This transcript was generated automatically. It may contain errors.
Pam King: Hello, With & For friends and listeners, Pam here
It’s hard to believe that this whirlwind of a year is drawing to a close, but this is just a part of natural rhythms of life. It’s a time to reflect and look back, a season of thanks, of joy, and of generosity, and celebration, and a time to finish strong and prepare with hope for what’s to come.
This is also the season of charitable giving. And before today’s episode, I’d like to invite you to partner with me and the Thrive Center.
If you’re still considering how to direct your year-end tax-deductible donations, I’d ask you to think about supporting our work on a monthly or annual basis.
Everything we do is funded by an operations budget we raise, whether by grants or gifts, from like-minded people just like you. We’d love to have you partner with us. So your gift today ensures that we continue to bring you these episodes of with and for, along with providing so many other psychologically and spiritually informed resources for cultivating a life of meaning, purpose, and thriving.
Making a gift is simple. If you love what we’re doing, just head over to thethrivecenter.org/ contribute. Thank you, my friends.
Pam King: I’m Dr. Pam King, and you’re listening to With & For, a podcast that explores the depths of psychological science and spiritual wisdom to offer practical guidance towards spiritual health, wholeness, and thriving on purpose.
Jill Westbrook: Hello, With & For listeners, I’m Jill Westbrook, and today is our last installment in our series on The Virtues of Advent. So far, Dr. Pam King has offered meditative exercises to explore and grow into hope, peace, and joy. We’ve been exploring each of these through the Thrive Center’s unique approach to cultivating agility and adaptivity in a life of spiritual health. It’s a process that involves attunement, awareness, alignment, activation, and assessment.
And today, the last Sunday of Advent, it’s all about love. Christmas in the Christian tradition is about the love of God given to us in Christ. A transformative love that enables us to grow and change, connect and relate, forgive and let go, and make a difference and seek justice.
ONe last note before we jump in. This is our last episode of our full first year of With & For, and we are so amazed and delighted that you’ve been with us on this journey towards spiritual health, wholeness, and thriving.
And on Monday, January 6, we’ll be launching season two of the show. We’re excited to bring you new guests, offering incredibly powerful insights from psychology and spirituality that help us to live a life of thriving. Thank you for joining us today. Here’s Pam on how to lean into love and live out love this Advent season.
Pam King: The fourth week of Advent focuses on love. Advent is an important season to practice love, to attune to love, to become more aware of love, to align our lives to it, and to activate through love.
Within the Christian tradition, love is more than a feeling. It is the ultimate message of Christ. According to the book of John, Jesus said, “as I have loved you, you must love one another.” Love compels us forward through darkness and light, with its power to connect and heal.
How do you connect more readily to love? Love for God? Love for others, and love for yourself. Consider the ultimate source of love with me today and who you are as beloved. Ultimately, love has the power to transform and it involves our thoughts, Feelings and behaviors center on love using these simple steps to guide you
We’ll start with a tune in order to feel sensations of love in our bodies. Close your eyes if you’re comfortable. And take a big inhale through your nose and then sigh that breath out through your mouth. You are breathing in the breath of God and you are in the loving presence of God. Breathe in God’s love, exhale what you need to.
As you steadily breathe in God’s love, attune to the sensations. that exist within your body? Where and how might you be sensing love in your body? Is there a warmth, light, a glimmer somewhere? What does love feel like in you? If you are not easily feeling a sense of love within your body, is there something about Advent?
Something about Christmas that can help you generate a sensation of love within you. How does that love feel? Next, become aware. What are these feelings of love saying to you? What do they say about you? What emotions does reflecting on love bring up for you? Consider what these feelings say. about sources of love in your life.
What do they reveal about what love motivates you toward?
Or what do they suggest might block or prevent your experience of love?
Although love is often associated with joy and connection, sometimes thinking of love can lead to feelings of sadness or even bitterness and resentment. What do these feelings lead to? and ideas of love say about your deepest desires and perhaps what God desires for you.
Imagine love filling you up.
What would be the source of that love?
Have you been at all surprised by love today?, what is one thing that stands out about what you might have learned as you consider love in this meditation? Next, we align to love and set our intentions to pursue love. Does reflecting on love give insight into what you value, whether those are big or smaller things?
Is your day planned? Or how is it unfolding in ways that align you with experiencing love? Whether that is receiving love or giving love.
What does love say about your deepest beliefs about what matters most in life?
Who in your life needs love from you? If love did not come naturally, consider how you might align your day to day with sources of love. How might offering love to others inform who you spend your time with? What activities or situations might you pursue in the coming weeks of Advent?
And how do you live out love in the world?
Love opens us up to creativity, to connecting, to celebrating, to acting. And now we activate. How can you activate or take one step towards living into love today? Is there someone who needs love in your life?
Is this invitation of love part of your normal routine? Or does it require stepping out to pursue more love intentionally?
What is one thing you can do to lean into love or to live out love?
In closing, share your thoughts and desires with God. And may the love of God be with you and pervade your life this week as you anticipate the coming of Christ this Christmas.
Jill Westbrook: Thanks for listening everyone. This concludes our journey through Advent. We hope you have a Christmas that is full of hope, peace, joy, and love. We’ll be taking this next week off from production to take a deep breath before launching into season two of With & For on Monday, January 6th, 2025. Until then, you can find a wealth of practices and resources on our website, thethrivecenter.org and you can support the season two launch in small ways, sharing episodes on social media, telling a friend about the show or rating and reviewing the show in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Merry Christmas.
Pam King: With & For is a production of The Thrive Center at Fuller Theological Seminary.
For more information, visit our website, thethrivecenter.org, where you’ll find all sorts of resources to support your pursuit of wholeness and a life of thriving on purpose. I am so grateful to the staff and fellows of the Thrive Center and our With & For podcast team.
Jill Westbrook is our Senior Director and Producer. Lauren Kim is our Operations Manager. Wren Jeurgensen is our Social Media Graphic Designer. Evan Rosa is our Consulting Producer. And special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy.
I’m your host, Dr. Pam King. Thank you for listening.
Pamela Ebstyne King, Ph.D.
Pamela Ebstyne King is the Executive Director of the Thrive Center and the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science in the School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her life’s purpose is to help people thrive. To this end, her academic work focuses on psychological and theological perspectives of human thriving and social flourishing. Her psychological research focuses on spiritual and moral development; the role of transcendent beliefs, narratives, and emotions in virtue development; and environments that promote thriving for diverse people. TheThriveCenter.org translates research into resources that promote wholeness, thriving, and spiritual health, and she is the host of the With & For podcast.
Episode Summary
Christmas is about the love of God given to us in Christ. Love compels us forward through darkness and light—enabling us to grow and change, connect and relate, forgive and let go, and make a difference and seek justice.
This December, we’re celebrating Advent with you by offering four guided meditations by Dr. Pam King—considering how to cultivate the Advent virtues of hope, peace, joy, and love into our lives this year.
We’d be grateful if you considered the Thrive Center in your year-end giving. To make a year-end tax-deductible gift, visit thethrivecenter.org/contribute.
Don’t forget that Season 2 of With & For launches with all new episodes on January 6, 2025!
Show Notes
- Jesus said, "As I have loved you, you must love one another.”
- “Love compels us forward through darkness and light, with its power to connect and heal.”
- Love for God, love for others, and love for yourself
- You are beloved.
- Breathing practice
- Attuning to sensations of love in your body
- What are these feelings of love saying about you, your values, your beliefs?
- What does love say about your deepest beliefs about what matters most in life?
- Who needs love from you today?
- How do you live out love in the world?
- What is one thing you can do to lean into love or to live out love?
About the Thrive Center
- Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.
- Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter
- Follow us on X @thrivecenter
- Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter
About Dr. Pam King
Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. Follow her @drpamking.About With & For
- Host: Pam King
- Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
- Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
- Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen
- Consulting Producer: Evan Rosa
Explore More
Hope
First Sunday of Advent: Hope
The first Sunday of Advent represents hope. Discover the history, relevant scripture, and how it fits into the Advent season.
Blog
Second Sunday of Advent: Peace
The second Sunday of Advent represents peace. Discover the history, relevant scripture, and how it fits into the Advent season.
Joy
Third Sunday of Advent: Joy
The third Sunday of Advent represents joy. Discover the history, relevant scripture, and how it fits into the Advent season.