Connexions Classroom

I have met several parents who have said, "I have a child and she's fiery and fierce! What do I do?" And I will smile at them and say, "That's good. She's animated about life."Did you know that a child's energy can be turned towards Truth? You can take that energy, that fire, that fierceness, that excitement for life and angle her into Truth.What this child needs is a mother and a father who both know how to angle that energy,how to bridle that passion and reflect the Truth to her. It's the ability of the parents that teaches the child how to live and be boundaried inside Truth.Come listen and learn how. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can I help a family member living in distortion?Where is my responsibility when I witness self-destructive behaviors?Is there a way for me to be an influence for Truth when my loved ones reject the Truth?Listen for unchanging principles as I speak to a young woman about being a refuge for her little sister. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where does self-esteem come from?Was I born with it?What is self-esteem?Exactly how do I know when I've found it?People commonly think self-esteem is something that is lost and they need to find it.But the Truth is, self esteem or self love is an outcome of using your choices, your free-will to choose, to be honest, responsible and humble.Yep, that's the Truth! Come and learn how to develop self-esteem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every mother and every father have made choices where they gave their child access to something that was harmful.Whether it was the peanut butter you offered, the hot food you served, the internet you introduced or a family member you gave access to ... each parent has had experiences they wish they could go back and change.It is so critical to understand that your choices don't mean you're bad and it doesn't mean you have to live in regret the rest of your life.The Truth is you get to use those experiences to create wisdom inside of you.Mourning and growing from painful regret is what we're going to talk about today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anger ...Why do so many of us struggle with managing it?I hear often, "I need to control my anger," "I hurt people with my anger," "My anger is out of control," "Anger is bad," "Anger scares me."However, anger is an emotion and if used inside the Truth, can be a protection to you. Anger?? ... can protect you? and anger can protect others? A resounding YesSo for example, when you see some type of violation of Truth, like children being sex trafficked, I feel angry. Or any kind of violation that harms a child or someone who's defenseless, I feel angry; and that anger moves me to protect them.How can I become aware of why I'm angry? What I need to do is look at my perceptions my thoughts and scrutinize them for the Truth. Are you interested in learning how to manage anger inside Truth? Anger is a wonderful emotion if you're willing to choose to use it Truthfully.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When I think of a security blanket, I think of Linus from Charlie Brown! Linus carried his security blanket wherever he went. That thing became a dusty, tattered, nasty little piece of cloth! How many of you have a security blanket?Has a person, an action, a hobby, a sport, a Tv show or some kind of engagement become your security blanket?Well ... I looked up "security blanket" in the dictionary. Security Blanket: An imposition that helps keep a secret.How many of you are carrying around security blankets because you want to get comfort out of it? However, you're actually using your security blanket to cover up a secret?Let's get into this woman's security blanket and find out what her motive is for carrying around a distorted security blanket. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You see your child headed towards a cliff, a fiery building or a tidal wave of water. And yet so many parents say, "I don't want to get involved," or I don't want them to think I don't trust them or that they're incapable or I don't want them to get angry with me.All of these statements are very selfishly focused on the person saying them. The kid is going to crash and burn and the parent or the adult who claims to love them is more worried about the outcomes if they get involved ... instead of the damage that will happen to the child.What is going on here?Why do so many of us as parents become so selfish and refuse to intervene when we see our children using their agency-their choices to be destructive?Parents, we have one job and one job only, and that is to direct our Children towards principles of truth, which means: talk with them, intervene on their behalf, support them to see the distortions, let them know that you don't trust them because they're kids. They're not meant to be trusted! They're meant to

Teaching the principle of modesty to your teen can be a challenge! Understanding the basic tenets of modesty will help give you language to teach, inspire and enlighten your child. Modesty is about presenting yourself in humility, not about controlling the people around you.Modesty is a principle of protection intended to safeguard the soul. Your teen is a soul who came from God and therefore has a need honor God. Dressing the body is an intimate experience between you and your creator, who made you. Modesty is for you!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a hot topic ... adult children and their feelings of entitlement towards mom and dad taking care of the things they're responsible for.Why do adult Children act entitled towards parents caring, helping, babysitting, supporting, etc.?Do parents really have the freedom to say, "No, I'm not available"?Or will these entitled children throw a fit and threaten them and kick them out of their lives?Is this really love coming from the parents and also the kids? Or is there manipulation going on here, from both sides?If an adult child becomes sick or if an adult child makes choices and creates chaos in their life, is it really the parent's responsibility to come in and clean it all up?Come listen and find out how to navigate this thing—parents with adult entitled children? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Women have many choices today! They can choose to get married, become mothers, have careers, be home with their children, or have children and a career. With so many choices, it can be confusing which direction is best.What if instead of asking, “What should I do?” we ask, “What is the responsible and honest choice for me?”What is my calling? What is my passion? What is my Higher Power asking me to do? What is my responsibility? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it mean to cop an attitude? Attitude may mean that the child is being naughty, aggressive, won't follow directions, rude, evasive or manipulative.All of these characteristics listed above are dishonest, irresponsible and not humble, which means distorted. A person or a child doesn't just one day begin to choose distortion. They have been engaging in distortion for an extended period of time and now you've noticed it. Why now? Why are you recognizing it now? What's changed? Who's to blame? Listen to how this parent learns about distortion and see if she's willing to take responsibility. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there any truth to the popular phase and phrase "the terrible twos"?Is there a way to teach a two year old principles? How do I know what to pay attention to and what to let go of? Two year olds are learning to manage their physical, emotional and spiritual selves, and they have no life experience. Two year olds are on a crash course of learning about personal responsibility, and you the parent will need to have mastered personal responsibility in order to teach and model to the two year old self governance.Perhaps the terrible twos is my invitation to finally master what my two year old now needs to learn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When I think of the word entitlement, I think of someone who has lost feeling for another person.I think of someone who, either hasn't been taught how to sacrifice for another person, or someone who has been taught to sacrifice and they have been making choices of selfishness.And so they don't want to sacrifice for another person.Whatever the age… the ability and willingness to feel for others- to have empathy for other’s experiences- is critical in order to have and maintain relationships.Do you know how to teach yourself, or another how to choose empathy? Come and learn how! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guiding children as a divorced parent can be a challenge.How can I be a parent in Truth when I have another adult who is parenting from distortion, and bringing destruction into my child's life?Is there a way that I can be strong without controlling? And how do I settle in my mind that the other parent is viewed as “the fun one” and I amperceived as controlling? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We live in a world of laws. There are man’s laws and there are God’s laws. God’s laws are asking us to keep, for example, the Ten Commandments. And Man’s laws unfortunately invite us at times to break God’s laws. How do you negotiate this discrepancy? I think of the time when some people were hiding the Jews in Nazi Germany… it was breaking man’s law! Yet, those people who were willing to hide those humans were keeping God’s law not to kill. How do you think through this conundrum? I would always invite you to follow the Truth, which is God’s law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the greatest inhibitions in this life is the belief that my ignorant, selfish and distorted choices have now rendered me incapable of living a life of Truth.…that somehow the mistakes, distorted perceptions and attitudes of yesterday now keep me today from living a life of joy, peace and connection. This is a lie! This simply is not the Truth!How then do I reconcile my choices of yesterday and live a life of rest today?This podcast is all about the beautiful principle of wisdom and the transforming power of repentance! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A child said, "I had this experience when I was growing up and it was different from my friends and I didn't like the outcomes and so my experience was wrong or bad and unfair and their experience was fun and good and right." This comparison is always going to be a setup. Why? Because no two people have the same experience. It's "the grass is greener over there," thing. No two people look alike. And when you compare yourself with others, no two people have the same experiences, it's impossible. So you're gonna do one of two things. You're either going to elevate yourself above other people and say my experience was better than yours or you're going to denigrate yourself and go below other people and say my experience was not as good as your experience. You won't be able to find the truth in either place. Let's listen to this podcast and help you see the truth and help you find freedom from comparison. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jody and I talk a lot about connection and why connection is so important. Connection is to the soul what food is to the body. Connection is a real need. This is what gives sustenance and substance, strength, fortitude and energy to the soul. Living inside Connection requires an individual to be honest, responsible and humble. So at the heart of connection there is work. Hard work. It's a lot of work to keep the physical body in good working order and there is a good deal of work involved in keeping the spirit and the soul and healthy working order also. So what if an individual doesn't like the work required? I'm sure we all know someone, maybe it's ourselves who likes the distorted version of ourselves better than the reality of ourselves. Hm! This is called Pride. Let's jump in and talk about what would drive a person to want to live inside distortion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jealousy, where does jealousy originate?Specifically, when you are jealous over something in particular, such as someone who makes more money than you, maybe your friend makes more money than you, or maybe your spouse makes more money than you do.Jealousy equals someone who is insecure. Jealousy only presents itself when someone doesn't have a solid sense of who they are.Come listen to how this woman, this mother, makes more money than her spouse, and then how she uses her agency (her choices) to not make her husband's insecurity personal. His fears, his distortions, are not hers. Watch how I Jodi support her to use her own choices to choose Truth and keep herself untangled from his distorted fears. This is a skill and everyone needs to learn how to animate it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sexual intimacy is a principle of Truth. And because it is a principle of Truth there are inherent responsibilities guarding and protecting its use. Listen and learn the four main principles that support and direct the use of this sacred gift. The soul, marriage, safety and trust are all principles that, when chosen through agency, bring beautiful outcomes of connection and peace. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.