Still Becoming with Monica DiCristina Monica DiCristina

The Still Becoming Podcast is back! And I can't imagine a better guest to kick this return and season off with! I am so excited to have author Kayla Craig back on the podcast! You might know Kayla already from her beautiful book To Light Their Way, and as the creator of Liturgies for Parents Instagram account. Kayla has a new book out today: Every Season Sacred. It is SO good.
There are so many reasons I love Kayla's work, but here are a few: Kayla meets us in the mess of our real ordinary lives, and shows us the extraordinary and sacred that that meets us there. Kayla is all at once incredibly approachable and practically helpful, while pointing to the beauty, mystery, and undeniable hope God's presence and love provides. She points us to the truth of faith and spirituality right here in our everyday chaos. In a time when it may be hard for many to find voices in the Christian faith they feel they can trust, Kayle for me, and so many others, is an anchoring voice. Kayla reminds us that we are the beloved of God, and describes her hopes for this book as an exhale. And, it truly is. We are invited to be present in this book, and in this conversation with Kayla. Kayla is just wonderful, as a person and author, and I can't wait for you to get to hang out with her in this episode.
Kayla Craig is a former journalist who brings deep curiosity and care to her writing. She’s the author of Every Season Sacred and To Light Their Way. With a poetic, prophetic voice, she created the popular Liturgies for Parents Instagram account, which Christianity Today named an “essential parenting resource.” She also hosts the Liturgies for Parents podcast. Kayla’s nuanced and accessible reflections, essays, and prayers are featured in various books, devotionals, and Bible studies. Kayla lives in a 115-year-old former convent in her Iowa hometown, where she hopes to create spaces of welcome alongside her four children, two dogs, and husband, Jonny.
To find Kayla and all the work she is doing in the world, and order her book, go to her website:
kaylacraig.com
 
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For more Still Becoming, follow Monica on Instagram @monicadicristina.
Or check out monicadicristina.com for resources, articles, and more.

This episode is a first re-release! As I am working on my book, I am occasionally pulling up previous episodes that really resonated with listeners, this is one of them.

Each month, Still Becoming brings you a Mental Health Check-In episode. These episodes are focused on mental health, emotional health, or personal growth, and involve a short teaching and a few take aways in around 15 to 20 minutes. The idea is to take a therapeutic topic or technique and expand it to help us in our everyday lives.⁣⁣
In this episode, we are unpacking the social constructs around age and size of impact. Maybe you are wanting to do something new - something from setting a new boundary to even going back to school. Whatever it is, I hope this episode will be a chance to reflect on where you are, and that you find some encouragement for your own journey. This episode, like all episodes, will find us each at different places as we listen. These are just a few thoughts on deconstructing these false ideas to prompt your own.

For more Still Becoming find Monica at monicadicristina.com, and on Instagram: @monicadicristina.
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I am so excited and honored to have author Marcie Alvis Walker on the Still Becoming Podcast. Marcie is the creator of Black Coffee with White Friends, as well as the newsletter Black Eyed Stories. We discuss her new book Everybody Come Alive: A Memoir in Essays. I have been a fan and an avid reader of Marcie's work for years now, and I always want to know what Marcie thinks or has to write about everything. Her writing is so layered, complex, honest, beautiful, powerful, and it will change you. I know it has changed me. Her book is available to order now, and I can't recommend it enough.
In this powerful and beautiful conversation, Marcie tells us more about her incredible book and some of her own stories she writes about in it. We talk more in depth about all the stories that are missing, and that every story is holy. Marcie tells us about getting "all the stories," so that we really know about what it truly sacred, and how we have been taught only certain stories belong - which couldn't be further from the truth. We also talk about Marcie's family, and the power of language. I am still thinking every day about the way Marcie describes the power and the importance of language, and how language disrupts power. I cannot wait for you to hear this conversation with Marcie Alvis Walker.

Marcie Alvis Walker is the creator of the popular Instagram feed Black Coffee with White Friends. She is also the creator of Black Eyed Bible Stories. Marcie is passionate about what it means to embrace intersectionality, diversity, and inclusion in our spiritual lives. She lives in Chicago with her husband, her college-aged kid Max, and their dog, Evie.

To find Marcie, her work, her new book, and how to follow her - go to her website here: marciealviswalker.com
To sign up for Monica's newsletter - go to this link: https://monicadicristina.substack.com
For more Still Becoming, follow Monica on Instagram @monicadicristina.
Or check out monicadicristina.com for resources, articles, and more.

This episode is our first re-release! As I am working on my book, I am occasionally pulling up previous episodes that really resonated with listeners, this is one of them.
Therapeutic Moments are a combination of some of the teaching of the Mental Health Check Ins, the calming of the Meditative Stories and the Guided Mediations.
In this short calming episode put to music we are addressing the false narratives that can accompany painful experiences - when we are not only hurt, but are believing it is somehow our fault, or that we deserved it. This is something that I spend a lot of time on in therapy. We untangle the topics of shame and guilt in this episode, as well as unpack how we may have taken on the false narratives that came with the pain. Finally, we take a moment to think about, and practice putting that down.
No episode is one size fits all. I always want any work I put out into the world to be filtered by the knowledge that you are the expert on what works for you or does not. And if this idea or episode could be triggering in any way, let's meet up at the next episode.
For more Still Becoming find Monica at monicadicristina.com, and on Instagram: @monicadicristina.
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I am so excited to have therapist, author, and speaker Molly LaCroix on the Still Becoming Podcast. Molly was one of my very first Instagram therapist friends I made when I started sharing my work publicly, and I have always had admiration for both her presence and her clinical expertise. Molly brings great wisdom and nuance to our conversation about understanding the different parts of ourselves through the lens of Internal Family Systems. I appreciate so much the way Molly talks about things, including the integration of a faith perspective and psychological theory. I hope you leave this conversation the way I did, both informed and refreshed, with a reminder that curiosity and compassion are essential for loving yourself, healing, and growth.
Molly is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in treating the impact of trauma and adversity. She earned master’s in marriage and family therapy from Bethel Seminary San Diego, where she returned as adjunct professor. Her book Restoring Relationship: Transforming Fear into Love Through Connection, helps readers identify and resolve barriers to loving themselves, others, and God. Learn more about Molly at https://mollylacroix.com/.
Facebook | Instagram | Buy Book |MollyLaCroix.com
To sign up for Monica's newsletter - go to this link: https://monicadicristina.substack.com
For more Still Becoming, follow Monica on Instagram @monicadicristina.
Or check out monicadicristina.com for resources, articles, and more.

I am so excited to have Ashlee Gadd on the Still Becoming Podcast, talking about her book Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood. This conversation is centered around being creative while being a parent, however, I believe there is good wisdom about being creative that can also be applied in other contexts. It can be so hard to create in the margins of your life, and I hope this conversation, and Ashlee's real life example and encouragement will be an invitation to keep going in whatever creativity looks like for you. I appreciated how she names the privileges she has in her creativity, and I appreciated the inspiration she offers anyone wanting to create, and insight about how to move past the roadblocks that you may confront. I am with you in this process, and I found Ashlee's presence and outlook really relatable and encouraging.

Ashlee Gadd is author of Create Anyway: The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood and the founder of Coffee + Crumbs—a beautiful online space where motherhood and storytelling intersect. As a writer and photographer, Ashlee has spent her entire motherhood creating in the margins. When she's not writing or vacuuming Cheerios out of the carpet, she loves making friends on the internet, eating cereal for dinner, and rearranging bookshelves. She and her husband have three kids and live in Northern California. Learn more at ashleegadd.com.
https://www.ashleegadd.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ashleegadd/
https://www.pinterest.com/ashlee_gadd/
https://ashleegadd.substack.com/ 
https://www.amazon.com/Create-Anyway-Pursuing-Creativity-Motherhood/dp/0764240048