In part one of this two-part podcast, you’ll hear from psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Curt Thompson and Jedd Medefind as they explore the connection between our brain and our soul.

In this episode, you’ll discover

• The immensely hopeful discoveries of neuroscience showing that small, daily choices can alter the anatomy of our brain – changing how we think, and ultimately, changing who we are.
• How God has created human beings for connection – with Him, with others, and ourselves…and how to cultivate these connections more intentionally.
• How our overloaded lives – our activities, relentless pace, technology, constant distraction – creates serious disconnections if we don’t directly address them.
• Where to start attacking the problem of distraction in our lives to live more fully and love more deeply.
• Why reading long portions of scripture in a single sitting carries unique benefit.
• Anatomy of the Soul, book by Dr. Curt Thompson
• Taming Technology, article by Jedd Medefind

Key Quotes

“We become what we pay attention to.”
Dr. Curt Thompson

“We need to ask ourselves, do you want to be well…or do you simply want to be not sick?”
Dr. Curt Thompson

“All sin begins with distraction. All sin begins with [our] attention being turned to something other than relational flourishing…turning [our] attention towards something that leaves [us] isolated.”
Dr. Curt Thompson

“If you were to immerse yourself for 20 minutes a day for 6 weeks reading those six chapters of Ephesians, over and over and over again…you find that what you’re doing is placing your mind – what you sense, what you image, what you feel, what you think – in the center, you are immersing it in this text…you find yourself immersed in the thing you want to become.”
Dr. Curt Thompson

“In making us, God invites us to the party. But the biblical narrative suggests that when we then decide to throw His relationship away, we then put ourselves into a place of vulnerability and brokenness…and God still comes for us.”
Dr. Curt Thompson

Meet Our Guest

DR. CURT THOMPSON

Author, Speaker, Psychiatrist, Founder of Being Known & the Center for Being Known

Curt Thompson, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Falls Church, Virginia and the founder of Being Known, LLC., and The Center for Being Known, an organization that develops resources to educate and train leaders about the intersection between interpersonal neurobiology, Christian spiritual formation, and vocational creativity. He is the author of Anatomy of the Soul and The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves. He graduated from Wright State University School of Medicine, completed his psychiatric residency at Temple University Hospital, and is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is actively engaged in learning and education as he supervises clinical employees and facilitates ongoing education groups for patients and colleagues. Throughout his career, along with treating adults, adolescents, and families, his main focus of clinical and research interest has been the integration of psychiatry, its associated disciplines, and Christian spirituality. He is a frequent speaker on the topic at workshops, conferences, and retreats.

He has specific expertise in the field of interpersonal neurobiology and how it reflects important tenants of Christian faith, providing opportunities to comprehend and experience that same faith in fresh trustworthy ways. Much of his work is now committed to training other professionals across cultures and in multiple vocational domains in the same material.

He and his wife Phyllis are the parents of two children and reside in Arlington, Virginia. He serves as an elder at Washington Community Fellowship, a congregation of the Mennonite church, in Washington, D.C. His duties there have included preaching, teaching, and involvement in the fellowship’s healing prayer ministry.