The Best of You

Today's Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:14–26

What do you do when you feel like you don’t belong — or when you’ve learned to protect yourself by pretending you don’t need anyone? Today’s Scripture gives us Paul’s picture of the body, where every part matters and no part can say, “I don’t belong” or “I don’t need you.” This episode helps you recognize the strategies you use around belonging, stop measuring your worth by comparison, and practice showing up in the body as someone who is already needed and loved.

You’ll learn:

*Why feeling like you don’t belong does not make it true

*How exclusion can register in the body like real pain

*Why some of us try to earn belonging while others avoid it

*How community helps regulate what we were never meant to carry alone

*One small way to let someone else show up for you today

Go Deeper: Pick up The Secure Soul and the Companion Guide to go deeper into repairing old attachment wounds and returning to love.

Connect with Dr. Alison on Instagram: @dralisoncook

Join 80,000+ Soul Menders in Dr. Alison’s free email community for ongoing reflection and support.

While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only.‍

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the faith that once held you no longer feels like it can carry the questions you’re asking now?

You may still love God. You don’t want to leave your faith behind. But the beliefs, practices, or ways of relating to God that once sustained you begin to feel too small for the life you’re living.

In this week’s conversation, Dr. Alison is joined by bestselling author, psychotherapist, and spiritual director Ian Morgan Cron to explore the tender space between silencing your questions and burning everything down.

Through Ian’s brand-new novel Chasing Francis, they discuss how a crisis of faith can become an invitation to spiritual growth, deeper intimacy with God, and a faith that is more fully your own.

Why a crisis of faith can become an opportunity for deeper spiritual growth

The difference between healthy questioning and becoming trapped in cynicism

What spiritual individuation looks like and why it matters

Why the faith that sustained an earlier version of you may need room to grow

How to return to the foundation that God is love and you are loved

Why resisting a difficult spiritual season can create even more suffering

How beauty, imagination, story, and nature can restore perspective

What St. Francis can teach us about simplicity, compassion, and an embodied faith

Your questions do not necessarily mean that you are losing your faith.

They may be an invitation to examine what you inherited, hold on to what is true, and allow God to build something deeper.

As Ian reminds us, sometimes the work is not forcing yourself back into a previous expression of faith. It is asking:

What is the invitation here?

You can now preorder Dr. Alison’s newest book, The Secure Soul, and immediately receive the first 3 chapters as well as early access to the companion guide!

Connect further with @dralisoncook on Instagram

Curious what Family Role may have shaped you? Take the Family Role Quiz to learn how you may be showing up in your relationships with others.

📖 Find a full transcript and list of resources from this episode here

Don't forget to browse this week's sponsors, who make it possible for me to bring you these resources for free + provide you with additional discounts!

Quince - How you dress affects your mood and you can trust that Quince has you covered in every day sustainable wardrobe staples. Go to ⁠Quince.com/bestofyou⁠ for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order!

Aqua Tru - Join 98% of customers who have made their drinking water cleaner, safer, & healthier by visiting AquaTru.com and use promo code BESTOFYOU to get 20% off today!

*Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only.‍

You’ll explore:More Resources:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Scripture: 2 Samuel 9:1–8What do you do when shame tells you that you are too damaged, too much, or too far behind to belong? Today’s Scripture tells the story of a wounded man who is hiding, and King David’s kindness that brings him back to the table. This episode helps you recognize the hiding place inside your soul, receive kindness without self-evisceration, and begin to trust that belonging can meet you wounds and all.

You’ll learn:*Why shame drives us into hiding and withdrawal*How belonging can feel threatening when your history with power has been painful*Why kindness often has to be received repeatedly over time*How wounded younger parts of us learn to stay hidden*What it means to believe the seat at the table is actually yours

Go Deeper:

Listen to the daily episode on Mark 5: When Your Pain Becomes Your Identity: How Jesus Gives You a New Name

Episode 160: When You Feel Unwanted—Meeting the Parts of You That Long to Belong with IFS Therapist Tammy Sollenberger

Connect with Dr. Alison on Instagram: @dralisoncook

Join 80,000+ Soul Menders in Dr. Alison’s free email community for ongoing reflection and support.

While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only.‍
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Scripture: Luke 11:9–13

What do you do when you believe God is good, but your body still braces when it’s time to ask him for help? Today’s Scripture speaks to the history beneath our prayers — the early experiences that taught us whether asking was safe, ignored, punished, or met with care. This episode helps you notice the inner flinch, honor the part of you that stopped asking, and begin rebuilding trust with God one small request at a time.

You’ll learn:

*Why asking God for help can feel risky

*How early attachment wounds shape what you expect from God

*Why what you believe and what you feel can be different systems

*How to notice the inner flinch without shaming it

*One small way to practice asking God for something real

Go Deeper: Pre-order The Secure Soul to learn how your earliest attachments shape what you expect from God — and how to begin repairing those patterns.

Connect with Dr. Alison on Instagram: @dralisoncook

Join 80,000+ Soul Menders in Dr. Alison’s free email community for ongoing reflection and support.

While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only.‍
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Scripture: Psalm 107:4–9

What do you do when your soul feels empty, disoriented, or far from anything that feels like home? Today’s Scripture gives language for the part of us that is hungry, thirsty, wandering, and running on empty. This episode helps you stop shaming your depletion, recognize hunger as a signal, and cry out to the God who meets us with direction, belonging, and good things.

You’ll learn:

*Why emptiness and disorientation are not failures

*How Scripture names the soul’s hunger without shame

*Why depletion can make life feel flat or colorless

*How crying out can become an attachment move

*One honest need you can bring to God and someone safe

Go Deeper: Listen to the daily episode on Psalm 37, and pre-order The Secure Soul to learn how to repair inner attachment wounds with God.

Connect with Dr. Alison on Instagram: @dralisoncook

Join 80,000+ Soul Menders in Dr. Alison’s free email community for ongoing reflection and support.

While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only.‍
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices