Journey Through Life Podcast Justin Barton

Welcome to or welcome back to the Journey Through Life Podcast. I am Justin Barton and this is my show. Some of you may or may not have already listened to this podcast before, but it’s all about ordinary people with extraordinary stories and allowing a space where people can reflect on our own lives and look inward to learn wisdom from the life lessons and experiences of the guests of this show. I also invite my awesome guests to share some of the things that are most important to them so that future generations can receive words of wisdom directly from those who lived their lives and experienced the world today. Today we will be journeying with Jonathan and Christina Hales, a very cool couple with quite the story. I was introduced to this amazing couple through a mutual friend, and I am sure glad that she recommended that I talk to Jon and Christina. In this conversation we talk about an idyllic life and early marriage and family life that took a sudden and drastic turn. They share where they get their hope and strength for the present and the future. There is a recurring theme throughout this conversation and it is that of positivity, in spite of trials. I have named this episode of the podcast, Hales Happiness – Despite What is Going On – A Journey Through Life with Jonathon and Christina Hales. I can promise you an hour of emotions and insights like you may not have experienced in quite awhile.
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Welcome to or welcome back to the Journey Through Life Podcast. I am Justin Barton and this is my show. Some of you may or may not have already listened to this podcast before, but it’s all about ordinary people with extraordinary stories and allowing a space where people can reflect on our own lives and look inward to learn wisdom from the life lessons and experiences of the guests of this show. I also invite my awesome guests to share some of the things that are most important to them so that future generations can receive words of wisdom directly from those who lived their lives and experienced the world today. Today we will be journeying with Matthew Dicks, a story-teller, an elementary school teacher, an author of several novels and a recent, non-fiction book called Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling. He is also a podcast host and along with his wife, Elysha, they publish one episode of their podcast, Speak Up! Each week (it is one of the several podcasts that I make sure I catch each week), they also produce several Speak Up! Story-telling live events and workshops per year in their community. To learn more about him, the podcast, his books and other events that he holds, please go visit him at www.matthewdicks.com. He is a busy guy, and the title of this episode is Every Minute is Important: A Journey Through Life with Matthew Dicks. And with that title, I am even more grateful that Matt agreed to take a little over an hour of important minutes to share some really helpful and meaningful things with me and with you, the listening audience. I think you will find this hour or so of minutes important to you too, as you listen and strive to apply something from this conversation into your own life.

There you have it. Every Minute Is Important with Matthew Dicks. Thank you, again, Matt. It truly was a pleasure to get to know you a little better and learn from your experiences and insights and talents.
If you, like I, were inspired to do something new or different from this conversation, I plead with you to act on it… now… Don’t say, “I will get to it tomorrow” because you and I both know that we won’t. Do something about it, or it will be lost forever.
Thanks again for listening in. Rate and review us and come ready next week to learn and apply something else from another very meaningful conversation with ordinary people with extraordinary stories. Now, Go to. Make every minute important.

Items of Import:
www.alifeuntold.com - Code JUSTIN to save 10%
www.sheppardbrackets.com - Code JTLPOD5 to save 5%
www.radfordpineshomedecor.com - Code JTLPOD5 to save 5%
www.matthewdicks.com
www.speakupstorytelling.com
Book discussed by Matt:
- Storyworthy (link to purchase on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2VklkEr)
Podcast: Speak Up! (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speak-up-storytelling/id1386552794?mt=2)

"When things go wrong - there is always a right". Hear these words of wisdom and of hope from a very well-spoken and hopeful woman, Lindsey Marlin.
In this conversation we learn of tragic and great experiences that have guided this ordinary woman with an extraordinary life and story.
Today we will be journeying with Lindsey Marlin, a woman that I had spoken to once, for maybe 20 minutes before we had this call. And from that discussion, I felt the draw to ask her if she would be a guest on my podcast. And, as you will hear, I don’t think I was led astray in that thought. Her story is deep and meaningful and heart-breaking and hopeful. From the content of this conversation, I have chosen to name it “Acceptance – Know Your Worth – A Journey Through Life with Lindsey Marlin”.

Links to sponsors and to things discussed in the podcast.
A Life Untold: www.alifeuntold.com Promo code JUSTIN to save 10%
Sheppard Brackets: www.sheppardbrackets.com Promo code JTLPOD5 to save 5%.
Radford Pines: www.radfordpineshomedecor.com Promo code JTLPOD5 to save 5%.

This is the wrap-up episode of the Journey In Recovery series. In this, I share some of my biggest take-aways from this experience. There are others that will likely come to my mind after recording this, but, that is where I am now. If, after listening, you had other insights, I would love to hear about them. You can email me at thejtlpodcast@gmail.com. If you also would like to share your own experience, strength, and hope in a slightly different format than this one where we discussed primarily a specific step of recovery, I am happy to do that in a future episode of this podcast.

Now, here are some places and references that were mentioned in some of the episodes. This is not exhaustive, but includes many of them that I think will be helpful to many of you. You can do a web search on any or all of these and get great information on these services and products to help you in your own Journey.
• Al-Anon
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Sexaholics Anonymous
• S-Anon
• Sex Addicts Anonymous
• Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous
• Cocaine Anonymous
• Bigbooksponsorship.org
• ARPSupport.org
• Marijuana Anonymous
• Narcotics Anonymous
• Twowayprayer.org
• Father Bill W Podcast
• SAL12step.org
• Workaholics Anonymous
• All Addicts Anonymous
• Some books
o Step Into Action
o How To Listen To God
o 12 and 12
o Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
o White Book of Sexaholics Anonymous
• I am sure there are many others that I missed. If you heard something referenced in any of the episodes that invited you to learn more, act on that prompting and look it up and get it and apply it.

I think that my next project, after a few more traditional episodes of the Journey Through Life Podcast that I have already recorded will be a deeper dive into The Oxford Group and the 4 Absolutes and the 5 C’s and Quiet Time and 2 Way Prayer. Sure, there will be more slants of recovery in these, but I think we will be talking more history and application of these principles for anyone and everyone; addict or loved one of an addict or not. If you have extensive experience with any of these or relating principles, please contact me and we will start working on this project next.

Once again… If you have felt something in this or any of the episodes of the Journey Through Life podcast that is calling to you and beckoning you to improve on any aspect of your life…. ACT ON IT TODAY. It can and will make all the difference in your life, and possibly in your family tree for generations to come. May the God of your understanding bless you and keep you and yours. May we press forward with steadfastness in our determination to do a little better and be a little better ourselves. Then, as we do that, we can expand to doing and being little better as a family, as a community, as a nation and as a world. It all starts right here, in the heart of the individual. Have a good week, and be well, my friends.

In this close-out episode, we speak with Bert B, an alcoholic and drug addict with more than 48 years sobriety about Step 12. Bert has ties to some of the founders and original members of Alcoholics Anonymous and has some great stories about recovery, healing, and his experiences from his life have made him into quite the thinker. There are many places in this episode where he shares something that just blows my mind and goes beyond my current wisdom and comprehension. This wisdom is something that is driving me to learn more and more about life, about myself, and about the world and what is real.

If this is your first episode of this series (or of this podcast as a whole), I highly recommend that you go back and listen to all of the previous episodes of this Journey In Recovery series at some point. There are 12 Steps and they are in a prescribed order for a reason. So, whether you do that now, or after you listen to this episode, I heartily invite you to listen to the others and then continuing with the last few episodes over the next two weeks. Step 12 reads, “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”


In this and other conversations, you may be introduced to concepts that you have never before considered, or may even seem contradictory to what you have considered truth for perhaps your whole life, but these concepts are shared as honestly and openly as possible, using real experiences that cannot be denied as being true to these people sharing them.
While you listen, take mental or physical notes of ideas of self-improvement that pop into your head. Then, at the end of this podcast, review those notes and make a plan about how you can implement them.

Now, kick back, or hit the road, work out, do house or yard work, or whatever you do while listening to podcasts and be ready to learn and feel and gain insights like you may have never considered before. Here we go with Bert B.

So there you have it. Step 12. “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

Look at Bert’s life and the amazing things he has done since getting sober. Imagine your life 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 25 years from now. If you are then sober from whatever weakness or addiction that holds you down now, I can promise you will be a happier and more connected person. That you will have a light in your eyes that others will notice and you will be able to lift and serve others who walk this same path we do.

Please visit our sponsors who I purposely did not put at the beginning of this episode or any other for this 12 week series. But they are helping this podcast continue forward. They are alifeuntold.com, www.sheppardbrackets.com, and www.radfordpineshomedecor.com . Use promo code JUSTIN with A Life Untold to save 10% on your order, and JTLPOD5 at Sheppard Brackets and Radford Pines to save 5% on your orders there.

Have a good week, and press forward, one day at a time.

Resources:
Alcoholics Anonymous: aa.org
Narcotics Anonymous: na.org
Sexaholics Anonymous: sa.org
Sitting in a Rowboat Throwing Marbles at a Battleship: http://rowboatandmarbles.org/wordpress/

Just a quick heads up. This, is one of the most powerful conversations I have had thus far. I feel that this is a vital episode to share with young men and young women as parents feel it an appropriate age to do so. But this story starts at the age of 12 and is really relatable to many issues of today.

This week we will be talking with Phil about Step 12. Phil’s story starts at 12 years old with exposure to internet pornography and quickly spins out of control to suicidal thoughts and plans. We follow his journey and desperate search for healing and a return to the feelings he had before he was exposed to pornography. In this conversation, he refers to a structured program that helped him finally find the way to the solution. He doesn’t name the program, but afterwards, he let me know that I could let all know what that program is. It is ARPsupport.org. It is a 12-Step sponsorship program, targeted primarily to men and women who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are also sex addicts. Anyone is welcome to participate, but some of the documentation draws from scripture and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

Step 12 reads, “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

In this and other conversations, you may be introduced to concepts that you have never before considered, or may even seem contradictory to what you have considered truth for perhaps your whole life, but these concepts are shared as honestly and openly as possible, using real experiences that cannot be denied as being true to these people sharing them.

While you listen, take mental or physical notes of ideas of self-improvement that pop into your head. Then, at the end of this podcast, review those notes and make a plan about how you can implement them.

Now, kick back, or hit the road, work out, do house or yard work, or whatever you do while listening to podcasts and be ready to learn and feel and gain insights like you may have never considered before. Here we go with Phil.

So there you have it. Step 12. “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

If you felt or were motivated to take some steps in your own life to make some changes, I invite you, no I plead with you, as Phil did, to Enter a room, get a sponsor, and start on the path.

In this time of pandemic and social distancing, getting to a physical meeting likely won’t happen, but there are countless call-in meetings, web-cam meetings, etc. Go to these. I will put many of them in the show notes for your reference. Just get out and take that next step, NOW.

Now for the housekeeping part of the program. Please go and check us out on Facebook and Instagram at @JTL Podcast, like and follow us. Check out our website, https://www.jtlpod.com. You can also drop us a note about your own experiences, strength, and hope at thejtlpodcast@gmail.com.

Please visit our sponsors who I purposely did not put at the beginning of this episode or any other for this 12 week series. But they are helping this podcast continue forward. They are alifeuntold.com, www.sheppardbrackets.com, and www.radfordpineshomedecor.com . Use promo code JUSTIN with A Life Untold to save 10% on your order, and JTLPOD5 at Sheppard Brackets and Radford Pines to save 5% on your orders there.

Have a good week, and press forward, one day at a time.

Resources:
ARPSupport: https://www.arpsupport.org/
Sexaholics Anonymous: https://www.sa.org/
S-Anon (for the loved ones of sex addicts): https://www.sanon.org/
Sexaholics Anonymous Lifeline: https://sal12step.org/
Sitting in a Rowboat Throwing Marbles at a Battleship: http://rowboatandmarbles.org/wordpress/