The Overthinkers

How Does Trauma Affect Our Relationships? (With Tabitha Panariso)

How does the experience of hardship in our past affect our ability to have healthy relationships now? Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson discuss with author and licensed counselor Tabitha Panariso to discuss. Referenced resources
Definition of trauma: https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma#:~:text=Trauma%20is%20an%20emotional%20response,from%20Recovering%20emotionally%20from%20disasterAttachment Theory: https://labs.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm
 
Millennials “reverse cognitive behavior therapy”: https://www.afterbabel.com/p/mental-health-liberal-girls
 
Gen Z’s “fear of taking part”: https://www.afterbabel.com/p/what-happened-to-fomo
Blesses
 
Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Movie)
The Fighter Severance CursesManchester By the Sea
HollywoodBless/CurseMarriage StoryWebsitesThe Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.worldNathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.comTabitha Panariso: https://substack.com/@tabithapanariso
 

Will Men and Women Ever Get Along? (With Annie Crawford)

Men and women have been involved in a "battle of the sexes" throughout history. What is the source of this conflict, and how do we solve it? We bring on cultural apologist Annie Crawford to discuss.
Growing Gender Divide: https://www.axios.com/2024/09/28/young-men-women-divided-politics-religion
BlessesThe Essential Difference (Book)Much Ado About Nothing (Play/Kenneth Branagh Movie)A Guide to Sex in the 21st Century (Books)Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Movie)CS Lewis's Ransom Trilogy (Books)Pride and Prejudice (Book)CursesMen (Movie) Playboy MagazineThe Quiet Man (Movie)Battle of the Sex (Movie)Anything that has to do with Andrew TateWebsitesOverthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.worldNathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.comAnnie Crawford: anniecrawford.net

Are Romance Movies and Books Bad for You? (With Keelia Clarkson)

The romance genre may be the most popular genre in the world. But is it harmful for us? Does it create unrealistic and harmful expectations? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes bring on author, actress and podcast host Keelia Clarkson to get some answers.Links to sources
Popularity of the romance genre: https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/liberal-arts/misconceptions-about-the-romance-genre
 
Popularity of Hallmark movies/problems with romance movies: https://olemiss.edu/news/2024/07/romantic-movies-perception/index.html
 
Popularity of Bridgerton: https://deadline.com/2024/07/bridgerton-season-3-netflix-most-popular-list-shonda-rhimes-1235999509/
 
People claim they don’t negatively compare their partners unlesss relationship “already rocky”: 
 
https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2011-jul-07-la-heb-romance-novels-women-health-20110707-story.html
 
https://www.npr.org/2011/07/07/137675779/romance-fiction-and-womens-health-a-dose-of-skepticism
 
People who watch romance movies report greater relationship satisfaction: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/nurturing-resilience/202302/does-watching-romantic-movies-help-your-love-life-flourish
 
Defending romance novels: https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/why-you-should-be-reading-romance-novels.html
 
Why people love romances: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/love-them-or-leave-them/202406/this-is-your-brain-on-bridgerton
 
How the sexual revolution killed the hollywood rom com/how sleeping around to find true love doesn’t work: https://religionunplugged.com/news/2023/11/5/how-the-sexual-revolution-killed-the-hollywood-rom-com
 
Blesses
 
The VowMeet Cute
Five Feet ApartCurses 
 
Anyone But You
All Fours
An Affair to RememberWebsitesThe Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.worldNathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.comKeelia Clarkson: wallflowerjournal.com

Is Anyone Beyond Redemption?

In honor of co-host Nathan Clarkson's new Western movie "Bright Sky", Nathan and Joseph discuss whether anyone is beyond redemption, and what that means.
 
Links to sources cited:
Summary of Thomas Aquinas’s Compilation of Answers to What is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit (including St. Augustine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf8pin8x71Y
 
Psychologists emphasize the capacity to grow and change: https://psychcentral.com/blog/can-people-really-change#can-you-change-habits
 
Views of personality and neuroplasticity: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/behavior/can-people-change-or-do-they-just-lie/
 
The “Beyond Redemption” narrative trope: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeyondRedemption
 
The “Moral Event Horizon” which establishes a character as beyond moral redemption: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoralEventHorizon
 
People who never change: https://medium.com/@justsomewriter/im-starting-to-truly-think-some-people-are-truly-beyond-saving-5379208baa06
 
US Office of Justice Programs - Some people are beyond modern science’s ability to rehabilitate: https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/can-everyone-be-rehabilitated#:~:text=There%20are%20persons%20beyond%20the,and%20deranged%20habits%20of%20gratification.
 
Criticism of abandoning rehabilitation efforts:  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3762476/#:~:text=However%2C%20to%20the%20shock%20of,why%20this%20shift%20took%20place. 
Blesses:
 
Red Dead Redemption 1 + 2 (Video Games)
Redeeming Love (Book)
Unforgiven (Movie)Curses:Yellowstone (TV Show)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Movie)WebsitesThe Overthinkerstheoverthinkersjournal.worldNathan Clarkson:nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmesjosepholmesstudios.com

How Do We Know Our Calling? (With Dr. William Klein)

How do we know our calling in life? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes talk to Biblical scholar Dr. William Klein on the history of the word "calling" and how we might be all--religious and non-religious alike--using the word wrong.Links to resources mentioned:
Calling Definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling
 
More definitions of “calling”: https://www.christianitytoday.com/partners/nav-press/what-is-calling/
 
Forbes 20 Ways to Find Your Calling: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicahagy/2012/06/26/20-ways-to-find-your-calling/
 
Desire for calling: https://www.letu.edu/alumni/identify-your-calling.html
 
Oprah “Are You Listening to Your Life?”: https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/what-are-you-meant-to-be-doing-find-your-calling
 
“It’s Never Too Late to Find Your Calling”: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/202401/its-never-too-late-to-find-your-calling
 
Desiring God - How to Discern God’s Call: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-i-know-gods-calling-for-my-life
Relevant Magazine - “Is This My Calling or Just Something I Enjoy?”: https://relevantmagazine.com/life5/how-to-know-if-your-calling-is-really-from-god/
 
Academic perspectives on calling: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00187267221095759#bibr24-00187267221095759
 
Blesses
 
Hero of a Thousand Faces (Book)
Hero on a Mission (Book)
Sound of Hope (Movie)
Deadpool & Wolverine (Movie)
The Shock of Faith (Article)
Curses
 
Don’t Waste Your Life (Book)
The Hill (Movie)
Wish (Movie)
The Call (Book)WebsitesOverthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.worldNathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmes: josepholmesstudios.comWill Klein: https://denverseminary.edu/directory/klein-phd-william/

Should We Read the Classics? (With Faith Moore)

Many of us find it hard to read classic literature. But is there value in it worth pushing through anyway? Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson welcome author and podcast host of "Storytime for Grownups" Faith Moore to discuss how she grew to love great old books.
Educators find decline in reading classic literature in 70s: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/29/archives/decline-in-reading-of-the-classics-in-public-schools-causes-concern.html
 
Decline in reading from 1982 to 2002: https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/RaRExec_0.pdf
 
Literature Humanities Professors find fewer read classics in 2020s: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/11/the-elite-college-students-who-cant-read-books/679945/
 
Why teachers should assign more contemporary books: https://bookriot.com/assign-more-contemporary-books/
 
Why we focus too much on classics: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jul/13/stop-pushing-the-same-classic-books-on-children-and-trust-modern-writing
Blesses:
 
Penguin Classic 
Picture of Dorian Gr
Anxious People
Great Expectations
David Copperfield
Jane Eyre (2006 TV Miniseries)
Curses:
 
Wuthering Heights
We Have Always Lived in a Castle
The Divine Comedy
The Madwoman in the AtticWebsites:Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.comNathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmes: josepholmesstudios.comFaith Moore: faithkmoore.com

How Do You Raise a Unique Child? (With Sally Clarkson)

How do you raise children to value their uniqueness while also growing in maturity? Sally Clarkson returns to the show to discuss with Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson the new book by Sally and Nathan: "Uniquely You"
Discrimination against left-handed people: https://www.press.jhu.edu/newsroom/stuttering-and-retraining-left-handed-children-mid-century-us#:~:text=By%20the%20second%20decade%20of%20the%20twentieth,retraining%20left%2Dhanders%20had%20negative%20consequences%2C%20especially%20stuttering.&text=Terman%20(1877%2D1956)%20concluded%20that%20a%20third%20to,attempts%20to%20transform%20left%2Dhanded%20children%20into%20right%2Dhanders.
Howard Gardener's Multiple Intelligences: https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences.shtml
Mental illness vs neurodiversity debate: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/mental-disorder-or-neurodiversity"Gentle Parenting" creates unhappy children: https://ifstudies.org/blog/do-your-political-beliefs-affect-your-parenting-Blesses:
Finding Forrester (Movie)A Wrinkle in Time (Book)
Anne of Green Gables (Book)
 
Curses:
A Wrinkle in Time (Movie)
Anti-Family Trends in Pixar Films (Movie)
Websites:Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.comSally Clarkson: sallyclarkson.com
 
Buy "Uniquely You" today: https://www.amazon.com/Uniquely-You-Exploring-Extraordinarily-Distinctive/dp/0802432786/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FLcU4czIiBsDVW0-BpzfHq3dMhqKT9xdOS7adg1hFrVBwKbNFU303KovJtg_yaYhaHXp8OeXQ9FovH4JL_HdY8IkLJ5kIUGRiHccIXp0L3rMwN3ZroPoO7r0AhYIMfM2DsIz3LIU7UsJejV-zAC-nWCV4nSEE7tPq2oenPkJ9DWVwl6P364nvIjha3VvZCPK0oHEtGjRNtFQJh2Zi-KVcG_j2-xi2rLbGfYC-FDg_jU.Pi6PI6MI84yTG4gWtYRCTE_TobJhNqyCjBhcSXIE0Xs&dib_tag=se&keywords=uniquely+you&qid=1736131771&sr=8-1
 

How Do We Follow Through on Our Goals?

In the first Overthinkers episode of the new season, Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson discuss how to follow through on our goals. Studies show that most people who set goals in the new year don't follow through on them. How do you become the exception? Well, there's studies on that too! Joseph and Nathan go through some of the best strategies on the internet--and their own experience--to help set us all off on the right foot in the new year.Podcast Sources:
Only 8 percent of adults achieve their goals: https://summer.harvard.edu/blog/how-high-school-students-can-set-and-accomplish-their-goals/#:~:text=But%20a%20recent%20survey%20by,the%20best%20versions%20of%20ourselves.
 
Only 6.5 percent of adults were still trying for their goals after 6 months: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/new-study-shows-only-6-of-people-achieve-their-goals-and-reveals-their-secret-formula-1032687000
 
Less than half of Americans were very satisfied with their lives: https://www.newsweek.com/americans-are-less-satisfied-their-lives-1868560
 
Arthur Brooks on healthy vs unhealthy goal setting: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/03/how-follow-your-dreams-and-get-happier/618384/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGz3wBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdBtSJE1sCkpBIWT2jx47PxvsuteMDLMii2pVMQWWr1GLvABLiQ2q_y3uw_aem_BL6ZVahAoLk4Im8SvCoB1A
 
Rising rates of depression: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-changing-culture/201510/are-mental-health-issues-the-rise
Blesses and Curses:
BlessSubliminal - BookTransformers One - Movie
 
Curse
 
The Law of Attraction - Book
Reagan - MovieBlink Twice - Movie
Websites:Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.meJoseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com

How Do You Get Through Going Home for the Holidays?

Lots of people are stressed out by being with family for the holidays. Some are even planning not to spend holidays with their family. But is that a good idea? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes give their tips on having a positive trip home for the holidays.Links to outside references: 
15 million long-distance travelers oer Christmas in 2023: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/millions-americans-expected-to-travel-christmas-new-years-day-aaa/
 
How to survive going home for the holidays: https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-to-survive-going-home-for-the-holidays/
 
https://medium.com/youalberta/how-to-survive-home-for-the-holidays-99daba2e6e9f
 
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/empowerment-solutions/202212/home-for-the-holidays-how-not-to-get-triggered 
 
Blesses:ElfThe Best Christmas Pageant EverCurses:The Family StoneFour ChristmasesNational Lampoon's Christmas VacationA Christmas Story

What Do We Really Want? (With Strahan Coleman)

Everyone has deep desires. But what is our deepest desire? And how do we deal with the problem of satisfying that desire. Writer, award-winning folk musician, and spiritual director Strahan Coleman joins Joseph Holmes and Nathan Clarkson to dive into what we want and how we can have it today.Links to resources discussed in the episode:
Basics of Budhism: https://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm
The Stoics: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/
 
Augustine and Desire: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/an-analysis-of-one-of-the-greatest-sentences-ever-written/
Charlotte Fox's 12 Universal Desires:
https://healthforlifegr.com/examining-the-deepest-human-desires-charlotte-fox-weber/#:~:text=In%20her%20book%2C%20Charlotte%20Fox,have%20what%20we%20shouldn't.
8 Things People Desire But Can't Attain:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/05/24/the-top-8-things-people-desperately-desire-but-cant-seem-to-attain/
 
BlessesBook - Georgia Douglas Johnson PoetryBook - The Religious SenseMovie - Deadpool and WolverineBook - Surprised By Joseph HolmesMovie - The Book of ClarenceTV Shows - Agatha All AlongThinker - Teresa of AvilaThinker - St. John of the CrossBook - The Cloud of UnknowingTV Show - BridgertonCursesMovie - Saturday NightMovie - Joker: Folie à DeuxGood Cafes that serve terrible coffee
Overthinkers Team Contact and Websites:The Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world
Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me
Joseph Holmes: josephholmesstudios.com
Strahan Coleman Links and Websites:Thirsting: Quenching Our Soul's Deepest Desire: https://www.amazon.com/Thirsting-Quenching-Souls-Deepest-Desire/dp/0830785205Beholding Prayer Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beholding-prayer/id1669562572Commoners Communion: https://www.commonerscommunion.com/about