Managing our emotional state—by finding calm and focus—is essential before we can effectively plan or take action. If we're emotionally overwhelmed, our minds "swirl" and we lose clarity.

Eric here. I welcome back Jim and Lynette Vaive for an insightful discussion about how SEQ can help us navigate uncertainty, disruption, and the complexities of modern times.

From the looming impact of AI on the workforce to the inner crossroads of meaning and purpose, we explore practical ways to develop resilience and clarity. Discover why mere thinking isn’t enough to process our deepest worries, and how integrating spiritual, emotional, and intellectual awareness can unlock growth and connection.

Together, we discuss the stages of personal development, the power of intention at life’s crossroads, and the benefits of supportive community—along with real-world strategies and tools (like assessments and group cohorts) you can use to strengthen your own SEQ “muscle.”

Whether you’re just curious, seeking meaningful change, or feeling called to something deeper, this episode offers wisdom, encouragement, and tangible pathways forward.

Here are 3 key takeaways you can apply right now:

• Recognize Your Crossroads: Points of uncertainty or disruption are invitations, not dead ends. SEQ helps us see choice and growth where we might otherwise see obstacles.
• Balance More Than Your Mind: Navigating complexity isn’t just about thinking harder—it's about blending intellect with emotional and spiritual awareness to stay grounded and focused, especially in stressful times.
• Connection is the Catalyst: Whether through communities, assessments like the Enneagram, or simple reflection, building SEQ is most powerful when shared. There’s no one-size-fits-all—find your starting place and the people who will walk alongside you.

Key Moments

00:00 Understanding SEQ Amid Global Uncertainty

04:36 Spiritual Foundations Amid Life's Complexity

09:03 Calmness Unveils Ignored Issues

10:04 "Navigating Profound Conversations"

15:40 "Managing Emotions Quickly"

17:01 Intention and Cultural Priorities

20:46 Politics' Unintended Place in Soul

24:53 "Cohort Dynamics Explained"

27:26 Hiking Adventure at Mount Rainier

31:53 "Three-Mile Rest Spot"

34:35 Personalized Development Tools Access

38:42 "Guiding with Empathy and EQ"

41:33 "Guidance and Support Offered Freely"

43:06 "SEQ: Enhancing Personal and Global Connection"

Spirit of EQ

In each episode, Jeff and Eric will talk about what emotional intelligence, or understanding your emotions, can do for you in your daily and work life. For more information, contact Eric or Jeff at info@spiritofeq.com, or go to their website, Spirit of EQ.

You can follow The Spirit of EQ Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Android, or on your favorite podcast player.

New episodes are available on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays every month!

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Music from Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/roo-walker/deeper

License code: PEYKDJHQNGSZXDUE

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

We hope you enjoy the podcast. Hopefully, you're tuning in on a regular basis. We'd love it if you would give us a great review on whatever platform you're listening to the podcast. It's so appreciative and helps us as we try to get more exposure for the work we do and the episodes that we publish. We're grateful to you as a listener. Secondly, our content is for educational purposes only. It's not intended by any stretch to diagnose or treat anything that may be occurring in your life or anyone else's life that you may be connected to through the podcast. And as always, we look forward to the next time that we're together. Take care.

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Thanks for listening to Spirit of EQ

This podcast was created to be a tool to primarily help you to discover and grow your EQ. Science and our own lived experiences confirm that the better we are at managing our emotions, the better we're going to be at making decisions. Which leads to a better life. And that's something we all want. We're glad that you've taken the time today to listen. We hope that something you hear will lead to a breakthrough. We'd really appreciate a review on your podcast platform. Please leave some comments about what you heard today, as well as follow and subscribe to the podcast. That way, you won't miss a single episode as we continue this journey.

Jim and Lynette, welcome to the show again.

Thank you, Eric.

And very happy to be here.

This is, I think, our third

or fourth episode we've done with you guys. Sounds about right.

And you have put no pressure on me ever to have you on the show. I think most of the time, it's me reaching out. But you two are very busy.

We we do have Just

a little.

You know, a few things.

A few things going on. Yeah. So what I wanted to do is to take the opportunity as we are well into 2025 and talk a little bit about spiritual emotional intelligence, SEQ for short, right? And to try to give our audience a sense about how it plays in a time that we're in now. Maybe even they can kinda gather how we can apply to how they're living their lives outside of maybe the larger stuff. Right? So in that spirit, can I start there? When you think about an age where there's so much disruption, so much uncertainty, and obviously, our lens is primarily The United States, but this, I think, goes beyond even if you're thinking of Europe and Asia. How can spiritual emotional intelligence be of help as the everyday person is trying to navigate all of this?

So I think that if we're talking about handling disruptions in our lives, things that are causing us upsettedness, Thinking does not help us to do that.

It just doesn't. That's a great point, and I wanna kind of inject into so the person that's concerned about losing their job because AI is supposedly going to be the ultimate job killer, you're saying that thinking is not going to be the tool to navigate through that?

I'm absolutely saying that.

Okay.

Thinking plays a part in the process of figuring out what to do because we need to plan. We need to do different kinds of things to get ready to move forward.

Mhmm.

But the way we deal with the upsettedness is not with thinking. And if we can't get to a place where we can be calm, where we can be focused, we won't be able to think about the things that we need to do. Our minds will swirl.

So and I don't wanna steal the thunder that you have started to produce. I guess, I'm wondering if I'm concerned because I just read the article in on CNN that says that AI is going to replace my job. I'm now feeling a bit nervous. I'm feeling, you know, maybe some anxiety. Is that a call for me to step away, remove myself, and begin to do something else? Or am I not tracking?

Well, I mean, I think we're talking two different things.

Okay.

Alright. And one of the things that I would say about that, and I I don't know how deep you want me to get into this process, but there's different stages of development.

Mhmm.

Okay. As an example, Eric Erickson, James Fowler talked about the stage of the development for children. Yep. And they did a lot of work around that and took them many, many, many, many years. So they knew that there was a lot of stages of development. Ken Wilber talks about the stages of development and, you know, a well known theologian philosopher. And there is other people that talk about stages of development and understanding of the spiritual emotional journey.

Mhmm.

Let's assume for the sake of this argument that there's nine stages. And people that tend to stay in their heads without any other kinds of input might be stuck at a lower stage.

Got it.

Now I'm not saying that they're bad people, they're not intelligent, or they're not whatever.

Mhmm. But

they may be stuck at a lower stage because they can't navigate the complexities of the things that are going on around us. And what helps you to navigate those things is the mix of spiritual, emotional, and intellectual

Mhmm.

And regulating all of those together in a way that makes sense for you as the individual.

Got it.

I think it's also helpful to remember that one of the key spiritual tenants as is that one more than one thing can be true at the same time. So while there may be practical concerns related to, for example, in your your, example of a job concern that AI is gonna replace you, that is problematic. But your preparation in how you deal with the complexities of life Mhmm. Is also affected by what your own foundation with yourself on a spiritual level. And how do you navigate what your needs are emotionally and spiritually, physically, cognitively, in relation to the other people in your life, in your professionally or, personally even. So we come from a different foundation Mhmm. When we're tending to our needs than we do if we're not. So our love our ability to handle complexity is, much more grounded when we're meeting some of those spiritual and emotional needs than it is when we're ignoring that or not connecting with that.

Now it's interesting to me, right, that these things become heightened when, you know, there's news and there's some kind of, you know, alert. And and I know that media in general tends to prey on that that deal. What do you guys think about the development happening when things are going great, when, you know, there's no, quote, perceived threat? Because it seems to me that the time to prepare is not in the moment of that volatility.

I think that you are, hitting on something very important in that we don't always know when our emotions or our spirit are going to come knocking. And we can suppress the knocking. We can say that's not really coming to me, for me, and wanting me to understand. And we can suppress it and suppress it and suppress it until it's banging the door down, and we have a crisis of meaning. Because just thinking about something and ignoring the other things that are going on in our life are not going to help us achieve the goals that are coming knocking. So Lynette likes to say that, when there's this thing or this movement happening in us, maybe from moving to one from one level to another

Mhmm.

That the knocking will go like this. And if it's coming back because we ignored it, it's the second notice that goes and finally, if you keep ignoring it, it goes like this. Right. Because it wants your attention.

Yeah. Thinking back to Carl Jung and his he called it individuation. So, you know, we we're talking about the term development, human development. But as each of us continues on our own development journey, it's not a straight uphill smooth climb.

Mhmm.

Often, there are setbacks along the way that invite us, if we're willing, to take a look at what we're doing currently and notice whether or not we're still on the path that's ultimately gonna head in the direction to which and I'm gonna say it like this on purpose to which each of us was created to be in the world, on this earth, in all our relationships, in the fulfillment of all the gifts and talents that we have. And that's that's the ultimate. You know, when each of us can really develop into everything that we're capable of doing, wow. When the world be a better place.

And before you say anything, Eric, can I go back to the question? Please. It occurs to me that when we're at a place of calmness and our lives are moving smoothly, that might be the time when the things that we've been ignoring choose to come and sit with us. Because we're not so busy as to drowning out those voices that we need to be listening to. And it's a time to maybe handle things in a way that's going to be more expeditious for us, easier for us if we choose to handle it. The reason we get into trouble is that when things finally get to the point where they overwhelm us, it's because we have all these balls in the air that we're trying to juggle. And then somebody throws one last ball into the mix of what we're juggling, and we drop all the balls.

And I have to be careful with you guys on this show because you are always so profound and in depth that I start to start to I'm processing. I'm going, oh, what does that mean for me? And I gotta remember, I'm the host, so I gotta keep this going. So, audience, you can you can have some extend me some grace as I'm trying to get my feet back underneath me. I think about that in terms of, you know, back in the nineteen eighties, Mike Tyson, the heavyweight boxing champion, right, was I mean, he was the king of the of the ring. Right? And I sometimes think from a life perspective, you know, we're given the opportunity to go into the gym, and maybe the trainer says, hey. Because one day, you're you're gonna step in that ring with Mike Tyson and you need to be ready. And Jim and and that is you're talking. I'm thinking about the timeshare.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I get it. Someday. Someday. I'm not gonna come to the gym today to train. I'll I'll I'll get to it next week. And then that knock comes on the door. Say, hey. Guess what? Mike Tyson's here.

You need to get in the ring. You know? And it can be a positive story too. Right? Because maybe those things that you described, Lynette, as far as those along the way as we're going up the mountain Mhmm. Is that when they say, hey. Mike Tyson's here. We can go, I really don't wanna fight him, but I will. And that makes all the difference, I think. Mhmm.

You know?

Yeah. He'd beat you to a bloody pole. Okay.

But don't

take away from the power of that storage.

I think the point is whether or not we're willing to step in the ring when the

opportunity arises. The willingness.

And it may not be that there actually is a fight Mhmm. But that we are ready and willing.

Interesting. As you say that, Lynette because what if Mike Tyson says, not not today?

Yeah. Then I would say, I'm good. I was ready. Yeah. But if that's key need this fight.

Yeah.

It was more important that I knew that I was ready.

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. I've always been sort of, and this leads me to my next question. I've always been curious about, and maybe maybe maybe it's the the prosperity in The United States that has and the comfort that we have, all of the things, you know, that deadens our desire to, you know, to move to that next thing. Right? Yeah. I want want you to think about the word intention. Okay? And then I want you to think about someone who maybe they find themselves at the crossroads, and I'm gonna use that as the defining moment.

Right? Maybe when they realize that, wait a minute, where's all the meaning? You know? I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I've chased, I've chased, and I got I got, but there's no meaning. What do you say to that person when they're at that crossroads and maybe they haven't done the prep, maybe they haven't paid attention, but they're there? I mean, is there is is it too late for them, or what can they do?

I don't think it's ever too late for them.

Mhmm.

What's more important is that they realize they have choice at every crossroads because there will be another one. They may be a single one right now, but there will always be another one coming. What is their intention for even continuing on? And and by that, I mean not ending their lives, but continuing on with purpose in their lives Yeah. For a reason. Not just to exist, not just to draw breath. But what did they want to add to the world that could only be added by them?

Is that the connection to tapping into that spiritual emotional sign to maybe gain some, for lack of a better way of saying it, some wisdom about what that should be?

I think that can be part of the avenue. I don't think that's the only reason for that.

Right.

But it does allow some connection, sometimes for the first time, for people to really check-in and say, what am I about?

Mhmm.

Not just as I go along and these things happen.

Yeah. But

what am I about?

So one of the things I like to ask somebody is imagine that we're getting onto an elevator. This is like my coaching clients.

Mhmm.

Imagine we're getting down to an elevator. We have three floors. And I'm going to ask you a question, and you have three floors to give me the answer. Who are you in all of your essence in your entirety? What would you say? Obviously, you're not going to be able to say that right now.

Right. Right.

I get you. But the point is, do we know ourselves at any given time well enough to be able to define what we stand for? You know, it's not about making money. Well, I stand for making money or whatever. Or you're a religious persuasion. You stand for Jesus or whoever. That's good. It's important, but that's not your essence.

And that wasn't the question. Right? It wasn't the question.

Yeah. And and I think the emotional spiritual intelligence helps us to answer that. And to take that a step further, one of the things that many years ago that we learned about emotions is that they flood our system in a tenth of a second. Period. You have no control over that. And it takes six seconds for them to subside if you intentionally do something to make that happen. But look at the other part of this. Okay? Remember that there's people sometimes that stay agitated for a long period of time.

Mhmm.

They are making a conscious choice not to calm down.

Does that connect to the ignoring?

They're maybe not ignoring it. Maybe they're getting something from being emotionally unregulated. And you can make a choice, like you were talking about the crossroads. Yep. That's why I'm bringing that up.

Mhmm.

You can make a choice to continue to go straight ahead on the unregulated emotional responses, or you can take a left hand turn and do something to regulate it and and have a different outcome than what you've been experiencing.

So that's where I go with with thinking of the intention piece. Right? I mean, to make the left turn is to say I am I am making a conscious decision to make a left turn. It's not I'm just gonna continue to go blindly in the same direction I've always gone. Right? And, you know, you mentioned, the money thing, not not the money thing per se, but in the sense that we have all these different things that we go to, and they're not bad unto them in themselves, right, in their their pee because, like, money and food and all the rest, you you have to have to. Right? But it seems like in our culture, we've elevated it, and we're trying to make it do something for us that it was never intended to do or can do. Right? Mhmm. And I wonder sometimes or do you think that those at the crossroads may be dealing with some disappointment that maybe all that they had been pursuing is not delivering what they had hoped for? Does Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah.

And I I think it could be that. At a crossroads, I think it depends on what our understanding is about where we've been.

Mhmm.

What acknowledgments we can make about where we've been. And, you know, sometimes at the crossroads, we also sit down and just wring our hands. So we may not have enough energy yet to examine intention, or we may be using all the distractions of all the things that have worked in the past Yep. At a more furious pace, hoping they're gonna still work again.

Mhmm.

And going back to this notion of the crossroads, something that's been coming to me repetitively here lately is that there is a lower story, and there's always an upper story going on at the same time. And by the lower story, I mean, there are all the practicalities of living life. Day to day, you know, go to work, take care of family, pay the bills, whatever those things are. And if we're able to acknowledge it, we may get a glimpse sometimes that this is a moment. But it's a moment in my life, which is a finite thing. And what's that bigger story that I want to contribute to, not just paying the bills today or tomorrow or next week? What do I want my life to be? So maybe if it's been about money and earning, at some point, not everyone, but most people find that to be insufficient. Because whether or not they can realize it, that's a substitution or real meaning

and purpose.

Get it.

Go ahead. Can I

add to the money question?

Yeah. Absolutely.

Imagine that there are some people out there that believe that we, as a culture, are imbuing money with our emotions. That we're giving money our emotions. So the money is regulating us to act like we would act if the emotions were inside of us.

Which could be rather dangerous, I would think.

Well, because it does things that, it has no purpose in doing, and it had it wasn't designed to do those things.

Right. Right. That reminds me, I I I've given this example quite a while ago, I think, in one of our episodes. I never can remember the guy's name, but under the Obama administration, they had a gentleman that was kind of a part of the faith based initiatives. He ran that area and he ended up resigning, leaving the administration and in an interview, they were asking him, Well, what made you decide? Well, DC is definitely not one of the most healthy areas he'd ever worked in type thing. And he said, I've come to the conclusion that in America, we've allowed politics to occupy a place in our soul that it was never intended to. And though he was talking about politics, certainly, it got me thinking that even back then about, I mean, what other things, right, in quotation, have we allowed to occupy? And it's not the fault of politics. It's not the fault of money.

It's what we've decided to do with them. Right? So practically speaking, I I think there's some hope in what you said, Lynette, about the lower and the higher story that they coexist. Right?

Yeah.

Right? Yeah. So we're not saying, hey, you gotta get that lower stuff out of here so you can always focus on the higher calling, right, or

flip it.

Right? So I wanna talk a little bit about the tools at Spirit of EQ. And, yes, for our audience, this is probably as close as you're going to get to a commercial about Spirit of EQ and our spiritual tools. But this is important from the perspective that I I'm sure there are people who are going, this wonderful that you guys can sit around on a podcast and discuss these nice, wonderful, deep topics.

Boy, Rick, for $19.95. People people can get an all paid trip to The Bahamas and a Ginsu knife.

So And, Jim, I counted on you for that one liner, and you always deliver. But I I wanna talk about some of the practicality of that. And and for and and I know everybody comes to it at different places, different stat different states. Right? But if you guys could talk a little bit about, if if somebody was here in the studio in the podcast and they go, okay. I wanna I wanna help grow this muscle. I wanna I wanna develop. What's the place you would have them start? Just one example. Again, it's not exhaustive, and it's not

Can we each have one example?

That would be great. Because then we could show the expansiveness of this.

So Well, I don't wanna I don't want, you know, one of us to have to give the example, then the other ones over here going, I wanna say something.

So who who first? You have to

say talk.

I will start, Eric.

Okay.

I I would say it depends. Yep. Absolutely. It depends on the person Yep. What their needs are, what pain points may be there,

or maybe query them even before you start talking about tools and solutions.

Maybe what yearnings there are.

So okay. I'm sorry. I'm cutting you off, but you said the word yearnings. Can you open that up a little bit?

So there may be some indefinable missing something.

Okay.

And there may be something that they have yet to identify that feels like they can't describe, but there's something else that they don't know about or don't know enough about.

Yeah.

You know, the short answer would be helping people understand, we call it awareness, but how to connect with themselves.

Mhmm.

But that might not be what they're ready for yet.

Yep.

It might be because they don't have a close community, and they're so yearning for connection with other people

Mhmm.

That that's the where they need to start. And there are all kinds of practical ways that they can start to look for.

So in my head,

I'm thinking a cohort. And here's where I'm going with that. That term has been used a lot across multiple places. Right? When I think of a cohort, I think it's me and a group of maybe eight to ten, twelve other people. We'll all have a different approach to why we came and what we're looking for. But I might find that, hey, you know, Lynette's here. I wonder why she's here. Hey.

Jim is here. I don't I've never met them, but what did you come here for? What are you and then I start to feel some connection. So is that a a place in which you're you're speaking to?

It can be. I think the word expansive keeps coming to me too. Because when we're in a cohort, we realize if we haven't already, and some of us are further along in that part of development than others

Yep.

We may identify, oh, these are other human beings like I am, but they may approach these things differently.

Mhmm. And

so I may learn something from the fact that they approach, or at least I may learn that that's not for me, that I may learn there are some other things to explore.

Yep.

And as we travel that part of our life journey together for a few weeks, whatever that happens to be Mhmm. We can allow ourselves to be expanded or we can choose not.

Mhmm.

So from a practical standpoint, to put a little feet on it, little teeny feet that are running all over the table, we can use assessments to help people. And assessments are not the be all to end all. They're not the point of the conversation or journey.

Right.

They are tools to get us started.

Almost like a this is where you're at type of approach?

Yeah. It's a baseline. And and sometimes the assessment's wrong.

Mhmm.

Yep. Sometimes the interpretation's wrong.

Mhmm.

But the point is that it's a tool to help you understand maybe, just maybe, this is where I'm at. As an example, the Enneagram is a wonderful tool that's becoming very popular across the world, and it does give some pretty critical information about who you are if you were to answer the questions honestly Mhmm. And then looking at yourself. And again, even the Enneagram is just a starting place.

I like the way you said that, Jim. I am not a hiker by any stretch of the imagination. I believe you and Lynette have done that more than a few times. I have a fear of heights, so I tend to just like to stay on the ground and have it be level. But about a year ago, we went out to visit my daughter and my son-in-law in the Washington state area, and they wanted us to go on a hike. I was thinking it's a park, you know, and we'll go up a hill and then kinda come down, and then we'll go to the restaurant and have dinner. It was Mount Rainier. Oh, so you had dinner the next day? I couldn't eat for days.

No. But what's interesting when you talk about that about, okay, assessments. Right? My son-in-law, who's hiked many, many times, you know, said, well, we're gonna travel from here. We're gonna go up, and we'll we'll we'll land at about six thousand foot elevation. The hike is gonna be about five miles, and then we'll eventually hit 8,000. And as much as, again, I'm I'm afraid of heights. Right? It's kind of like, wow. Okay.

At least I kind of understand at a baseline level, this is where you're gonna start, and this is where it's gonna end up. And And in many ways, it kinda gave me the ability to psych myself up that I can do this. Right? And I did. I did do it. I did. I successfully Congratulations. I don't know if I'd do it again. But, and I I use that to to describe it in the sense that, you know, everybody's gonna start at a different point.

Everybody's gonna have us I mean, I'm sure there's some people that said,

we're not starting

at 6,000 feet. Can I

interrupt you? Absolutely. Do you know do you know what you just did?

I'm sure you're gonna tell me.

You just talked about a crossroads.

Well yeah. Yeah.

And you got a baseline piece of information that helped you to make a decision on which direction you wanted to go with the crossroads.

And what's interesting, Jim, is you're saying that. I also had thoughts about I think I just wanna I'll just wait at the car and let you, my family, go because I I'm not sure this is something I can do. I'm not sure I'm gonna be up for this. Mhmm. But yeah. Great observation.

And what did so so can we take it a step further? Sure. I promise I'm not coaching you.

It's okay.

What did you get from that? What did do you the people on on the podcast can't see your face. Right. We we can. Yep. But what do you think came out of the ability to make that choice and take that turn in the crossroads

for you? It was a sense of I don't know, confidence, a sense of that maybe though I was feeling fear, that that was not a bad thing or an embarrassing thing, and that it was okay to feel that, and that, ultimately, I could do this with progression and steps.

What did you feel after you got done doing it?

That's not so bad. Is that all?

Remember how your face looked when you were telling us?

I there was just a high sense of accomplishment. A high sense of, like, okay. Alright. It's I did it.

Yeah. But, see, you also found out something else. You also know, even though you said you would never do it again, that you could Might not. That you could you could do it again.

Yeah. And and that's that's a great great point because I I know I kind of and just said, I don't know if I I might not do it again, but I have thought about it since then about, like, well, how would I approach at that base of Mount Rainier being back there again, there would be a sense of I could I could recall that. Okay.

And think about what else came out of that. You've already progressed up to the 8,000 foot level. And as you were doing it, you recognized some things that were lacking for the journey. Some things you might would have wanted to have had along with you.

Right. Because in retrospect, yeah, I could definitely I have a sense now about there was an area at about the three mile mark. And, audience, I I'm we're going down this road because I'm being selfish and I'm learning. At 3,000 foot, there was an area that I don't think it was designed for, but it was almost like a rest area because everything was very flat before you went up to the next whatever. And I I I now we go back to that same area. I'd go, alright, I know at about mile three, there's an opportunity to take rest.

And you also learned that you have the tools to be able to do that kind of work.

Once again, great observation, and this is the power, I think, of what we're talking about as far as practical tools to help. If my son-in-law would have just, like, not said a word to me about where we're going, you know, how we're gonna get there, what the elevation is, someone could certainly say, well, you could have done it anyway. Yeah. But I probably would have been more prone to going, wait a minute. You didn't say anything about Mount Rainier, man. I'm, no. Not no. I'm not gonna do that.

Can I put a cherry on the top of the cake? None of that was coming out of your thinking brain. All of it was coming out of your emotions and your spirit. Your concern, your fear, your trepidation

Mhmm.

Your unknowing.

Yeah. Well, audience, I don't know how powerful that was for you, but I know for me, that was a big takeaway. So I gotta get back on track.

Can we take it just a little further?

Absolutely. You can.

In one of the spiritual emotional intelligence reports, we use the metaphor of a backpack. Mhmm. So when you think about anytime you're invited to do any deeper work, whether it's take an assessment or whatever, you're at a crossroads. Do I want to go deeper? Do I want to even put my toe in the water and see what this might be? Because I can always decide to exit later. It's not a one and done, and I have to go all the way to the top of the mountain.

Yeah. Because, you know, Lynette, that that brings me to when I was I was thinking that there might be someone who says, hey, I can't do a cohort. I can't do a time commitment like that. I need something more customized for me right now individually. Maybe that's a coaching engagement.

Or a spiritual direction.

Okay. Right. So that's where they're meeting one on one with someone like you guys, and they're they could still have access to these same tools, like the Enneagram and the SEQ development report, I think. Yeah. And the reason I'm highlighting it in that regard is because it isn't a one size fits all. It is not a here you must and this is the way. It's, okay, where are you at? And I'm I mean, I go back to the Mount Rainier example. It's like we're at 6,000 feet.

This is the elevation. This is where there's a rest area. The choice made from there. When we think about, these tools in the assessment, I would imagine there's some level of debriefing that happens after the assessment is taken. Right? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Mhmm.

And is that designed to help them kind of to to understand and get a grasp about go ahead.

So it's a lot of terminology in the spiritual and emotional intelligence development report. So even in the cohort setting

Right.

There's actually a one to one session debriefing That's

part

of the designed as part of the cohort. So, often, you can experience it at a higher level, and then you're more prepared to do the deeper dive because it's not the first time you've heard some of these terms or some of the concepts.

Right.

And I just wanna make a quick note too. We certainly can work one to one. Mhmm. In coaching, it would be that you have a particular goal you're heading toward. In spiritual direction, it's simply having someone be the witness to your journey and be there to reflect back to you what they observe, still ask questions like we might in coaching, but there's not an outcome expected except to help you along on your journey.

Mhmm. And we are not in in the position that we are in in people like us doing the same thing.

Mhmm.

We are not here to tell you what to believe. Good point. Or what you need to do Yep. Or or or or. That's not what our job is. Our job is to walk with you and be companions on the journey and to carry a light that we've been given

Mhmm.

And help you to illuminate your path for you to be able to make decisions. And we can intellectualize by having gone through school, and we're taught how to process things like arithmetic, right, reading, all those things that we're taught as young people. The spiritual emotional intelligence journey is no different. You have to be given some understanding to be able to process the spirit and the emotions the same way that you were taught to use your intellect.

Yeah. And that that's always been one big hope of mine as you know, even going back to when I joined Spirit of EQ is that dispelling, you know, myths about terms like spiritual and spirit and taking some of the, I don't know, the mysteriousness of those terms as it is in our culture, because, I think once we've been able to sort of break down those walls a bit, people understand this is really not very mysterious at all. It's just, you know.

Well, we also just I I wanna add one other thing and then I'll be quiet. We also do dream work. And dreams have been used throughout the ages from the beginning of time. And what we now know about dreams is very seldom if ever you take them literally. And they have to be debriefed with you, some other people, and come to an understanding of what those mean for you.

Yeah. Yeah. The thing that I I I love about this, you know, is you guys have approached and for those in the audience that may have interest in in any one or more of of what we've tools, is that your example, Jim, about being the light illuminating their path, their journey. It's not us telling them. Right? This is what you must do in order to, which I think is very powerful. So I'm gonna go ahead and put my I always do this at some level on the show when we talk about these kind of things, not the spiritual emotional intelligence, but even EQ. Right? So if you're someone who's like, well, I don't know. I mean, I I'm willing to give it a I'll try it.

Right? I I think about the law of diffusion. Right? Maybe that that 50% at the top of the bell curve that I'm I don't know. So what's a way for them to just put their toe in the water from an from a tools perspective?

Well, they can certainly do it individually. And we're offering, a six session cohort practice where it's a little of this, a little of that. Mhmm.

And

it gives people a chance to dialogue in community with other people. So whether they're familiar with some of these tools, like the SEQ, profile or the development report or the Enneagram or Mhmm. Some of these other things, just talking to somebody else. Sometimes it's the actual saying something and you hear yourself saying it Yeah. That makes the light

bulb come on. Yeah. There's an old saying. Right? That expression deepens impression. Right? Yeah. So from that perspective for our audience, in the show notes, we'll have, a bit of a schedule of some of the cohorts that are coming up if you want to move forward in that regard. We'll also have Jim and Lynette's information if you wanted to reach out to them. Maybe there's something we didn't cover here today that they maybe inquire about.

So what would be something you'd want the audience to know today that might sort of put a bow on our conversation, something that maybe they need to do or you think that they should consider doing?

Alright. So like you going up Mount Rainier. Oh. You were scared.

Yes. Absolutely. Right? Yeah.

No doubt. To take this journey of the spiritual emotional journey, in the beginning there is some apprehension for everybody. There is. It's just it's just part of the deal. And it's okay.

Right? And

it's okay.

Yeah.

But you don't have to be afraid. Because people like us are here to walk with you. And to help you navigate those places that you could step into that you might fall off the edge of the cliff. You wouldn't, but in case you felt like you were, we're here to help you with that. And we, Lynette and I, are very interested in being of service to the world. And because we're interested in being of service to the world, we are open to talking to people without any charge in the beginning. Not inquiry. Right? Yeah.

Just inquiry and what does it mean for you?

Mhmm.

I mean, our introductory offer is for free.

And by the way, I I would also say for our audience, I know for the cohorts that are gonna be happening this year, there'll be, some early registration discounts as well. So there'll be some of that from the monetary perspective. But I'm so glad that, Jim, you and Lynette, have that willingness to entertain that conversation of inquiry. So

We definitely do, Eric. And, as you talked about cohorts, we also have free events that people can attend from time to time.

I'm glad you brought that up.

We have something we call SEQ coffee chats, and they are usually 90 workshops that are interactive, and people get a chance to talk to each other

Mhmm.

As well as consider the the topic at hand. And SEQ at its, you know, at its least common denominator is about connection. It's about connection with ourselves, with our familiar people in our lives, and with the world at large. So in ways that we can connect at all of those levels, we try to offer opportunities. And for those that are working with people individually as professionals, we also offer certification in the SEQ.

And to be able to use the tool in their practice Yes. Exactly. For their audience.

And we have a coffee chat tomorrow, don't we, Lynette?

We do.

And how many people are signed up?

Right now, there are 85.

Well, for the benefit of our audience, if that particular date doesn't work, you are is there a cadence? Is it, like, once a quarter that

you're doing? About once a quarter. We have another one coming up in June, and we can put that in

the Okay. We'll definitely get those in there, because, that that that's an another great way to get a taste. Right? To to get a taste of the community aspect too. Right?

Yes. And I actually I believe our topic in June is gonna be SEQ and powerlessness.

Oh, boy. That's intriguing.

But as an example, what were we talking about tomorrow? Ubuntu. And what does that stand for?

It's, an African term that means we're all connected. And how do we see that connection, experience that connection through the lens of spiritual emotional intelligence?

And we have 12 different countries being represented tomorrow.

That has always struck me. You know, obviously, we do a lot of work in EQ, and our audience knows that. But one thing is very powerful, and I've I've found it very intriguing, is how the reach of this particular part of our work, globally. It's pretty doggone amazing. So with that, Jim, Lynette, as always, it's great to sit down and talk with you.

I'm gonna be very sad to leave.

Jim Vave, ladies and gentlemen. And only I could say that to Jim. So audience, we do appreciate you tuning in, and we look forward to the next time that we're together. Take care.