that the U.S. isn't a safe place to trav...

Today we have a hard topic. With the recent violent acts that continue to escalate in the U.S., I believe it's important to discuss that violence is rarely the answer to a given situation. The one exception for me is in self-defense. If you are taking a gun to counter protest others, you're not there to defend yourself. If the intrusive thoughts are telling you to drive your vehicle into a crowd of people who believe in something d...

Let's talk about using our creativity to change use instead of shame. If you're like me, then you have a lot of experience with shaming yourself or being shamed by others in order to get us to change. It doesn't work. In fact, I would go so far as to say it never works. If it did, we wouldn't be here having this conversation because we'd have it figured out by now. Curiosity is one of the most powerful tools I've learned to use whe...

For this month's hero's study I continue my interviews with my friends. Today, it's Katie Shobe, a pet and book lover, gamer, and all around great person who has so many different interests and hobbies. You'll have to hear from her mouth what it is that she enjoys. Katie has overcome some challenges in the last few years that I've been able to support her through and have seen first hand the integrity and perseverance of someone wh...

Let's talk about reaching out. It's something that's come up many times from myself and others in previous episodes, and yet it's more important than many people give it credit. Knowing that we're not alone and there are others supporting us in whatever our endeavor is helps us reach the fullness of our purpose, yet there's a siren song of independence, fear, and even pride that keeps us from even sending a text to someone saying w...

Let's talk about finding your purpose. Have you ever felt like you're wandering without direction in life? Just making it by without much of a goal? I've had many conversations in the past about our purpose and it's something that is important for us to determine for direction in our lives. Let's look at some ways that we can find our purpose and how that can move us to being heroes in our day to day.

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Let's talk about the power of our creativity. This is one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal. It can do wonders to create our future, whether that's for our benefit or detriment. Here we'll discuss what it can do and how we can use it to help us become more the heroes of our stories.

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Let's talk about using our voices. It's been quite the journey for me to get to a place where I'm comfortable to use my voice. How easy is it for you to speak up for your needs, wants, and desires? Do you find your words getting stuck in your throat before you can even speak them? As someone who has wrestled with the value of his voice, I want to assure you that your voice matters. People need to hear what you have to say.

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For this month's hero's study, I interview my good friend Ben Gibson! He's the one who introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons, created a safe space for me to ask questions during my faith deconstruction, and is a devout Christian who loves people, play, and laughter! He has some great nuggets to share in this interview.

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Let's talk about hypocrisy. I grew up hearing this term a lot in my Christian upbringing and it's something that is showing up more and more these days with the rise of white Christian nationalism. What is hypocrisy? According to Jesus, it's focusing on cleaning the outside than the inside, or making ourselves look good when our character doesn't match what we present. It comes from actors putting on masks in order to play other ch...

Let's talk about one of my all time favorite TV shows: Corner Gas. It's a Canadian sitcom that takes place in the fictional, rural town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. Zaniness ensues, I laugh a lot, and many of the characters have qualities that resonate with me. We're going to look at what some of the quirks are, how they resonate with me, and hopefully you can join me on a trip down memory lane of such a fun show.

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