Most listeners to Mormon Matters, like all seekers, are undergoing a faith transition--hopefully leading to continuous deepening into greater richness of experience and peace. Often, however, faith transitions feel more like "crises" for persons in the midst of the reorientation as well as for family members and others close to them who aren’t sharing the same experience and therefore fear that something dangerous is going on. These fears often arise out of concern for the person, but they can also arise out of a sense of that person’s own interior world and equilibrium being jeopardized, leading to a fear of contamination through continued close association. The person undergoing the transition is also often fearful. Are these questions and feelings wrong? Will I be ever be able to stabilize within a new orientation to God, the universe, and those I love? These and many other factors at play when relationships are strained as someone undergoes a big change make for treacherous ground. What are some key ways to understand these dynamics and thus be better prepared for all that might come in these interactions? In this episode, Katie Langston, Lisa Tensmeyer Hansen, and Lisa Butterworth join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of faith transitions, primarily focusing on things the persons undergoing them might consider as they interact with those closest to them: Should they speak up, and how much should they share? How will they know if it is the right thing to do in their particular situation? What are some considerations to keep in mind that might help them understand the often less than ideal reactions that come from those they are in primary relationships with? The conversation offers positive framings about the ultimate importance for healthy growth of these transitions as well as best practices and ways to prepare spiritually before engaging others with whom someone is no longer on the same wavelength. What ideas and framings have most helped the panelists in their own journeys?

The cover of the March 2014 Ensign highlights an article, "The Lord’s Standard of Morality," by Elder Tad R. Callister that has been the subject of much Internet talk of late, with most voices recognizing the importance of the subject and good desires of the author and those who chose to publish it but expressing concern that some of its messaging might be more harmful than helpful for youth negotiating the important transition from childhood to adulthood, especially in regard to healthy sexuality. In this episode, two therapists who work closely with Latter-day Saints struggling with issues often related to negative ideas they picked up during their formative years, Natasha Helfer Parker and Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for an illuminating dialogue about modesty and sexuality (especially assumptions and views about women) and how messages designed to protect women can instead increase the very devaluation and objectification of the women they seek to avoid. They also share ideas for healthy messaging that could comfortably fit in LDS Sunday and Young Women/Young Men curricula.