Ask Me Anything: Stories, Spirit, and Honest Answers (Part 1)

You sent the questions. I'm answering them.

Across social media, beautiful souls sent in the full range. Lighter, everyday curiosities about my life. The story of how I got here. And the big-frame spiritual questions about what I'm rooted in now.

About thirty questions in all, gathered into six clusters. In Part 1, I move through the first three: the lighter stuff, my journey, and the spiritual foundations. Part 2, with the inner work, the relational practice, and the conversation around money and self-trust, is on its way.

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In this episode:

• The journey from New York to an RV to rural Arkansas
• Why I love wide open spaces, and what my Gene Keys say about that
• Birds, pancakes, jazz guitar, and the freshness of every sunrise
• How my heart is, right now, and what I mean when I say I feel successful
• Eight kids, a Southern Baptist preacher father, and the long road back to my voice
• Religious trauma, idiot compassion, and Neale Donald Walsch's question about the natural and the normal
• Whether bravery is bravery, or just the pursuit of joy on the other side of fear
• Curiosity, beginner's mind, non-attachment, and the difference between masculine rigidity and a more feminine integrity
• Why I don't believe in randomness or fate as fixed truths, and what I lean on instead
• Christianity and Christ consciousness, in one sentence
• Nature as the effortless aligner, and the reminder that we are also nature

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References mentioned in this episode:

• Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch
• Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
• India.Arie ("Nature is the effortless aligner")
• Gene Keys, Enneagram type 9, astrocartography
• Bruce Lee ("Be like water")
• Guitarists named: Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, George Benson, Grant Green, Biréli Lagrène

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✨ Free gift: A 30-minute guided journaling session, Day 1 of the R.I.S.E. Journal Challenge. Find it at asoulcalledjoel.com under "Free Guided Journaling."

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Episode page: https://www.asoulcalledjoel.com/podcasts/emotional-evolution-with-joel-cross/episodes/2149202357
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UDrqDg0CEZA
Read along on Substack: https://asoulcalledjoel.substack.com/

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Connect: @asoulcalledjoel on Instagram and TikTok
Beautiful Souls Community: asoulcalledjoel.com