Spiritual Conversations in a Divided World

SPEAKER_00 0:00

On this week's episode of Three Cups in a Dash of Spirituality, we are going to revisit religion and another awesome listener question. And if you like what you're hearing, make sure you're downloading everything wherever you listen to podcasts. Play the music. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of Three Cups and Dash of Spirituality. Stacey here with Carissa. Hello, hello. And Michelle. Hey everyone, how are you? All good here. What are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Well, I think we're gonna do a follow-up to the episode we did on religion versus spirituality. It is a topic that completely pushes my comfort zone, but we had a lot of people reaching out about it and had some thoughts shared with us. I just was really inspired by people wanting to find that common thread or wanting to find some support in that. So I thought we'd just revisit it a little bit and open this conversation back up.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I have a listener question as well, if we have time. So I like listener questions. Again, this is based on a listener's DM to us, just kind of wanting that support in the difference between spirituality and the more structured religion. Again, it pushes my boundaries because I'm kind of all over the place. Like being raised as a Christian, I very easily still step into God as a man. All of us had a conversation about that a couple of weeks ago. But still, when I picture him in my mind, he's the man. Like I don't even know why I'm sharing that, but I feel it's important because I still have those structures, even though I believe spiritually that God is everything and God is inside us, but you will never hear me say, I am God, even though I believe he lives inside me.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Right. Right. Yeah. It it's a hard concept, I think, to step into. I know being a a Reiki master teacher, one of the things that I spend a lot of time talking about in, you know, when I teach is, you know, the meaning behind namaste, which is a very spiritual word that has a pretty significant background. And I think one of the most like meaningful things to me is what namaste actually means is the God or goddess in me sees and honors the god or goddess in you. And so it's just this beautiful way of of creating that, like almost we are all the same. We are made of God, we are source, we are, you know, one in a way. And I think it's it's kind of a it's hard to grasp, I think, in you know, with just stepping into it and and like looking at it simply, like it's it's a very it's a big cost, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

And I will say, have you ever been in like a dream state and you're working with your guides and you know you're working with them and they're sharing so much, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And then as you wake up, like you forget it, even though it was so clear a minute ago. And someone, I think it might have been Carissa or maybe you, Stacey, said to me, Maybe it's because they're at such a high vibration. We're only supposed to understand this much right now on this earthly plane. And I kind of translate that into my vision on spirituality and religion too. Like we're put on this earth, some of it we cannot even comprehend. And I've put it in a structure where I'm straddling both sides and it makes sense to me, but I'm constantly revisiting it, I'm constantly questioning it and growing from it. It is never-ending for me.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

So, in my astrology, I'm working with the astrological counselor, she's like, because I love to just learn. I am a learner, I'm a perpetual learner. I want you to hand me the book so I can learn it. And she said, in your chart, you have to go within and learn it. You're the you're gonna be the teacher through what you learn within. And for me, that's very, very difficult because I have ADHD and I don't want to sit still. I mean, it's like I don't, you know, I just don't. For example, when my grandmother passed and she was in this little place before she transitioned, and I didn't feel her around. And and my grandfather came up and and spoke to me while she was right there, and she couldn't see him. And it's like, okay, well, then what is this space? So I'm writing uh a book, it's nothing big and dense, and but it's it's it'll be cool. And um, I'm writing it, and I had a spirit guide come in, super cute guy, like early 30s, gay, beautiful blue, bright eyes. And he was like, I'm here to help you with your book. And I'll turn to him and I said, Oh, good. I said, Yeah, it'll be written in a year. And he goes, and looked off, like, I don't think so. And I said, Well, I think I get it done in a year and then edit, and then that's a question. It's like, wow, there's so many questions that I'm learning through my own experience that I've never learned in any spiritual trainings, or and it's totally different than my Christian upbringing. And it's even a little nerve-wracking sharing this because it's it, I don't find it anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Well, you know, you just you just brought up something that kind of triggered a thought that I kind of was having a little bit is, you know, we are here for a human experience, right? Like we are in these, we wear these meat suits, we go through our day-to-day, we go through, you know, both the shit things in life and the things that you know we love that are wonderful, but ultimately it's it's really about the human experience. So I think if we were to, you know, perhaps remember everything that you were just talking about, Michelle, or able to see, hear, and experience all things spiritual all of the time, we would lose touch with with that innate humanness too. So when we're talking about religion and spirituality, kind of like, you know, you having these beautiful experiences with your with guides, us having these experiences with with different things. Can you imagine for just a moment if we had the ability to see, hear, talk to everything all the time?

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Oh, I couldn't do it. Right? No, I mean, I don't, I couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Right? You we you lose you lose that that humanist. So it's interesting with you, with you talking about writing the book and and having to step into the human part of that too and go, okay, I understand, when we kind of talk about this idea of God or source or whatever we want to call it being everything, right? I hope that made sense because I kind of know, and it's like, I know.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

So I'm a Virgo, so I have to like break it down in like steps and pieces, and I get what you're saying, but yes, in my mind, I'm like, I just wanna take little pieces before I look at the big picture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

As I said, being raised Christian, I believe in God, I work with the archangels, but here's where the spirituality comes in. You know, it flows down from God, but who's to say, like an extraterrestrial or another life form isn't another form of angels? Like I have to put it in a context that make makes sense to me, but to share it like right now, super vulnerable because people are gonna judge. And I don't even answer. There's no right answer, and we're only each getting our own like slice of the pie, and they will connect, but they're gonna be completely different. There's gonna be common threads, but different.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Well, and the way we understand things and the way we we conceptualize different ideas, it really is dependent on our own human experience. So I think that this is where I step away from these are my firm beliefs. This is what I absolutely believe in, because I would rather open a discussion and have a warm, you know, enriching conversation. And what I what I find is when you are vulnerable, if you're willing to be vulnerable with people who are open to that and can hear what you have to say rather than saying, you're wrong, the Bible says XYZ, you're wrong. This is the way it is. It really kind of allows that that safe space. And like I love religion, I I really do.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

I I am I know I love learning about all I love all kinds of religion.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Yes, I'm I'm fascinated. Yeah, because I like you can look back and see how it shaped humanity in so many different ways. I just really for for me in my my personal like spiritual and religious belief systems, step away from holding beliefs so strongly that I would look at you, Michelle, and say, You're wrong. Your your viewpoint is incorrect, or Carissa, you're absolutely wrong. Because there are so many parallels that we can draw between all of the different things. Now, you know, I I is God a person. I don't know. I don't know, but I understand why in a lot of viewpoints people make God a person. I understand, yeah, because it's it's a way we can put something to it. We need that tangibility, we need that ability to connect, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Yeah, yeah. And I'm not black and white thinking, I just can't say this is the right answer, and that's the wrong, it's just it's not how I operate.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

No, and I wish everybody was as open to other people expressing themselves as like the two of you are that we all three are. I'm open too. I want to hear what people have to say, but I have been literally shut down, and that's where the fear comes from, and that's where the block comes from. And I just have to remember, you know, they're not there yet. I won't have this conversation with them, but it does change my perception of them a little bit too, because I'm not judging you, but I feel judged. And as soon as I step into feeling judged, then I gotta take a step back.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Well, and and sometimes, like, because I I too have been shut down in in those conversations because I mean it's it's you're it's essentially par for the course whenever you have challenging topics in general. When I step into a conversation and I realize someone is very rigid in their beliefs, I pull mine off the table and just let them go.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Well, and that's what I was just thinking about rigid, is that I feel like even though I may be quiet, they may sense that I'm judging them. And the reality is, I'm not saying you're right or wrong. What I am saying internally is, oh, I wish you could maybe step back and see more things. Right. But they could feel that as judgment. So I can't say I'm sitting over here not judgmental because it could definitely come across, even though I'm like, oh, I wish they could see more.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Well, I it in and I guess one of the things that that I'll add to that is when when I find that rigidity, I don't even know if that's a word. Yeah, yeah, I ask open-ended questions, like, tell me more. You know, what what else are you thinking? Not and and I think I do that mostly because while I'm not going to open up about my belief system, which, you know, when when I face that that rigid thought process, I want to hear yours. And I'm okay with you not knowing my viewpoints on things, but I want to learn from you so I can take my opinion off the table and and hear everything that you have to say.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

And by that, you are kind of learning about them as a person and their character, their personality too. Right. Which is good. We gotta, we gotta know what we're working with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

And we all have to remember, too, that right now we're talking about our views on spirituality or how we are as a spiritual being or a religious being. But we have to remember in this human life, we also have eyes that see the world differently. And it's okay to have a different point of view. Some people might like pizza, some people might like Chinese food, but there's probably a pizza Chinese place you can go to, like for dinner or something. Like there's ways to work through it if you're open and ready to be flexible. But just remember you're coming at things from a different lens anyway.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Well, yeah, everybody's experience again, you know, all of our life experiences are are what shape our opinions and who we are. Yep. And, you know, I think that's one of the coolest things too. It's like you the three of us can walk away from, you know, even this podcast having different takeaways that, you know, with one thing, one of us has said, did completely different takeaways. And that's because we see through the lens of our life experiences.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

And I love that because I have left this podcast with so many aha moments. I think I've even shared them on air. Like you just taught me something I didn't know or didn't think of, and I was super excited about that to explore it. And so, yeah, always learning, always evolving, always changing.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Well, and I'm gonna also throw out there, too, one of my favorite things to say, and I I actually I think I annoy a lot of my family and friends when I say this, is there are three sides to every story yours, mine, and what happened. Because my perception of what happened is different from yours, and everything's subjective.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Everything's subjective, and we're the lens of our past.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah, and and just to throw out there, when I worked in child protective services, that is one of the biggest things that they would say is that is the biggest reason open-ended questions are always key. Because if you ask a direct yes or no question, you can easily sway somebody to answer something or say something that didn't happen.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

So, what advice would you give to people who are really trying to figure it out and struggling with it?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Well, the therapist comes out on my side. It's like, tell me more about the struggle, which is the open-ended question, because I think it's going to be individualized.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

I would say my advice would be to just be open, honestly, and and continue to explore. You know, it's it's this is one of those very um touchy topics for a lot of people. So being open and just allowing yourself to learn and grow, it doesn't have to mean you make a solid decision about all of your viewpoints today. I don't even have a solid viewpoint.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

And what just came through for me intuitively to say is give yourself grace.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah. Giving yourself grace and that time just to be human and give it to other people too, because they're looking at life and everything through their own lenses and their own triggers and their own lessons. And we're not supposed to keep each other small, we're supposed to build each other up and grow. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Do you want to transition over to the question that I have? Yes, I do. All right. So I love this because uh she threw out a username and her username is pigeon person. The question is do you ever feel that you are drawn to do something that is a sign for someone else? For example, my mother feels that it is her job to flip over pennies she sees on the ground if they are face down, so they are face up for the next person. I have felt drawn to place coins or interact with a stranger. And the only thing I can think of is that it isn't for me, but for the other person. Have you ever had any experiences like that?

SPEAKER_02 16:38

So her mother, I just have to go back to that. It's kind of sweet, it's so sweet. So her mother feels intuitive spiritually drawn to when she sees a penny to turn it over. Gosh.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yep. I have never heard of that. I know people that collect pennies that are only heads up, you know, because they take it as a sign or a good luck like token. Yeah, I have never heard that. Yeah. Yeah. When I was in high school, I worked in a nursing home and there was a gentleman that would intentionally walk around the parking lot during the day and collect coins that were all heads up because he thought that they were like winks from heaven or just love from you know, loved ones that have passed on. And interestingly, along those lines, when I had change, I would always drop it so that he could continue to yeah. And so was it intuitive? I I don't know if I can answer that, but I think for him it was so meaningful that it kind of, I guess, does become a little intuitive. Oh, that's sweet.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

And then you should have put this question ahead of time because, like, you know, when your experience is so big and you've had so many of them, it's funny, narrow it down from when it so I guess the I'm let me clarify the question.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Have I been guided to do something to help somebody else? That's essentially I think essentially what she's asking.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yeah, oh gosh, lots of times without realizing it though, like without realizing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Well, I guess so. Here the one that just happened was uh in intuitively, it was come out of your mouth, give yourself grace. I don't know if that's meant for anybody, right? Don't know. I think a lot of times we do things that we don't know. And if I hadn't tapped, if I didn't, that spirit guide didn't come through in that dream, I wouldn't know he was helping me. And I have to tell you, when he came in and after the writing totally changed after that, and I went back to look at the other one, I was like, other writing? I was like, Oh yeah, that's kind of embarrassing. That's so how much help are we getting from the other side is another question. And what are we how I mean, is it sometimes 80%? How much do we really know?

SPEAKER_00 18:57

It's interesting because I'm I'm sitting here because I I actually did not read this question ahead of time either. I'm I'm sitting here just kind of thinking about small moments, like when I'm at the grocery store and I very intentionally go out of my way to compliment somebody, not necessarily because you know, I feel the need to compliment them, but perhaps they need they need something positive to walk away, you know, in their lives with, right? You know, did they perhaps have a really bad day and they just needed a smile? Is is that intuitive, or is that just kind of like, oh, you know, you're being a good person? I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

And I love that because that's what comes to mind. Like I'm always doing little things like that. I mean, I can say whenever I go somewhere, I always feel like I need to protect my family.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

And I just step into that without well, and I I think I think what you're kind of alluding to in a way is is we're so connected to our spirit selves, most people are, that we are most likely doing very spiritual acts without intentionally doing really spiritual acts. Does that make sense? It does.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

And what popped in my mind when you were saying that, have you ever had a friend in need and you don't know they're in need, but they pop into your mind and you just give them a call and just say, Hey, how are you doing? And you send them words of encouragement. They're like, That's exactly what I needed to hear today. Right. I mean, little things like that all the time. Just all the time. But as you said, they're so part of what we do and who we are at the core that to us it just is part of that big picture.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah, yeah. It's just a compliment to a stranger at the grocery store, you know? It's just, you know, I'm popping in and just checking in with somebody.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

It's easy that we could have been guided to to do that without our knowing, yeah, consciousness, knowing realization.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah. Does it ever surprise you when somebody does that for you? And which, like, I didn't know I needed it, that was absolutely the perfect thing in this moment.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yes, yes. And do you know kindness actually length lengthens telomeres? Like it actually helps your health and can make you live longer. I was just reading this just the other day. So, was I who did someone give that to me because we're doing this podcast, so then I'm supposed to tell someone else this.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

I mean, that that makes sense to me because in with the growth of positive psychology, like it's I mean, we're learning that positive psychology and the change in in dopamine and all of that great stuff in the mush that's in our head, it it's really impactful, right? Like, I mean, how many studies have demonstrated that raising kids with positive psychology actually creates a much healthier growth in general stable nervous system, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah, right. What this is bringing up for me is every day when I say my faith talk, I believe in love, giving it and receiving it. I believe in kindness because it is contagious. And I do, I mean, I say it every single day. So I'm loving this conversation. Like I'm glowing. Look what you guys are doing for me right now.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

It really does shift perspective though, you know. And and what's interesting is there are also times when you're in a funk that you still you have you kind of have to be in a funk. But so I'm I'm gonna expand on that a little bit because I don't know if it made a lot of sense. I I had a friend call me on Thursday and and she was having a bad day, and I was having I was having a super off day. So I was in a bad mood on Thursday, and just and it wasn't anything that really happened. Sometimes you just wake up and you're just it, it just is in off mood. And so she and I talked for like 10, 15 minutes. And when we got off the phone, she sent me a text and said, Thank you. That's exactly what I needed. I actually feel better because all we did was sit in a space of like that same emotion.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Yeah, so she felt validated, so did you.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yeah. So, and and it's interesting because uh we talk about positive psychology and the kindness and and really putting emphasis on you know, making the positive changes, but sometimes positive can come from a negative.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Absolutely. It lights up your amygdala when you're feeling heard and seen and supported. So you're both in the same space, right? Maybe that lengthens the telomeres too. I don't know. Maybe we'll read something this week about it.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

We probably will, but I just want to share real quickly before we close out, because I didn't know why this happened to me this morning. But this has been the toughest summer of my life. Hands down, it's been challenging, but not only for me, but for all of my friends. Everyone is going through something difficult and it steals the joy. You're not able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and you're just basically surviving. You're so busy you don't have time to think of anything beyond two or three minutes. And this morning when I woke up, and this is gonna be on social media because I filmed it just this morning. There was a double rainbow outside my window, and I felt that shift of energy and the fact that we're all turning a corner here. Is it gonna be perfect? No, is it manageable? Yes, like we've got this.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

And I just got full body chills when you said that. So I think I I really needed that because you know, you're you're not all three of us have had really challenges.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

I thank you, Michelle.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yes, welcome. Thank you guys. Like this has been a really fun episode, and thank you to the listener that sent in that question on that religion. Yeah, that kind of sparked a revisit of this because it is important. And like again, just remember we're all learning, we're all in this together, and you're not alone and trying to figure it out. We're we're still doing it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

And and thank you to the other listener that sent in that question because I think that's you know, a nice ship. So so I guess what I will do is close out with uh stay classy, stay sassy, and stay badass.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Until next time, everyone. Bye guys.