For Thought's Sake

Final Maddie update.   Universe will give you reminders of how challenging something is to keep you from choosing it again or romanticizing it.    Problems with identity and whether you can identify as something when you no longer do it professionally.   Shame based narrative of feeling inadequate.   Not meeting your own expectations or living up to your potential. Wanting to be seen, but feeling small and playing it safe.    Questioning your own thought processes. Why do you think what you think? Poking the overthinking bear to get to the root.    Follow us on Instagram: @forthoughtssake

Somatics as an integration of what you’re experiencing and how it presents in the body.    Weird movements and positions we do with our body as we experience or try to process emotions.    Sometimes our body is yelling at us like an alarm saying, “Do you understand what is going on and how you are feeling right now?!”    Normalizing doing somatic practices in front of other people. Let the weird live!   Camaraderie in numbers. By moving yourself you create a safe space for others to also move their body.    Craving a sense of community with like-minded people who are all into the same hobby/interest/activity.    Wanting to be part of a community, but not be asked to lead that community. Just want to be a student of life. 

The Maddie Saga. It’s not good now, but it’s going to be good later.     How do you follow your moral compass when you are in a seemingly impossible situation where no option is a good option?   People and animals need help and there are not enough resources operating effectively enough to help them.   Trying to help stray animals is similar to trying to help children within various social systems.    Is the system broken? Or is it operating exactly as it was intended to?    Doing your research before adopting an animal: background info on the animal itself, on the rescue it’s coming from, budgeting for the adoption and future costs.    Your earth suit might see all data pointing to demise, but your soul suit knows better. When all seems losts, try to trust it’s going to work out. 

Maddie Update (Stray dog Alex is taking care of!)    When it comes to what our bodies need in order to function is it nature or nurture?    Sleep deprivation and how to handle the emotions that arise because of it.    When you’re not in a position to experience the emotions coming up in the moment, how do you acknowledge and move through it?    Utilizing your five senses to redirect your brain and calm yourself enough to move onto the next moment.    Thoughts on Bridgerton: You can be an elegant lady and still like sex.    Sex Positive Resources: The Principles of Pleasure series on Netflix. Come as You Are by Emily Nagoski Clit Talk Podcast   Follow us on Instagram: @forthoughtssake

Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio near the South Node. Basically experiencing a bunch of f*ckery. Could be catharsis or a mental break.    Lunar Eclipse brought AJ some intense oversharing moments.   Lunar Eclipse brought Alex a stray puppy.    PSA - when you buy a puppy from a pet store, you are supporting puppy mills and dog breeders who grossly mistreat and abuse animals.   Dogs with separation anxiety.   Social media break because it was becoming an addiction for Alex.   A lot of people are using social media for good: philanthropy, art, meaningful connection.   Yes, there’s an algorithm feeding you content, but there is also a certain degree of choice when it comes to social media that you can use to curate your experience. 

Our first guest of Season 3!    Kristin Collier has 20 years of experience working in the behavior science field and teaching nonviolent communication. Her book Housewife got international attention and won four awards including a Nautilus (silver), awarded in the past to Barbara Kingsolver, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Dalai Lama. She teaches a new course called Core Alignment with Joy that AJ has already taken and gives a million star rating!   Kristin experienced an awakening and healing three years ago that presented in the form of a crisis where her body completely gave out on her. She saw various healing practitioners and health professionals who diagnosed her with a variety of ailments, but ultimately she was able to find help through the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza and Dr. John Sarno. The things she learned helped her to heal herself and she now pairs those wholeness and health practices with nonviolent communication techniques in order to help others learn to reframe thought patterns and make empowered choi

We took a few weeks off due to unforeseen circumstances. We got too close to the veil. . . spiritual veil and zoom veil.    Light box. Helps with seasonal affective disorder, depression, anxiety.   Do you wear sunscreen on your face on a daily basis?     Concerned about skin cancer? Or aging of the skin and face? Bit of both?    Starting to notice the aging process in our 30’s.    Skincare from the perspective of prevention.    What tools are we using to care for our faces as they age?   Gua Sha. Facial cupping. Clarisonic. Nuface.    Adult acne and wrinkles simultaneously. Great.    What is up with Causebox? Yikes.    Follow us on Instagram: @forthoughtssake

The Gilded Age vs. Brigerton vs. Downton Abbey   Personality tests: DiSC Type, Chronotype, and Enneagram   Are workplace personality assessments invasive or helpful?    Can personality tests be a tangible way to promote conscious communication about our strengths and weaknesses?    What are we projecting with who we are or who we think we should be when we take these tests? How does that skew the results?   Personality tests can be helpful in feeling validated or normalized, but it may also create a self fulfilling prophecy.   Do personality tests account for how we are able to evolve as people throughout our life?   Whatever anyone is into and wants to believe in order to help you evolve and think about yourself in new ways is valid.    Resources:   DiSC Type Personality Test: https://www.crystalknows.com/disc-personality-test   Chronotype Test: https://thepowerofwhenquiz.com/   The Power of Now by Michael Breus, PhD   Enneagram Test: https://www.crystalknows.com/enneagram-test   Alternative Enneagram Test:

Does your hair mean enough to you to want to spend money on it?    Are people spending money they don’t have on their aesthetic and appearance?    Are we trying to meet others' expectations of what our hair should look like?    If external expectations or standards were removed what would we choose for ourselves?    How do we figure out what we are doing and why when we are ingrained in capitalism and commercialism?    How do you express your identity through your physical appearance?   Is how we present ourselves correlated to the state we are experiencing internally?   *Note - this conversation explores the multitude of responses to these questions. No one answer, just thoughts. #forthoughtssake   Follow us on Instagram: @forthoughtssake   Have a question or topic you want us to discuss? Send Alex & AJ an email: forthoughtssake@gmail.com

Texting or emailing to help you get to the root of what you are intending before hitting send.   What response is actually true and what is just your ego being cranky?   People with a uterus problems.    PMDD - Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.   The intersection of mental illness, hormones, and behavior.   Period symptoms. We’re getting graphic folx.   The learning curve is unbelievable for our own physiology, especially in under researched communities.    Being curious and talking to others about their experiences helps you level set your own experiences and find connection and community.    Resources: The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk Moody Bitches by Julie Holland Clue Period and Ovulation Tracker App. helloclue.com Moody App. moodymonth.com @drjolenebrighton @berrionlberry @mareawellness   Find Alex & AJ on Instagram: @forthoughtssake https://www.instagram.com/forthoughtssake/   Have a question or something you want us to talk about in an episode? Email us: forthoughtssake@gmail.com  

Buckle up. Sharp turns lie ahead.   Alternative episode title: Witchcraft, Fear of Misrepresentation, and Eco-Friendly Consumerism.   How do we change patterns, habits, and behaviors to accommodate each season of the year?   “You look like the 4th of July. Makes me want a hotdog real bad.”   Spiritual practices can dwell in the land of witchcraft.    I don’t want to claim to be part of a community when I’m not.   I can’t control others' interpretation, but I want the interpretation to match the authenticity of my experience.   If eco-friendly products can’t do the job they’re intended to do, then I’m not motivated or incentivized as a consumer to purchase them.   How do you find ease in doing something you care about changing that actually is causing impact and not taxing your resources at a level where it doesn’t make sense?

Nocturnal orgasms. HBO is ripe with docuseries about cults. Cult leaders use behavioral science and human nature in order to pattern and retrain the brains of their recruits.  Less coffee = less anxiety and less boob bumpies. Aloe collagen oat milk latte with agave. Hypochondriac based pregnancy symptoms. How do we let our body have whatever hormonal experience it is having without feeling the need to act on the hormonal cues?

What responsibility do content creators have to put trigger warnings on their content if everyone is responsible for themselves and their own consumption? Do mantras and affirmations have more potency when they correlate to astrology? What does your body/mind/spirit need to feel in order to integrate? 

Does the holiday season make you a bit anxious? Us too. Between office parties, family gatherings, and countless other social situations, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and overstimulated.  In this episode, Alex and AJ provide skills to help you respond to the behaviors of others and take care of yourself, including: tricks for getting out of conversations, skill rehearsal, and going inward to become your own peacemaker. It's all about giving your brain options instead of orders. 

Kaley Hatfield (@kaley_hatfield) is a professional dancer and health and wellness coach. In this episode she discusses how she was conditioned to be her harshest critic and how she has learned to overcome that. She believes that health encompasses mind, body, and soul and becoming your healthiest self starts with unearthing your real reasons for wanting change. When people come to her saying they want to get in shape, they usually have surface level reasons, but lifestyle changes are for the long game. It is up to us to make the decision to continually choose ourself in working towards lifestyle changes and goals that are motivated from a deep intrinsic place. You can find Kaley here: www.kaleyhatfield.com 

Alex and AJ have both had an increase in energetic and spiritual experiences lately and discuss what they have been feeling in regards to them. Alex and AJ’s human forms are data driven and it makes it a challenge to trust their intuitive and divine guidance since they don’t take spiritual encounters lightly or treat them with whimsy. AJ has been receiving messages through clairvoyance and clairsentience, while Alex has been seeing auras again. They also discuss the difference between anxious thoughts and guidance, and how spirit, intuition, and the souls of others try to get your attention through music.     

Alex and AJ discuss fitting in and feeling a sense of belonging with others. Whether it's at work, with a group of friends, or even with a perceived identity - how do we feel like we belong? And are we the ones creating a false reality with our own judgements about how well we fit in? Join us as we come up with different theories about what it means to fit in and whether we actually want to fit in. This episode brings up a lot of questions and will probably need to be followed up with a Part 2 episode! We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this topic, too! @alexandrajthomsen @forthoughtssake

Alex and AJ recap Season 1 of For Thought's Sake. Join them for some behind the scenes stories and hear the spooky reason why they didn't release an episode about sleep and dreams. They also discuss how rage was a motivator to finally record the first episode of the podcast, how the entire season was guided by intuition and finding flow, as well as things to get excited about for Season 2!