Conversations with Cinthia

The Best Year Ever: Close the Year and Keep It Closed

We need new beginnings.  Too often, however, we drag our regrets with us into our new starts; then our pasts begin to control our presents and, by extension, our futures.  It's true that we can learn from past mistakes and that we often have to repair damage we've caused, but refusing to grieve and forgive ourselves and others doesn't really help us do that.  Join Cinthia to explore what to do when we can't believe what we did, when the waves of regret keep coming over us, and when we want to start new but can't release the shame of the old.  Explore what forgiveness does and does not mean, and learn how to let the old year pass away so the new one can start.

Introducing 2018: Preparing for the Best Year Ever

How do you feel about the dawn of a new year?  Do resolutions inspire you or overwhelm and discourage you?  Today, Cinthia opens a series on setting intentions for the new year so that we can make it the best year ever!  This doesn't mean 2018 will be without pain or surprises; it means that we will spend it growing, learning peace, and moving toward becoming the best versions of ourselves.  This episode introduces the position of intention, especially our intention toward the God Who is faithful to us.  Whether you love the New Year mindset or desperately need to know that every day is new, join Cinthia to consider what intentions will serve you best as you start again.  

Boundary Issues and the Holidays, Part 2: Maintaining Adulthood With Family

Have you ever noticed how often people change when they get around family?  Or how often family members try to change one another?  We may function as emotional adults in many areas of our lives, then start to act more like children or adolescents when near the people we have always known and loved.  Join Cinthia to explore how to accept the family you have and decide what boundaries might help you have the healthiest holiday you can with them.  

Boundary Issues and the Holidays, Part 1

Boundaries are crucial for our physical, emotional, and relational health.  Still, they can be so tough, especially when families gather and everyone wants to keep things merry and bright.  How do we know the difference between closeness and enmeshment?  Privacy and isolation? Helping and intruding? Emotional expression and manipulation?  What about the boundaries we keep with ourselves?  Some people know they struggle with boundary issues, and others don't recognize those issues in themselves.  What are your boundaries like?  Join Cinthia to increase your self-awareness and consider how you can make your relationships a little healthier this season.

Your Guaranteed Value, Part 2

Too many of us work and obsess (or perhaps give up in hopelessness) because we think we have lost our value, or perhaps were never really very valuable in the first place.  We may even question God's choices in creating us or be angry with Him for the ways that we are.  But our value has never been questionable to God.  Are you working and longing to regain what you never actually lost?  Have you given up hope that you will ever have what is right in your hands?  Join Cinthia to explore the possibility that your feelings and beliefs about yourself don't determine the reality of who you are -- God does.  

Your Guaranteed Value, Part 1

Are you someone who works constantly to be good enough but always fears you are just steps away from losing it?  Are you someone who doesn't try because you don't believe you'll measure up anyway?  What if your value is already set, determined, and guaranteed?  What if you are immeasurably valuable and unfathomably loved by God?  Would that mean you could step off the hamster wheel?  Step up to the plate?  Join Cinthia to explore what it might mean to accept the value that is already yours and live like you already matter.

Are You Generous, Part 3

Does generosity ever seem wasteful?  Deep down, do you want people to change before receiving generosity?  These thoughts are pretty human, and it is true that we are not looking to enable bad behavior with our giving.  But Cinthia elaborates today the idea that withholding is actually the more wasteful approach and that letting go of the need to control others with our giving frees everyone involved.  Join Cinthia to look at God as our model of generosity and at what God can do with whatever small gifts we can offer.

Are You Generous, Part 2

Is all generosity created equal?  We've probably all seen generosity we didn't trust.  What kind of generosity actually helps us?  Helps the world?  Makes God happy?  Today, Cinthia continues looking at ten characteristics of the generosity that God desires for us, plus offers four steps to effective generosity.  Also, in case you're wondering why generosity warrants a series on a mental health-related podcast, Cinthia explains what studies tell us about how being generous impacts our own mental health.  Generosity can change the culture, whether it's the culture of a society, workplace, or family.  Join Cinthia to look at how this works and what it might have to do with you.

Are You Generous, Part 1

If money is the main thing that comes to mind when you think of generosity, you will find this episode refreshing -- and possibly challenging!  Financial generosity is great, but Cinthia looks today at the gifts and fruits of the Spirit.  Are you generous with what God gives you and what He produces in your life?  It's not all about the wallet; it's about our whole walk.  Join Cinthia for a more complete consideration of the kind of generosity God wants.  

Keys to A Successful Relationship

At a wedding, couples make commitments to one another -- big commitments.  But sometimes they don't really know what daily behaviors move them toward or away from keeping the big promises.  Cinthia offers practical commitments we can make that support the bigger commitments we make in relationships and in life.  Whether it's differentiating between abuse and dysfunction, practicing forgiveness, being preventive regarding the path to affairs, learning to act like an emotional adult, or dealing with your own emotional baggage instead of focusing on your partner's, we bet you'll find some step you can take to move toward being your own best version today.  While you can't control the other person, you can move toward greater health and healthier relationship behaviors.   Be your own best version, and bring health to your side of your most intimate relationship.