Currents: the Big Ocean Women Podcast

Carolina Allen, Dana Robb, and Shelli Spotts talk Christmas traditions, how to have an abundant holiday, and how to decide what really matters with your family during the holiday season.   “The world around us is so rich in natural abundance, and yet we’re so distracted from it by the abundance of worry and the abundance of tasks.” - Shelli Spotts   “Gift giving is a beautiful expression of love and that someone else is on your mind and in your heart, and it’s a genuine offering from you to them. I think that when we understand what a true gift is . . . you will come to recognize the bounty all around you, found in nature, found in service, found in repurposing things, and your eyes change so you’re able to see things in a more beautiful way.” - Carolina Allen   “Christmas can be a time of an abundance of patience with other people.” - Carolina Allen   “Maybe sometimes there are going to be those moments that don’t feel like abundance, but we push through and we get this beautiful experience on the other side and it’s worth it.” - Dana Robb   “I think if we don’t teach our children and include our husbands as well in creating the magic of the season that it falls all on the mother, and that’s robbing them of their opportunities to learn and grow and develop this capacity to be active participants in creating the family magic.” - Carolina Allen   To read guest bios and to find out more about what we do go to www.bigoceanwomen.org.   00:00 Introduction to Currents Podcast 00:25 Exploring the True Meaning of Abundance 03:31 Gift Giving and Financial Strain 06:10 Creating Meaningful Family Traditions 08:56 Navigating Strained Relationships During Holidays 12:56 Personal Reflections on Holiday Traditions 19:24 Involving Family in Holiday Preparations 24:42 Encouraging Family Participation and Abundance 26:41 Family Traditions and Unique Contributions 27:50 Connecting Through Technology 29:55 Embracing an Abundance Mindset 31:50 Finding Joy in Small Moments 35:09 Creating New Traditions 36:03 The Power of Music and Prayer 38:43 Cherishing Small Moments and Memories 40:26 Conclusion and Final Thoughts    

Your Internal Compass: A Beacon for Faith and Action   Shannon and Dana are joined by Shandra Madson to discuss following our Internal Compass which is our ability to hear from God and be inspired and directed in our lives.   Shandra Madson started a campus of the Columbus Adult Education Center in her community which teaches English to refugees and immigrants. Shandra had become aware that about one in every five people in their community did not speak English because of a large influx of refugees. She said, “They were new to our city, new to our country, and it created a lot of different dynamics and concerns and ways that these people needed to feel loved and just helped along their path. So the Columbus Center is basically there to teach English, but really it's just a beautiful place where people were able to come and feel God's love for them. And I think that was kind of our main goal. English obviously was important, but they needed somewhere that they could come just to feel safe and feel loved, and just have that humanity where they weren't feeling it otherwise in their lives.”   00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:39 Meet Shandra Madson 03:23 The Columbus Center: A Beacon of Hope 07:07 Trusting in the Lord: Shandra's Journey 09:30 Success Stories and Impact 19:06 Encouragement and Final Thoughts   “God doesn't care where we live. He doesn't care what our address is. He wants people to feel loved no matter where they are.” - Shandra Madson   “We don’t have to know everything to be able to contribute and support.” - Dana Robb   “I think it's a beautiful thing that all of God's children are born with that light, and I think it's just a matter of are we willing to flame that light and just help grow it. and I think every little choice we make, every way we help God's children, that light just grows brighter and brighter. . . .It takes effort to recognize and effort to follow.” - Shandra Madson  “Another thing that's been really interesting is that some maybe came in with different biases or prejudices against another nation. And because we serve so many nations, and they're learning together and have become united through that, I've seen some of those guards that they came with be let down, and actually become friends with [eachother] and realize that they have more in common than they thought at first, and that some of these prejudices that they had in the beginning were really unfounded. . . . That's been such a beautiful, one of my favorite parts to witness, that happening at the center.” - Shannon Russell   “I think anytime we just reach out a hand of love and fellowship and kindness, it doesn’t go unnoticed. People notice and feel that love of God as they serve.” - Shandra Madson   “One thing I love is just that we all came here with different talents, and it's so easy to compare with somebody else of like, “Wow, they've done this thing,” or “They have this ability or this talent,” but it's neat to see how God can use all of our talents differently, and it can help grow to be something beautiful for all of us.” - Shandra Madson   “I love that you said be still, you know, let's quiet yourself down. We live in such a rushed world, but really in order to connect to that internal compass, we have to take moments of stillness every day and quiet our minds and, and listen in.” - Dana Robb   Shannon Russell treasures her roles as a wife and mother, finding that the journey of learning and growing alongside her family is the most rewarding experience of her life. At her core, Shannon is passionate about helping others. Whether it be as a real estate agent guiding her clients to one of their most significant investments – their homes, or volunteering at the Columbus Center supporting refugees in learning English and become assimilated in the United States, or creating nonprofits focused on educating youth, she loves serving those around her and is committed to making a positive impact in her community. Shannon love

In this episode of the Big Ocean Women Podcast, hosts Shelli Spotts, Carolina Allen, and guest Darrin Gates engage in a comprehensive discussion about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on various facets of life. Shelli, a professor of persuasive writing, sets the stage by emphasizing the importance of understanding different types of literacies. Darrin, a philosophy professor specializing in ethics, provides insights into the ethical considerations of AI, specifically generative AI like ChatGPT. Carolina, the founder of Big Ocean Women, highlights the organization's focus on faith, family, and motherhood, and introduces the topic of AI's rapid advancement and its implications for parenting and education. The conversation delves into definitions of AI, its limitations, the ethical issues surrounding data use, and the potential pitfalls like job loss, privacy concerns, and the erosion of human interaction. The group underscores the importance of critical thinking, media literacy, and maintaining human-centric values in the face of technological advancement.     00:00 Introduction and Guest Introductions 02:21 Defining AI and Its Implications 04:54 Ethical Concerns and Data Set Issues 08:06 AI's Impact on Human Interaction 12:00 Manipulation and Deception in AI 17:19 AI's Limitations and Future 28:39 Ethical Dilemmas in AI Resource Allocation 29:55 The AI Arms Race: Global Implications 32:16 Privacy Concerns and Data Misuse 36:10 Job Loss and Economic Impact of AI 37:47 The Push for Human-Centric AI 40:32 Teaching Critical Thinking in the Age of AI 47:07 Parental Guidance and Media Literacy 51:58 Conclusion: Embracing Failure and Authentic Engagement

Following the tragic shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Shannon Russell, who was at the event, Natalie Perry, Grace Raje, a student at UVU, and Kimball Call discuss the effects of the internet and polarization, how we can help each other and our families, and how we deal with these issues we’re facing by recognizing and following our internal compass.   00:00 Introduction and Host's Welcome 00:44 Panel Introductions 01:21 Grace's Perspective on the Assassination 02:13 Natalie's Experience at the Event 08:07 Discussion on Social Media and Misinformation 19:23 Generational Differences and Digital Natives 27:15 Impact of Internet on Young Men 30:27 The Impact of Internet Rabbit Holes on Young Men 31:06 Promoting Positive Masculinity in Education 31:55 Escapism and Its Role in Extremism 32:54 The Importance of Connection Over Avoidance 33:26 Maternal Feminism vs. Modern Feminism 35:27 Fostering Critical Thinking in the Digital Age 37:30 The Dangers of Overstimulation and Dopamine Addiction 41:13 Challenging the Untruths of Fragility, Emotional Reasoning, and Us vs. Them 46:20 The Pressure to Form Immediate Opinions 50:22 Encouraging Civil Discourse and Embracing Failure 55:33 Conclusion and Final Thoughts   “We recognize and follow our intuitive internal compass to speak and act with integrity. And so as we teach this tenet at an international level, we are so blessed to hear from mothers and women all over the globe who believe in following our internal compass. And that is something that every person on this earth has and needs to learn how to use and, and how do we tap into that internal compass? How do we speak, how do we act? Those are the issues I think that we need to address and are very relevant to what happened this week.” - Natalie Perry   “Personally, I think we're gonna look back at kids having social media the same way we look back on how prevalent smoking was in the seventies and eighties… We're gonna say, ‘What were we thinking? Giving kids access to that amount of information before they were trained or taught how to process it, how to filter it out, how to use it for good or use it for other uses.’ It's seriously doing some real damage to not just our kids, but to adults as well. I think there's a lot of interesting research coming out about that, but I don't think you need to be in the research to see the negative effects. I think you can just look at what's been happening over the last week.” - Kimball Call   “I think that the family unit is the best place and arguably the only place that's really suitable to hold space for our generation. As we process this disassociation, as we process this dystopian pit in our stomach and the expectation to speak articulately about our thoughts on social media, because that's what's expected of us, even though we're actually processing an emotional thing, and our hearts and brains aren't always communicating. So the family and mothers specifically have a very special and unique ability to hold space for my generation to not have to be articulate, to not have to post right away, to maybe even feel indifferent or to feel sick or to feel whatever they're feeling without criticism, because this is an emotional event.” - Grace Raje   “We need to get back to reality, and we need to help kids grow up in reality. So one of the best ways moms and parents can help their kids is to give them a childhood that resembles the childhood [they] probably experienced. . . .Before the internet was a thing, get kids off video games, get kids off. Don't let them have social media. Get them in touch with books. Help them fall in love with reading. Help them fall in love with nature, help them fall in love with sports and in-person social activities with friends.” - Kimball Call   “When you can stop seeing things as us versus them, you can think critically.” - Kimball Call   “There's this moral obligation to have opinions about everything. . . not that it's wrong to hav

Susan Roylance and Carolina Allen discuss what advocacy for family looks like at the UN.  00:00 Introduction to Gender Issues 00:24 Welcome to Currents Podcast 01:01 Introducing Susan Roylance 02:08 Susan's Journey and Book 03:29 The Beijing Conference 04:56 Defining Gender and Family Advocacy 06:48 Challenges and Advocacy at the UN 11:35 The Importance of Maternal Feminism 18:50 Susan's Mentorship and Legacy 21:09 Reflections on Feminism and Family 30:49 The Importance of Relationships and Family 31:36 Motherhood and Workforce Policies in Europe 32:57 Generational Wisdom and Family Dynamics 33:43 Susan's Experience at the Geneva Conference 38:06 Cultural Solutions vs. Top-Down Policies 42:44 The Role of Family in Addressing Global Issues 50:31 Promoting Family Values to Younger Generations 57:34 The Economic Impact of Declining Birth Rates 58:50 The Power of Family in Society 58:56 Conclusion and Final Thoughts