Living with Heart: From Birth to Death
Dr. Chip Dodd’s ”The Voice of the Heart” is one of the seminal and most practically impactful books of the last several decades in the counseling, coaching, and mentorship space. In ”Living with Heart,” Dr. Dodd joins co-host, Bryan Barley, to discuss with greater depth, detail, and practicality how to live with heart through the entire journey of life - from birth to death.
Listen on:
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 24, 2026
Tuesday Feb 24, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
FREE RESOURCE:
Four Realities and Four Promises
Ultimately, every person who becomes addicted to any substance or behavioral process is running from knowing how to or being willing to contend with four realities and four promises.
Because the four realities are in conflict with the experience of the four promises, a person must find a way to integrate the conflict or avoid real life.
We are emotional and spiritual creatures, created to live fully. We are created to only be able to find fulfillment in relationship with ourselves, others and God.
As emotional and spiritual creatures, if we run from feelings and needs, we cannot resolve the conflict between reality and the truth of God.
Four Realties
The best we ever become is still clumsy. We are all like “giraffes running on ice.” Perfection is not attainable.
We must live life on life’s terms. We don’t make the rules about how life works. No one defeats death, pain, or the craving to connect in relationship. To love always requires that we learn how to tolerate pain.
Everything in life is practice. Doctors practice medicine, lawyers practice law. Parents, likewise, are practicing being parents, as are people practicing being human. Children are working very hard practicing being children. No one has all the answers. We are all works in progress, not works of perfection.
It takes a lifetime to learn how to live. Whether a person is eight or eighty-eight, we still have questions about living and life, relationships, love, success, needs, and God.
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Tuesday Feb 17, 2026
Tuesday Feb 17, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
FREE RESOURCE:
The Addiction Cycle
Addiction is a disease, but its genesis is related to the trauma, and subsequent toxic shame that occurs relationally.
It is actually a neuro-physiological sickness that originates relationally and emotionally.
When we, as children, reject our vulnerable need for emotional connection with our important caregivers and other emotional influencers, we end up suppressing our true self and this creates toxic shame.
A person with addiction is driven by his/her anxiety of anticipating negative outcomes, and they seek to relieve themselves from this anxiety of anticipating negative outcomes.
The need for relief from anxiety and the energy required to suppress genuine feelings and needs sets a person up to seek relief from anxiety.
The relief comes in the form of counterfeit fulfillment of genuine relational connection.
Counterfeit fulfillment “feels” like relationship with self, others, and even God temporarily, but it is not genuine relational connection because the person is avoiding their core feelings and needs.
A person who is addicted continues to struggle in a cycle of escaping his/her feelings. This cycle is usually associated with what people call “stress.”
This cycle works as follows:
An event occurs that a person has feelings about and the feelings need to be addressed.
The person has increased anxiety, promoting a “need” for escape.
Preoccupation with control over unwanted feelings and negative anxiety begins to be the focus of the “threatened” person.
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Feb 10, 2026
Tuesday Feb 10, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
FREE RESOURCE:
The Toxic Shame Cycle
Go to Free Resources at chipdodd.com
What is Toxic Shame?
Toxic shame is the rejection of healthy shame.
Healthy shame allows us to recognize and accept our dependence upon others and God as we struggle to live fully in a tragic place.
Every child is “okay” being in need. When we lose our ability to be comfortable needing others, we develop toxic shame.
Ultimately, we become (a)shamed, which means “no healthy shame.”
Addiction grows out of the poisonous ground of toxic shame.
As toxic shame is developing, it begins to disrupt our normal sense of inborn worth.
Every child comes into life with a sense of self-worth. It is a God-given attribute of being created in His image.
Self-worth drives the child to cry out for his/her needs to be met. It drives him/her to have confidence that their craving is good.
Toxic shame occurs when the normal human responses of the child are rejected, neglected, abused, or simply ignored.
Normal human responses are:
feelings
needs
desire
longings
hope
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Feb 03, 2026
Tuesday Feb 03, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
You can also RSVP to Bryan for "Awaken the Heart" on Sunday, March 1 - more details here.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
We are created to live fully, and we do so through relationship with ourselves, others, and God, as we bring the true heart of feelings, needs, desire, longings and hope to relationships.
Relationship requires vulnerability.
If the ability to be “comfortable” with dependence is fractured in one’s earlier years of life, the result is a set up for that person to feel the need to “hide” his/her heart. Instead of remaining present and connected, he/she has a compulsion to perform in order to belong or matter.
Trauma is experienced when one’s ability to accept their need for dependence is fractured.
The need to suppress emotional pain in order to survive, belong, and matter is the foundation upon which addiction is built.
Addiction is a false fulfillment of how we are created to live.
Addiction is relationship with a substance or process that gives a sense of connection without having to be vulnerable; in other words, a person can distract or numb themselves from having to feel by using some form of avoidance of relationship with one’s self, others, and God.
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Jan 27, 2026
Tuesday Jan 27, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
What is the purpose for creating this podcast, Living with Heart: From Birth to Death?
When Chip and Bryan began Living with Heart: From Birth to Death, they hoped to communicate one central message: Helping people see who they are made to be, so they can do what they are made to do, which will move them to live fully, love deeply, and lead well lives that bless others.
In today’s episode, they take a break from their current series on addiction to celebrate with listeners the achievement of the milestone of episode #100.
Bryan asked Dr Dodd to explain the driving force that has motivated him to continue in his work.
Dr Dodd’s responses:
The most productive time in a person’s career when he/she is in their 60s.
We so often make the mistake of seeing the 60–70-year-old age bracket as a time for retirement or “letting the younger generations have it now” period. Nothing could be more mistaken or sad.
The younger generations need paths to follow and the older generations still need to remain beneficial to their communities.
A wise person once said that the fullest life is one of maximum service. From the age of 60 onward is potentially the most productive period of one’s life for four reasons:
The wisdom gained from experience and proven capability are most integrated at that age.
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Jan 20, 2026
Tuesday Jan 20, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
In this new season, “What is Addiction” we will focus on three main aspects of addiction:
what addiction is
how addiction operates
what recovery entails
The pervasive impact of addiction
The pervasiveness of addiction and its impact makes it a pandemic, perhaps the deadliest human beings have ever experienced.
A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (continents in the case of addiction.) It affects a significant proportion of the population.
An epidemic is localized.
A pandemic refers to “all demographics.”
Tragically, Addiction impairs the addict’s ability to see the impact of their addiction. This impairment is called denial. It prevents the addict from seeing clearly and accurately the consequences of his/her addiction.
We have 30+ million alcoholics in this country and 15+ million people addicted to illegal drugs.
For every one person chemically dependent on alcohol or illegal drugs, 3 to 4 other people are emotionally, mentally, if not physically harmed.
These addictions result in emotional trauma, setting up the high probability of tendency toward addiction.
Adding up the numbers using only the impact of addiction upon 3 people is 135 million people in this nation harmed. When the addicted person is added to the number, the impact is monstrous.
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Jan 13, 2026
Tuesday Jan 13, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
In this new season, “What is Addiction” we will focus on three main aspects of addiction:
what addiction is
how addiction operates
what recovery entails
How Addiction Operates
Addiction as a feelings problem
Addiction is a “feelings” disorder. A disorder of not knowing how to face, feel, and deal with the feelings that come with living life on life’s terms.
Life is a “feelings” experience, one we don’t control as much as we must face, feel, and deal with as wisely and productively as we possibly can.
To face life wisely and productively requires that we live in connection with others and God in an intimate way.
The substitute for living relationally connected is to distract ourselves from our own needs. This means that we attempt to find a counterfeit connection that offers a relief, but not what we genuinely need.
The distraction from our own hearts becomes the addictive process.
Addiction is marked by negative consequences for the addicted person, but their actions don’t change.
Addiction also has its foundation on the defense of denial.
Denial has five characteristics:
Denial of facing the reality of what is occurring.
Denial of the feelings related to reality.
Denial of the needs related to the feelings.
Denial about talking about the first three characteristics.
Denial of the need to trust that things can actually be different.
Addiction is rooted in toxic shame.
Toxic shame is the internal sense of contempt a person has towards
their feelings and needs
the “clumsiness” of being human
the reality of imperfection
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Jan 06, 2026
Tuesday Jan 06, 2026
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
What is Substack? It is a subscription-based platform that allows independent
writers and other creators to publish content directly to their subscribers’ inboxes.
The cost of the subscription is only $7 a month. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. The content focuses on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.
In this new season, “What is Addiction” we will focus on three main aspects of addiction:
what addiction is
how addiction operates
what recovery entails
What is addiction?
Addiction is a counterfeit substitute for the normal desire for fulfillment and relief-seeking.
Addiction actually robs us of the legitimate fulfillment and relief that we seek.
Addiction prevents us from seeing who we are made to be and blocks us from doing what we are made to do.
Addiction is a thief that steals, kills, and destroys.
Addiction defined
Addiction is a set of behaviors that eventually result in negative outcomes and yet the person continues in the behavior, without admitting that the problem is beyond their own control to change it or stop it.
Addiction as a sickness:
In 1957 the American Medical Association concluded that addiction fit the categories to be classified as a disease, not a moral, intellectual, or will power failure. Alcoholics Anonymous had been operating under the conclusion that addiction was a sickness that required a relational and spiritual “cure” since 1935.
The AMA stated that addiction, like all diseases, is a morbid process, with a characteristic set of symptoms, of known or unknown origin, that is chronic, progressive, and often fatal.
Addiction is specifically marked by denial, blame, and projection. Ultimately, a self-diagnosis is required for recovery to a normal life and lifestyle.
Addiction is not:
An intellectual problem. Everyone who is addicted to any substance or process uses “artful” logic to continue and justify their actions.
A will power problem. Everyone who is addicted is able to continue to operate, usually like “normal”, while being burdened by the “secrecy” of what is actually going on.
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Dec 02, 2025
Tuesday Dec 02, 2025
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week, beginning December 2nd. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership.
Dr Dodd continues to focus on his mission of almost 40 years, helping people see who they are made to be, so they can do what they are created to do. The articles in December focus on living fully, loving deeply, and leading well during the holidays.
It is the month of Christmas. How are you going to keep Christ in Christmas this year? I recommend spending a few minutes each day in December reading The Jesse Tree: A Christmas Devotional. This devotional will take you through the Bible, from Genesis to the birth of Jesus. Each day focuses on God’s protection of the royal line of Jesus and God’s plan of redemption for His people.
Chip begins the episode reading an article called, “I Believe It Like Air” that he puts out every year. It is a statement of believing in the miracle of Jesus’ birth, as much as he believes in the air he breathes moment to moment. (This article is also included in Substack on December 23.)
So many of us never actually grow-up, which is to face that we are primarily emotional and spiritual creatures who find fulfillment in relationship. Our fulfillment comes from being able to connect to our own hearts, the hearts of others, and the heart of God.
“Adults” are people who wear masks to hide what they don’t know, to cover up the vulnerability that exposes their neediness.
Grown-ups develop maturity by being in need and growing and becoming more and more response able. Adults do not mature beyond their ability to mask vulnerability.
“Adults” lose the meaning and wonder of Christmas. Grown-ups live it fully with a faith that can contend with tragedy.
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have established strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
(Psalm 8:2, NKJV)
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.
Tuesday Nov 25, 2025
Tuesday Nov 25, 2025
Click here to read the episode highlights.
The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at chip@chipdodd.com. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at bryan@vothcenter.com.
It is amost Thanksgiving, and Christmas is just around the corner. How are you going to keep Christ in Christmas this year? I recommend spending a few minutes each day in December reading The Jesse Tree: A Christmas Devotional. This devotional will take you through the Bible, from Genesis to the birth of Jesus. Each day focuses on God’s protection of the royal line of Jesus and God’s plan of redemption for His people.
We are made for more
October to April opens up the most magical time of the year and potentially the most painful.
As the fall approaches and the “harvest” season settles into our consciousness, we begin to long for what the holidays are created to offer, family, friends, and fellowship.
The windows of the “soul” open to our heavenly longings as the holiday season of anticipation begins. The window remains open until the new year begins, our resolutions have turned back into daily life, and we lift the “heavy burden” of getting back to work—we prepare to pay our taxes in April!
If we allow ourselves to long for what we dream the holidays can offer, we will also need to allow ourselves to grieve what they cannot give us—heavenly completion on earth:
It is okay to grieve
The family gatherings will not live up to what we dream at the worst, and they will end with departures at their best.
The friends we love to be with will need to return to their places of other purposes.
The fellowship that blesses us will also come to an end.
We can experience heavenly hints of completion, but not get to remain in the place of completion.
The holidays awaken us to holy moments of seeing how life could be, or is created to be, but this is still not heaven.
In the movie “Field of Dreams” a character asks, “Is this heaven?” The answer to the beautiful question of hope is, “No, this is Iowa.” We can taste heaven here during the holiday season, but not keep it or possess it; we can only take time to live it by bringing family and friends together in fellowship.
Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.