Middle East Studies Episodes

Join Matt and Fawn as they delve into the concept of mental fitness through the lens of negative visualization. Exploring ancient Stoic practices, they discuss how contemplating potential setbacks can build resilience and gratitude. From the origins of Stoicism to practical applications in modern life, they explore how acknowledging adversity can enhance psychological strength. Tune in for insights on balancing positive thinking with preparing for challenges in this thought-provoking episode on mental resilience and gratitude. In this episode, Matt and Fawn dive deep into the concept of "negative visualization," an ancient Stoic practice. Matt shares his recent Google Fu journey, leading him to explore how contemplating worst-case scenarios can actually foster resilience and gratitude. The discussion uncovers the surprising benefits of occasionally focusing on negative outcomes and how it contrasts with the modern emphasis on positive visualization. Tune in to discover how ancient…

As life happens, everybody fights, everybody argues everybody has a bad day. It's like people don't allow each other to flex and expand and contract. Oftentimes we get so focused and like we draw so much strength from things we've done in the past that have made sense for us that we can't conceive of a world where that doesn't make sense anymore. When you have misunderstandings, people misunderstand and they think it's the end of the friendship or the end of the relationship, but in reality, there's so much to unpack because everybody is experiencing their own life, their own interpretation of things, their own stresses, and everybody looks circumstances through the lens of their own past experiences. It's like you're not allowed to have three dimensions. You're only allowed to have two. And then some cases, one dimension. You have to be flexible. You have to go with the flow. It's the only way to thrive. Neither one of us can say anything with certainty's. That's the fun part. That'…

"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school, but if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you haven't learned anything"- Muhammad Ali. " Friendship is a priceless gift that cannot be bought nor sold, but its value is far greater than a mountain made of gold. For gold is cold and lifeless. It can neither see nor hear. In times of trouble, it's powerless cheer. It has no ears to listen, no heart to understand. It cannot bring you comfort or reach out a helping hand. So when you ask God for a gift, be thankful if sends not diamonds, pearls, or riches but the love of real, true friends."- Muhammad Ali on friendship.

ethics and the origins of it, understand ethics, bringing it back to how it is affecting our friendships, how it is affecting our society, and basically ultimately our lives. Ethics is philosophical and it deals, it concerns itself with conduct in questions of good and evil in right and wrong. The definition- Ethical; derived from the Greek word ethos, which means character, and from the word, Mores, which means customs. Together they combine to define how individuals choose to interact with one another. So let's make things better, create a better world, and try to understand the shenanigans that took place that created the whole basis for ethics. We also explore Greek and Roman influence on us to this day. What do we do with this information? Understanding how we got where we are now and where we are now is the key. There are a lot of weirdness, differences, and change we need to look at. Ethics 3 TRANSCRIPT [00:00:00] Fawn: Hello, everybody. Welcome back. [00:00:01] Matt: H…

Ethics is that weird branch of philosophy that concerns itself with conduct and questions of good and evil and right and wrong. And those four words good and evil, and right and wrong sound like they should be like, oh yes, good is right. And evil is wrong, but there are always shades of gray in between. You can do an evil act in the cause of right. You can do a good act in the cause of wrong. Welcome to the weird world of ethics and how it touches our friendships. This episode explores how we can help each other, and how remembering the art of friendship can help you in the midst of the turmoil of ethics, evil, and kindness.  How can you prevail with kindness and not have anything else come into your circle? And just have it be a kind happy world.

This is a longer show for a reason. We begin before Joey shows up by expressing some emotional stress and turmoil that happened to us this past week from fires to blizzards, to another case of Fawn experiencing some more racism, yet another mass shooting in Colorado, to all the other stuff. We talk about how important it is to clear the air before we meet our friends, before a ceremonial time together. So we do this before Joey shows up. When Joey shows up, we discuss the importance of ceremony, the importance of learning and respecting each other's cultures and history, Star Wars, why pronunciation is such a trigger, and then we continue talking as we make, bake, and break the Gata Bread. Just press pause when you need to and come back and make sure you hear all of this episode (where you'll learn to make the most amazing ancient dessert) and make sure you are present for the last 30 minutes as we come to a very special understanding about get-togethers in life. Some Links: To sup…

to contribute to our podcast, you can buy us "a cup of coffee" by leaving us a little something, or a big something ;) here:  buymeacoffee.com/friendlyspace We welcome our friend Joseph Krikorian as we explore the Armenian culture and history. We're going to begin the root of the matter as we delve into coming from somewhere else and the ways of having to make our way in the world, all the while, carrying with us, all the emotions, the history, our stories, and our mapping out and figuring out a brave new one, a brave new world that is. Sometimes this is hard to do, especially with the trail of the people who came before us. Like our ancestors, grandparents, great-grandparents sometimes even parents, who may not have the stories or they do have the stories, but they're not passed down to us; all the why's, the how's and when's like, why did this happen? Not even knowing that we should be asking these questions because we have no idea, what happened in the past. What makes someone be…

Today we are talking about energy balances and imbalances; how energy imbalances can result in physical things, how energy creates things, how thoughts create things. This episode continues our series for teens with our friend Maya Holland, founder of Tools for Teens, a meditation-based healing service that provides teenagers with ways to navigate personal and social matters through the use of energy medicine. To sign up for privates, group classes and read her blog about attending University in London, visit mayasimone.com Website: mayasimone.com  Email: maya@mayasimone.com Instagram: @maya.holland Support our show by subscribing, telling others, and or with COFFEE https://www.buymeacoffee.com/friendlyspace If you want a website like ours: https://www.podpage.com/?via=fawn

Rules to live by! Support our show by subscribing, telling others, and or with COFFEE https://www.buymeacoffee.com/friendlyspace If you want a website like ours: https://www.podpage.com/?via=fawn

We are celebrating one year of talking about the art of friendship around the world. And today we have with us what I promised on the very first show "The Mentor" that explains this whole podcast; that our girls would be in on the episodes. They have been working behind the scenes and the past year have become introverts (can you blame them, with all that's happened in the world the past 2 years? Support our show by subscribing, telling others, and or with COFFEE https://www.buymeacoffee.com/friendlyspace If you want a website like ours: https://www.podpage.com/?via=fawn

This episode came about as we had a guest that was so hateful and wrongly accused Matt of "manipulation" because he likes to present people with favors. Wanting to clear things up from that conversation, Fawn wanted to make sure Matt explained (before he was so rudely cut off), one of the many ways to really connect with people.   This one act is something that you can do, to kindly, respectfully, and compassionately relate to people. And it's a simple thing; one that is really important for everyone to know about. This is also to correct a wrong that was done to Matt (referring to a rude guest we had). We're talking about a favor.  Do you know what "favor" actually means? the etymology, the origin, the Latin which is spelled FAVERE. The etymology, the background, the root of favor originally means: show kindness. Isn't that beautiful?