Humanity's Values

Explore the human experience through understanding your Stories and how they define your Values. Expand your emotional and behavioral flexibility through the lens of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Further material can be found at www.humanitysvalues.com

48: Interview with Steve Ghikadis 06/08/2025

48: Interview with Steve Ghikadis Steve Ghikadis is a Humanist Officiant, who conducts secular marriages, memorials, and many more meaningful life-affirming celebrations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Bachelor of Education in primary, junior, and intermediate grades. Raised as a freethinker, Steve has been married to a Christian for over a decade. He and his wife, Cindy, believe in the importance of bridging the gap between believers and non-believers. Their two young children are being raised in an interfaith household and are free to choose their own path. He serves as an Ambassador for Humanist Canada, Recovering from Religion, and Sunday Assembly. In 2024, Steve was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal for significant contributions to his community in Windsor/Essex, Ontario, Canada. Book Description: Humanism from the Heart by Steve Ghikadis is a heartfelt exploration of what it means to build bridges of understanding in a world divided by conflicting beliefs. Through personal stories and candid reflections, Steve shares his transformative journey—from struggling with religious apathy and growing resentment to embracing secular humanism, a philosophy rooted in empathy, reason, and meaningful connection. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/36894955

47: Interview with Rafa Zuniga 06/01/2025

47: Interview with Rafa Zuniga Rafael is a clinical social worker in North Texas. He has experience working with CPS, Psychiatric settings, hospitals, and is currently a Behavioral Health Officer in the Army National Guard. As a former Catholic, religion and apologetics have always been interesting and engaging. After going through his own personal deconversion, Rafa realized how underrepresented the non-believing populations were in finding treatment, community, and care. That's how he ended up joining the Secular Therapist Project. Rafa can be found at: Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/profile/1311429 Headway: https://care.headway.co/providers/rafael-zuniga-2?utm_source=pem&utm_medium=direct_link&utm_campaign=83274 Zocdoc: https://www.zocdoc.com/professional/rafael-antonio-iii-zuniga-lcsw-589214?refPageLoadId=6a01c513-78f3-4934-92d0-13711df68f5b /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/36806675

Interview with Casey McFarland 05/26/2025

Interview with Casey McFarland Casey McFarland, LAPC, NCC. Along with my Master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, I also earned a certificate in Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Counseling, which gives me a professional framework to deconstruct religious structures that have caused harm. As a secular therapist, I offer care that honors each person's values without imposing religious frameworks—something especially important for those who’ve felt unseen or harmed in traditional spaces. At the heart of my work is the belief that healing is possible, that growth comes in many forms, and that we all have the ability to reclaim our lives and move forward with strength and purpose. Links: Website- FB Page- /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/36714680

45: Removing the Link Between Diagnosis and Behavior 06/13/2022

45: Removing the Link Between Diagnosis and Behavior Diagnoses are a frame of reference for looking at behavior, and therefore often limit us to understanding one another and ourselves. When it comes to gun control, the focus on mental health by both sides is accurate, but not for the reason either thinks. If we want to effect change, then we need to step away from limiting stories about our behavior, and into how we expand a person’s flexibility in the face of interpersonal difficulty. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/23415674

44: Navigating Social Change: An Interview with Jeff Fullington 08/19/2021

44: Navigating Social Change: An Interview with Jeff Fullington Discussed nature of mental health work, autism, seeing people as wholes rather than parts, and learning to experience life through different understandings of social influence. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/20199026

43: Interview with Juan Lee 04/26/2021

43: Interview with Juan Lee Juan Lee is an author and teacher on the powerful principle of love. Raised within the Christian church, Juan has turned to teachings about love over the years to find strength, understanding, and hope. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/18845720

42 - 3 Things to Know Before Entering Therapy 03/09/2021

42 - 3 Things to Know Before Entering Therapy Interview with Bryan Nixon, a therapist at and founder of Mindful Counseling GR in Grand Rapids, MI. Things to consider: /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/18174077

41 - How We Can Deepen Intimacy and Why It's Important 03/03/2021

41 - How We Can Deepen Intimacy and Why It's Important Here we look at intimacy and its connection to authenticity. We can learn to express different parts of ourselves in different situations and through different relationships, by building the space for honestly reflecting on whether the person you're showing up as is the person you want to explore becoming. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/18167585

40 - Healthy Communication: 4 Steps to a Strong Relationship 02/15/2021

40 - Healthy Communication: 4 Steps to a Strong Relationship Exploring the work of John and Julie Gottman on the "4 Horsemen" of relationship communication errors and working through steps to build healthy connections for personal and relationship growth. We work through four steps beginning with identifying what you Value and finishing with applying grace often. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/17960390

39 - 3 Ways to Define Love and Why They Matter 02/10/2021

39 - 3 Ways to Define Love and Why They Matter We all know love when we feel it, yet often it's the emotion most connected to confusion and heartache. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/17899433

38: How to Win: Life is Not a Battle Between Good and Evil 02/02/2021

38: How to Win: Life is Not a Battle Between Good and Evil Exploration of the third untruth in Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their book "The Coddling of the American Mind." That untruth, "Life is a battle between good people and evil people" will be explained and an alternative truth given, of "Life is a lived experience through many perspectives." We can encourage dialogue. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/17790149

37: Question Your Feelings, but Don't Dismiss Them 11/30/2020

37: Question Your Feelings, but Don't Dismiss Them Looking at the "untruth" of "Always trust your feelings" from the book "The Coddling of the American Mind" by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. In response, I offer one that provides a path of resiliency. Difference between "affect" and "feelings" and how the theory of allostasis can help better explore our emotional lives. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/16994531

36: Consequences are Inevitable, Learn From Them 11/17/2020

36: Consequences are Inevitable, Learn From Them As noted by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their book "The Coddling of the American Mind," there is an untruth of "what doesn't kill you makes you weaker." We can embrace a deeper appreciation for how our brain/body system works to prepare us for an uncertain future. Ultimately we can learn to accept and build a capacity for seeing errors and mistakes and consequences as spaces for growth. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/16847579

35: Why Hate Feels So Good and What to Do About It 11/10/2020

35: Why Hate Feels So Good and What to Do About It An exploration of hatred within an understanding of our very human need to shape reality to suit our vision of what we believe it to be or should be, and seeing then how anything that gets in the way of that vision invokes our passions. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/16755581

34: Election Thoughts - Voting 2020 11/02/2020

34: Election Thoughts - Voting 2020 Democracy is a Value-based interpersonal construct for guiding human behavior. As such, democracy exists at the intersection of humanity's greatest potential and all our foibles. Here we explore voting through the Relational-ACT lens of Values, Narratives, and Behavior to see why there's so much emotional weight to this time in history. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/16651010

33: Self-Care Instead of Self-Harm 09/14/2020

33: Self-Care Instead of Self-Harm Working through the stories that bring us down, that make it difficult to cope with adversity. Exploring three basic truths concerning how we deal with consequences, create meaning/purpose and learn to accept our feelings without having them be the only truth that matters. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/16001969

32: Accepting and Rebounding from Failure 08/24/2020

32: Accepting and Rebounding from Failure Looking at failure, it's inevitability in our lives and how you can accept, learn from and not define the whole of who you are by it. Will tie the nature of failure to last episode's discussion of behavior and go over six steps to working through the difficulty of failing. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/15724688

31: The Values of Behavior 08/10/2020

31: The Values of Behavior Ever wondered what behavior was all about? Here we explore Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) through the relational structure of Values - Narrative - Behavior. We'll be challenging the usual understanding of behavior for one that takes into consideration the nature of our predictive brains and our deep need to construct a reality that works for us and makes sense. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/15547346

30: Pathologizing Human Behavior 09/22/2019

30: Pathologizing Human Behavior Our desire for simple answers is funneled through the intrinsic psychology of having the stories of our lives be consistent. This consistency is always self-serving, in the sense of providing a feeling of 'being right,' of having perception prove the truth of our judgments. This whole process finds a troubling outlet in the medicalization of our inner worlds and the pathologizing of human behavior. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/11340896

29: The Story of Your Anger 07/15/2019

29: The Story of Your Anger Anger is often maligned as "negative" and "destructive," looked at as morally suspect and commonly sought to be removed from the lives of those coming in for therapy. Exploring these stories, we can come to see anger as a tool for assessing what we Value and step back from behavior that only feels inevitable. You can flexibly respond to your stories in ways that show the best version of yourself. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/10523357

28: The Mighty Anecdote 04/24/2019

28: The Mighty Anecdote Exploring the nature of 'anecdotal evidence,' why it's so enticing and why we all engage in it. Connection made with bias and why bias doesn't mean there's something wrong with our rationality or our minds. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/9507521

27: Setting Goals within Your Values 03/22/2019

27: Setting Goals within Your Values Setting goals too often leads us into shame and self-doubt. I want to encourage you to possibly stop goal-setting for a moment and focus on what you care about. Start livable goals from a place of what you're already doing, succeed from a place of plenty rather than wasting energy trying to leap from lack. We can help explore this by using the religious practices of Lent and dive into how Values never leave us. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/9099335

26: Change Is As Fundamental As Gravity 03/12/2019

26: Change Is As Fundamental As Gravity The pursuit of change is as varied as New Year's Resolutions and almost always focused on what we consciously are doing. Looking at change as a foundational law of life can help us on our journey's of discovery and see others more clearly. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/8974742

25: Feelings and the Hope of Relationship 08/27/2018

25: Feelings and the Hope of Relationship What is happening when we have "feelings" about someone? What should we do about them? Do they require anything of us or of the other person? These questions do not have to generate the angst they so often do. A reminder that our humanity is always looking for what is important to us. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/6972235

24: A Replication Problem 07/11/2018

24: A Replication Problem Exploring the so-called "replication problem" in psychological research, in particular focusing on "the Marshmallow Test." Looking at issues about replication, definition and the nature of complexity in studying people. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/6797123

23: Stop Hiding Behind Labels 06/20/2017

23: Stop Hiding Behind Labels The struggle between the individualistic and collectivist pressures of our humanity, as seen through reading C.G. Jung’s “The Undiscovered Self” and how the subsuming of a whole person to one or another label, one or another characteristic, however powerful that label may have in its desired meaning, is to set that person up as an impossibly perfect standard and lead to dismissal in the pursuit of purity. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/5465445

21: Self-Control and the Judgment of Our Future Self 06/08/2017

21: Self-Control and the Judgment of Our Future Self Exploring the nature of self-control, the connection it has to empathy and the picture we have of our ideal self. Reading from The Atlantic article “Self-Control is Just Empathy with Your Future Self” by Ed Yong. Just as we get trapped in the present of a narrow perspective, so our future can become similarly limited. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/5430789

20: Breaking Away from Enabling 06/05/2017

20: Breaking Away from Enabling Further exploration of Sharon Martin’s article looking at: How Codependents Can Stop Enabling and Controlling. Focusing on the habits that enable the behavior of others and learning how enabling is often about the stories we tell ourselves to avoid the uncertainty of deeper questions and keep us from exploring our lives. We are so much more than what we often let ourselves believe. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/5420933

19: The Codependent In All of Us 06/01/2017

19: The Codependent In All of Us Exploring an article by Sharon Martin looking at: How Codependents Can Stop Enabling and Controlling. Asking questions of these characteristics are in all relationships, how boundaries work and whether we’re as separate from one another as we think. /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/5409827

18: Nature of Sex Therapy 05/12/2017

18: Nature of Sex Therapy A discussion with Heather McPherson, AASECT certified sex therapist, licensed marriage and family therapist, therapist supervisor and founder and CEO of the Sexual Health Alliance. What is the role of a sex therapist? What are common misunderstandings of human sexuality? What leads to a fulfilling sexual relationship? /episode/index/show/humanitysvalues/id/5350743

Humanity's Values

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