The Science of ‘Hope’ & How to Hold Onto It in the Face of Anxiety

It's only six days until the U.S. Presidential Election and I don't know about y'all, but this week I've been nibbling at my nails quite a bit. So I decided to share what's in my heart + offer up what I hope will be an uplifting, impromptu examination of the relationship between this thing we call 'hope' and the anxiety of living in uncertain times. This is a really special episode for me because I'm circling back to lessons that I learned...

DD#61 – The Empty Husk: Belief, Indoctrination, & Healthy Alternatives

Hey friends. Once again, I'm coming to you solo with a new episode of Deconstructing Dogma, because our examination of how to make meaning without making a gd-mess is far from over. And in this week's release, I'm sharing more personally about my own journey with spirituality and ontological inquiry. dd #61 - The Empty Husk: Belief, Indoctrination, & Healthy Alternatives In the first few minutes of this episode, I share some...

Ep.80 – Bully Backlash & Tinderbox Truths: Speaking Up When It Matters Most (Solo Episode)

Welcome to a brand new chapter in the ‘cult’ure series. We'll be moving away from the wellness world and onto broader culture war topics in the coming weeks. To kick things off, Candice is showing up solo. Opening with an anecdote about an awkward interpersonal interaction from a few weeks ago, she then continues in the vein of storytelling, pulling from the pages of her unpublished memoir. Through a series of intimate flashbacks, she...

DD#59 – Buzzkill: Dogma, Magical Thinking, & ‘Cult’ Vibes – How They Make or Break Us

In this week's episode of Deconstructing Dogma, I'm coming to you solo with a metaphysical buzzkill - as I dissect dogma, magical thinking, and how they shape our perceptions of the world and of one another. I offer up some personal stories - a few of which I've shared before - to illustrate what I (we?) often mean when we say something looks, feels, or sounds 'culty.' And I celebrate how, at times, magical thinking can be...

STC | The Bully Pulpit: A Whistleblower Reality Check + Naomi Klein’s ‘Mirror World’

I'm back with another episode of Subject To Change. And this week, I'm riffing on some recent ah-has I've had around what it really means to blow the whistle, stand up to bullies, and take on psychosocial systems that reward silence and misinformation. March 14, 2024 - The Bully Pulpit: A Whistleblower Reality Check + Naomi Klein's 'Mirror World'  CW: This episode includes reference to bullying, epigenetic trauma, and politics. Here's where I...

TDP Encore | ‘Right On Time’ (7/27/2021)

A couple of days ago, I was talking with some friends/patrons of the pod about how much I love doing this work. AND ALSO about how my anxiety levels ebb and flow - in part due to the real and imagined pressures to always-be-creating in a digital world."What will I drop on Patreon this week?"... I wondered aloud.And then, instead of helping me short out my to-do list, they did what great friends do. They loved me enough to hold the proverbial...

STC | Misogyny Much? Emotional Labor & ‘What’s It Worth?’

I hadn't planned to drop another one of these so soon, but something came up that I really wanted to deconstruct in real time (yesterday afternoon), so here goes... January 21, 2024 - Misogyny Much? Emotional Labor & 'What's It Worth?' In this impromptu share, I share some feedback that I received on a social media reel featuring content from the first episode in this series. I share why I chose to not respond directly, and why I'm spending...

Subject To Change | NEW Patreon-Exclusive Series

It's a new year & I'll be rolling out a slew of new extras to patrons of the pod, including a brand new *unscripted* solo series that I'm calling: Subject To Change. I'll be dropping Patreon-exclusive videos like this one every so often, using this platform to respond to listener questions, share personal stories, and give you a behind the scenes peek into the soul-stretching labor pains that go into podcast production. Speaking of... first...

DD#29 | Shame & Self-Care

dd #29 | Grappling w/ Shame & Prioritizing Self-Care | Candice SchutterI'm coming to you solo this week to share a few resources that are helping me to navigate all the feels of late. I know that I'm not alone in my struggle to reconcile everything that is coming to light, so in this episode of Deconstructing Dogma I offer a recap of what's currently helping me to better understand recent events.The bulk of the episode is about shame &...

Ep.59 – The Victim Label: Gaslighting, Victim Shaming, & Tone Policing for Social Control

Candice is back with another solo episode, this time asking some big questions: What is gaslighting & why is it such a thing? Why are so many people allergic to the word victim? And is spiritual dogma getting in the way of relational accountability?  The episode opens with a peek into Conspirituality - and a new book by the same name - leading into an exploration of spiritual supremacy and how/why social stigmas around victimhood have...