Guide From The Perplexed

Mordecai Rosenberg & JD Stettin

Long time friends JD Stettin and Mordecai Rosenberg record their musings, book recommendations, spiritual conversations, and the path to letting go and moving forward.

  1. 06/01/2023

    Episode 39: Daniel Mate, Co-Author of NYT Bestseller The Myth of Normal, on How to Find Mental Alignment in a Misaligned World

    This podcast episode features an interview with Daniel Mate, co-author of New York Times Bestseller -- The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture.  Daniel is a composer, lyricist, and accomplished playwright known for his work in musical theater. Daniel is also the creator of the Mental Chiropractic method.  Daniel discusses his musical journey, his unique approach to addressing challenges through mental chiropractic, and his insights into parent-child relationships. The episode offers valuable insights for listeners interested in mental health, music composition, and understanding parent-adult child relationship dynamics. Daniel Mate shares his experiences and insights into his mental chiropractic process, a unique approach that helps individuals overcome their stuckness. He explains that mental chiropractic involves setting intentions, identifying and challenging perspectives that block those intentions, and gaining new perspectives and choices. Through several examples, Daniel demonstrates the transformative power of mental chiropractic in helping individuals align with their intentions and break free from limitations. Daniel discusses his recent project, "Hello Again," which explores parent/adult-child relationships. The conversation delves into the complexities of adult parent-child relationships – an area that has been ignored in parenting literature, emphasizing the formative influence parents have on their children and the impact it has on individuals. Daniel explores the inherent structural imbalances in these relationships and highlights the need to examine one's childhood and past experiences to understand how they shape the present. Overall, this podcast episode provides a wide-ranging conversation with Daniel Mate, covering his musical career, his unique approach to addressing challenges through mental chiropractic, and his exploration of parent-child relationships. The episode offers valuable insights for listeners interested in creative music composition, mental health, and understanding the complexities of family dynamics. 0.00 - Daniel Mate on speaking. 3:32 - Disillusionment. 16:53 - The power of collaboration in musical theater. 22:15 - What does alignment mean to you? 29:34 - What does mental chiropractic mean? 34:54 - Memorable conversations on walks. 50:43 - The relationship between the adult child and parent is unique. 55:26 - Writing the Myth of Normal with his dad. 1:00:34 - Triggers from an Adult Child

    1h 5m
  2. 02/15/2023

    Episode 36: Upbringing and Mission Orientation: How Our Roots Shape Our Purpose

    In this podcast episode, JD and Mordecai are joined by guest, Emily Shaughnessy. Emily was raised in an evangelical Presbyterian family.  Her education was individualized as she was homeschooled until high school. Her parents instilled in her the importance of giving back to others. Although Emily moved away from a traditional religious structure, her path brought her to deeper levels of spirituality and connection to God.  Emily's dad was a role model for her in terms of constantly giving to the community and giving of himself, which has influenced Emily's worldview and sparked her mission orientation.  Her childhood experiences helped shape her views of humanity and the world and allowed her to follow her passions in making the world around her a better place. Emily is active in building “asset-based communities,” which is a grassroots approach that focuses on individuals and what they bring to the table, rather than an outside perspective of what needs to be fixed. Influences in her life include Alan Watts, Buddhist thinkers, Pema Chödrön, Marshall Rosenberg and his work on nonviolent communication, and the Internal Family Systems framework. These influences have helped her move away from a good-bad duality and toward a more compassionate understanding of herself and others. 00:04  Introduction to today’s guest. 01:32  Emily’s upbringing and mission-driven worldview. 06:18  What’s changed in her view of spirituality since her parents. 11:02  Breaking apart the binary perspective of our society. 15:54  What have been some of your learnings from any other surprising stories? 21:25  What are some of the influences that have shaped his life? 27:01  How did you get through the loss of your father? 33:32 The dying to be reborn and the shedding of some of the ideas and cultures and parts of oneself. 38:00  The idea of “being like us” is part of human nature. 43:58 What are some of the things that really like light up Emily’s life?

    50 min

Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Long time friends JD Stettin and Mordecai Rosenberg record their musings, book recommendations, spiritual conversations, and the path to letting go and moving forward.