The Stephen Mansfield Podcast

This week, Stephen returns to a topic originally shared over two years ago: habits and the brain. Men, this one is especially important for you to hear. We all have habits we wish we could break. Some of our habits may even have led us into addiction. We know what we ought to do, yet find doing it nearly impossible. Drawing some helpful truths from the field of brain science, Stephen offers a new way to look at our habits. The insight he gives us can help us break bad habits and establish new and healthier ones. The wisdom in this podcast could change your life. Don't miss it!

American politics has descended to a childish level in recent years. Rage rules, anger dominates, restraint, character, and statecraft are rarely in view. Better days may be ahead, but only if we mature as a people. In this Fourth of July meditation, Stephen describes our current crisis and points the way to a political culture worthy of the best of our nation.

On September 25th, a Referendum on Independence will be voted on by the Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan. If the referendum passes, as it is sure to do, the largest people group in the world without a homeland of their own will finally be on a path to that homeland. It will not be an easy journey. In this podcast, Stephen describes the challenges to a Kurdish homeland both from within Iraqi Kurdistan and from without. This is a guide to one of the most momentous events to happen in our lifetimes.

On June 14, in Alexandria, Virginia, a man named James Hodgkinson fired fifty rounds into a Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball Game the next day. Some congressmen, a few staffers, and two Capitol Police were shot. Hodgkinson was killed. Amazingly, the shooter’s family and friends told reporters that they were shocked that he would commit such a crime. Stephen believes they just weren’t paying attention—and he has seen this kind of situational ignorance before. You don’t want to miss his searing commentary on this heinous crime. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']Image courtesy of Victoria Macchi on Wikimedia[/custom_font]

The Stephen Mansfield Podcast has for years looked at the world through the lenses of leadership, faith, ethnicity, literature, and manhood. This will certainly continue. However, Stephen is so burdened by the state of manhood in our time that he has decided to start a new website called GreatMan.US, and he is also going to launch a second podcast called The GreatMan Podcast. He describes these new directions in this latest Stephen Mansfield podcast. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of José Carlos Cortizo on Flickr[/custom_font]

Our previous three presidents model three different approaches to fathers and the legacies they leave. In this podcast, Stephen offers a unique Father’s Day Meditation, based on his study of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, as well as Stephen's own work in challenging men to draw the best from their fathers’ lives. You’ll want to hear this podcast and pass it on to every man you know. CC image courtesy of Thomas Hawk on Flickr

Leaders often fail because they can’t see themselves clearly, they can’t detect deformities and weakness, and they don’t allow those around them to speak meaningfully into their lives. This is what Stephen Mansfield believes, sees in his work with leaders, and describes fully in this podcast. You won’t want to miss this combination of leadership advice and political analysis. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of Garry Knight on Flickr[/custom_font]

Stephen hopes the best for the Trump administration but has been critical of Trump’s excesses. He has decried Trump’s racism, doubted his Christian commitment, and recognized his inexperience. Yet Stephen believes that Trump’s recent speech in Saudi Arabia was one of the finest speeches on the Middle East and solutions to terrorism that has come from an American president. In this podcast, he parses that speech and says that it might well lead to a turning point in world affairs.

We are used to breaking news and exciting headlines. These give us the impression that big events happen suddenly, dramatically. Often, though, the trends that shape our times emerge slowly and are only in the background of the news cycles. Stephen explains how this works and uses some recent news about Turkey and the Kurds to show how history is really made. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of valeriy osipov on Flickr[/custom_font]

In his last podcast, Stephen described the virtues of a reading life. He explored some benefits of reading not often considered, like that it is an antidote to the frantic pace of our times and that disciplined reading serves as an indicator of the state of the soul. In this podcast, Stephen lists some books he believes will make wonderful summer reading, while also explaining the good each of these books can bring to our lives. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of Sam Greenhalgh on Flickr[/custom_font]