Living with Heart: From Birth to Death

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart, by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections; each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Visit chipdodd.com to download a free resource that describes The Spiritual Root System. This resource identifies each “root” of how we are created as feeling, needing, desiring, longing, hoping people who seek to live fully in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God.   A path not a pill So often, people offer a “pill” (metaphorically or literally) to a person who is struggling with life’s difficulties. The struggle could be anxiety, depression, or addiction. Most people, however, need a path instead of a “pill.”   This podcast is part of the path we are created to walk in life’s struggles.   The Voice of the Heart, Needs of the Heart, and Keeping Heart, also, are part of the path.    This podcast and the books speak to the need for relationship and its power to help and heal us through relational connection.   Communion connects to community We quickly think of communion as a religious experience only. It also means to share; it is where we get the word community and communication.    We are created to be in communion with each other—a group of people who share the truth of their hearts.   In Genesis 2:18, God declared for the first time that something was “not good.” This declaration clearly made reference to a man and a woman. It also speaks to how we are created for fellowship; the fellowship of truth telling about our struggles and celebrations that connect us to each other. Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 (NIV)   When Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they not only hid their physical bodies, they also hid their hearts from God. In the cool of the day, God comes to His creation and asks them, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) This phrase in Hebrew is “ayeka” which is a lament and a question.    Click here to continue reading episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart, by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections; each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Visit chipdodd.com to download a free resource that describes The Spiritual Root System. This resource identifies each “root” of how we are created as feeling, needing, desiring, longing, hoping people who seek to live fully in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God.   To read a short encapsulation of episode #81, go to pages 28-29 of Keeping Heart.   We are created to BE, DO, and HAVE In order to live fully, love deeply, and lead well lives that leave behind good legacy, we must: admit that we don’t control how life works. we don’t have power to change how we are created as relational creatures.   We only find fulfillment by living fully in relationship with  ourselves others God  (The Voice of the Heart by Chip Dodd)    Surrendering to the process of how we are created occurs through three developmental movements: Being - who we are created to be as relational creatures. We are created 99.9% like everyone else on an emotional and spiritual level. We seek connection through feeling, needing, desiring, longing, and hoping. We are created to respond to life accordingly.  Doing - what we are created to do by participating in the actions of producing, shaping, making and caring about creating “good.” We take action in daily life by using our internal awareness; we are “response-able.” Having - what we are created to experience if we live according to how we are created. We have relationships, connection, provision, bounty, and prosperity. We risk giving ourselves to and attaining the experiences of life that create relational and experiential fulfillments.   Be-Do-Have vs Do-Have-Become If a person is raised in an environment that diminishes his/her essential makeup and places too much emphasis on performance in order to be accepted, the person’s worth becomes wrapped up in the constant need for approval of others and in competition with others.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections. Each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Please visit chipdodd.com to download the free resource, The Spiritual Root System. This resource describes and illustrates the specifics of each “root” of how we are created as feeling, needing, desiring, longing, hoping people who seek to live fully in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God.   Spiritual Rot System (SRS) = Feelings - Needs - Desire - Longings - Hope   Basic premise of The Spiritual Root System:  Feed the roots of a tree, it will grow to produce much fruit.  Moving the metaphor to human behavior, a child reaches out to be affirmed as belonging and mattering by connecting to his/her caregivers.  The need to belong and matter is met by his/her caregiver responding by reaching back and affirming and attending to the child’s heart, made up of feelings, needs, desire, longings, and hope.  This process grows the child’s confidence in being created as a feeling, needing, desiring, longing, and hoping creature. Through the confidence of being able to depend on connection, the child grows into a competent human being, who can use his/her mind to express their heart’s makeup as they grow into their giftedness. Every human being is gifted and the world is in need of the “fruits” of those developed gifts.    Understanding the connections of the roots: Reading the “roots” from left to right:  Feelings awaken a person to needs.  Needs connect to desire within the heart Desire moves a person to longings Longings draw a person toward hope. Hope will return a person to feelings; hope is wishing or planning to achieve something a person doesn’t know for sure will happen. Hope requires the action of risk, which circles back to the need to deal with feelings.  The Voice of the Heart and Needs of the Heart offer specific details about The Spiritual Root System, as does this podcast Living with Heart: From Birth to Death.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Keeping Heart by Dr Chip Dodd is written in short sections. Each section focuses on some dimension of living fully, loving deeply, and leading well a life that leaves a legacy of goodness. It can be used as a daily form of orienting yourself for the day ahead of you or a book to read cover to cover.    Please visit chipdodd.com to download the free resource, The Spiritual Root System. This resource describes and illustrates the specifics of each “root” of how we are created as feeling, needing, desiring, longing, hoping people who seek to live fully in relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God.   The Spiritual Root System (SRS) explains: When we “feed” the “roots” of how we are created, we will grow the “fruits” of a full life, one that blesses one’s self and others.  We feed the roots through relationship. That is the most complete nutritional support for human beings. The nutritional support encourages us to “keep heart” amidst an exhausting pace that can wear us out, drain us, and lead us to experience the discouragement of “losing heart   Spiritual Root System = Feelings - Needs - Desire - Longings - Hope   Feelings awaken us to being fully alive, and they push us toward our needs.  If I feel, I will need.    For example:  When a person is sad about a loss, they often need comfort, or they need a listening person in their lives to help them. When a person is fearful about some difficulty or danger, they often need help to deal with a challenge, or they need to be rescued from a danger.   The identification of feelings, leads to the needs of others and God.   Having needs lead a person to communicate their desire. Desire moves a person to ask for some form of connection that brings them to greater capabilities of living fully and loving deeply, even when life hurts.    The book Needs of the Heart describes the many essential emotional and spiritual needs that we are created to have met through expressing them.   Desire expresses the inborn energy of our craving to survive and even more, to thrive. We desire survival, of course, but we were created for more. We were born to crave a level of fulfillment that we can numb or deny; however, it still remains a part of how we are created.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights. 

Explore the pitfalls of leadership and how they can derail personal and professional lives. Discover the importance of authentic connections and how they bolster recovery. Delve into the pressures leaders face, balancing personal wellness with expectations. Learn about breaking toxic cycles shaped by cultural norms and the significance of embracing vulnerability. Hear personal anecdotes illustrating the journey of recovery rooted in love and authenticity, emphasizing our shared struggles and the necessity of seeking help.

Click here to read the episode highlights.   The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    The Five Pitfalls: Work becomes confused with one’s worth. Performance begins to be valued more than one’s presence. People become things.  To be an example to others, the true self is isolated. Secrets sap one’s passion and purpose.    These pitfalls can destroy careers, friendships, reputations, marriages and families—unless one is freed from them.    Out of the Pit Hopeful Truths: Freedom is not only possible; we are created for it. The descent into the Pitfalls can be stopped at any time. When the leader who is descending into the pitfalls experiences an intervention from others whom the leader listens to and healthily responds to, the descent can be stopped. Also, if the leader comes to an awareness of his/her descent and cries out and is heard and responded to by others, the descent can be stopped.  There is a path that takes us out of the Pit; we can ascend. Freedom is not only possible;  we are created for it. The people who dare to “come back to life” are some of the greatest blessers in this world: They have humility and passion.  They have compassion because of empathy. They are doers who are relational.  They are witnesses to what God can do with a person who dares to be in need. Their “loss” can become many others’ gains. They are witnesses of John Newton’s hymn, Amazing Grace.   That which we think has destroyed us has opened up a future before us. Listen to Episode #26 “Becoming a Portable Sanctuary.   The woundedness of the leader, coordinated with their healing, becomes the leader’s newly discovered productivity.   Liberation from bondage is available. If there is breath, there is hope.    Recovery from addiction to control begins with: Confession: the recognition of and “fessing up” to being human, which means that I feel and I need more than I can handle or manage without relational help. Admission:  The acknowledgment of powerlessness over life  The profound awareness that the more I have attempted to do it alone, the more unmanageable my life has become.  In these two beginning steps, the impaired leader must admit the specific nature of his/her secrets in order to get relief.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.    Remember that the Pitfalls are descending steps; one connects to the other with predictable effects.    Some leaders have referred to the descent as a “chain reaction.”    The descent can be stopped at any time, with an intervention from others whom the leader listens and healthily responds to, or a cry out from the leader in descent who is heard and responded to by others.    The Five Pitfalls: Work becomes confused with one’s worth. Performance begins to be valued more than one’s presence. People become things.  To be an example to others, the true self is isolated. Secrets sap one’s passion and purpose.  These pitfalls can destroy careers, friendships, reputations, marriages and families—unless one is freed from them.    # 5 Secrets sap the leader’s passion and purpose Once the leader’s true self is isolated, the “getaway” or “cure” is usually a closely held secret.       A secret is anything one withholds from appropriate people because they       fear rejection, judgment, censuring, or being controlled.    Secrets:  require a person to withhold emotional and spiritual struggles from the people who hunger to know them and care about them.  block the intimacy, or “into-me-see,” that is an essential part of human encouragement and fulfillment.  make a person sick because they are not connected to relationship with others.    At this point, a leader begins to survive in a cycle of work, performance, isolation, and secrets that increase toxic shame and guilt.    To dissipate the shame and guilt, the leader tries to work harder, perform better, which cycles into a repetition of isolation and secrets.    As the cycle continues, a leader will begin to experience symptoms of burnout, depression, excessive anxiety, addiction, and other forms of impairment.   Jesus says in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (NIV) To many leaders who are caught up in the swirl of Pitfall #5, this scripture reference seems like a long-lost illusion.    By Pitfall #5, the leader is far away from everything they had once hoped and believed.    Jesus also says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (NIV) This reference is a living, breathing experience for the leader. He or she is being robbed of every blessing they were created to experience in the passion, struggle, and joy of getting to do what they were created to do.    Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.

Leaders often face the dangerous pitfalls of isolation, which can turn their hearts into fortresses. The pressure to be perfect can suppress genuine emotions, creating a cycle of shame. Authenticity is valued over perfection, showing that personal growth thrives on vulnerability and mistakes. The discussion also touches on how early experiences shape leadership resilience and the importance of emotional connections. Cultural references, like Jock Peterson's pearl necklace, highlight masculine identity in leadership, while the need for supportive networks is emphasized.

The discussion delves into the pitfalls of leadership, notably how good intentions can lead to objectifying those meant to be served. Leaders may struggle with viewing team members as burdens as authentic connections fade. The anxiety of modern communication contributes to this transactional mindset, eroding genuine relationships. Additionally, the emotional strains of leadership, especially in parenting, highlight the need for self-care and maintaining balance. Ultimately, the conversation underscores the importance of authenticity and true connection in navigating leadership's challenges.

Leadership pitfalls can trap even the best, particularly when performance overshadows personal presence. Discover how this mindset alienates leaders from their true selves and damages authentic connections. The conversation highlights the struggle for high achievers to balance success with genuine relationships, revealing the necessity of vulnerability and self-awareness. Through anecdotes and insights, it becomes clear that valuing intrinsic worth over achievements fosters deeper connections and enhances emotional well-being.