Gathering Gold

Myths About Relationships

We pick up where we left off in our last episode to discuss a few myths about relationships, unpacking commonly-held beliefs and prescriptions regarding our romantic/sexual lives, our choices about whether we want to be parents, and experiences of parenthood. By pulling apart the threads of these myths, we hope to encourage a greater sense of acceptance, compassion, and celebration of ourselves and other people, and the many ways we can lead healthy, fulfilling lives full of love and purpose.

Don't forget to check out Sheryl's 9-Month Course: Break Free from Anxiety, which explores these myths and many other messages, stories, cognitions, and experiences that create and inflame anxiety. 

References:

• Sheryl's 9 Month Course: Break Free from Anxiety
• It's a Wonderful Life: Mary the Old Maid clip 
• Book Lovers, by Emily Henry
• Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: A Memoir in Essays, by Nicole Graev Lipson
• Sheryl's appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show

Myths About Life

Have you ever felt like you should be able to figure out and answer all of life's questions--immediately?

That if you could just find the one right lifestyle and location for you, your life would be all shimmer and shine?

That you should just find life and adulthood easier? That everyone else finds it easier?

These are myths about life that have their fingerprints all over our psyches.

They weigh on us and dredge up feelings of not-enoughness, pulling us away from the present moment and into traps of comparison and wishful thinking. These are the myths that we are unpacking and dispelling in today's episode, inspired by Sheryl's upcoming course: Break Free from Anxiety: A 9-Month Course on the Art of Living (which begins September 20, 2025). 

Stay tuned for Part 2, a discussion of three more myths!

References:

• Gathering Gold episodes about Escape Hatch Fantasies, Dropping into Your Body, and The Goodness of Ordinary Life
• Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: A Memoir in Essays, by Nicole Graev Lipson

The Thief of Joy

We used to try to keep up with the Joneses--the family behind the picket fence on that beautiful street the next town over.

Now it's not just the local Joneses that we're trying to measure up to, but the influencers on Instagram, high school acquaintances that we still follow on Facebook, our past selves and our future potential. 

Comparison has always been the thief of joy, but in the digital media landscape, its storm cloud looms larger and darker than ever.

How can we turn down the volume on this constant humming force?

How can we soften in the places we feel aren't measuring up? 

How can we turn our yardstick into a compass pointing us to our own sense of peace?

These are the questions we're dancing with in today's episode.

What Makes a Safe Friendship?

There are many types of friendships, and they're all necessary. We need friends to chat with at work, neighbors to share metaphorical cups of sugar with. But we also need deep friendships built on a bedrock of safety--and those can be harder to come by.

In today's episode, we are unpacking what it means to feel truly safe in a friendship. What qualities do we look for and offer to our friends in order to create a container of deep love and security? What are the values that we orient towards when we find a kindred spirit and realize we simply love them because we love them? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we repair when something shakes the foundation we have worked so hard to build?

Reclaiming Joy

We all want to experience joy, but sometimes it can feel out of reach. Sometimes, the more we chase joy, the faster it slips beyond our reach. And yet, as Sheryl so often teaches, what we water will grow. We can create conditions favorable to joy.

In today's episode, we discuss joy as not a luxury but a necessity; joy as an act of resistance and a fraternal twin to grief; how joy lies hidden just beneath the surface of ordinary, everyday magic; and how we can tap into that magic with subtle shifts in our choices and perspective. 

References:

• Sheryl’s new course: Reclaiming Joy 
• Why It’s Hard to Receive Good Things
• Adding Good Things
• The Healing Anxiety Workbook

Join us on Patreon for bonus content and virtual gatherings: patreon.com/gatheringgold

The Upside of OCD with Michael Alcee

Today's very special guest, Michael Alcée, is author of the book The Upside of OCD: Flight the Script to Reclaim Your Life. In our conversation, Michael explains what he means and does not mean when he talks about the "upside" of OCD; why Michael thinks all people with OCD start out as mini-existentialists and poets; and the key missing ingredient in many of our contemporary treatments for OCD.

How can OCD be both meaningless and meaningful at the same time? What messages might OCD be trying to deliver to us, if we only know how to listen? All of this and more in today's episode.

True Abundance

It is a common refrain these days: we live in a culture of scarcity mindset. We are bombarded with messages of never enough, implicitly and explicitly warned that there is not enough money, time, attention, or even love for all of us. These messages shift us into fearful perspectives, limiting our ability to see and receive all the goodness around us.

In a world where so many people are lacking basic survival needs and systems of care, we wrestle with dueling feelings of fear and guilt, aware that "it could be worse," and yet, struggling to feel into the fullness that we sense is right here, if only we could reach out and touch it.

So, what is true abundance? And how do we contact it?

That's what we're exploring in today's episode.

References:

• The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• Gathering Gold Bonus Episode: "What’s for Dinner?"
• Documentary Happy (2012)
• The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist
• Gathering Gold episode "The Goodness of Ordinary Life"

 

(Gently) Stretching Our Comfort Zones (Patreon Bonus)

We're sharing a Patreon exclusive to our Gathering Gold feed today!

In this episode, we're responding to our patron Jenny's question about how to deal with the discomfort and fear that comes along with stretching our comfort zones.

We talk about values-based actions, purpose and meaning, our individual window of tolerance, and the importance of self-compassion.

Visit patreon.com/gatheringgold to gain access to 30+ bonus episodes, with new ones coming out each month!