When I ask people to recommend their favorite self-help book in social media, there are some authors who get recommended the most… books by Eckhart Tolle, Brene Brown and Dale Carnegie.

But the most common answer is probably the Bible!

One of the questions I’ve been thinking about lately is where God fits in self-help. Do those who believe in God find the self-improvement journey easier?

In this episode, I’m so excited to welcome back Jenny Blake.

She recently enrolled in Divinity School.

My own undergraduate degree was also in world religions, so I was so excited to have this conversation with Jenny about God, spirituality, and self-help.

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Episode 71 Show Notes

[00:00] Welcome and Intro

[2:44] Featured interview with Jenny Blake

Jenny Blake is author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One.

In this conversation, Keith and Jenny discuss:

• Jenny’s pivot into Union Theological Seminary
• How Jenny made the decision to step away from school
• How Jenny realized atheism wasn’t for her
• Keith shares his experience growing up in Catholicism
• What does it mean to be agnostic?
• The dogmatism of atheist
• The golden rule
• Do we need religion or spirituality of faith to grow?

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead by Tosha Silver
• Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto by Lesley Hazleton
• Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives by Brian L. Weiss
• How to Be, Do, or Have Anything: A Practical Guide to Creative Empowerment by Lawurence G Boldt
• Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao by Wayne W. Dyer
• Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian by Paul F. Knitter
• Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
• God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Mirabai Starr
• Byron Katie

[42:00] Jenny’s Instruction Manual, Part II

1. If you had to pick one music album as the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

• Black as Night, Nahko and Medicine for the People
  • “It’s like Christian rock for those that aren’t Christian.”

2. What’s one personal development myth you want to dispel?

• That you need to know the next step in your journey. Instead, we should have a bunch of horses on the go.

3. Name one unusual or surprising gadget you couldn’t live without.

• A wax seal and hot glue gun

4. What does a “bad day” look like to you and what are the steps you take to turn it around? 

• Two types:
  • Day when feels like doing nothing productive
  • Day when really feels sad or something is really wrong
• The solution is sometimes to give up on the “shoulds”

5. What is your biggest goal or wildest dream?

• Stay on her path with a sense of peace and equanimity
• Getting a dog

Where to find Jenny

• Website: Pivotmethod.com

Closing words

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