Shows
Awareness That HealsBeing Aware of Awareness - Episode 126In this episode of Awareness That Heals, we’re kicking off a powerful new series that dives into the emotion of inadequacy. Feeling like you’re "not enough" or constantly battling self-doubt? You’re not alone. Host Robert Strock introduces the first guided meditation in a six-part series designed to help you connect with your feelings of inadequacy, not to judge or suppress them, but to understand them and nurture self-compassion. This episode focuses on developing "awareness of awareness," guiding you to observe your thoughts and feelings without attachment. It’s a transformative practice for building self-acceptance and find...2024-11-0409 minAwareness That HealsResponding to Anxiety with Heart and Wisdom - Episode 125In the 6th and final episode of Caring for Anxiety, Robert Strock guides you through a powerful meditation designed to transform anxiety into resilience and wisdom. By focusing on self-compassion and awareness, Robert helps you develop the capacity to welcome and care for your anxiety, turning it into a source of strength. Learn to observe and respond to your emotions, identify your essential needs, and cultivate the qualities you need most. Tune in to discover practical steps for emotional growth and inner peace. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast, and explore our Introspective Guides available on...2024-10-0620 minAwareness That HealsTransform Anxiety into Strength with Self-Compassion, Episode 124In episode 5 of the Caring for Anxiety Series, Robert Strock invites you to explore guided meditations designed to help you manage anxiety with self-compassion and awareness. Learn to observe and respond to your anxiety, developing the capacity to care for yourself in the midst of challenging emotions. Robert provides practical steps to identify and meet your emotional needs, encouraging a compassionate approach to your anxiety. Tune in to discover how you can transform anxiety into a source of strength and connection. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast, and explore our Introspective Guides available on our website.2024-09-0806 minAwareness That HealsHow Sensitivity and Honesty Can Help You Through Anxiety, Episode 123In part four of caring for anxiety, Robert Strock guides you on a journey to embrace and care for your anxiety. By focusing on self-awareness and self-compassion, Robert encourages you to develop a deeper connection with your emotions. This episode offers practical steps to recognize and welcome anxiety, transforming it into a source of strength and growth. Tune in to learn how to cultivate a caring relationship with your anxiety and enhance your emotional well-being. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast, and explore our Introspective Guides available on our website. Further explore the resources...2024-08-0409 minAwareness That HealsBecome an Observer to Care for and Accept Your Anxiety - Episode 114Welcome to season three of the Awareness That Heals podcast, dedicated to exploring and healing specific challenging emotions. In this episode, host Robert Strock focuses on anxiety. He offers a series of guided meditations to cultivate self-compassion and improve your ability to navigate anxious moments effectively. Using the metaphor of an elevator, Robert illustrates the progression from an unconscious state of anxiety on the first floor to acquiring tools for self-support and healing on subsequent levels. On the second floor, the focus is on becoming aware of your anxiety and developing the capacity to care...2024-01-2117 min
The Missing ConversationA Balanced Use of Medication Is an Act of Self-Love - Episode 80The Missing Conversation welcomes you to the third and final installment focusing on the balanced use of medication. This is often the neglected side of the discourse surrounding America's relationship to opioids. There are significant dangers on both ends of the spectrum being either too loose or too restrictive. Robert and Dave discuss how to optimize our best relationship with sleeping and pain medications that can change our quality of life immensely. Not only are we emotional beings but we are chemical as well. There is a lot of talk about the mind-body connection, but not so much about t...2023-03-1330 minAwareness That HealsGuided Meditation That Provides Tools to Deal With Challenging Emotions - Episode 91Robert continues with the second installment of the Guided Meditation series where he emphasizes the importance of becoming aware of difficult emotions. This episode takes this awareness and clarifies how to integrate it with our heart and self-caring. Robert and Dave invite listeners to focus on practice. This immersive next step puts us in a position to start moving toward well-being and not getting sidetracked by suppressing, judging, misunderstanding, or misrepresenting our challenging feelings. The personal application of these Guided Meditations is essential if we want to integrate the principles in the book Awareness That Heals—wisdom tha...2023-03-0523 minThe Missing Conversation4 Most Common Medication Personality Types - Episode 79Opioid abuse has been very well covered in the media. Here on The Missing Conversation Robert and Dave will look at the other sides of opioid and medication use. Carefully dispensed and given to a properly screened patient who requires it for better health can be a life-changing solution. The reality is, that the longer we live, the more inevitable it becomes that we will need to introduce potent medications, which may include controlled substances, in our routines. If we can learn to cautiously view these substances as a major ally, our chance of having a long-term quality of...2023-02-2730 minThe Missing ConversationHow to Be Resourceful in Chronic Pain - Episode 78In this episode, Robert and Dave take the conversation in a new direction to discuss the crucial issue of using controlled substances for medications for those in critical need. At the same time, they will be suggesting guidelines and safeguards to prevent addiction while still providing pathways to find maximum relief and equilibrium for those with chronic pain and long-term sleep challenges. The goal is to find the optimum quality of life, which often includes the use of medications to alleviate chemical or physical maladies our bodies cannot manage on their own. This topic is more than...2023-02-1330 minAwareness That HealsWhy We Need to Heal Childhood Patterns - Episode 89Robert welcomes back Susan Hough, counselor, philanthropist, and life partner, to explore how each of us carries on the central feelings we had with our original family. These repeated behaviors are usually outside of our awareness and show up most strongly in our intimate relationships. Robert and Susan discuss why we need to heal childhood patterns while talking candidly about their past relationships as well as their current one. The audience can see a real and honest way in which this plays out. It is completely normal to have these patterns surface again and again. It is nothing to...2023-02-0528 minThe Missing ConversationThe Best of 2022: Finding More Inclusivity in Religion & Spirituality - Episode 77In this, “Best Of” series,” Robert asks listeners, spiritual practitioners, leaders, and mentors to reflect on ways to be more inclusive. He suggests modeling by those in positions of leadership to reveal how they integrate tendencies to idealize their own religion or spiritual teaching. Whether it be, meditation, prayer, or faith-centered, it can be helpful to their communities to show how they don't want to fall prey to using their teachings to unwittingly create an "us versus them" with other approaches. This blanketing of their challenging parts and an unwillingness to share deprives the practitioners and students of the advant...2023-01-3014 minAwareness That HealsRelating To The Unconscious Identity We Carry With Us Into Adulthood - Episode 88This week Robert discusses core childhood relationships and how they can unconsciously affect us in our adult lives. He is joined by his life partner and fellow counselor, and philanthropist, Susan Hough. We are guided on how to use awareness of our feelings and needs by using the Introspective Guides, which can be found at AwarenessThatHeals.org, Robert talks through identifying each of your strongest childhood relationships and the feelings associated with them. It can be shocking what surfaces because our reactions often still reflect our childhood responses. Most of us are in the habit of either suppressing or c...2023-01-2233 minAwareness That HealsNeurotic Responsibility: Creating More Mutuality In Your Relationships – Episode 87Using the Introspective Guides, Robert and Dave pick up where they left off last week on the topic of Neurotic Responsibility. This imbalance in relationships is part of our conditioning and can be hard to recognize. It occurs when one person in the relationship feels the problems around them are much more their responsibility than they rationally are. It feels good to give and can last for a lifetime. It can most frequently be recognized when the “giver” has unusually strong needs arise like becoming sick or a deep financial loss and it becomes apparent that the one that is n...2023-01-0826 minThe Missing ConversationThe Best of 2022: Redefining Success - Episode 75In our second “Best Of 2022” episode, we look at what it means to “redefine success.” This set of year-end dialogues, specially curated by Robert Strock, shows how his distinguished and inspired guests have fully expressed, in their own lives, what it means to care for oneself, one’s family, and the world. These are joyful excerpts that demonstrate how these unique individuals have integrated their life’s work and passion in a manner that provides self-fulfillment while improving the lives of those around us and the world at large. The emphasis is intended to encourage you to look at your...2023-01-0213 minAwareness That HealsIdentifying Neurotic Responsibility - Episode 86Robert and Dave dive right into this week's episode with something Robert likes to call, Neurotic Responsibility. This term refers to someone who takes on the problems around them more than is rationally warranted. It occurs when your partner is upset and you focus mostly on what you might have done to cause it, even though you already have likely admitted it outwardly and inwardly feel guilty, inadequate, and critical of yourself. In these situations, the key is not seeing the other’s contribution to the situation in a balanced way. Are you showing up immediately for them and no...2022-12-2526 minAwareness That HealsIntrospective Guides: Am I Looking to be Aware of Where I am Not? - Episode 85Robert kicks off the episode with a guided meditation. Relax into his words as he grounds into the moment and melts defenses that may be blocking you from accessing your inner wisdom and heart space. Using the Introspective Guides, Robert delves into how we can face our challenging emotions with curiosity. Recognizing that part of us wants to care instead of rationalizing or blocking challenging emotions is a courageous step. Robert will talk you through the tools necessary to develop from the first step of awareness, an intention to care, and a growing self-acceptance toward bringing that heart guidance...2022-12-1120 minThe Missing ConversationGlobal Bridge Foundation: Bringing Realistic Hope to the Homeless Crisis - Episode 73The Global Bridge Foundation wants to do its part to turn the history of mankind on its head. It is time for the wealthiest country to acknowledge the poor and give them work opportunities. We mustn’t keep seeing them in inaccurate stereotypes as unmotivated, but giving them a chance to contribute and use their potential. As revealed through micro-finance in the world, the poor are very motivated to work, they just haven't been given realistic job opportunities. The wealthy simply becoming wealthier, and not reaching out to those that need it the most with job creation has created th...2022-12-0536 minThe Missing ConversationHomelessness is Solvable, Here's How - Episode 72Homelessness is truly solvable. The fact that it is a pervasive problem is a failure of creativity and practicality. Robert and Dave have been at the frontlines of this human crisis and will share with you some of the innovative and cost-effective ways this issue can be handled humanely with respect for all, including the planet, within the next 5 years. The nonprofit work that Robert and Dave have done through The Global Bridge Foundation focuses on bringing the bottom of the economic population up through the vision of creating communities with low-cost housing with job training and purpose. 2022-11-2834 minThe Missing ConversationDexter: We Too Are Not Perfectly Innocent - Episode 71In this episode, Robert continues to explore the lessons from select TV shows to look beyond the entertainment and use their stories to depict unconscious areas of our life worthy of examination with potential great benefit. All of the shows that Robert and Dave present can support us to break free from what we were taught growing up and encourage us to have individual contemplation with new insight. This individual contemplation is crucial. We cannot afford to be carbon copies of prior generations because we are facing a very imperiled world in the 21st century. Many of us learn...2022-11-2121 minAwareness That HealsIntrospective Guides: Relating to the Dangers in Our World Today - Episode 83Here we are, listening to the news and hearing about elections, global warming, the dangers of nuclear war, the invasion of Ukraine, and we are feeling freaked out. Wherever you are on the political spectrum you are bound to be dealing with some level of anxiety connected to the direction our world and country are going. Robert and Dave assure us this is perfectly normal, and in fact, a good sign you want to be engaged and paying attention. Using the Introspective Guides available at AwarenessThatHeals.org, Robert will use this episode to uniquely focus on integrating what challenges...2022-11-1333 minThe Missing ConversationSpecial Political Series - Part 6: Converting Our Anger into a Passion for JusticeThis week, Robert and Dave will wrap up this special political series with its 6th episode. American politics is infected where the truth no longer seems to matter. It doesn’t seem to matter that Republican judges saw that elections were fair. It doesn't matter that there was an attempted coup in The Capital and police officers were killed. It doesn't seem to matter that we may be losing our right to vote unless you get involved more than you are right now. The truth matters and is the antidote. Robert and Dave speak not from the viewpoint of a...2022-11-0433 minThe Missing ConversationSpecial Political Series - Part 5: How Collective Denial Threatens DemocracyJoin Robert and Dave on the 5th installment of this special political series. Drawing from his knowledge and professional background as a psychotherapist, Robert illuminates ways in which it is both understandable and easy to be caught in denial in this crucial moment in US history. He offers a profound plea to shake free from the fear and anger that often unconsciously supports Trump and MAGA authoritarianism. We are in a new century where we must recognize that to be individuals in a free country, we need to get involved. Fast forward and see the implications if election fraud...2022-10-3132 minThe Missing ConversationSpecial Political Series - Part 4: Waking Up to the Potential of an American DictatorWelcome back to The Missing Conversation for the 4th installment of this Special Political Series. The election is just weeks away and the stakes have never been higher. If we do not attend to the deceptions, denial, and angry provocations that threaten our democracy, we very well could lose our fundamental way of life. Robert and Dave ask you to hear the call to action in their passion for passive Democrats, Republicans that are not in the MAGA group, and Independents to light a fire in your bellies and wake up from the denial of the reality of this...2022-10-2824 minThe Missing ConversationSpecial Political Series - Part 3: Let Passion & Action Guide you to the PollsIn about a month, The US will have one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime aside from perhaps the rejection of Trump in 2020. There are so many close races that every vote matters. Approximately 60% of Americans are going to have a candidate on their ballot that is an election denier, embracing the big lie of our time. The potential fall of our democracy is very real if the authoritarian MAGA party infiltrates deeper into our institutions to further weaken and centralize them. Robert and Dave want to make clear the distinction between MAGA and the more classic...2022-10-2425 minAwareness That HealsCaring for Ourselves in Crucial Times - Episode 81This week Robert concludes the telling of his journey through the hardest 10 years of his life as he navigated finding balance both emotionally and chemically after his kidney transplant. For many years he could not feel the joys of life. He had to dig deep to further develop his capacity to use inquiry, will, and focus on the intention to find what thoughts would be possible and helpful. Hopefully, as you are listening, Robert’s story enables you to see your most challenging emotions, whether it be anxiety, depression, fear, or beyond. As members of Western society, we simply ha...2022-10-2331 minThe Missing ConversationSpecial Political Series - Part 2: SOS U.S.A. - The Dangers of Losing Our DemocracyRobert and Dave bring their passion to the second part of this special political series to hopefully spark the light in you, the listener, to overcome any obstacles in your way to get to the polls and vote for those who truly want to be elected to serve us, our world and our country and not just themselves. Robert continues to illuminate the many ways electing Trump and his followers will lead to catastrophic consequences, the likes of which are hard to imagine and convenient to deny. Trump's open admiration of Putin, Kim Jong Un, and neo-Nazis previews the...2022-10-2127 minThe Missing ConversationSpecial Political Series - Part 1: Examining Gut Feelings & Unconscious AngerJoin Robert and Dave on this special political series to help shake ourselves out of a state of denial and electrify ourselves into action to enable sane voices to prevail in this upcoming election. Most Americans are in a state of shock because of Trump and the MAGA faction proliferating corruption and lies. Robert and Dave make a clear distinction that MAGA Republicans are seemingly caught up in their unconscious anger or are simply supporting a dominating power grab. The vast majority of Republicans and Independents are good human beings and this podcast is in support of you and...2022-10-1725 minAwareness That HealsDeveloping a Wise Friendly Mind When It Matters Most - Episode 79Robert shares his journey, with Dave by his side, as he learned to coexist with the deep discomfort, pain, and imbalance of his kidney transplant medication. Feeling good was inaccessible for 10 years. Through this path, he developed a deepening of his practice inquiry by asking questions of what was truly possible given his state of exhaustion from sleep deprivation, which was due to an unusual reaction to the transplant medication. Following the inquiry, he received guidance that led him to focus on what was truly possible. You are encouraged as always to see your own challenges in R...2022-10-0929 minAwareness That HealsIntrospective Guides: Focusing on the Possible - Episode 78This week Robert and Dave continue to look at how we can care for ourselves at crucial times and how we can practically utilize new tools for us to be resourceful in our lives when it matters the most. Robert and Dave will be using the Introspective Guides, which can be found at AwarenessThat Heals.org as a simple way to start on the path toward integrating what is challenging. The hope is, that through the examples offered, you can use the situations presented as guidance as to how to use these tools in your own life. It could...2022-10-0226 minThe Missing ConversationReviewing 24 & Its Potential Implications for the World - Episode 67Today's show has a very unique focus on the TV program 24. Robert points out from the start that it is a potential danger for the public to idealize Jack Bauer and 24 for torturing terrorists. In contrast to this insight, Robert emphasizes there is a movie called The Report, which is a true story where America acknowledges that America tortured prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and that America gained zero benefits from using torture as a strategy. 24 is viewed, instead, at a completely different level of depth by Robert and Dave, revealing examples of how it could wake up a part o...2022-09-2626 minThe Missing ConversationErin Beasley: Ecosystem Restoration for A Healthy Planet- Episode 66Join Robert and his special guest Erin Beasley. It is worth stretching our brains and hearts to comprehend her message and its potential positive implications. Erin is the Executive Director of the non-profit Ecosystem Restoration Camps in the USA. It is under the umbrella of psycho-politics that Robert welcomes Erin to the show because she represents it so well. Ecosystem restoration and better land management practices are one of the top tools that we have in our tool belt, anywhere around the world, to respond to climate change. These practices are relatively inexpensive and generally underfunded, but fortunately for...2022-09-1945 minAwareness That HealsIntrospective Guides: Accessing Guidance In Times of Need- Episode 76At times it is difficult to barely tolerate our experience when we are in situations or emotions that are challenging, which can trigger us to go into fight or flight mode. Join Robert and Dave as they explore common real-life situations that can be difficult and how to take better care of ourselves in the moment or close to it. Money or personal insecurity, anxiety about the state of the world, or health issues are all topics covered in the podcast. Robert helps us navigate back to the trail of internal caring to reach our best selves and not...2022-09-1833 minThe Missing ConversationDaniel Matalon: The World Game & The Part We Play - Episode 64Look forward to an inspirational conversation with the spirit of Buckminster Fuller and the practical programs and ideas of Robert and his guest Daniel Matalon. Daniel is the founder of Is There Enough, a provocative new conversation about the intersection of survival economics and social justice. Psycho-Politics, and what Buckminster Fuller called the world game, relate to very complex existential issues that Robert and Daniel make accessible. It is centered around our human responsibility to make the world work for 100% of humanity. The world is dysfunctional, but what would it mean to have the opposite of that...2022-09-0541 minAwareness That HealsIntrospective Guides: Creating a Positive Relationship to Insecurity - Episode 73e all have conditioning, whether we recognize it or not. Layers upon layers of influence from our parents, friends, and culture. We are generally led in the direction where the biggest variable is personal achievement, financial security and family loyalty, and rarely do we focus on some kind of greater interconnectedness to the world. It is so important that our identities grow beyond our immediate circles and recognize that we all need to be responsible because our planet is in jeopardy. Slow down with Robert to ask some central questions we often speed right past. What really would inspire...2022-08-2835 minThe Missing ConversationGun Safety: Creating More Peace & More Conversations - Episode 62Welcome to part 5 of a 6 part series on the very important topic of gun safety. As one of the most pressing issues The United States is facing today, Robert suggests that a solid starting point comes from taking a close look and realizing that a very large percentage of gun owners purchase them to protect their families. When we can begin to see the protective nature l we can find a way to create more peace and meaningful conversations. Robert expresses the need to set strong boundaries for those individuals that are fostering violence and increasing the dangers of...2022-08-2226 minThe Missing ConversationMaking Gun Safety Viable in America - Episode 61Robert and Dave continue to wrestle with the divisive issue of gun safety. This episode is part 4 of the series in search of the middle ground to make gun safety a viable possibility in our country. How can we avoid stereotypes to reduce the heat and the hate? As Robert focuses on creating a greater chance for peace, the extremes of both parties must be excluded. The fringe ends generally create more conflict than resolution. Former President Trump is in a completely different category. He is a danger to democracy. Nor does he have respect for the truth or...2022-08-1529 minThe Missing ConversationHarnessing Core Good Intentions for Gun Safety in America - Episode 60Continue to break from traditional thinking with Robert in the third installment of our series on gun safety. This is a tough yet current conversation where Robert and Dave grapple with the consequences of the Democratic and Republican parties acting from the extreme ends of the political difference. Trump is an extreme and bad actor. He should be prosecuted and taken off the map completely. His vitriol and insanity are exactly the extreme views hindering the democratic evolution of gun safety in our laws and politics. The Democrats also possess the extremes as well. This podcast attempts to think...2022-08-0830 minThe Missing ConversationThinking Outside the Box on Gun Safety in America - Episode 59Continuing the conversation this week Robert and Dave focus on one of the many issues that are dividing our country today, gun safety. They look at the most sincere elements from each political party to take the best potential inspiration from both approaches to serve The United States. The extreme ends of the left and right are pretty well excluded from this discourse as they only seem to polarize. It is emphasized that President Trump and all those that helped him in the various conspiracies and violations to democracy are excluded. Robert holds a strong view that he and...2022-08-0134 minAwareness That HealsIdentifying Your Ways of Being With Resistant Emotions & Responding from Wisdom - Episode 69It is a pleasure to have you join us for this final part of the series centered around Robert's book, Awareness that Heals. Here we will continue to develop a greater capacity to have a more healing response to emotions rather than becoming trapped in conditioned reactions that each of us has. Most of us get confused and think we are the imprint of our conditioning from the way our parents raised us, our siblings, our society, our movies, and our sports. If we can find our awareness beyond this, we have the potential to be free. N...2022-07-3137 minAwareness That HealsMoving from Being Angry Toward What You Really Need - Episode 68Robert continues his guidance in developing our capacity to move outside our conditioning and reactive emotions. Most of us behave based on how we were seen or unseen by our parents or by others in our society that we model. We often identify with the heroes that are athletes or actors in TV shows. Amplifying these skills to inquire who we aspire to be independent of our conditioning will allow us to question ourselves, listen to what the answers are, and find ways to respond. This episode, on the surface, may appear to be mostly focused on one lone...2022-07-2433 minAwareness That HealsPausing in Anger to Move Toward a State of Well-Being - Episode 67This week Robert and Dave go more deeply into the seven steps to transform anger. The podcast coincides with the final chapter of Robert’s book, Awareness that Heals. We all have loads of hypnosis or conditioning from our parents, our culture, our movies, and our friends that lead us in directions that make anger a divisive force, rather than one that can be directed in a way that serves everyone. This show is zeroing in on how to find a spaciousness inside us that can choose to guide us in our anger and resistant emotional reactions. It...2022-07-1726 minThe Missing ConversationAdam Bendell: Reconsidering the Classic Definition of Success & Planting Seeds for Change - Episode 55This week, Robert is joined by a guest that exemplifies the essence of a psycho-political life with his relationship with the world. Adam Bendell is the CEO of Toniic, a global action community for impact investors. Toniic creates community, provides educational resources, and curates impact investment opportunities for its members. Adam joined Toniic from his role as chief innovation officer for FTI Consulting. He was also CEO and co-founder of Strategic Discovery, an electronic discovery innovator. Adam is an active impact investor, philanthropist, innovator, meditator, yogi, backpacker, motorcyclist, utilitarian, student of collaborative communication, and a lifelong learner. Here, Robert...2022-07-0441 minThe Missing ConversationBrent Kessel: Ethical Wealth Management, One Small Step at a Time - Episode 54This week, Robert is joined by a special guest and his step-son Brent Kassel. They meet with a sense of purpose and shared vulnerability here on The Missing Conversation. Brent is the co-founder and CEO of Abacus. Abacus is a holistic wealth management company that invests over 4 billion in companies and projects that, above all, do not create harm in our world. A significant portion of the funds aim to help society and the environment directly while earning competitive investment returns. He is also the author of The Next Fifty Years of the Racial Wealth Gap, and What You C...2022-06-271h 04Awareness That HealsWe Are Not Limited to Dominantly Identifying with Our Feelings - Episode 63This week Robert focuses on a different set of needs called chronic needs or chronic feelings. These situations can be identified as when you are compromised due to serious things like your health or your partner's health, hormones, trauma, or chemistry. Other examples of these chronic needs can show up in serious gaps in communication with people that are important to you, or in dealing with yourself when you are in your worst mood. Accompanying emotions like shame, inadequacy, or withdrawal are common. We all know at least someone that is in one of these states on an ongoing...2022-06-1933 minThe Missing ConversationIncluding Uncertainty On The Path You’re On - Episode 52Join Robert in the final episode of the series regarding spirituality and religion. TMC continues to discuss the role of certainty in our religions and spiritual paths. Robert shares many of his own personal stories with his teachers to highlight some minor and major ways in which he experienced the dangers of certainty. How in many cases, the rigidity and demand for full compliance within the group ultimately led him to turn away from the communities themselves. While you listen, perhaps his experiences resonate with your own. You may begin to ask yourself, how much freedom do you feel...2022-06-1330 minAwareness That HealsThe Vital Link Between Feelings and Needs - Episode 61This week Robert focuses on the second to last chapter of his book. This step entails moving from feelings to needs. There are many foundational steps required to get to this point. Robert takes some time to review. From these precursor steps, we can make a distinct connection between identifying our most challenging feelings and what needs could be supported that would most help us in any given situation. Each situation is always unique. Every challenging feeling can be supported by a need or perhaps more than one. This really is a formula for caring for ourselves and others...2022-06-0531 minThe Missing ConversationBeing Financially Free and Finding the Sweet Spot to Care for Ourselves and the World - Episode 47This week, like all weeks, Robert requests some introspection from his listeners. What makes this week stand out is his additional ask, not to just reflect on self, but to reflect on the institutions that act as our spiritual guides through this life. Topics include the seemingly natural interconnectedness of religion, spirituality, and humanitarian work. Robert takes us ever further down this thought path to delve into the original spiritual premise of loving your brother and sisters as yourself and the joy there is when we can share our excess and see the well-being in others. Some...2022-05-0929 minAwareness That HealsHow can we find dignity and peace in challenging feelings and situations? - Episode 52In this episode of Awareness that Heals, Robert continues to explore the importance of recognizing, accepting and communicating our challenging feelings. It takes significant motivation on our part to recognize that our feelings are important as a starting point. It's how we get to be honest with ourselves without running away from what's difficult. Facing your feelings head-on can be challenging, but continue by asking heartfelt questions especially when things are difficult, and then responding to the caring suggestions we receive. Robert is also joined by Dave and Mark, both of whom share similar experiences a...2022-04-0333 minThe Missing ConversationHuman As Hell. Learning Grief Literacy with Dr. Ken Druck - Bonus Episode 3On this week’s bonus episode Robert speaks candidly to his long-time friend, fellow author, survivor, philanthropist, and therapist, Dr. Ken Druck. Ken lost his oldest daughter at a young age, entering him into a period of the dark night of the soul. Robert experienced his own version of hell as he battled back over a 10 year period from severe reactions to the medication from a kidney transplant. Their conversation centers on their experiences and on creating grief literacy for others facing dark moments. Learning how to embrace these moments with the most self-compassion and human authenticity as possible is...2022-03-2856 minThe Missing ConversationPsycho-Politics In Action—A Chat With Mark Gerzon (PP) - Episode 41". . . it becomes clearer and clearer that we're all in the same boat and failure to realize and respond to this will inevitably result in us all being doomed to sink." In this episode of The Missing Conversation, Robert is joined by Mark Gerzon, founder of the Mediators Foundation. Mark is also a dedicated activist in the movement for a diverse, inclusive civil structure and transpartisan politics. Robert and Mark explore the three elements of psycho-politics. Politics is human behavior, and it's not the best idea to separate the two as they are two distinct yet in...2022-03-141h 01The Missing ConversationHow do religions being inclusive of each other benefit all of us? (STR) - Episode 40If one were to examine and study the core tenets of every major religion or spirituality around the world, they would most likely find a shared sense of compassion, caring for others, and love. Yet, even with these profound similarities, people tend to view those not from their religion as different from them. In this episode of The Missing Conversation, Robert talks about the importance and benefits of inclusive faiths that share international values. What does that mean? Essentially, Robert points out how most religions are united in their principle teachings. The faith that the students and f...2022-03-0729 minThe Missing ConversationLA Mayoral Candidate Craig Greiwe discusses Homelessness, Affordability, and Public Safety with Robert Strock - Bonus Episode 2The Missing Conversation explores the pressing issues in our world and the innovative solutions that support a greater chance of survival for our city, country, and planet. In this episode, on Psycho-Politics, Robert Strock is joined by LA Mayoral Candidate Craig Greiwe, who expands on his plans to help end homelessness, reduce affordability issues, and improve crime response in LA. Getting to the root of these problems is crucial to eradicating them. Instead of surface measures that act as bandaids, Craig takes us through his actual, transparent plans to achieve these goals. As he shares his background, one that's s...2022-02-2850 minAwareness That HealsMoving from impulsiveness to conductors of our tone of voice - Episode 46Who among us hasn't been in a disagreement or argument in our lives? In those moments, we could find ourselves speaking cuttingly or with an injurious tone of voice. Sometimes, we may not even realize our tone of voice expresses such harsh emotions. Your tone of voice is immensely impactful, but it is not something most of us are usually aware of. It can be an indicator of how we're feeling inside — anxious, happy, stressed or angry. More often than we realize, our tone of voice may give away our internal feelings and emotions, whether or not we...2022-02-2032 minThe Missing ConversationThe importance of personal transparency with money from Buddhist teachers (STR) - Episode 36In the previous episode of The Missing Conversation, Robert Strock explored the relationship between Buddhist spiritual teachings, their impact on students' and teachers' relationships, and the impact of a lack of personal transparency with money. Most of the current Buddhist teachers tend to live simply and frugally, in relative simplicity, with a low income to moderate lifestyle. More often than not, they depend on donations or Dāna (alms) from their students or those who attend their spiritual services. In this episode, Robert talks about his conversations with several teachers who had mixed emotions about the degree of...2022-01-3130 minAwareness That HealsHow can you find and use Wisdom to navigate difficult feelings? - Episode 42One of the main aspects of Inquiry, or the act of asking beneficial questions to take care of yourself, is to do it without judgment. Asking precise guiding questions is how you can take care of yourself, despite your feelings. In this episode of Awareness that Heals, Robert Strock takes us through a few moments of his life. He shares how his own Inquiry and the subsequent guidance he continues to develop has helped him empathize more strongly with people around him, including his podcast co-host and partner at the Global Bridge Foundation, Dave, through some recent emotional events. 2022-01-2330 minThe Missing ConversationHow can de-idealizing our teachers make them more beneficial to us? (STR) - Episode 34If you think about it, we're all drawn to people most like us. Call it in-group bias or being 'hard-wired' for like-minded people — the fact remains that we can connect best with those we think are similar to us. That's why, when a celebrity, superstar, or sports person comes forward with a challenge they've been facing, we begin seeing them in a different light. Their candor and the fact that they're also dealing with something you or someone you love have made them more human and relatable. This also applies to religious leaders and spiritual teachers. In fa...2022-01-1732 min
Awareness That HealsDeveloping Inquiry and Following the Wisdom It Reveals - Episode 41Every year, most of us make new resolutions and set new goals to achieve. We're constantly encouraged to strive for external success markers and status symbols. All things that can significantly impact how we live. But what about maximizing your quality of life? From previous episodes, we know the answer to this is — learning how to ask beneficial questions — inquiry. Inquiry is when you begin asking yourself questions such as, "How can I take care of myself today?" Learning how to ask guiding questions can help you identify your most challenging emotions and feelings and help you move...2022-01-1631 minAwareness That HealsHow can I take care of myself today? - Episode 38Sometimes, moments of strife can feel like you're drowning underwater. Unable to call for help, not sure if anyone, including yourself, can hear you. Learning how to ask questions that can help you support yourself is like equipping yourself with an oxygen tank. You're not out of the water yet, but you're able to breathe a little better. The art of sincere questioning is an experience of love. It's being able to take a breather in those difficult moments, pause, and ask yourself — how can I best take care of myself through this? Awareness of your...2021-12-2631 minAwareness That HealsHello, it’s your wisdom guidance—can you hear me? - Episode 37When it comes to forging your best self, inquiry and wisdom guidance are two key facilitators. Inquiry is sincere questioning that sparks awareness with simple suggestions of support and direction. Wisdom guidance involves giving yourself and others the space to think, act, and develop qualities that are most beneficial without carrying any judgment. It's present inside us all—but can you access your wisdom? Robert Strock takes listeners through what it means to communicate with wisdom guidance. It's asking for help and offering support through clarity in your words, actions, and essential qualities. It's taking time to pra...2021-12-1932 minAwareness That HealsListening to Our Own Needs and Wisdom - Episode 36Host Robert Strock begins by acknowledging that many of us reach a point where we realize that life is not as fulfilling, enjoyable, or satisfying as we had hoped or imagined. We all have patterns of behavior and thinking that we were taught early in our lives. Almost all of us have patterns that prevent the peace and happiness we desire. Strock asks listeners to identify a pattern or patterns that may be reversed to develop a deeper sense of wellbeing. The more honest and aware of our patterns we are and we become, the greater the likelihood that...2021-12-1130 minAwareness That HealsBecoming Aware of Our Essential Needs - Episode 35Host Robert Strock discusses and uses examples of how developing our self-inquiry can help move us beyond the conditioning of our past. Many of us get caught in the emotions and the experience of our challenges. We may try to give it our best efforts but often aren’t aware of our essential needs, actions, or qualities that are necessary to guide us. It is very helpful to download the free The Introspective Guides at AwarenessThatHeals.org to more clearly see what is needed to develop. Strock uses examples from his personal life and years as a psychotherapist to sh...2021-12-0529 minThe Missing ConversationWhy We Need to Redefine Our Relationship to Money (PP) – Episode 27Whether we acknowledge it or not, our relationship with money impacts several avenues of our life and the world at large. So often, many people confuse self-worth with net worth — money equals security and an esteemed life. Robert Strock explores how a few people have obtained excessive riches, which requires being born in an environment that offers unique opportunities. In contrast, this has been simply impossible for others. Now, as the world teeters on a dangerous precipice, those that have excesses have a chance to give back a greater percentage of what they’ve earned for the wellbeing of the...2021-11-2931 minAwareness That HealsDeveloping our Own Wisdom from Inner Inquiry - Episode 34Robert Strock explores the continuing path to our own wisdom, a path that does not come cheap and leads us to become our ever-changing best selves. There’s a need for sincerity as we learn how to access our inner wisdom without imposition. We access our wisdom by leaving behind moral pressure established from previous relationships or societal expectations and revering our own genuine state of asking for guidance. We find our sincere questions when we find our purest intentions to care, to be kind and inclusive. Once we find these sincere questions and respond with the guidance suggested, we...2021-11-2827 minThe Missing ConversationDeveloping True International Values (PP) - Episode 26Host Robert Strock discusses how we can develop true international values. If we can take ownership of our own lives and become questioners who challenge old values, we can guide ourselves toward a broader view. Facing our challenging emotions lets us build a healthy self so we can also look beyond ourselves, our families, and our communities to a bigger, more complex world. There are options out there to end hunger and homelessness, but it will take a wider view from those with wealth and power to make change. Regenerative agriculture is one of the possibilities that...2021-11-2232 minAwareness That HealsIdentifying our Repeating Challenging Emotion - Episode 33Host Robert Strock moves deeper into the practice of self-inquiry and how it leads us to examine our quality of life. We return to the question of what is our repeating challenging emotion? As we move through the process of inquiry, we can start looking at whether or not our decisions help take care of everyone at the proverbial table or only a small group of people. It’s a process of looking at our answers without judgment. This forward-moving practice involves identifying the qualities that we need to develop in ourselves, which are often the opposite of our co...2021-11-2131 minThe Missing ConversationThinking and Acting with Solutions for the Global Good (PP) - Episode 25Host Robert Strock dives into the complexities of the homelessness crisis in the state of California and other urban areas. He focuses on solutions that provide a sense of belonging and community, where people can be nourished and feel at home instead of temporary housing. If we start talking about these solutions as a community and society, we can rebuild our infrastructure to support people at all income levels. As we begin to explore options that help those in the most need, we can contemplate and redefine our relationship with money recognizing that we are at a time like...2021-11-1527 minThe Missing ConversationReevaluating The Way We View Our Place In The World PP - Episode 24Host Robert Strock discusses the need for a change in how we view and respond to our relationship with ourselves and the rest of the world. Our world is at a breaking point. Socioeconomic divisions, racial divisions, and many other dividing factors can be overcome if we can see that we can be the witness and responder to our conditioning, rather than be controlled by it, and contemplate individually how we view our place in the world. We can start by asking “What are the small or large gifts that will allow us to respond in a way that is...2021-11-0828 minAwareness That HealsThe Question That Matters Most - Episode 31Host Robert Strock leads listeners through the process of using friendly mind and our inner knowing to address difficult relationships in our lives. If we can approach them from a standpoint of causing the least damage and most understanding for both parties, we can have crucial conversations to support ourselves with challenging feelings and relationships. This same skill comes into play when inquiring into how do we find purpose, meaning, and a way to contribute in the world and not let feelings of helplessnes, skepticism, or habits lessen our potential. With time, we can narrow down our inquiry to...2021-11-0729 minThe Missing ConversationWe Can All Contribute Regardless of Our Wealth PP - Episode 23Host Robert Strock helps identify small ways we can each begin today to discover how we individually can make a difference in the bigger world. There’s a need to contemplate the norms of how we raise children facing the new challenges of the world, view our roles within the community, adjust our relationships to step up and support our nation, and change how we respond to our place in the world. We can learn to face and care for our own difficult emotions and use them to help us make more meaningful contributions to others and by extension, th...2021-11-0128 minThe Missing ConversationCaring for Ourselves while Protecting The Earth PP – Episode 22Robert Strock encourages looking beyond the self to save the planet. Previous podcasts explored facing our most challenging feelings, but the next step is to continue to work toward our best self and develop the person who cares for self, family, community, and the world. Without developing an outward focus, we run the risk of standing by while the planet dies. Strock encourages the kind of introspection that sees how to better the life of the individual and use what we have as individuals to benefit the world. Without a change in how children, parents, and society sees our...2021-10-2528 minAwareness That HealsFacing Truths in Our Lives Through Awareness and Inquiry - Episode 29Host Robert Strock teaches about learning to face the truths in our lives. Self-inquiry can teach us to see, prioritize, and let go of patterns that aren’t beneficial to our personal progress. The process of building awareness of our thought and behavioral patterns can help us steer our rudder in the right direction, rather than beating ourselves up or withdrawing because of our perceived weaknesses and mistakes. Regularly questioning ourselves in a caring way guides our course, helps resolve broken relationships, and builds a more fulfilling, and wholesome heart. Read the transcription and listen to this ep...2021-10-2426 minThe Missing ConversationBuilding a Healthy World One Step at a Time PP - Episode 21Host Robert Strock asks the question, what can you do today in the smallest of ways to help you or others survive and thrive, especially in a way that is evolving? This intention can generate a sense of purpose in each of our lives as much as we pay attention to the little and big things in our environment. Awareness and self-inquiry combined with the search for how to care for others and the world in small ways can build a global and national contagion of health. A contagion of health is one where we care for the psychological, e...2021-10-1829 minAwareness That HealsThe Importance of Listening to Our Own Wisdom - Episode 28Host Robert Strock discusses the importance of identifying and listening to our own wisdom. We can learn to value paying attention to whatever our challenging emotions are at any moment. This is a major victory. It’s a part of identifying what are our essential needs so we can guide ourselves toward the best version of who we are. We can ask ourselves “What is it that we most need?” and refer to the Introspective Guides on AwarenessThatHeals.org for specific help. Strock uses examples from his years of experience in psychotherapy to show how we can identify the patter...2021-10-1729 minThe Missing ConversationHealing Ourselves to Heal the World PP - Episode 20Host Robert Strock continues to explore how we can see ourselves as part of an interconnected global community through internal inquiry that looks for and develops the best self. Using self-inquiry and the free Introspective Guides on AwarenessthatHeals.org, listeners can learn to guide themselves to a place where they can use their time, energy, and resources for the survival and betterment of self, others, and the world. As he states, “We are repeatedly creating wars outside of ourselves by not facing and resolving the war within ourselves.” The discussed process helps resolve the conflict within so that we can...2021-10-1128 minAwareness That HealsInquiring from the Heart to Access Wisdom - Episode 27Host Robert Strock teaches the process of moving from self-criticism to pivoting and accessing our own wisdom through self-inquiry. The process starts when we face challenging emotions. In these moments, we ask ourselves questions, searching for the best of who we are. What is our best self, our best actions, best communication, and best attitudes? These questions will guide us toward the thoughts we will derive benefit to think rather than self-criticizing ones. Read the transcription and listen to this episode at Awareness That Heals.2021-10-1029 minThe Missing ConversationBalancing Love For Family And The World PP - Episode 19Host Robert Strock highlights the need for continual questioning to reexamine our relationships with ourselves, our family, and responding to the world situation as a whole. This ongoing questioning of our personal and societal relationship and our conditioning can open doors to greater insight, empathy, and connection with the world around us. It helps us live more in the moment and see where we can become more sensitive and grow. That growth includes facing life’s challenges, responding with expanding heart and wisdom to help ourselves, and making changes that are needed both personally as well as globally. A cha...2021-10-0429 minAwareness That HealsConfusion, Self-Compassion, Introspective Questioning - Episode 26Host Robert Strock explores how a growing awareness around our own confusion affects self-rejection during serious health or medical changes. It’s inevitable to feel loss, emptiness, or fear during drastic life changes. We need to learn to acknowledge our feelings around these challenges. Otherwise, we will increase feelings of depression or agitation rather than deepening acceptance, understanding, and forgiving ourselves. There’s a process of learning to see our own expectations and realizing that they’re so often unreasonable. When we go through drastic changes, we are going to change how we think and function physically. It is incred...2021-10-0330 minThe Missing ConversationIt's Important to Question the Balance in Our Lives - Episode 18 PPHost Robert Strock focuses on the third set of questions surrounding a needed change in psycho politics—Am I doing enough? Am I using my resources in a way that benefits the world? There’s a dire need to change the psycho-political climate in the United States and in the world. It’s not enough to love and use our resources only for family and friends. Consistently questioning how and why we’re using our resources can help develop a community and world-centered focus rather than a self-centered one. We should continually ask ourselves these questions and give of...2021-09-2728 minAwareness That HealsDisempowering Self-Rejection - Episode 25Host Robert Strock and guest Dave discuss the process of finding the wise part of ourselves that has the ability to speak with an understanding, compassionate inner voice. With this voice, we can identify self-rejection and see it as an emotion and not feed it with continuous thoughts. We also need to be careful not to succumb to premature transcending, where we think we’re beyond our challenging feelings when we’ve really let them sink deeper into our subconscious. We want to develop gradual dis-identification with our challenging emotion(s) and work toward developing the intention to heal. At t...2021-09-2629 minThe Missing ConversationChanging for the Good of Humanity - Episode 17 PPHost Robert Strock discusses the current psycho-political environment. We’re currently in a time where COVID-19 and natural disasters have highlighted individual and societal vulnerability. Before COVID-19, there was a great amount of disconnection between those with the financial means and power and those struggling to survive day to day. There’s now a profound sense of equal vulnerability to disease and natural disasters. We need a growing understanding of the disparity— yet connection— between the poor, rich, and everyone in between. Strock calls for change in how children are raised and educated from a young age through...2021-09-2028 minAwareness That HealsChanging Responses to Difficult Emptions - Episode 24Host Robert Strock discusses the long-term process of identifying our challenging emotions and how we can work through them. We are individuals with differing experiences and upbringings. Those experiences affect how we respond to difficult emotions and eventually can turn into self-rejection. We have to look deep within ourselves to identify the actions and thoughts that can lead us away from rejection toward self-acceptance. We can start by asking and identifying our most difficult, challenging emotion. Being aware of and consistently questioning how we’re reacting to that emotion helps us develop compassion for ourselves and the greater world. It...2021-09-1931 minThe Missing ConversationFinding Balance to Help the Homeless and Save the Planet - Episode 16 PPHost Robert Strock asks the question: "Are we balanced in how we view ourselves and use our resources?" To address the growing issues of global warming, homelessness, immigration reform, and other world and societal problems, there’s an overwhelming need for each individual to broaden their view. As we learn to see beyond our immediate needs and question ourselves and society, we better use the resources at our disposal as individuals and as a society. Currently, the planet is headed toward rock bottom. Consequently, building awareness is crucial to healing. Healing those in need, healing ourselves, and healing the pl...2021-09-1334 minAwareness That HealsCultivating Self-Acceptance and Balance - Episode 23Host Robert Strock digs deeper into developing self-acceptance and balance as we continue on a journey through challenging feelings. Misconceptions about self-acceptance can lead to causing undue harm to others, especially when dealing with anger. However, true self-acceptance comes when we express ourselves with sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and honesty. Part of self-acceptance means saying yes to negative emotions, embracing them, and tolerating them without hurting others. When you accept these difficult feelings, you can heal them. Do you accept yourself when you feel fear, anxiety, or anger? When we have feelings that we don’t want to feel, we can lo...2021-09-1232 minThe Missing ConversationWaking the Individual to Wake the World - Episode 15 PPHost Robert Strock introduces and discusses what will be an ongoing discussion on psycho-politics. Strock focuses on the current state of psycho-politics and how it’s led to a society that’s largely neglected the poorest of the poor and the planet. Over the next few episodes, we’ll look at how to expand our vision and redefine what it means to be psychologically healthy. As we put our familial and societal relationships into perspective, we can use our energy, money, and work abilities to benefit not only ourselves but vulnerable populations and future generations with a thriving planet and so...2021-09-0631 minAwareness That HealsContinual Progression and Personal Evolution - Episode 22Host Robert Strock discusses the value of learning to identify our own challenging feelings, questioning them, and continuing to grow and develop as a person. Each of us must learn that outside standards don’t have to define us. It takes time to develop the autonomous self that can name, question, and grow. Self-rejection keeps us from realizing the autonomous self because we get caught in a reactive mode where we identify with what we’ve been taught. Developing awareness requires exploring the things that you say to yourself. Strock uses case studies and personal experiences as examp...2021-09-0526 minThe Missing ConversationImmigration Reform - Episode 14Host Robert Strock introduces an immigration reform framework that unites government agencies, the private sector, and the philanthropic world to provide a viable, safe, legal way for immigrants to enter the United States’ southern border. The plan proposes the creation of fully functional immigrant communities composed of enough tiny homes to house approximately 10,000 people. Residents would work full-time to support the community and neighboring cities. Tiny homes cost ⅕ of traditional low-income housing options and give immigrants a safe, secure place to live while they go through the immigration process. There would also be training opportunities in needed industries such as s...2021-08-3029 minAwareness That HealsDeveloping Self-Compassion with Patience - Episode 21Host Robert Strock discusses the continuing process of developing self-compassion. Difficult emotions elicit many predictable “normal” forms of self-rejection, such as withdrawing, anger, or fixing. However, normal doesn’t mean healthy. We can learn to accept challenging feelings as part of our human experience while learning to stop patterns of self-rejection. As we learn to recognize our forms of self-rejection, we can also learn to look deep inside ourselves and recognize the part, sometimes the small part, of ourselves that acknowledges that we don’t feel difficult feelings on purpose and that’s ready to provide self-compassion. This is th...2021-08-2930 minThe Missing ConversationTrash Prophets with Mark Spiro - Episode 13Mark Spiro, award-winning songwriter, producer, recording artist, and founder of Trash Prophets, joins host Robert Strock to discuss Spiro’s work with the unsheltered. Trash Prophets is a mobile recycling organization that helps train the unsheltered in collecting recyclables for a profit. In Spiro’s work with the homeless, he’s learned that many factors come into play, keeping people homeless. If they make too much money, they can lose the few benefits they get. Taxes and other laws may take what wages or inheritance they may have at their disposal. It turns into a repeating cycle. Yet, the unshel...2021-08-2331 minAwareness That HealsDevelop Self-Compassion and Activate Healing Intention - Episode 20Host Robert Strock discusses how to continually develop self-compassion by identifying the healing intentions that lie at the heart of who we are. All too frequently when we have challenging feelings, we react in negative emotional l ways, which is an expression of (usually unconscious) self-rejection. That’s when it’s time to remind ourselves that our feelings aren’t the most important part of who we are. Feelings are feelings, and in many cases, they’re perpetually involuntary. We can reduce self-rejection by identifying feelings and recognizing that though we have those feelings, they are not the best reflecti...2021-08-2230 minThe Missing ConversationDiscovering the Meaning of Home with Alan Graham - Episode 12Join host Robert Strock in an interview with guest Alan Graham, founder of Community First! Village and Mobile Loaves and Fishes (MLF) of Austin, Texas. Graham organized and runs a permanent community that offers permanent housing to the unsheltered. However, 20 percent of residents are there voluntarily, coming from a wide range of successful backgrounds. The key to the community’s success is the acceptance of everyone for where and who they are in their journey. Graham’s time feeding and housing the unsheltered has brought home the importance of one-on-one connection with people. Learning to see and care for the...2021-08-1649 minAwareness That HealsAcceptance and Self-Compassion Illuminate Self-Rejection - Episode 19Robert Strock continues a discussion of the third level of awareness, exploring deeper levels of moving toward self-compassion. The process of developing self-compassion is not a one-time experience. It’s a repeated course of thought and action where we continually identify difficult feelings and our response to them. This self-awareness practice involves introspection and learning to listen to ourselves and what we need, rather than ignoring difficult feelings. Without identifying, acknowledging, and bringing our intention to care for ourselves, we most frequently get caught in a fight or flight response to our own feelings. Either response leads to disconnection fr...2021-08-1531 minThe Missing ConversationHomelessness and Agriculture with Perry Goldberg - Episode 11The President of E Pluribus University and founder of thrivela.org, Perry Goldberg, joins host Robert Strock to discuss current efforts to identify solutions and barriers to the growing homelessness problem in California. Current solutions involve building affordable housing where land runs at a premium and laws, regulations, and objections of neighbors add to the expense and time it takes to develop the properties. The results are not enough housing for a growing vulnerable population. Both Goldberg and Strock point toward a pervasive false perception of the majority of the unsheltered being addicted, mentally ill, or unable to contribute...2021-08-0938 minAwareness That HealsSee What's Challenging From A Nonjudgmental Place - Episode 18Robert Strock discusses the third level of awareness. This level of awareness requires that we become aware of and identify our most challenging feelings. To address these feelings, we must reach the first level of awareness, which is to be humble enough to be aware that in many areas we are unaware. The second level is to recognize the ways in which we see ourselves in brief flashes because it’s too hard to tolerate challenging feelings or profound insights that would cause disruption in our lives if we integrated them. We reach the third level when we can as...2021-08-0827 minThe Missing ConversationSolutions to Homeless Challenges with John Maceri - Episode 10Guest John Maceri, chief executive officer of People Concern, an organization that tackles the multifaceted issues surrounding homelessness, joins host Robert Strock. The current cost per unit for permanent housing isn’t tenable. People Concern’s model is one way to cut costs and connect people with needed services. One of the ways to accomplish this is by leasing housing units from private landowners and managers and then sublet them to unsheltered people whose credit and job history may disqualify them under usual circumstances. The truth is that homlessness isn’t cheap. People experiencing homelessness use first responders, emergency servic...2021-08-021h 07Awareness That HealsMoving From Self-Rejection Toward Self-Compassion - Episode 17 Host Robert Strock discusses the process of moving from self-rejection toward self-compassion. Emotions like anger or anxiety often carry a double layer of self-rejection. There’s the initial emotion but also the way we feel about that emotion, We need to ask ourselves if we like how we’re feeling, and if the answer is no, it reveals that we are having a negative reaction that either will be withdrawing from our hearts ourselves or are negatively reacting emotionally.? When we feel our most disliked feelings, we can learn to give our heart to care for ourselves specifically. Listeners can...2021-08-0128 minThe Missing ConversationHousing Options for the Unsheltered with Brian Greenberg - Episode 9Brian Greenberg, PhD, manager of Life Moves, joins host Robert Strock to discuss the current and growing needs among the unsheltered population. Life Moves is the largest comprehensive homelessness program in Northern California. It focuses on providing amenities like private/public showers and toilets along with connecting participants with job opportunities, housing support, and health services. When less expensive housing options have basic privacy, it provides incentives that bring people off of the streets. Organizations like Life Moves work to provide a maximum amount of services at a minimal cost. Greenberg's program works with psychology masters and PhD interns...2021-07-2649 minThe Missing ConversationEcosystem Restoration Camps with John D Liu - Episode 7Guest John D. Liu, ecosystem ambassador for the Common Land Foundation, joins host Robert Strock in a discussion about restoring the planet’s biodiversity and biomass through regenerative agriculture and ecosystem restoration. These two practices and concepts recognize and incorporate the symbiosis of all living things in order to restore and reclaim land. Restorative agriculture programs, including Liu’s Ecosystem Restoration Camps, are now found on six continents, including a massively successful pilot program on China’s Loess Plateau that covered 35,000 square kilometers. Regenerative agriculture organizations are now partnering with homelessness programs in LA to train the unsheltered in these...2021-06-3031 minThe Missing ConversationReconnecting Homeless with Family with Ron Hooks - Episode 6Pastor Ron Hook’s 26 years of working with the unsheltered gives him a unique perspective on those experiencing homelessness. He talks with host Robert Strock and guest host Shelley Pearce about some of his personal turning points that led him to devoting his life to helping the unsheltered. His organization, West Coast Care, often fills a gap between what other organizations offer and what the unsheltered need to reconnect with family, find meaningful employment, or move forward in their recovery journey. A compassionate heart lies at the center of his work and will move listeners to seek ways they, to...2021-06-3036 minThe Missing ConversationFunding Alternative Housing Solutions with Elizabeth Funk - Episode 5Guest Elizabeth Funk, innovator and Board Member of Life Moves, talks with host Robert Strock about her work in the microfinance industry abroad and current focus and efforts to eliminate homelessness in the United States. Together, they shed new light on the complexity of the growing housing crisis, from the needs of interim housing to potential solutions that involve portable, permanent housing units. The COVID pandemic has left more people unsheltered, but it’s also been a catalyst for changing attitudes and forces that have acted as barriers to permanent housing solutions. New ideas are on the horizon as or...2021-06-3030 minThe Missing ConversationWelcome to The Missing Conversation – Episode 1The Missing Conversation Podcast with host Robert Strock explores an array of complex issues inherent to modern life. From immigration and homelessness to how we as a society find ourselves polarized and facing crises on a global level, this podcast faces challenges head-on with the goal of bringing understanding, healing, and tangible solutions to the forefront of every conversation. A look at Robert’s personal journey sets the tone for podcasts designed to face, question, and envision concrete steps to address difficult topics, issues, and emotions. Listen to the episode and find out more at: The Global Br...2021-06-3019 min