Episodes
Meaning

Episode
Human Relationality and Growth: Psychological and Theological Perspectives
“How do I grow as a fully differentiated person in relationship and increasing intimacy, increasing contribution with the world around me?” (Dr. Pam King, from the episode) Dr. Pam King joins the Yale Center for Faith & Culture podcast, For the Life of the World, for a discussion of human development, purpose, relational intimacy, and spiritual connection—all through the integration of developmental psychology and theology. With host Evan Rosa, she reflects on human change and plasticity in the midst of a whole complex life; relational attachment for the sake of intimacy and exploration and ultimate purpose or meaning; the proper...
Christian

Episode
Roots to Fruits: How to Live Out Love in Turbulent Times
If we want to bear good fruit in our lives, we must have strong roots. Good fruit must lead to love. As the Rev. Dr. Pam King offers in this episode, “Root into love so that you can live out love.” Speaking on Jesus’s parable of the Tree and Its Fruits in Luke 6, she draws on theological and psychological resources to reflect on the role of active and intentional love in a thriving life. Luke 6:43-45: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own...
Agility

Episode
Assessment: How to Reflect on Our Progress Toward Spiritual Health
“How did it go?” As we pursue purpose and spiritual health, we need regular opportunities to take stock and understand how our efforts are making an impact in our lives and in the lives of others. In the process of pursuing purpose, cultivating joy, and connecting more deeply to ourselves, we need to learn how to audit and assess how its going as we live out our spirituality and refine our values. In this episode, Dr. Pam King explains assessment—the final (and absolutely essential) step in the process of cultivating agility and adaptivity for spiritual health. At this stage, we...
Agility

Episode
Activation: Intentional Steps Toward Your Purpose
“Activate your skills, gifts, and passions for the benefit of others.” Activation is the practical step in the cycle of 5 A’s for Agility in Spiritual Health—where we implement a practice or exercise, make a move toward our values, or experiment with something to help us grow. In this episode, Dr. Pam King walks through the fourth step of the 5 A’s: Activate. This step in the cycle draws from each previous step, going from non-judgmental observation, internally connecting to our values, and then puts our values into action for the sake of living out our purpose.
Agility

Episode
Alignment: Connecting Our Experience with Our Values
“When our life is aligned to what truly matters, that is when we experience the most enduring joy.” In this episode, Dr. Pam King explains the 3rd step in the 5 A’s of Agility for Spiritual Health. Alignment is the process of becoming more reflective, drawing connections between our thoughts and emotions—and our beliefs, values, habits, and the experiences that shape us. This is the step where we look for our intentions and expectations and hold them up to our raw experiences and the possible meanings associated with them. We begin by identifying what’s true or what’s false in our...
Agility

Episode
Awareness: Non-Judgmental Reflection on Our Emotions and Thoughts
It’s not easy to reflect on our emotions without judging them or running away from them. It’s difficult to stay with challenging or frightening feelings and thoughts. But to cultivate awareness means taking an open, curious, and non-judgmental approach to observing our minds. More than simple or immediate observation (like Attunement), awareness asks us to get curious and reflect on our feelings, emotions, thoughts, and the landscape of experience we discovered in step one of attunement. What emotions are coming up for us? What thoughts keep coming into our consciousness? In this second step of the 5 A’s of Agility...
Agility

Episode
Attunement: Paying Attention to Our Feelings, Thoughts, and Sensations
What’s happening right now? What do you feel? What physical sensations are present from head to toe? The first step in practicing the 5 A’s of Spiritual Health is Attunement—a simple, direct process of connecting to reality, perceiving your experience of the present moment, and paying attention to our physical sensations. It’s as simple as a clear-eyed consciousness: listening, feeling, acknowledging, being aware of basic sensations. In this episode, Dr. Pam King explains attunement and the foundation it lays for cultivating greater agility and adaptivity. She oconsiders theological and psychological grounding for the benefits of attunement, and offers practical techniques,...
Agility

Episode
Agility and Adaptation through the 5 A’s of Spiritual Health
How can we cultivate agility and adaptivity in our chaotic, shifting times? Dr. Pam King offers a research-backed cycle of practices to incorporate into the rhythms of your daily life—helping you navigate change and work through life’s obstacles. She calls them the 5 A’s of Spiritual Health: Attunement, Awareness, Alignment, Activation, and Assessment.
Spirituality

Episode
A Psychology-Backed Framework for Healthy Spirituality
“Spirituality is deeply rooted in love, enables us to receive and experience love from beyond ourselves, and enables us and invigorates us to live out love as ourselves.” The precarious times we live in fill us with anxiety. The rifts and shifts of culture, politics, and religion are leaving us feeling unmoored, disconnected, and alienated from ourselves and each other. And a psychologically informed approach to spirituality is the antidote. In this episode, Dr. Pam King discusses why spirituality is so essential to the human experience, and how it operates as the antidote to the culture of anxiety and despair...
Spirituality

Episode
The Six Facets of Spiritual Health with Pam King & Dan Koch (You Have Permission)
Pam King joins licensed therapist Dan Koch on his podcast, You Have Permission, for a discussion of the six facets of spiritual health. Announcement! With & For Season 2 is dropping on January 5, 2025! And until then, every Monday from September to December, we’re sharing some shorter clips, practical features, and other talks or interviews featuring Dr. Pam King, to offer insight into what it means to thrive and pursue spiritual health.
Mindfulness

Episode
A Practice: Dr. Cynthia Eriksson Body Scan for Awareness
Dr. Eriksson guides you through a practice of scanning the body to cultivate awareness of sensation present there. This technique is an important first step – regulation – of building a resilience practice.
Practices

Episode
A Practice: Dr. Lisa Miller on Closing Doors so Others Can Open
Dr. Miller leads you through a practice where you imagine two doors – one red and one yellow. The red door is closed to you and the yellow door is open. How can you use this practice to understand opportunities and direction for your life? How can you identify how you have been guided along the way?…