Today’s podcast reflects on the Leave-taking of the feast of Pentecost. We often acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit, but miss encounters with the Holy Spirit due to our own impatience, lack of trust, and our own denials. Today’s podcast offers an exploration of what we need to do to have real encounters with God through the Holy Spirit.

Today’s podcast answers a question from someone who has been going through somatic experiencing therapy. They are concerned that it is not rooted in the Orthodox Faith and does not overtly guide on Orthodox principles. What this type of therapy is and whether it is safe or not are discussed.

Today’s podcast discusses three ways in which we may often violate the spiritual boundaries of another without realizing it. When this occurs, it is often due to an inability to self-regulate emotionally, being egocentric, or struggling with codependency. It is essential for the spiritual life that we have a strong sense of where we begin and leave off and where others begin.

Today’s podcast talks about a most beautiful inheritance that we can all leave our children. As parents we often worry about leaving a financial inheritance. However, we often overlook the universal inheritance that all of us leave our kids. We leave our children an inheritance of either simple grief or complicated grief, depending on how we have parented and how well we loved them. This inheritance of simple grief is also a form of generational wealth, as it gets passed on for generations.

Today’s podcast answers a question from someone who has come to realize their sense of self is damaged. This part of the healing work is often overlooked due to it being so close or detouring it due to us being nervous about the concept of “self”. If we have a damaged sense of self, it means we believe that we are unlovable, not worthy of love, and simply not good enough. This can predispose us to looking to external sources for validation, which can endanger us spirituality and set us up for more grief and shame. Self-abandonment leads us further away from God, self-denial brings us closer to God.