MIDDLE GROUND - Real Conversations on Faith, Identity & Becoming — Through Brynne's LDS Lens of Curiosity, Love and Doubt

Brynne Erickson - Educator, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Life Coach, Mother
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If you're a spiritually-minded person in the beautiful, messy process of creating your life and asking the hard questions then you just found your people. Middle Ground is hosted by life coach and mom Brynne Erickson, and is a space for the real, honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations about faith, identity, relationships, health, personal growth and much more. With roots in Latter-day Saint (Mormon) faith and culture, this show explores the full, multidimensional experience of being human and becoming more with genuine curiosity about the many other ways of living and believing. Because the more honestly we see each other, the better we love ourselves and the people around us.

  1. 1d ago

    Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: How Your Thoughts Are Creating Your Life — Part 4

    In the final episode of the Thought Model series, I bring it all together with actions and results. The results in your life right now are not random. They are the output of a loop that has been running on autopilot. Thoughts generate feelings, feelings drive actions, actions create results, and results become new circumstances that trigger the loop again. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's research shows positive emotional states broaden our thinking and options while negative states narrow them. The loop becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where we literally create evidence for what we already believe. The most accessible place to interrupt it is at the thought. I walk through the difference between unintentional models running by default and intentional models that start with the result you want and work backward. Thanks to neuroplasticity, you are not stuck with the brain or the thoughts you have always had. Every intentional thought you choose is building a new neural pathway. Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/faith_in_process_comunity_offer Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters: 00:00 — Your Results Are the Output of a Loop 01:30 — Feelings Drive Actions: Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's Research 03:00 — The Loop: How Results Become New Circumstances 04:30 — The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and Why It Keeps Running 06:00 — Unintentional Models vs Intentional Models 07:30 — Working Backward From the Result You Actually Want 08:30 — Where Affirmations and the REACH Method Fit In 09:30 — Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together 10:30 — Neuroplasticity: You Are Not Stuck With the Brain You Have 11:30 — The Full Model One More Time: Let It Land 12:30 — You Are Not at the Mercy of Your Circumstances

  2. Sep 19

    Feelings Last 90 Seconds: The Science of Emotions in Your Body — Part 3/4

    In part three of the Thought Model series, I get into the actual science of what happens in your body when an emotion fires. An emotion has a 90-second physiological lifespan. After that, the only thing keeping a feeling alive is the thought that keeps retriggering it. Dr. Candace Pert showed that emotions are biochemical events happening throughout your entire body, not just your brain. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk showed the body stores emotional imprints that the thinking mind cannot fix on its own. When a strong emotion fires, your prefrontal cortex goes partially offline, which Dr. Daniel Siegel calls flipping your lid. Willpower does not work in that state. The sequence is: let the chemistry move through, breathe, regulate, and then examine the thought. Anxiety, grief, anger, and sadness are all messengers with information. You are not too emotional. You are human and your feelings are doing exactly what they were designed to do. Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters: 00:00 — The 90-Second Emotion: What That Actually Means 01:30 — Feelings Are Caused by Thoughts Not Circumstances 02:30 — The Biochemistry: Dr. Candace Pert and Molecules of Emotion 04:00 — Why Feelings Live in Your Body: Gut, Chest, Throat 05:00 — The Body Keeps the Score: You Cannot Think Your Way Out 06:00 — Flipping Your Lid: Why Willpower Fails Mid-Emotion 07:30 — The Sequence: Regulate First, Examine the Thought Second 08:00 — Feelings Are Information Not Problems 09:00 — Anxiety, Grief, Anger, Sadness: What Each One Is Telling You 10:00 — Emotional Intelligence and Why It Changes Everything 11:00 — Next Episode: Actions, Results and How to Change Your Life on Purpose

  3. Sep 17

    Your Thoughts Are Optional: Circumstances vs Thoughts in the Thought Model — Part 2/4

    In part two of the Thought Model series, I go deep on the difference between circumstances and thoughts. A circumstance is a neutral fact that could be captured on a video camera or stated in a court of law with no interpretation. A thought is the story your brain creates about that fact. My husband didn't take out the trash is a circumstance. My husband never listens and doesn't care is a thought. I share the neuroscience behind why your brain does this, including Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett's theory of the brain as a prediction machine and Dr. Daniel Kahneman's system one and system two thinking. Your brain is producing personalized interpretations based on your entire history, not objective truth. The most liberating idea: your thoughts are optional. This week's practice is the video camera test: when something gets a reaction out of you, pause and ask what would a camera actually capture here?  Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters: 00:00 — Introduction: There Was a Thought Between What Happened and How You Felt01:30 — What a Circumstance Actually Is (Neutral Facts Only)03:00 — Thought vs Circumstance: Real Life Examples04:30 — Why Your Thoughts Feel Like Facts: Cognitive Distortions05:30 — The Neuroscience: Your Brain Is a Prediction Machine07:00 — System One vs System Two Thinking08:30 — Your Thoughts Are Optional09:30 — How to Examine Your Thoughts: Cognitive Restructuring11:00 — The Video Camera Test: Your Assignment This Week12:00 — Next Episode: Where Feelings Live in Your Body

  4. Sep 10

    Why Your Life Is a Result of Your Thoughts Not Your Circumstances - Part 1/4

    In this first episode of a four-part series, I teach the Thought Model developed by Brooke Castillo of the Life Coach School, a tool that has been foundational to my own growth. The model has five components: circumstances lead to thoughts, which lead to feelings, which lead to actions, which create your results. Most of us assume our circumstances cause our feelings, but between every circumstance and feeling there is always a thought. I share how this idea goes back to Stoic philosophers like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, and how it became the foundation of cognitive behavioral therapy in the 1950s. The same critical feedback from a boss can make one person feel motivated and another feel shame, because the thought in between is different. Your assignment this week: when you notice a strong feeling, pause and ask what am I thinking right now? Next episode we go deep on circumstances and thoughts. Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters00:00 — Introduction to the Thought Model 01:00 — The Five Components: Circumstances, Thoughts, Feelings, Actions, Results 02:30 — This Is Not New: Stoic Philosophy and 2000 Years of Proof 04:00 — How CBT and the Thought Model Are the Same Idea 05:00 — The Critical Feedback Example: Same Circumstance, Different Results 06:00 — Your Life Is Shaped by What You Think, Not What Happens 07:00 — Your Assignment This Week

  5. Sep 3

    My Dad Came Out as Gay in 1988: Growing Up, Forgiving & Choosing Love — Drey Hill

    In this episode, I sit down with my church friend Drey Hill.  Drey was born into the LDS church in 1987, and shortly after, his dad came out as gay to his mom. They divorced but remained incredibly close, with his dad attending every birthday, Christmas, and primary program while his boyfriend Brian became a regular part of family life. Growing up Drey kept it a complete secret at church, feeling he couldn't share during testimony meetings or anywhere else. He carried anger into his mission after learning how much his dad had hurt his mom. The turning point came in Wilton Manor, Florida's gay community, where a spontaneous encounter with a gay couple cracked his heart open. He also shares finding himself through an imposter syndrome breakthrough, surviving a devastating miscarriage, and what his dad taught him about God's love from a hospital bed. Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters: 00:00 — Introduction & How Drey and Brynne Met 02:00 — Dad Came Out as Gay in 1988: The Early Years 05:00 — Two Dads, One Secret: Growing Up Hiding the Truth 08:00 — Church, Youth Programs & the Rules We Couldn't Break 10:00 — Telling the Stake President Before His Mission 13:00 — How His Parents Stayed So Close After Divorce 17:00 — Dad Still Watched Conference: A Testimony That Never Left 20:00 — The Turning Point: Wilton Manor and Choosing Forgiveness 25:00 — Gay Missionaries and a Whole New Perspective 29:00 — Imposter Syndrome: The Instagram Influencer Who Took Over His Life 33:00 — Miscarriage, Anger at God & Finding His Way Back 38:00 — The Painting of Christ With No Handle on the Door 41:00 — His Dad's Final Years, HIV & What He Taught About Love 48:00 — Opening the Book: Telling the World About His Dad 55:00 — What Love Actually Looks Like at the End of the Day

  6. Aug 26

    The Neuroscience of Affirmations: How to Rewire Your Brain on Purpose

    In this solo episode, I teach the actual neuroscience behind affirmations and why most people are doing them wrong. Your brain processes 11 million bits of information every second but your conscious mind only registers about 40. The reticular activating system decides what gets through based on what you tell your brain matters. Affirmations work because they give your RAS new instructions. The most common mistake is writing affirmations so far from your current reality that your brain immediately rejects them. I share my REACH framework: Real, Expanding, Active voice, Claimed, and Heart. I cover bridge statements for when the full affirmation feels like too big a leap, and share examples from Oprah, Muhammad Ali, Jim Carrey, Beyonce, and Dr. Joe Dispenza. Your homework this week is to write three affirmations using the REACH system, put them somewhere visible, say them morning and night for seven days, and notice what shifts. Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters 00:00 — Introduction: The Voice in Your Head Is Shaping Your Life 02:00 — The Science: How Your Brain Filters Reality 05:00 — Introducing the Reticular Activating System (RAS) 07:30 — Why Most Affirmations Feel Fake and Fail 10:00 — The Sweet Spot: Honest, Believable and Aspirational 13:00 — The REACH Framework Explained 18:00 — Affirmations in Action: Real Life Examples 20:00 — Famous People Who Swore By Affirmations 23:00 — How to Build a Daily Practice That Sticks 27:00 — Bridge Statements: Start Where You Are 30:00 — Your Seven Day Homework Challenge Sources UsedReticular Activating System / 11 million bits: Timothy Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious (2002), Harvard University Press. Thought counting / 6,200 thoughts per day: Tseng, J. & Poppenk, J. (2020). Brain meta-state transitions demarcate thoughts across task contexts exposing the mental noise of trait neuroticism. Nature Communications, 11, 3480. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17255-9 Negativity bias: Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370. Default mode network / repetitive thought patterns: Raichle, M. E. (2015). The brain's default mode network. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 38, 433–447. Emotion amplifying neural signals / combining thought + feeling: Dispenza, J. Becoming Supernatural (2017), Hay House. (practitioner/author) Famous people examples paraphrased: These are widely documented public statements; Oprah's visualization practice is from numerous interviews.Jim Carrey's check story is from his 1997 Oprah interview. Beyoncé's Sasha Fierce is from her own documentary and interviews. Ali's quote is extensively documented.

  7. Aug 19

    Honesty, Respect & Responsibility: Choosing Your Values Without Religion — Ryan Liston

    In this episode, I sit down with my brother Ryan Liston for a conversation about values, specifically honesty, respect, and responsibility. Ryan shares how leaving religion left him without a value-maker and how he stood on the stairs at BYU one day and realized he had no answer for why he should be honest. We talk about how values are nuanced and subjective, how withholding truth can sometimes be loving, and how responsibility shifts depending on your role. Ryan's framework for respect comes down to two things: admiring people just for being people, and doing as little harm as possible. We discuss assuming innocence and good intentions first, choosing empowering stories over disempowering ones, and how not agreeing with everyone is actually essential to growth. Ryan's takeaway: we all have a choice, and that choice can be guided by the world we want to help create. Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters: 00:00 — Introduction & Ryan's Background 01:30 — Why Ryan Had to Rebuild His Values From Scratch 04:00 — Standing on the Stairs at BYU: Why Should I Be Honest? 06:00 — Values as a Guide to the World You Want to Live In 08:30 — Be the Change: Honesty and Trust in Society 09:00 — Is Withholding Truth Ever Okay? The Nuance of Honesty 11:30 — The Deer Story: A Real Example of Compassionate Dishonesty 13:30 — Values Are Nuanced Because They're Subjective 15:00 — Responsibility: Does It Change When You Leave Religion? 18:00 — The Etymology of Responsible: Accountability and Obligation 19:30 — How Do We Respect Each Other When We Disagree? 21:00 — Two Definitions of Respect and What They Mean 24:00 — You Don't Have to Agree to Respect Someone 26:30 — Most People Are Aiming for the Same Goal 29:00 — Claiming Your Agency: The Hat and the Pledge of Allegiance 32:00 — Letting People Choose Without Running Away 34:30 — Assume Innocence and Good Intentions First 37:00 — The Friend Who Chose Compassion Over Road Rage 39:00 — Closing Thoughts: We All Have a Choice

  8. Aug 12

    Breathwork, Intentional Creation & Turning Dread Into Excitement — A Walk & Talk

    In this walk and talk recorded at our annual family reunion at the lake, I share what I'm learning about the power of intentional creation. This year felt completely different from last year at the same event because I got intentional about how I wanted to feel before I arrived. I did my first dedicated breathwork session with a friend who is getting certified, and instead of working on my business I chose to work on my dread about the trip. We acknowledged the dread, gave it space, breathed through it, then visualized excitement and love. I came away with an actionable plan rather than just suppressing my feelings. I also share how prayer and meditation are close cousins and how stillness practices are a universal way to get the most out of this life. Whether it's breathwork, walking, crocheting, or therapy, I encourage you to find one practice that helps you get quiet and honest with yourself. Brynne’s Resources: ✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 Instagram: @brynne_erickson https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ Threads: @brynne_erickson https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== Chapters01:04 The Power of Intentional Creation03:38 Embracing Emotions and Creating Comfort06:32 The Role of Prayer and Meditation in Life08:51 Exploring Meditative Practices10:04 Intentional Living and Self-Discovery10:37 Finding Stillness and Inner Self

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If you're a spiritually-minded person in the beautiful, messy process of creating your life and asking the hard questions then you just found your people. Middle Ground is hosted by life coach and mom Brynne Erickson, and is a space for the real, honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations about faith, identity, relationships, health, personal growth and much more. With roots in Latter-day Saint (Mormon) faith and culture, this show explores the full, multidimensional experience of being human and becoming more with genuine curiosity about the many other ways of living and believing. Because the more honestly we see each other, the better we love ourselves and the people around us.

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