180: Understanding Better Our Own and Others' Motivations

Latter-day Faith

This episode, co-hosted by Dan Wotherspoon and Terri Petersen, brings to the forefront once again the insights and helpful ideas in Jon Ogden's 2017 book, When Mormons Doubt: A Way to Save Relationships and Seek a Quality Life. Jon joins the hosts to discuss his approach to saving relationships through understanding the primary things that we and others choose to focus on in our lives. Are we driven primarily by the search for what is "true"; is he focusing on what is "good"; is she motivated by the search for spiritual health? When we come to understand these focuses and are able to recognize another's highest values as valid and do, indeed, represent something that is worthy to pursue. When we can see the internal calculus by which we all weigh our decisions and approaches to the world, the things that we thought we were in conflict about lose their power to destroy our relationships with others. In the discussion, Jon points out what happens should we pursue our highest values in an unbalanced way, helping us see common pitfalls so we might better avoid them. This discussion is high-level but approachable. Its jargon-free. And the things it highlights are important and wise. Listen in!