The Carlos Whittaker Podcast

On Tuesday I spent 8 hours inside a maximum-security prison here in Tennessee and even got to visit an inmate on death row. One of the inmates told me that the person they hurt had forgiven them. And now they are freer inside than they ever were outside. It got me thinking DEEP about forgiveness. Today I dive deep into the 3 types of forgiveness that finally gave me freedom. I unpack them. My wife’s forgiveness of me for how I wounded her… My forgiveness of others for their wounding me… And my forgiveness of self for hating me… (That last one is a doozy so hang on…) I think that many of you may just find the freedom you have been looking for... So join me with learning to love the F word… Forgive… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

November of 2019 we rushed our 17-year-old daughter to Vanderbilt University Medical Center as she was experiencing massive chest pain. The next 21 days in the hospital would change all of our lives and bring out a strength we didn’t know existed. Sohaila’s story is going to make you feel like you can bust down any wall that is in front of you. Also your stories of the most impactful gift you ever received. Make sure you have some Kleenex nearby. And thank you to our sponsor Better Help. www.betterhelp.com/humanhope for 10% off your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I stopped to have some Chick-fil-A in concourse A of the Atlanta airport and noticed nobody was paying attention to this piano player, so I thought I would sit down and enjoy his music. After listening for a few minutes I invited him over for a chat. I learned that Tonee has kidney disease and is on dialysis 9 hours every night but then comes to the airport to play piano 4 hours a day… I saw his empty tip jar and asked my InstaFamilia to cash app and Venmo a tip for him. 30 minutes later, and after a 20-minute conversation getting to know him, we tipped Tonee $10,000… which has since grown to $55,000 in 12 hours. In today's podcast, I sit down with Tonee and his wife Mickey to surprise them with the news that their $10,000 tip has morphed into $55,000 and their reaction is everything. Tonee shares his life journey on today's episode and it is nothing short of heroic. There is so much to learn from his life. Oh. His wife Mickey TAKES OVER the interview in what is sure to be one of my favorite podcast moments ever... This is what human hope is all about… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Texas? They came after me on Instagram this week when I said that Dallas was Central Texas.  Which caused me to go through trauma that ended up with me in therapy for 4 days in San Diego. Only 1/2 way kidding. In today's episode, I take a deep dive into my journey with my dad's dementia and how therapy is helping me process it all. I also give you 2 acronyms that will help you communicate better with those you love. Those are worth the price of admission to this podcast alone. Thanks to our sponsors betterhelp.com/humanhope and policygenius.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leeann Miller met a strong, soft-spoken Amish young man when her father hired an Amish carpentry crew to fix their suburban home fireplace. 28 days later they eloped. 30 years later she sits down to tell us the story of how their 30-year love story started and how it’s going. I haven’t been this enthralled with a guest’s story in a long time. What does sacrifice really mean when it comes to relationships? How has the current cultural climate diluted what true love means? What can we learn from how the Amish do community? LeeAnn’s story is fascinating and I’m ready to squeeze all the wisdom out of her story and the Amish way of life… And thank you again to our sponsor AIM… Join the fight against sex trafficking at www.aimfree.org/carlos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded live from ALASKA!!! We’ve been all over the world as a family. We never let our lack of resources get in the way of our exploration. This episode is going to help every single one of you get out there and travel again… or maybe even for the first time. We took a lot of your travel questions and tried to answer them! How do we afford to travel as a family? Where do we find the incredible travel deals? (Like $500 round trip to Cape Town South Africa) How to best travel long distances with little kids and thrive not just survive? We went all in. This is a little different of an episode and I think you are gonna love it! And thank you again to our sponsor Better Help. www.betterhelp.com/humanhope for 10% Off! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve brought back one of your favorite episode ideas. The one where YOU GUYS deal hope. I asked you guys to leave me a voicemail with your stories of hope and YOU DELIVERED. So if you are in need of some hope… From infertility to cancer, to job loss, to relationship loss, to dreams on hold… THIS IS THE EPISODE FOR YOU. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She may just be the sweetest, most creative, entrepreneur on Instagram… But don’t let that fool you. Danielle Coke is a strong and focused freedom fighter. In today’s episode, she takes us on her journey from 700 followers on Instagram to 1/2 a million in a little over a year and we dive into the personal details of how she is feeling after 18 months of being an anti-racism educator. Follow Dani online @ohhappydani and please let her know how much you appreciated the hope she slung today! Get 10% off your first month of counseling at www.betterhelp.com/humanhope Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WE ALL WANT THIS TO BE OVER. And Jessica helps us understand when we can say it's finally over. This week we dive deep into the ethos of Jessica Malaty Rivera. Infectious disease epidemiologist and science communication lead at the COVID Tracking Project. She has spent the last 16 months of her life trying to communicate the science behind Covid19 to people across the planet. I know that there are MANY different points of view with it comes to this stuff but what I ask is that you listen to understand Not listen to reply or debate. My goal with this interview isn't to get you to land on some worldview... It's to get us to understand each other. I am grateful for Jessica and her colleagues who have devoted their entire professional lives to helping us... Big ups to our sponsors AIM for showing us just how easy it is to join with the fight against sex trafficking. Join the fight at www.aimfree.org/carlos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I realized after getting numerous messages from you that I have not gone into the story of how I lost my marriage and family and how I got them back… Like I’ve written about it in detail in my book from 2017 but haven’t really talked about it online since then. With over 130,000 new friends around here I thought maybe some of you could use some encouragement that no matter how far away from freedom you feel, you are actually really, really, close… Today’s episode I dive into 3 steps that will help you finally stop whatever destructive behavior you have been trying to stop on your own. (Clue phone: We ALL have them…) Also we have a PRECIOUS MOMENTS DESIGNER on the pod along with your clean jokes and your stories of hope. Today’s episode is truly fit to be called Human Hope! Thanks to our Sponsors! Better Help - Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/humanhope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices