The Connected Life
Episodes
170: The Messiness of an Affair
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An affair is one of the most sensitive and painful subjects in a committed relationship. The effects of an affair spill over onto children, extended f...
169: The Power of Embracing Your Messiness
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As humans, we are universally messy. Our actions and reactions are often times in conflict with what we want to do and who we want to be. It can feel ...
168: Creating Long-term Friendships
21 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As time passes, all of us go through stages of change, for the better or worse. In the midst of creating ups and downs for ourselves, being known and ...
167: A Road to True Happiness
14 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For most, there's something surreal about a life of success and wealth. Driving our dreams is the idea that when we arrive at a specific destination w...
166: The Power of Dependence
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Separating ourselves from the nature of love leaves us feeling alone, in a state of fear and abandonment. This disconnection from love drives us to ex...
165: The Humanity That We All Share
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In our broken pursuit of feeling valuable, humans have a way of adopting a system of judgment where we can rank one another better than or less than. ...
164: Codependency and Faith
21 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's easy to lose the sense of who we are, and what we believe, for the sake of others in order to belong. We can find ourselves more concerned with f...
163: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Neighbors can be difficult to love. They vote, believe, and talk differently. Their lifestyles might just contradict our entire value system. Our time...
162: The Case for Emotions in Faith
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Emotions tend to get a bum rap in faith communities. Often times the two are treated as mutually exclusive and emotions have the potential to be seen ...
161: Finding Connection in the Silence
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a noisy, media-driven world, filled with politics, drama, and plenty of expectations, it's easy to stay focused on anything other than connection t...
160: How to Prepare for Being Confronted
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Getting confronted is rarely easy. Often times, confrontation can feel like it's coming out of nowhere. Without the proper tools and understanding of ...
159: Redemption: The Hope for Justice (Part 3 of 3)
17 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Coming face to face with the attacker that left your daughter for dead should bread feelings of hatred and revenge. But what happens when love and com...
158: Finding Beauty in Pain (Part 2 of 3)
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Without miraculous intervention, tragedies have a way of devastating people beyond repair. Most people would be overcome by hopelessness after being t...
157: The Healing Power of Compassion (Part 1 of 3)
03 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Choosing to get honest with ourselves about the reality of our upbringings can often times feel incredibly difficult. The implication that our familie...
156: Vital Steps to Dreaming for Your Future
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dreaming for life is so often ineffective that most people find themselves hopeless and disappointed, and for good reason. People's approach to dreami...
155: Christmas Nostalgia
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For most people, Christmas is laced with nostalgia. Moments of goodness reminding us of the beauty and joy of being a child. For some it can be a bit ...
154: The Hope of Christmas
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If we're all honest with ourselves, we've all, at some point or another, felt unloveable. In this state of being, it's easy to feel alone, sad, and ev...
153: A Fulfilling Approach to Christmas
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas, like many holidays comes with a mixture of emotions and experiences. For some it can be a sad and difficult time, while for others it be on...
152: A Practical Guide to Self-Care
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Self-Care is often misinterpreted as a shallow, selfish, narcissistic romp rooted in endless spa days, trips with your friends, buying a ton of needle...
151: Rewiring Our View of God
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At a young age, through nature and nurture, we find ourselves being wired to relate to the world in ways that aren't always freeing. For many of us, w...
150: 10 Signs of Wholeness
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The emotional health journey can sometimes feel like being trapped on a hamster wheel while the sounds of children chanting, "Are we there yet?!" echo...
149: The Power of Disconnecting
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Updated Audio) Social media has woven itself into humanity in a way, that since its inception, an entire generation can now say they have never known...
148: Connecting to Your Story
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Each of us has a story. This story is the collection of our experiences that shape our beliefs and decisions. Knowing and understanding our story is t...
146: Learning to Nourish Your Soul
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The human soul has basic necessities. When we've been starved long enough of the things we need an inner war ensues as we ravenously gorge to feed the...
145: How to Approach Decisions
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On average, we make 35,000 decisions each day. For some, decisions are seemingly made quick and easy with little thought behind them, leaving a trail ...
144: The Power of Embracing Change
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Change comes with many unknowns and emotions. For some, change is the perceived savior of their circumstances, while for others, it's the villain of t...
143: Finding Empowerment and Healing through Triggers
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Faces of people screaming and college campuses littered with safe spaces are often the things that come to mind when someone makes mention of triggers...
142: Parenting in a Powerful Way
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There's no definitive manual on how to raise children. Often times parents find themselves feeling overwhelmed and out of control. More discipline, or...
141: The Pathway to Freedom
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What if resolve and reconnection after years of pain, misunderstandings, and disagreements was possible? What if the relationships that matter the mos...
140: Letting Go of Your External Battles
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Life occasionally has a way of dealing us one blow after another until we're lying face down in a pool of our own blood and tears. No matter how hard ...
139: Shamelessly Owning Your Part of the Story
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Every great story of fiction has a protagonist and an antagonist, a villain and a hero so to say. But real life isn't quite that cut and dry. Just lik...
138: Making Sense of Relational Messiness
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We all do things to the people we care about the most that we wished we hadn't. Often times we avoid looking back because the past is riddled with bla...
137: Brutal Beginnings for Newlyweds
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Getting married and starting a new life together can be brutal for anyone. Navigating how to surrender your life to a partnership of give and take is ...
136: Stepping Back in the Church
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The institution of the church has a history of feeling unsafe and judgmental for many people. Like any system, it has humanity's thumbprint of messine...
135: Finding God Outside of Church
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There comes a time for all of us when everything we know is challenged. Our world is shaken and the foundation that we've stood on for a lifetime begi...
134: Restoring Humanity in Religion
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Religion has a way of stripping individuals of their humanity and demanding perfection through performance. This behavior is detrimental to everyone i...
133: Shedding Light on the Mystery of Singleness
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Being single is great when you want in to be that way, but when you're looking for a long term commitment, it can start feeling difficult real quick. ...
132: Becoming the Captain of Your Own Life
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fear can be debilitating for anyone, but it's nothing more than the barrier between us and the destiny of who we were created to be. Having it is not ...
131: Thriving After Shipwrecks and Sufferings
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's easy for any of us to go through some of life's biggest storms and to feel like it's the beginning of the end, or that there's no way we'll ever ...
130: Building Connected Masculine Friendships
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Developing camaraderie amongst men can be as simple as creating a common goal that requires a collective group to band together in order to achieve it...
129: The Redemption of What Wasn't
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Whether we understand it or not, family plays a vital role in experiencing a life of stability and confidence. For many of us, our family of origin ca...
128: Grieving the Loss of What Wasn't
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It can be easy to find ourselves consumed with regret and paralyzed with pain when we contemplate the dreams and desires that never panned out the way...
127: The Children We Won't Have
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us have an idea of what we think our life should look like. Our education, job, friends, family, and marriage are just a few aspects that we t...
126: Key Ingredients for a Success Cocktail
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many people believe that "success" just happens to a select lucky few, or for those that simply keep their head down and work hard. But what if succes...
125: Healing Pain, Shame, and Sexual Addiction
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of this two part episode, Abi and Justin sit down again with friend and fellow Life Consultant Laura Duncan. Together they take a deep div...
124: Pornography is not the Problem
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a world culture that has instant access to pornographic material it's realistic that so many people, both men and women, would use, or have addicti...
123: How You Attach to the People in Your Life
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a turtle or a hailstorm? The way we attach to one another is critical to understanding our behavior and connection in relationship. Through ou...
122: Renovating Your Life
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
House renovations can be daunting. They come with blood, sweat, and tears you didn't know you had the capacity to shed. They're expensive and time con...
121: Contagious Courage: A Live Healing Experience
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The pathway to healing and freedom isn't easy, and it certainly doesn't happen alone. When our process is walked out openly and vulnerably, within com...
120: The Power of Facing Your Fear as a Family
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Being honest with our family can sometimes feel more scary than any other people in our lives. The people that we care about the deepest are the ones ...
119: The Top Secret Truth to Transformation
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
People oftentimes wonder what the quick fix is to experiencing change in their lives. Although there is no magic pill, there is a fundamental componen...
118: An Intimate Look into the Healing Process
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Humans are naturally messy. The healing process is no different. For parents, It can be difficult to take an honest look at how their pain and actions...
117: Hearing God for Your Future Pt2
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Life has a way of throwing us curve balls. For most of us, it's a rarity to be prepared for these unforeseen circumstances when they hit our lives. Ma...
116: Hearing God for Your Future Pt 1
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout history people from all walks of life have believed that they could gain insight into their future, as well as others futures through one m...
115: Reconstructing Your Faith
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For every bit of deconstruction of one's faith, there must be a reconstruction of something, otherwise the end result will only be demolition. In this...
114: Loving Yourself in Religion
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The message often conveyed through religion is one of self-deprecation and unworthiness. A system of principles based on caring for others without reg...
113: Deconstructing Your Faith
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The journey to deconstruct one's faith can be filled with beauty and pitfalls. Some will find themselves reconstructing what was torn down, while othe...
112: 6 Key Phases of Faith
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As humans we were designed to be progressively growing, evolving, and maturing. The process for this to happen can often look messy and feel very disr...
111: Misconceptions We Learned From Religion
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Like anything else, religion is filled with rules and ideologies that we adopt as the truth we should live by. If we spend enough time in any system, ...
110: Faith and Emotional Health
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For many, faith and mental health simply don't mix. People either have strong spiritual practices that lack practical understanding of the human condi...
109: Eradicating Performance in Your Faith
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Since the beginning of time, religion has been a universal thread throughout humanity. Though varying immensely in its expression from culture to cult...
108: The Beginnings of Faith
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Faith can be a touchy subject for many people. For some, faith is what miraculously saved them from their deepest darkness. For others, it's the sourc...
107: A Behind the Scenes Look at Pornography with Benji Nolot
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In today's society, the moral compass regarding pornography points in many directions. In a world that has become progressively sexualized, the normal...
106: Creating a Lifestyle of Intentionality
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Life has a way of passing us by if we'll let it. In the end, many people find themselves feeling regretful for what they didn't do and what they did...
105: An Awakening of Acceptance
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New Year's resolutions are often about making a change, but rarely are they about simply desiring more freedom. Our need for change can often be roote...
104: Hindsight is 2020
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
2020 has been a rollercoaster ride for the entire world. It's been a year that has shaken many to the core. In all the craziness, some times it's hard...
103: A Fundamental Key to Living a Connected Lifestyle
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Granting access to the parts of our lives that feel too painful or messy to look at can be incredibly difficult. It's easy to feel scared and powerles...
101: Restoring Sexuality with Paul Young
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sexuality is often a subject shrouded in shame or minimized into absolute irrelevance. As a formative part of the human condition our views and expres...
100: Connecting to Yourself, Others, and God: Live-Celebration
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's time to celebrate. The Connected Life is 100 episodes old! We're like an expensive fine wine, aged to perfection. We're here to answer questions ...
99: A Guide to Political Discussions During the Holidays
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Holidays have a way of evoking a lot of emotions for the good and the bad. 2020 has been a unique year like none other in our nation's history. Some p...
98: Conquering Life Through a Can-Do Attitude
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Life is full of obstacles, and some of them can feel daunting and impossible to overcome. It's easy to feel powerless to the pursuits set before us. B...
97: Dreaming Like Royalty
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For many people, hopes and dreams can feel more like a fantasy than a reality. Often times, the things we long to do and experience can feel lofty and...
96: Two Vital Keys for Every Relationship
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We've all had our moments of believing the worst about someone and building a laundry list of complaints about them. These unspoken judgements are oft...
95: Creating a Lifestyle of Fun
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The idea of fun has been commercialized and monetized into extravagant, costly getaways and material possessions. People spend years saving up so they...
94: Discovering Purpose in the Nothingness
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are times in life that seem like nothing is happening. We lack vision and clarity for our future. We feel as though our hopes and dreams are bei...
93: From Crappy to Happy
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Let's all face it, life can sometimes feel like a rollercoaster. For some it's a series of high highs, and low lows. Others live in low lows and rarel...
92: Creating Victory Over Our Body Battle
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The battle with our bodies is often a tumultuous one. A majority of culture would universally acknowledge some form of a personal body battle for wome...
91: Justin's Surprise Birthday Interview
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's Justin's birthday and what better way to celebrate than for Abi to hijack The Connected Life and spring a series of questions on her lover about ...
90: A Surefire Solution to Feel Connected
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For some of us, it feels safer to live a life so self-sufficient that we don't ever need anyone. For others, we need people so much we can become a va...
89: Unearthing, Understanding, and Eradicating Shrouded Shame
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hidden in the recesses of our programming is a haunting voice driving our lives. Whether we acknowledge and understand it or not, this voice is very r...
88: Connecting to Eternal Power
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
True power has a source. In our humanity, disconnected from this source, we are limited to a dimly lit life. We struggle to get by, mostly just surviv...
87: Redefining Justice-The Path to Healing
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The subject of injustice is a fiery one. We've all experienced forms of injustice in our lives. Justice being served is a necessary part of righting w...
86: Finding Hope in the Present
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hope is a necessary component to experiencing a life fully lived. Looking at what didn't work out for us, or imagining a future that has yet to happen...
85: The Power of Celebrating Yourself
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Some people believe that celebrating yourself can lead to arrogance and pride. Often times people feel awkward and out of place when the spotlight shi...
84: Restoring Our Childlike Wonder
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For most of us adults, we find ourselves struggling to connect with creativity. We lose the ability to dream and create from a place of joy and happin...
83: The Power of People Centered Purpose
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For many, an end goal is the engine driving our lives and has a way of becoming our sole purpose. Along the way we can find ourselves being willing to...
82: Making Your Dreams a Reality
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Learning how to trust our inner voice, especially when it comes to the dreams and desires of our heart, can sometimes be difficult. Often times we are...
81: Creating an Anti-Affair Plan
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Building trust in a relationship can take years and requires immense vulnerability. When we've given our hearts to another human, the cost of betrayal...
80: Rebuilding From Rubble with Paul Young
13 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With so many unknowns, life can feel great one moment, and in the next, our world can feel like it's crumbling all around us. Sometimes the chaos and ...
79: Tub Talk- The Naked Truth About Marriage
06 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Marriage is a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, it's the answer to all our problems or the source of them. To others, it's just a contract b...
78: The Journey to a Dream Fulfilled
29 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this moment in history so many people are faced with mounting unknowns. As people are suffering the loss of jobs and businesses, many are asking th...
77: Seeking to Understand: A Time to Listen
22 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The current conversation around race can be confusing and seems to have many pitfalls. Politics and ideologies often muddy a much needed, and necessar...
76: Finding a Firm Foundation in Trying Times
15 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The world is truly faced with unprecedented trying times. After an outbreak of a global pandemic, filled with uncertainty, we're now face to face with...
75: Building Bridges Through Compassion
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The world is stricken with grief and seemingly more divided than ever before. Injustices caught on camera strike our humanity to the core. With the in...
74: Recalibrating Your Relational Role
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We all play a role in relationships. This role we play evolves in our childhoods as we take on very specific identities within our families. Some of u...
73: 12 Green-lights to Relationship
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Red flags are all the rave in relationship advice, but what about green lights? What are key signs to look for when choosing a friend or mate? Underst...
72: Sorry-The Cuss Word of All Cuss Words
18 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As humans, we have a tendency to make mistakes and be messy. If we spend any depth of time in relationship with one another, we're bound to create pai...
71: What Are All These Feelings?
11 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's easy to feel out of control and barraged by emotions. Sometimes it's unclear what we're feeling, or why we're feeling it. The truth is, emotions ...
70: The Dog is Not Our Problem
04 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's easy to find ourselves having complete meltdowns over seemingly trivial things. Without proper investigation, we can end up shaming ourselves, or...
69: Becoming Empowered in Relational Conflict
27 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For many of us, the villain in our story is very clear and if they would change, we would be just fine. Relationships often find themselves in never-e...