The Allender Center Podcast

This week, Dan is joined by Cathy Loerzel and Rachael Clinton. The three discuss the importance of community in the healing process and reflect upon ways in which community has benefited past “semester tribe” participants in our Healing the Wounded Heart online course. They take time to review three specific groups of people who would benefit from this kind of community experience and outline what participants gain as a result of hearing others’ stories and letting their own stories be known.

Direct download: TAC150_The_Power_of_Community-_Healing_the_Wounded_Heart_Part_One.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am PDT

This week, Dan and his wife, Becky Allender, conclude their series on Story. Dan introduces Becky’s new book, and she reads an excerpt from it, recounting a painful story of loss. Through the conversation that follows, we learn how writing our stories and sharing them with a caring community can truly transform our lives. The episode concludes with an invitation to discover the power of writing and reading our own stories.

If you feel a pull to know more about how your story, in all of its beauty and heartache, shapes and influences every dimension of your daily life and relationships, consider joining us for To Be Told. If you can’t join us in Menasha, Wisconsin, we are now offering a simulcast option in an effort to make To Be Told more accessible than ever before.

Direct download: TAC149_Story_Writing-_Revealing_What_You_Could_Not_See_Part_4_on_Story.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan and his wife, Becky Allender, continue a series on Story. They dialogue about how their own particular upbringings and life events formed distinct themes in their lives. The episode presents a challenge to us: Have we taken time to consider the themes of our own stories? And have we considered how these themes affect those around us?

Direct download: TAC148_Story_Themes-_How_Particulars_Form_Threads_Part_3_on_Story.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan and his wife, Becky Allender, think back to the way in which one of their brief interactions led not only to confusion but to a deeper sense of irritation toward each other’s stories. As they recognized and named their everyday stories, those that too often get overlooked, they were able to move past avoidance and gain understanding and empathy. The episode ends with this encouragement and challenge: we all have a choice to make in each of our relationships—to approach another’s story with a sense of irritation or with genuine intrigue. What we choose will dictate the way in which our lives intersect with others.

Direct download: TAC147_Irritation_or_Intrigue_-_You_Choose_Part_2_on_Story.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

This week, Dan focuses on the catastrophic nature of the flooding in Houston. How do people respond when a catastrophe like this invades their lives? How can we respond in a meaningful way to those who are experiencing catastrophe? Dan explores these questions and more as he begins a series of podcast episodes that focus on our response to difficult stories.

 

To our many friends in Houston, our hearts are with you.

Direct download: TAC146_Catastrophic_Stories_-_In_Response_to_Houston.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT