Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Advent for Your Body, Mind and Soul | a conversation with Caroline Williams

Transcript

Advent for Your Body, Mind and Soul | a conversation with Caroline Williams · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Hi friends, welcome back to the Simply Wholehearted Podcast.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are new here, I'm so glad you've decided to join us.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Here at Simply Wholehearted, we provide like-minded community with perspective to define your purpose and create a plan to live a whole-hearted, intentional life.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like you, we desire to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So if you feel like you're surrounded by a world of half-heartedness, you're welcome here.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Join us as we share inspiring stories and simple ideas from our friends as they pursue life on purpose, armed with plans for making the ordinary life extraordinary.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: I want to give a special mention of thanks to Christy Knuckles and her team for allowing us to use her amazing music you're hearing in the background.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Her words and music have been in my earbuds for a little over 20 years now.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And if you've been a listener for a while, you know I've talked about her podcast and the last couple of albums, which have been our morning soundtracks.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, if you don't already have this Christmas album, The Thrill of Hope, you must go download it now.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I find myself worshiping and celebrating along, and I have yet to tire of its beauty.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and this is track number seven.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, I'm still dancing.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Today we will be inspired about the advent season by our guest Caroline Williams.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'll also be sharing a wholehearted gift-giving guide for each Enneagram type and give you a meaningful minute to intentionally practice the message of our conversation.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I stumbled upon Caroline Williams on YouTube when I did a search for holy yoga.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really know what holy yoga was, but I knew I liked the practice and the benefits of yoga.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I wondered if there was something out there that would combine scripture and prayer with calming mimics.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, there are those out there who want the same thing.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I have truly fallen in love with this Christian yoga practice as taught by Caroline.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like we've become really good friends not only because she gets me to try tough balancing positions, but because she leads me in whispered prayers and scripture reading, which connects me to the Father.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think you'll find her perspective as refreshing as we have, and I'm really hoping you'll give this Christian yoga practice a try.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and we do reference a few times in the conversation that this was our second attempt to record an Avid conversation.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: I still don't know what happened to the first one, but I think we were all secretly delighted to get to chat again.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: And Caroline has also been kind enough to offer a discount to her online community, so stay tuned after our conversation to hear more.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: But we are nevertheless, just coming off of 26 hours of something awful from hell, yeah.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't know till I came over here with well, I mean I knew I was in it, and then I came and talked to Amy and she just pinpointed something.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, Oh, well, you just did that.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I I forgot about that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was just, you know, something I shared, and and I was like, Well, I don't think I have impact.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, who cares what I'm saying?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why would that matter?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then everything I said was tested exactly to the T.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like all this old the old tapes that used to play in my head came up until like literally by the end of last night, I was like, I think it would be better if I was dead.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's where I went.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like death sounds real attractive right now.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's how bad I woke up this morning all new.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was just it was gone.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: But last night, the last 36 hours, it was awful.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: And you forget.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like that's the trick of it.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like making you think like, I don't know, it's you.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: Without realizing, like, oh wait, I stepped out in faith and said or did this or was obedient in that way.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: And but you forget I do that all the time.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: I forget that.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's I'm like, Lord, why do I forget so quickly?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because if we take the spiritual warfare out of the equation, then we start believing that and we think, oh, what I must be feeling is truth and reality and all that sort of stuff instead of reminding ourselves, wait a minute, I have an enemy who really wants to convince me of these things.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: God does not want to convince me of these things.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: What am I doing?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: So oh man.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you never experienced that, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: You were preaching to me this morning.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: I have been at my therapist office like more regularly than usual, being like, what is wrong?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's so funny.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was just, I was in my therapist's office two days ago and I was like, I need an extra appointment.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Put me down this week.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Okay.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so I had a someone ask me a really great question about the Anneagram, and I know you you love it as much as I do.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: So she asked me if there was a number that was more prone to depression than other numbers.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, what a great question.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I started this dive because I thought um, because I'm I tend to be one of those.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I was gonna say, surely four is already.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: I know, it's so I started unpacking each number, but really what it is is if the enemy can get us to focus on that message that our heart longs to hear and how it's not being met or answered or seen or felt, then that is what's gonna spiral us.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't think it's like one person over the other.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um we each have that thing our heart longs to hear, and maybe some are easier to attack than others or seemingly.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: But probably everyone would raise their hand to like, oh, my number.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I feel like I if I prone towards melancholy anyway, then I guess it makes me feel like I would be a bigger, yeah, easier takedown, but maybe not.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's go ahead.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, you go ahead.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I think it looks every number deals with it differently.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I think like fours or nines maybe would be your more stereotypical depressed or or have an easier time accessing those feelings, but I think the rest of us deal with it in equally unhealthy ways.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: Or may not call it traditional depression, but right, right.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, because I've wondered as a three, I've started to notice like what I do to combat against it.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And some of it is I'm realizing, oh, that's a God-given tool to be able to push in the face of opposition, but also some of it is just an act of defiance and not really tapping into the root source of it as well.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I'm learning just in understanding myself because I have a tendency, you know, if I'm met with failure or disappointment or whatever, then I'm gonna like fly in the face of it and I'm gonna be like, no, I'm gonna do this.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: But really, that little hit doesn't last long enough to sustain and get to the root of the issue where it's like, oh yeah, well, that was disappointing, but God sees and nothing's wasted, and you know, just all the trade that I actually need to have because I want to because I'm like good at pulling myself up by the bootstraps, but that's not the point.
• 7:29
  unknown: Right?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: The point is getting to the root of the matter and yeah, what am I running from?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And what Ashley had done is she had shared this beautiful post, you'll have to check it out on Instagram.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: She did this painting, but it was reflective of this really divine word from the Lord about how he wants to put a new song in our heart.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll just leave it at that so people can check it out, right?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm not gonna do it justice.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that's the thing.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: We need to get a new song in our heart and our mind to get to get what he is thinking of us and his truth.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: So right.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Ironic that we're dealing with this, right?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Talking about it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, ironic.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know it.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't put it together until I came over here a few minutes ago, and Amy was like, Well, you posted that thing, and I was like, Oh, dang, I totally posted that thing.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then all every old song that I ever have had sung over me was what was playing in my head the last like 36 hours.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, I'm a terrible person and everything is awful.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And wait a minute.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then Amy was like, No, wait.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't you just post about this?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, exactly.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like Joe.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let's bl she just said that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: I bet it's not true.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then, yeah, I bet she doesn't actually believe that.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's good anyway.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Not fun.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: It was not fun, but we just dove in, but you know, we're all friends now, so round two.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: We cut right to the heart.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we do.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: How was your Thanksgiving, by the way?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was nice, it was nice.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my parents just came over, it was just the four of us.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: We ordered from Whole Foods because our apartment doesn't have an oven, and it was super relaxed.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't have an oven.
• 9:14
  unknown: No.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about this.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: I definitely call our apartment the dorm room because there's no oven.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: We have a toaster oven.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: And the fridge, um, there so there's no cupboards, it's just like one counter and it's got drawers.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's really beautiful, and it's like yeah, we saw it last time.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's gorgeous.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: But the fridge is also a drawer, but it's like a tiny drawer.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so we have a mini fridge on top of the counter.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, I this is like my dorm room all over again, a mini fridge.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: So you can actually bake a lot in a toaster oven.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but a turkey is not one of the things.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: But we did pies and rolls and it worked great.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness, this is fascinating to me.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just thinking, okay, we saw the kitchen last time, beautiful, and now we're looking at like your office space.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I'm loving this.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, because the living room kitchen space is torn apart, so I'm gonna film some videos after this.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, are you fun?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Is it for advent or for the new?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: I am so excited.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot even tell you.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Once I heard you were doing the Advent series, I'm like, I I don't know.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just have such an anticipation about it.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: Well, speaking of like spiritual warfare, like, I mean, this is me being totally honest with you.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: It is Thursday.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: The series is supposed to release tomorrow, and I still haven't filmed it.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I've had this idea, like I know I've been doing it for weeks.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: But like actually doing it has felt so hard.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: And I think part of it, maybe it's a three thing, maybe it's just a me thing, but I like deadlines are my jam.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: I thrive on adrenaline.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like, give me a hard deadline and I will like pump it out.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: But I also think part of it, like November has just felt like a slack.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I think maybe if I'm like noticing that the battle we fight is not against flesh and blood, like, hey, maybe there is some real gold in this series that like the enemy really doesn't want to get out there.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I totally agree.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe this about our first podcast because there is no explainable reason outside of spiritual warfare that that emotion is gone.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there genuinely is it.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I know I saw the numbers, I know I saw it recording, and I have, you know, made it as like fail-safe as possible because you know, I'm like 80 episodes in.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've learned a few things along the way, but I just like I just so I say yes that you know whatever feels like it's being thwarted or hindered or having a hard time, there's something really you've already given a lot of gold and you're sharing and producing something that is taking people closer to Jesus.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of what the enemy wants.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, me personally, I know how much you've impacted me, and I know there's thousands of others.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, gotta get that prayer circle around you.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um see like it's so hard to see that in the midst of it, right?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: The battle is so thick, and I doesn't it doesn't get easier.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think maybe that's the thing I've been wrestling with this month.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, okay, I've been doing this for a while now.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like, why is this still so hard?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: The enemy doesn't let up.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: We grow stronger, like or we get stretched and we can carry more, but like the battle never eases up.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it doesn't.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, something that helps me is to talk about what it is that I want to do.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: So will you share?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Will you tell us the advent stuff?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I there's a lot of other questions that you know will help bring people up to speed, but I just want to give us the what the advent series is gonna look like.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: So it will be four um like prayerful meditation practices, um, and and traditional meditation is a lot of silence, and these videos I call them prayerful meditation because there's not a whole lot of silence.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: Great, it's more of like a guided, slow prayer.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so I have been reading through the book of Luke, and the book of Luke, um, the the writer Luke was writing to a specific audience, right?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Each gospel writer had a specific audience they were writing to, and they wrote their gospel.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: And at the time that Luke wrote, and to the audience he wrote to, he wrote to um Jews who were followers of Jesus who were being disowned by their families.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like politically at that time, Jews were being persecuted like crazy.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so, in an attempt to sort of stay as a community, they were um putting sort of ironclad locks on what they believe.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: And anyone who wasn't gonna go along with the Jewish belief were kicked out.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't like that makes sense, right?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like we do that.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: Protect your people, protect your community.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: If you're not gonna believe us, then you're out.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so everyone who believed in Jesus was not just tolerated anymore, but they were sort of disowned.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like their family sat shiva for them.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like you are no longer part of our family.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: And so these Jesus followers were without a home, without a community.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, this time, like a lot of Gentiles were also following Jesus, they were also outside of traditional community.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so this is who Luke is writing to.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so the gospel of Luke is really about a book about spiritual maturity.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like, okay, you've believed this now, you've made this giant commitment and sacrificed a lot to follow Jesus.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: Now, what does it look like to grow in maturity?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: And um, what I find so fascinating about Luke is that he's the only gospel writer that tells this really extended nativity story.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's the only gospel writer that tells us about the angel Gabriel, that gives us all of these prophetic words from Gabriel and that these entry characters give us.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so I just I really connect with that.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, like he's not trying to convince you to believe Jesus.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: He knows that you love him and are following him, and he's like, no, this is how you grow in maturity.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so um the book of Luke opens with four characters who've been waiting a long time or a short time for some kind of promise.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: You have Zechariah and Elizabeth who've been waiting their whole lives and have sort of reached this point where they like don't believe it's gonna happen anymore.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: They've given up.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, go ahead.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, they've given up and lost hope.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, yeah.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: But what I think is so interesting, I think Zechariah has sort of given up and lost hope because he says right to the angel, like, I don't believe you guys.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: I get it, yeah.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: But then he goes home to Elizabeth and has to sort of communicate with her about what he experienced.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: And not to get graphic, but like Elizabeth wasn't an immaculate conception.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like it took two of them to make John the Baptist.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so I can't imagine the depth of heartache she must have felt after trying for so many years, and then to be willing to try again, like to trust your husband, who like both of you are well beyond childbearing years, right?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: And have that moment of intimacy and try again.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, that's good.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: I think there's still a seed of hope somewhere deep down inside of her.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's it.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: So that stuck with me.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: And then Mary, like, Mary is a teenager, and you think back about the enthusiasm that you felt as a teenager, like your whole life ahead of you, and you're waiting for the future with this like excitement and hope and exuberance.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, and so she's waiting in a different way.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: And then we see Simeon and Anna who've been waiting decades for this promise that that God gave to them, but they were waiting at the temple.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like they weren't like Zechariah and Elizabeth who sort of checked out, like they were showing up day after day, waiting for this to happen.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: And um, and so those stories of waiting just really stuck with me.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I think each of us can identify with a different character in a different way.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I love that that's how that's how Luke starts the gospel story, and I think maybe that's the word that the Lord's giving me for this Advent season.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I love that.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: That is so great.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: What a beautiful just perspective to pull out and to draw us into the story, right?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's yeah, it's you know, becoming, you know, kind of getting into the story and remembering what it was like to wait and to hope.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so sorry.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's my grocery delivery.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, real life here.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna ask you, how do you do groceries, you know, when you don't have a fridge?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: They get delivered on every day.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: So does okay, so here, grocery delivery is a radical new concept because you know, we're in suburbia.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so we have to pay through the nose either in a fee or you know, groceries are a little bit more, but there is that a little bit more norm.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is it more cost effective than prohibitive?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I don't know about cost effective, but it is so much more convenient because you don't have to carry your groceries a number of blocks or onto the subway or up into your building.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and the grocery stores here are packed.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like when my husband and I go shopping together, which we don't anymore.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Thankfully, he doesn't do that.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: When we do go to the store, but we would get one of us would get a cart and stand in line because the line wraps around the building.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: And the other person does the shopping and like brings it back to the cart.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: And then by the time you get to the front of the checkout line, you're done.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so terrible.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's such a luxury when I go see my parents in the suburbs and I'm like, wide aisles and nice and no waiting in line.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: That puts a whole new spin on the New York lifestyle.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's that's yeah, behind the scenes.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, because you're talking like a three-hour investment there if you're doing it by yourself.
• 18:35
  unknown: Yeah.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's a lot of stuff.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's why I think our apartment, I mean, our apartment's built for someone who eats out all the time.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's no oven, there's a tiny fridge.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: But that's not cost effective.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So not at all.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that's hilarious.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm thankful.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now we know what to expect.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: But your apartment sure is cute.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: So there's that.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you get to walk everywhere.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: So hey friends, I'm interrupting this beautiful conversation to tell you quickly about something I think you'll find so helpful for the new year.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I can't believe we are less than a month away from 2019.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I have been following Beth Ann from The Brilliant Business Moms and her planner tips and tricks for a while.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: And right now, her new planner, the 2019 Brilliant Life Planner, is on sale.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And for those who are working a side hustle, or you're working from home, or you just desire to be more intentional with your time, you will want to get this planner.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And not only is it cute, but it's super practical.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it gives me plenty of room for almost everything going on in my brain.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Check it out for yourself at the link in the show notes.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And if you order, simply wholehearted gets a portion of the sales, which helps produce this podcast.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your support.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, so you are gonna take um those four stories and incorporate them into meditation prayers for Advent.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yeah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: So each video will be about like seven to ten minutes.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: And then we'll just sit and breathe with it.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: And um, something that I really like I Easter, in terms of like the church calendar, Advent is like, I love it so much.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: I connect with it so deeply.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: Easter feels like kind of hard to wrap my head around.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: But the fact that God became human and as someone who works with the body through yoga and finds so much, has found so much depth and growth in my relationship with the Lord through embodiment practices like yoga meditation.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like this is just my favorite time of year.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: So these meditations are a way to really consciously slow down and embody these stories, feel what hope deferred feels like in your body, feel what um contentment and peace feels like in your body, and remember that that God deeply knows those feelings as well.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like Isaiah says that Jesus is well acquainted with our sufferings.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so to connect with God in this embodied way and just hold these stories in your heart with the Holy Spirit and let rather than us talking to God or coming up with an action plan to implement this truth in our lives, just letting, just sitting with it with God.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think is so powerful.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: So for you, how do you then, because you're producing something and you're sharing it with the rest of us that that you actually practice, but then how do you how do you get fed, you know, in your soul in this process of admin and stuff like you know, as you're producing?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think well, moms in general.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Admin, you know, gets really covered over and buried under the preparation for Christmas and all the gifts and all the things, and we're the cruise directors and we're making all these meaningful moments.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: We can lose ourselves really easily.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: So In that vein and that line of thinking, how do you keep the first things first?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: What do you, what do you do to purposefully practice, you know, engaging in the advent and the reason for the season?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Well, the probably the most life-changing spiritual practice I've adopted this past year has been um something I just called coffee with Jesus.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: And it is exactly what it sounds like.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what I call it too.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: I I love my coffee and I'm not, I'm not exactly a morning person.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: So always struggled with like have this morning quiet time that produced something, right?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: As a three, it has to like, what am I creating with this time?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_03: How can I measure it?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it just, I could never, it was never sustainable for me.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I finally realized like, what is most important is just remembering my connection with God, remembering God, noticing God, being present with God.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: And um, so that's that's the like only expectation for coffee with Jesus.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: And it could be five minutes, it could be 50 minutes, depending on the morning.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: Some mornings I literally just sit there and drink my coffee and focus my thoughts on the presence of God and around me.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: And some mornings I'll read my Bible or read a devotional or journal a bit, but the only expectation is that I put my butt in that chair with my coffee and Jesus and I sit together.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: And anything above that is great, but that is so good.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's taken me a long time to get to that point where I'm okay.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: I again as a three to a three, that need to produce something out of it.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it has been a faithful practice for the majority of my life, but I thought I had to measure it and quantify it in some way.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it has been wonderful to mix it up with that, like to sit there and incline my ear before the Lord.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or even to do things like, you know, doing one of the meditation practices or going through a yoga flow, you know, cut led by you that and like not only it just because like that day I needed to move and engage in the word, and that's how I was gonna be able to connect, or you know, or it was just look like part of it instead of where it's like read the Bible and dissect, you know, the the verse.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, check your boxes.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Which sometimes is super great, and there's seasons like that is what he wants me to do, but but I think for me learning why am I doing it as opposed to what I'm doing, you know, to really look at the why I'm doing it and what you know, what is actually the motivation and the process.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: An anti-box checker as a four.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, if you tell me I have to check a box, forget that telling me I have to do it first anymore.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do not tell me it has to be this way.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I do find that sometimes I'll go into a thing like that, and because I'm always ruminating on something, I'm like, I have to solve a problem right now.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: What's the you know, like so I'm looking for like what's the solution, what's the you know, whatever.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so God's teaching me just to sit that I don't have that's my producing.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: My producing is I need an answer to this, or I need some deep insight, or like tell me who I am, I need to know, like you know what I mean?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always going for something.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's I guess that's essentially like that's the box I'm trying to check.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I think one of the best practices for me is solitude and just if I like silence, that's what I'm learning, is really good for me to quiet all the voices in my head.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: If I can just stop moving and don't look or listen to anything at all and just sit there, I think that's when I get to peace.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then sometimes I do need a movement because I've been lately feeling really agitated.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like my body, I lay down in the bed at night and I've got all this frustration, I guess, just built up, and my body is like wanting to just jerk around like bust out of the covers.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I think I need some movement right now of something.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: You need her bedtime before bedtime.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I do because it's like something's going on here, you know, and so sometimes I do need the movement.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, I think it's good to tune into yourself and know what you need at any given time.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: But yes.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: How did you stumble upon yoga practice and then you holy yoga, which is then now what you teach and you do?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I well, I've always felt very connected to God through movement.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I so I just I I love to play sports and I love to run, and um, I found that it it was the one practice where I could quiet, really quiet my mind and really like the voice of the Lord could break through.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: And um, and so I I sort of found yoga, fell in love with yoga through a couple of different heartbreaks.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: The first was a boyfriend that dumped me, and the second was a career that I thought I, you know, was my dream job and I was miserable.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so I came to yoga with a broken heart and I had tried all these other ways of connecting with God, right?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like serving in church or reading my Bible or doing all the things I thought I should do, but I still felt so distant.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: And there's something about moving my body that um that created just enough space for the Lord to speak.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: And when the Lord spoke, it wasn't like, all right, here is the next step I want you to take.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: It was, do you know how much I love you?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have any idea how proud I am of you?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like these words that I I desperately needed to know, but um but wasn't asking for.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: But when when there was finally space for him to speak, that it just it healed all those broken places.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: And even though I didn't know what was next, I had that firm foundation in who God is and who God is in me to step forward in faith.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: So that was how I found yoga.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I always felt like um, man, most I'm not gonna deny that God shows up for me here in this space with you know, statues of Ganesha and the teacher saying sort of weird stuff.
• 27:50
  unknown: Right.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like God is bigger than all that, because I know that because I can I can feel him speaking in me.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: But also, wouldn't it be awesome if we were playing worship music and we could pray like and just like invite the Lord into this and welcome him in a really clear way.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: And um and so I was just like, well, that would be nice if that existed.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that was the extent of my thinking.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: And one day, randomly, I couldn't tell you how, but I found Holy Yoga's website and I had zero ambition to be a yoga teacher, but I saw their teacher training and I like something deep inside me lit up, and I was just like, I have I have to do this.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like so cool.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: I worked in politics, my dream was to climb that ladder and be in the corporate world and like not be a Christian yoga teacher.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_04: That is awesome.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_04: I love that.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's amazing as a three from a three that that's the main.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: You get it.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: I totally get it.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I also see why it's so amazing that you've done such an amazing job with it in the process from the very.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, people.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, you have done yourself justice.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: But oh my goodness, as a former like political ambition, you know, ambitious person.
• 29:07
  unknown: I love it.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love it, I love it.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: God's sense of humor.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's so beautiful.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you because it's your gift to my life too.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: I was um, I've always struggled with Jesus' words, like, lay down your life, pick up your cross.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, what does that even mean?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I sort of wonder if, like, in some ways this is it.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like this is definitely not what I would have chosen for myself.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And in the same, like, I mean, obviously you love it and it's beautiful.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: And isn't that the amazing thing?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: We lay down this thing, we think it's gonna be so hard, and nothing could be any good of it.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then it is, it's beautiful, it's awesome.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're at the 20-year high school reunion and you're a yoga instructor.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Most likely to succeed.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_04: That is awesome.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: So you took the class, you became an instructor, but that's not it.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you didn't like just do it for yourself because you've gone on to do some amazing things with it.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, well, no, it's it's felt like obedience the whole way.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like Jesus and I walked to the edge of a cliff and he was like, Grab my hand, let's jump.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, All right, like this can be a total failure, but like, here we go.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: Put your name on the line, not mine.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um and yes, so we I finished my training and we moved to New York right about the same time, and we didn't know anybody in the city.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I really wanted to teach this practice that had been so life-changing for me.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so I uh the hardest thing about living in about New York is space.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like no one has it, it costs a fortune.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_03: The churches that we would go to don't have their own buildings, so a lot of holy yoga instructors go and teach in their churches, but that wasn't an option for me.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: And so I ended up paying to rent space, and then nobody was coming to classes because I didn't know anyone, I didn't have a community.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so that was so disheartening.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: I bet.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but I felt so strongly like I need to like I can't give up on this.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like I have to, I have to figure something out.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's that's where the YouTube channel came from.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I at the time when I started the channel, there was a couple other um Christian yoga instructors out there making videos, and I was like, oh, what do I like?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: They're already doing it and they're doing it great.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know anything about video or producing, and I'm a brand new teacher.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I there's no space for me.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I had a couple of people encourage me and say, like, Caroline, there are people out there who don't connect with those people, but they will connect with you, right?
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like you have a unique voice and a unique offering, and and you owe it to yourself and to people to show up anyway.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_03: And so that was that's awesome.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_03: That was such a life-changing message to hear, and one that I try and reiterate to everyone else who comes to me and is like, Oh, how do you do what you do?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if there's space for me.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, it doesn't matter.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like, there are people out there who don't like me, who don't connect with me, who won't like my yoga, but they will connect with you in your voice.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like you have something unique to bring to the table, and and there's room for all of us here.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that true?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and we have to keep reminding ourselves of that.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's that's biblical truth of using our voice and the unique design the Lord has given to each of us and to be used for a purpose in that way.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because absolutely, yeah, it's it is too easy.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think in this day and age with social media and just all the accessibility we have, we can talk ourselves so quickly out of you know the need that yeah, we disqualify ourselves.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know I have to fight it all the time, especially when Spencer, my husband, comes home and tells me about some other famous person who started a podcast.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, so yesterday it was so sweet.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: I joke, he said something else, and I was like, all right, then I guess I should just quit doing the podcast.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: And why do I need to do podcasts?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: And my eight-year-old boy, he's like, No, mom, I like your podcast.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: You should not.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's what I was telling you.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that sweet?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was like I was like, oh, he knows I do a podcast.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: He's paying more attention to my I know it was so sweet.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Lord, that's exactly what my heart needed to hear.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_03: Live encouragement.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why we need each other in community and need to be, and then we need to be mindful of speaking encouragement to each other and not just assume, well, she already knows she's awesome, whatever, or she doesn't need to hear.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just because when somebody just you know, some people are really good at things and they're really good at looking good at doing things, but that doesn't mean they know that they don't need encouragement or whatever.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's why I think we really need to, especially, you know, as women, I think, to be careful and to be mindful of encouraging each other and pushing each other along to what's the the scripture, you know, I'm gonna totally destroy it right now.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Titus?
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, yeah, maybe.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, whatever it is about like spurring each other on to love and good work.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that was sorry, I was about to totally destroy it.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I'm saying we need to do that for each other.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, I see this gift in you, and you're really good at this, and I think you should share it and keep doing that.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, whatever.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Just it's a big deal.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, absolutely.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, tying it all back to Advent.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: We see that in this story of Mary and Elizabeth, right?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: They like Mary goes to Elizabeth and they like mutually encourage and build each other up and like worship the Lord through that community.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like they wait, they hold space for each other to wait together.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I just think that's such a beautiful model for church, for community, for us doing business as Christians online in 2018.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, that's so good.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: That community is essential.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if we unpack that, Elizabeth could have been all snarky and jealous and rude that you chose Mary, this little she's not even married, 13-year-old.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and here I am, ancient and old and withered, and you know, but there wasn't any of that.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: All there was was celebration, like you said, holding in anticipation for one another and encouraging.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because what a hard road otherwise, if each other had to do it alone.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: But the Lord gave them each other.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: I um there's a beautiful quote from um this essay on that.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_03: I I pulled a lot of ideas from this video or from for the series from.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just pulling it up right now from Henry Nowen.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and he's a beautiful writer on like contemplative spirituality, but he writes, um, let's see.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: He says, We need to wait together to keep each other at home spiritually, so then when the word comes, it can become flesh in us.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: That is that is good.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: He's full of wisdom.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: He is.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about anybody else, but I'm really awful if I'm by myself, if I'm isolated.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just get into a bad state if I'm left by myself too long.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_03: So me too.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I do feel guilty.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, I should be fine.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just telling Amy this.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't I be content in all circumstances?
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't I be able to do No! I mean, yeah, but no, like I'm supposed to be complacent.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: But no, and we have to like we're supposed to have each other.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's normal that I need a people, yeah, a person.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yeah, it's biblical.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like Jesus didn't do his own thing by himself.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's funny to have a little weakness and to need the encouragement.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's human.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: To need the encouragement.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so for you, as you so your practice of coffee with Jesus and holy yoga, um have you like what is it about Advent that you that you hold so dear that just speaks to you in this time?
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know I've had my own wrestle, I've shared a couple times just with December being just fighting through depression, even and you know, the reality of waiting between the Advent and you know, waiting with joyful anticipation, yet I face the reality of things not here on earth going to be exactly as we desire them or want them to be.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um but for you, what is it about the Advent that just speaks to you and you know draws you closer to Jesus?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: I um love I love that God of all the the religions in the world, Christianity, in my understanding, is the only religion where this supreme divine being who created the whole universe comes to earth as a human being.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't come to earth as a warrior on a horse or as this um super wise hermit monk, but comes to earth as a baby, born to a teenager in a crowded city without a whole lot of fanfare, like it just feels so counter not just cultural, but counter everything that I understand about the world and about power and value and identity.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_03: That um that when God comes, he comes in power, but it breaks all our understanding of what power looks like.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: And uh and then just the person of Jesus reading about his life and understanding that understanding so little of his life, we only get a glimpse of three years really of his life.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: And the fact that God would send his son to earth and then let him live a life for 30 years and not document it.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like it just it blows all my ideas of how God should be.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um and and I love that.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I think as someone who's grown up in the church, been raised around Christian culture, my our bodies were always something to be rejected.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: They always led us into sin.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_03: Our flesh was weak.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_03: And and those things are true, but at the same time, it's true that God didn't shy away from putting on flesh and experiencing that.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's something about our bodies that connect us to God.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like they're not something to be rejected outright.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_03: There's something to be embraced and to use in worship, and and that's what Advent sparks in me.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's good.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is good stuff.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, our bodies are it's where the propensity to sin is, but it's also where the propensity to holiness is and to worship.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because worship is an embodied practice, you know, it it engages, it's physical, whether it's just verbal through prayer or just using your mind to you know, or whatever it is.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's not we don't reject our bodies.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: We need to they need to be maybe redeemed something, you know, but but yeah, I love that.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your perspective on everything so far, I'm just like, oh.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I haven't, like I haven't thought about, like I didn't never, never thought about the conversation or lack of you know, the communication between Elizabeth and Mary.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or or even no, like how did he come home and communicate like you know, hand motions like what were those hand motions like?
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like what are we doing here?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is the thing that's gonna happen.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: And like and like in her, like, really, I don't know that I want to trust that, or like you're crazy, or I mean, I don't know.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: I just love and I just took us way back somewhere else, but I'm just loving your perspective on because it's very unique.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so I'm really glad you're doing this because it's I don't think it's something that people are gonna really hear somewhere else.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's a big uh yeah, a lot of value that you're bringing just as a side note.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just a different way to see it.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now people can access a lot of your stuff on YouTube.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: You talk you refer to the YouTube channel, and that's just free.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I know YouTube too.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: YouTube is a great resource, and so you've kind of given but with a lot of them, they're kind of snippets to a bigger practice, like maybe an hour-long, 45-minute hour-long practice.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you have a lot of that at the Abbey.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I would love for you to share a little bit about that, and you're doing something special for our listeners as well.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: So give us the lowdown on what we can find on YouTube and then but what it looks like to get the full thing in the Abbey.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: So the Abbey is an online membership community for um people wanting more.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, most of the videos on my YouTube channel are around 30 minutes, um, which is which is great for a lot of people to, I mean, we all lead busy lives, and um maybe you're new to yoga and 60 minutes just feels like too much.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: But I find there reaches a point where you want, you want more, you're ready to go deeper.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's what the Abbey is.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_03: And so we um every month we take one topic and we spend the whole month just sitting in it.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: So rather than like a new video every week and new stuff all the time, like we savor the slow.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: And it's almost like my heart in the content that we produce every month is it's like a giant piece of steak, and you spend the whole month like chewing on it.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like a smoothie that you just slurped down.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so this year we've been going through the creation story and every month sitting in a different day of creation and and just going really deep with it.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_03: Like, because I think in my experience, a creation story was like Sunday school felt boards, right?
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like, God created the animals, yay! But like actually, I think there's so much more to know about God and about the world and our place in it if we sit with this story.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um each month we really loved the creation series that you did put on YouTube.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_01: I found that awesome, and I think everyone should try it.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: It gives a really great sampling.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought too, you had some really like profound revelations as I was doing that.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, this is so good, and this is so good, and so anyway, it's awesome.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: So to think about diving in for a full month, that is awesome.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that's and that's kind of what you've done at the Abbey.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: People can go back and at any point in time access after their members, you know, past things and just practice as they want with them.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, yeah.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: So we do two um 60-minute videos, uh more slower flow and then a more advanced, faster moving flow.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we do a couple of meditation recordings, there's a longer devotional.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: We do something called creative contemplation, which I love.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so we what does that look like?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so every month it looks a little different, um, but I wanted to engage.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: With the content and with the Lord in using art.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: So whether that's music or a painting or a poem or something, something different.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so we've done, we've done all those paintings, we've done songs, and so we'll post it and then post some reflecting questions.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because throughout the centuries, like Christian traditions have used art.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we use music in our Sunday services, and we like to decorate the stage in a pretty way, but I love art.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I think there's so much, maybe as a four, Ashley, you can relate to this.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_03: There's so much depth and nuance, and there's no black and white easy answer.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_03: You just sort of sit with it.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so that's what creative contemplation is.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's meant to inspire new questions or reflections outside of like, I meet God by reading my Bible and going to church.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_03: But like, hey, can you connect with the Lord through this different, more creative way?
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's awesome.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what an Abbey is, yeah.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_03: So um you I'll give you a code for a free month in the Abbey.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want to join as a member, you can get your first month free.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's just$14 a month after that.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: You can cancel any time.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: But um, you have access to all the old content and a Facebook community.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say this would be the month to hop on in and get that.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, we're talking about rest in December, day seven of creation.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I I thought that was really great because you kind of tithe more in the rest and the um meditation practice for six and day six and seven.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's one of those things with my personality, the permission to not do anything is so like, oh, this is so good for me to just let it wash over me and and all of that sort of thing.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I I don't know, it's really interesting too.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: This especially during the advent conversations, it seems like the idea of rest keeps coming up again and again.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe it's the human conversation of soul care because we always go back to that and we're dealing with I am always wanting to learn how do people practice rest as they do all these things, what does that look like practically you know, inspire it, encourage us to it, and um I think that is the invitation of advent in the midst of the crazy and all the expectations is to find those little pockets of rest where you know we can slow and savor sip and center, if you will.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, isn't it?
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's just the the cruel irony of this season that's meant to be about slowing down and going inward that we get busier.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, I think again it's going back to it's the enemy twisting what was intended for our good and for the gift to us to celebrate, and and then he you know, it's just as made so you know, the world has had its say and you know, and it's just shaping um it to be exactly opposite of what really the Lord intended, and um but anyway, this is our opportunity.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: You've obviously been a wonderful messenger of just the inspiration to the to connect with God through not just spirit and soul but body and to engage with that the season too, because I mean for me yoga is there's a stress relief in the movement and everything like that, but then you get to combine yoga with prayer and scripture and it's like the best.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it's so beautiful.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just love I just the peace.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: I just love the peacefulness that I feel during and then after.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which is so nice.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to do your advent series.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm so excited.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just based on what you shared here, I can't wait to see what you pull out.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: Is it wait, did we say, is it 25 days?
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something like a seven-minute-ish thing every day?
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: Videos?
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: Not every day.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's what I was every week.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't keep well, then there would be pressure to keep up with it.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: And um funnily enough, like the the first videos in all of the series that I've done have the most views, and then the number of views drastically drop off from one to two.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that's I mean, that's human nature across like all things.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's not just my videos, but people do the first day, and then it's like the second day is so hard to show up for.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_03: And that's um so we're just doing four, and I mean it's a busy season, like you said, and you don't want that pressure to like, oh, I have to show up for it every single day.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_03: And then you forget and then you just give up.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I don't want people to just give up.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's so good.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, talk to me a little bit about the Lectio Divina.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: I have I have been doing some research on it and just studying in it because again, it's one of those things that oh, if I let the scripture be read over me, that is the same as it's beneficial at the seasons to then have you know reading it.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um has that just been part of your discovery through the whole yoga process, or you know, what kind of sparked that?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because you do have some of that um intermingled with your yoga videos.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it felt like the sort of accepted Christian expression of meditation.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like meditation feels a little Eastern, but like Lecteo Divina, uh, which is un which is unfair to the church.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the church has been practicing Lectio Divina Divina for centuries.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think more so the Catholic Church is better at it than the evangelical church.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it's yeah, it's divine reading, enlightened reading, and um, you just read a piece of scripture a few times out loud and you just sit in between in silence.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I love it because you don't it it gives um permission and authority to the Holy Spirit to speak rather than like, I am the appointed translator of God's word.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yes.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um and maybe the I mean, maybe the Holy Spirit speaks, maybe it doesn't, but you make space for it in a way that I think we really lack in a lot of our um Christian practices today, which can be quick and transactional and timed and all of that.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think Lectyvania just makes space for like we're just gonna read the read the word and sit with it.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and let that be.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it's so good.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like in January, we're gonna focus on gaining perspective from the Word of God and what does it look like, you know, you know, some of the simple practices to get into it, but that for me is I'm gonna hopefully spend at least one episode or a part of episode talking about that specifically, of just encouraging that idea um of sitting, and and what I think is great about it, it's not even a whole passage of scripture, it's just a couple verses, and you just sit on that and it's amazing what you will glean from it when you listen to it over and over again and you inquire the Holy Spirit what he wants to say, what he wants to highlight, and then what does he want to say, what he highlights, and just that that whole process that you can actually take a section and you could spend a whole month in it, and I think you could get something new, which is really edible.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: So well, it's like um and I have a friend who calls it your using your sanctified imagination because God's given us an imagination and it's not evil, it can be used for evil, but it also can be sanctified and he can speak to you through it.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like any number of things.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't I I I enjoy this practice too.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And there's an app that sometimes I'll use because somebody feels it because you'll just read it and then you just sit.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like I do well with structure that comes from the outside, so it just helps me to have an app or something like this.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but yeah, it's sometimes funny what goes on in my head, and I'll think, really?
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was so weird.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it will just be these little encouragements or like pictures of something or something with my kids.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it speaks if we just give him the space and don't fear our imaginations or you know, meditation.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's so funny too when we say, Well, meditation is eastern, and I'm like, Well, I don't know if you know this or not, but Christianity is an Eastern religion.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Jesus was born in the Middle East, right?
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just funny, it's just how we've gotten everything all split and divided up, and we just get afraid of things.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I really hope that for those of my friends who are listening, and yoga is kind of this radical thought, and then we attack on the word holy and Christian with it, that they're not, you know, that this is just an opportunity to think maybe outside of their original box that they can put yoga in and see what a meaningful practice it can be to enrich and deepen their spiritual walk, their connection to the Lord, because there's not one aspect of it, especially as you practice it and you teach it, um, that would deter from the gospel and just keep drawing closer to the Lord.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's beautiful.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm so grateful for it.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so grateful that I just stumbled upon you on the YouTube.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so grateful too.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: Find a Jesus on the YouTube channel.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_03: That's funny.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_03: I get I get messages from people quite regularly, like, it just popped into my head to randomly search Christian yoga, and like I wasn't sure what I'd find, but like, hey, it's a thing.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is really a thing.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you once again for doing take two of this podcast and just believing that the Lord really wants to highlight it and get this message out loud and clear.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm grateful to get to participate and just cheery on.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, me too.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: Round two was so much fun.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you guys for your flexibility and oh, same here.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to it.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was so good to hear what God's been doing in your life, even in the last month since we talked.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_03: I feel so encouraged.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll keep praying for you, you know.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know if you use Voxer, but certainly email works whenever you need a fellow three to pray for you, and all you need to do is say pray, and I'll get it.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll just totally know, and I'll pray with understanding.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'll probably be right there or just like right before, right after, I'll be like, Oh yeah.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: I definitely understand.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm full of you as well.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: And we will excited to see you in the Abbey.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_01: See you there.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_04: Bye.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: Wasn't that so great?
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: The insight about Mary and Elizabeth and their relationship, and then Zachariah and Elizabeth, her tips about coffee with Jesus.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is a conversation I'm actually looking forward to listening to again.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just ignore my voice and listen to Caroline and Ashley and all their wisdom.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now remember, you can choose from at least 50 or more videos on YouTube to try some of Caroline's various practices.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's just Caroline Williams Yoga, super easy channel.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: Subscribe, you'll want to get whatever she's putting out there.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: But for you all, for my listeners, she has also offered a free month in the Abbey.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: All you need to use is the code SIMPLYHERTED to get the first month free, and you'll also get$5 off the Foundations of Yoga, the Jesus Centered Approach Series.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: All of that information, of course, is always in the show notes I would really love to know if you try anything and what you think.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, today's meaningful minute is super simple, right?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: We don't need more things.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: We really talked about finding rest and keeping the Lord's truth in our mind during this advent season.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we talked about several approaches to keeping the first things first.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: Things like Coffee with Jesus, which is my favorite, meditation, Lecta Divina, Holy Yoga, Reading, and Caroline's Advent series.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just choose one of these practices and try it out.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: See what you think of it and if it's for you and if it can help keep the first things first this Advent season.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_01: We would really love to know what you've decided to try out as you prepare your spirit, mind, and body this Christmas.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, how many of you find it so stressful to give the right gift to all the inborn people in your life?
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's so many, right?
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why it kind of gets crazy.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have no idea what it is they want, and you sort of, by default, give them something you might enjoy, or just something really generic, and you in the end hesitate giving it to them.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: You're not that excited.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I really wanted to help create a more simplified, beautiful Christmas season.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_01: To help you out, I've created a wholehearted gift-giving guide by using the knowledge of the Enneagram.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of accidentally giving the gift you want, then you can give the gifts your loved ones really want and find way more meaningful.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'll be giving you ideas for the fives and sixes in your life.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: And over the last couple weeks I've covered Enneagram types one through four.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want all the ideas for all the Enneagram numbers right now, you can download our wholehearted gift-giving guide by clicking on the link in our show notes.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, for all those fives in your life.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, fives are sort of easy in the sense that they have fairly specific and focused interests.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_01: They do tend to be the most predictable, and they also ask for the same items year after year, varying only slightly.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: They might enjoy practical gifts which enhance their knowledge and their interest.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the hobby that they do, or even their career field, or maybe their side hustle that they would love to have become their main gig.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_01: They might even enjoy a frame or way to display their achievements, their work, or hobbies.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_01: They also prefer not to open their gifts while the giver is watching.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_01: And perhaps the best gift you could give them is allow large quantities of alone time after a larger holiday gathering.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_01: And gift cards for their current interest of study are gonna definitely be a win.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and if you ever wondered who to give those genealogy membership kits to, yep, fives are some of those who would love that as a gift.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: Genealogy memberships, books, online seminars, workshops, all the things that fit with their interests of study or hobbies.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, for the sixes in your life, they will love a gift which makes them feel more secure, safe, and displays a deep sense of loyalty and thoughtfulness from the giver.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, isn't that sweet?
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love sixes.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: They're so great.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_01: I know a few of them, and though I'm not a six, I asked them what they thought about my list, and they said they were right on.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, one of them even sent me a laughing emoji saying, yep, sure enough, she had asked her husband for a home security system already.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, you can put that on the list.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_01: Things like safety kits, emergency stockpile supplies, and home security devices.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_01: I promise I'm not lying.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: They also really like a low-key experience involving their favorite things.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_01: They would love a well-planned out trip with itinerary, or maybe home improvement items, which enhances the safety and quality and qualifies as a long-term investment.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_01: And they're one of those to be easily thrilled with the evening at home with their favorite people.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_01: See, aren't six is awesome?
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I hope these help you as you plan out your gifts that you're gonna be buying for your loved ones and helps create a simpler, more meaningful Christmas.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: Next week we'll be back with my sweet friend Michelle.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, she is a gifted photographer and a beautiful woman, but she has also been restoring a 19th-century farmhouse in Texas.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: The analogies and stories she has to share about celebrating and waiting among the mess are profound.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's a God story you're not gonna want to miss.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: We love it when you share episodes with your friends and family.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: Please invite them along for our special advent season and as we begin again in 2019 with more amazing inspiration.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: So until next week, join us on the socials as we continue to pursue perspective, purpose, and plans for a simply wholehearted life.