Everyday Good

Laura Kleinschmidt meets with Julie Marcotte who shares her desire to produce excellent work but is highly critical and even angry at herself when she doesn’t meet her own high standards. Join us as Julie shares her delight in a new perspective, some practical steps, and the goodness that follows.

2:15 Wanting to produce excellent work, with no allowance for error

3:53 Feeling ashamed and wanting to hide

8:05 Even on my worst...

Laura Kleinschmidt interviews Meredith Hodge about her fear of losing loved ones, even when they’re healthy. She shares her struggle with being present, as her mind races ahead to negative places. Join in to hear how Meredith is encouraged by Jesus’ control and also, his humanity and what practical steps she takes when she’s fearful.

01:49 Fearing what life will be when loved ones are gon...

Laura Kleinschmidt talks with Ann Polcik about her experience with breast cancer as a single mom. Ann shares how she wanted to control the situation, as well as control the emotions and responses of those she loves. The impossibility of this led to much anxiety. Listen in to see how she was helped by recognizing that she doesn’t have to be strong enough.

01:46 Ann’s greatest fear

04:09 Wanting to control others’ ...

Laura Kleinschmidt hosts a special guest, her husband Dave Kleinschmidt, and together they discuss their instance on being right. In this episode they share a protest of rightness with movie theater strangers and a spousal disagreement regarding the ultimate important decision: how to set the car mirrors. Will they choose the victory dance of rightness or something better? 

02:14 Dave’s movie theater seat dilemma

03:31 ...

Laura Kleinschmidt visits with guest Jo Kok, and together they share about their intense desire to be productive. Whether it’s pursuing regular Saturday chores or larger endeavors such as doing taxes, task completion can take an unwelcome priority in our lives. Listen in as they discuss how we sometimes link productivity to our value and a love that can free us from this.

Quotes from this episode:

“I may be functionally...

Join Laura Kleinschmidt as she welcomes guest, Justin Searles, for a discussion about impressing others and concealing weakness. They describe situations that involve coworkers, a library garage, and even a tornado. Listen in as they discover strength in being weak, identity in “the impressive one,” profound relief and walking a little bit lighter.

“I'm trying to impress them with everything I've got: all of the s...

Laura Kleinschmidt and her guest, Katy Domsten, talk about situations where they are trying to help friends, family or clients and they find themselves at times "tipping" into fixing instead of helping. Listen in as they discuss their love for helping others, the difficulty in discerning their own motives, what what warning signs to look for on the "fixing radar" and the freedom that comes from knowing who's in control.

- "Burdens ...

Join Laura Kleinschmidt and her guest, Laura Michaels, as they look at how they tend to want to please people in different situations. They also dig deep to see what the "root" of their people pleasing is. How can they get free from this? A few of our favorite quotes:

- "How you view yourself, is sometimes framed by how you think other people view you."

- "The people pleasing scenario that bugs me the most is....When I tried my har...

Laura Kleinschmidt and her guest, Anna Wojtul, discuss anxious situations where they find themselves using self-talk to attempt to bully themselves into acting differently.  They seek out some of the roots of their negative self-talk and find that performance and seeking refuge are key themes. Here's some of what you'll hear as you listen in on their conversation:

- "I put my sense of value and worth in this person that I thin...

Laura Kleinschmidt and her guest, Laura Michaels, discuss their fear of making the wrong choice and inspect their own hearts as to what they're believing drives that fear. Laura Michael's shares, "I functionally am believing that if I make the right decision, well, then life will go well. And on the flip side, if I make the wrong decision, well now everything's ruined and I can't possibly go back and fix it."  The two Lauras t...

Laura and her guest, Meredith Hodge, discuss what they avoid and what they run to in the pursuit of comfort. They address conflict and pre-grieving situations and what it looks like to "pursue peace even when it's uncomfortable." And you'll hear how they relate comfort to easy buttons and Handel's Messiah. Finally they'll talk about an ultimate source of comfort and how good it is.

01:44 Meredith shares about conflict and comfort&n...