The start of Great Lent begins with preparation. We prepare our refrigerators, freezers and pantry for the fast, emptying it of meat and dairy. But we prepare our hearts as well, emptying it of resentments or grudges, wrongs we have done or wrongs done to us in our community. On navigating Forgiveness Vespers as an introvert.

We’ve all heard about helicopter parents. I’m more of a lawnmower parent. I want to make straight the paths before my kids. I do not want to see them hurt. And of course, that’s natural– no parent wants to see their child injured– but when I make the path so straight and the field so even that they do not seem to engage the “struggle” then I’ve gone too far. How do we teach our children to embrace the struggles of life, to see the beauty and the reward in it?

How we care for and nurture our bodies has implications for all areas of our development—physical, emotional, and even spiritual. The body is a living and organic revelation of the unseen spirit inside—a kind of garden. Garden in the East is a poetic exploration of how the care of the body can lead us to wholeness and wellness in every area of our lives. In this podcast, Angela reads an excerpt from the book.

It’s often intimidating to walk into a new space filled with strangers. It’s hard to be the stranger but it’s also sometimes intimidating to be the one charged with welcoming the stranger. How does “coffee hour” or “fellowship” after Liturgy remind us, as William Butler Yeats wrote, “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.”

While most Mother’s Day celebrations include things like cards, brunch or carnations, there are other, more tangible ways to embrace the more non-commercial aspects of appreciating mothers. What would it look like to connect daily gratitude with the small moments of mothering? How might it transform us?

There is a wind farm on I-65 that evokes a sense of longing– for peace, for stillness, for quiet. What does it mean for us, in a busy and loud world, to stay engaged, to seek out that stillness, to harvest this like the wind turbines harvest air?

As attention spans shrink, what entices us to move more deeply into mystery and stillness? How can the acts of reading and prayer help us acquire the spiritual and intellectual nutrition we crave in a world where fast, cheap, and easy are what’s on the menu? Angela talks with friend and bookseller, Warren Farha of Eighth Day Books about stillness, “real books” and beach reads.

There are days when we need to hear words to lift us up out of the dirt. Whether they are words of poetry, or words from the Fathers, the pursuit of the beautiful, the kind of beautiful that resides under the skin, is worthwhile for everyone living the daily struggle of life.

In this episode of the Wilderness Journal, Angela talks with poet Scott Cairns about having a sense of “place” in one’s life, as well as the importance of language, dialogue, and literature in the task of building the self.

Is “giving” something we only think about at the holidays? What does it mean to give from a empty well?

Angela Doll Carlson shares her plans for the podcast for 2019, particularly reading from her new book titled The Wilderness Journal: 365 Days with the Philokalia.

In this reading from Angela’s latest book, “The Wilderness Journal: 365 days with the Philokalia” she explores the reality of what brings color to our lives.

What can we do with the anxiety that creeps in on us? Angela finds sorting anxiety like sorting laundry on this episode of The Wilderness Journal.

As we move close to glorious Pascha, Angela takes a few moments to reflect on the common threads between Poetry, Liturgy, and Holy Week.

On this episode of The Wilderness Journal, Angela Doll Carlson explores the topic of "time" with her friend (and Ancient Faith author) Dr. Nicole Roccas. They discuss connections between fear and apathy, and the differences between standing still and being static."

In times of fear and distress, we can turn to the simple act of prayer to calm the waters. Angela reads a passage from Nearly Orthodox about this very thing, and about learning to pray the Jesus Prayer in Greek.

In this episode Angela continues her conversation with Orthodox priest and Spiritual Ecologist, Fr. Kaleeg Hainsworth where they discuss the role of the Orthodox Christian in issues about the environment, the wilderness as a “de-tox” method, and how to survive the Zombie apocalypse.

On this episode of the Wilderness Journal, Angela contemplates exploring the “wilds” of Chicago and discusses hot button issues like Climate Change and Bigfoot with Fr. Kaleeg Hainsworth, Orthodox priest and author of “An Altar in the Wilderness."

We all have ways to work through our hang ups. Whether we run away from the things we fear or rush headlong toward them, taking a moment to consider the story we’re telling can go a long way in helping and preserving us.

The prayer of St. Ephraim is a familiar one for Orthodox Christians, especially during Lent. This season offers us the chance to practice the prayer and to come face to face with our own inner “construction” as we come closer to Pascha. What roads are we paving? What bridges are we building?

Parenting is a sacred and daunting task at every stage of their development but parenting teenagers has its own set of challenges and its own joys as well. When do when the time is right to let them start “adulting” and how does our prayer life support us as we venture into new territory?

What does it say about a person who has a collection of barely used daily planners stashed under her bedside table? It is a sign of a disorganized mind and an unwilling spirit, or maybe just never finding the right thing? Angela and fellow author, Katherine Bolger Hyde explore the intricacies of day planner addiction, cabinets from Ikea, and phone alarms ringing at inopportune moments.

The start of a new year brings us to a point of clarity– a starting point, an ending point. It is in these moments that we can choose hope as we look forward, or regret from looking back. What does the New Year represent to you? “I wish I had” or “I hope I do?”

What is stirring when we meet our rebel self? And when that rebel self shows up, what wisdom will we find there? On this episode of The Wilderness Journal, Angela explores the familiar landscape of rebellion, its role in conversion and in deepening our journey of faith.

In troubled times, some people turn to binge watching television shows, some to food, some to drink. Angela turns to poetry. In this episode we explore how poetry and Liturgy intersect because in a technology laden, short attention, sound bite driven world we are often unaware of the deep poetry and lasting peace that Liturgy offers.

How does worry affect our ability to simply be present? What can we do to free ourselves from the grip of worry?

Updated: August 10th 2016 As we enter the first week of a brand new year, your motivations are probably higher than ever to make 2016 the year to finally achieve all you’ve been dreaming of. Whether you’re starting a brand new foray into making money online or you’re hoping to take your current income to […]

The post How to Make Money Online in 2016: An Unexpected Approach appeared first on ViperChill.

Today’s blog post will reveal my biggest goal for 2016, nine niche ideas with huge potential and the most effective productivity technique I’ve used over the last few years. Let’s begin by talking about the productivity technique which is often referred to as the Pomodoro Method. If you’ve followed any kind of productivity guide online […]

The post How a Simple Productivity Tool Helped Create the World’s Best Marketing Blog appeared first on ViperChill.

I would argue that when it comes to making money online, the most important skill you need is not in being able to find untapped niches, knowing how to do A/B testing, creating attractive websites or even having a great ability to write. Instead, the most sought after skill in my eyes is being able […]

The post 6,595 Words on a Traffic Generation Tactic You’re Not Using (But Should Be) appeared first on ViperChill.

On the 15th of January 2008 the domain name Groupon.com went live for the first time. 2008 was also the year that IndieGogo became one of the first ‘crowdfunding’ websites. A year later, the biggest rivals of each would launch in the form of Living Social and Kickstarter. At the start of 2012 Uber – […]

The post How to Steal the Next Billion Dollar Website Idea: A Case Study appeared first on ViperChill.

In the Academy Award-nominated film Food Inc, filmmaker Robert Kenner reveals how the varied choice of items we see on the shelves of supermarkets is actually a false presumption. Instead, that seemingly endless variety is actually controlled by just a handful of companies. Today I’m going to reveal how the huge diversity we perceive in […]

The post How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results appeared first on ViperChill.

Do private blog network’s still work? Does a higher word-count help your pages rank better? Did Glen really spend 60 hours on this article? I hope to answer all of these questions and many more in my new behind the scenes report on the current state of link building. I can clarify I did spend […]

The post The State of Link Building 2016: What I Learned Manually Analysing 1,000 Search Results appeared first on ViperChill.

What I’m going to reveal in this blog post is a strategy that will likely weed out a certain section of the ViperChill audience. In other words, I’m fully aware that this blog post will make a particular type of person unsubscribe from ViperChill and likely never return. It’s certainly not going to end up […]

The post PIN’s: The Future of Private Link Building appeared first on ViperChill.

Today I’m going to reveal some of the most interesting online niches where there is a lot of money to be made. These are niches which have a level of competition that allows you to compete, and fast. In other words, I wouldn’t expect to be waiting years (or even months, in many cases) to […]

The post 51 Profitable SEO Niches to Dominate with Low Competition appeared first on ViperChill.

Copyblogger has long been one of the most authoritative blogs on copywriting and content marketing. While they used to reveal their most popular blog posts in their sidebar (sorted by most comments) it seems that is no longer the case. But what if it was? What if you could analyse any blog and see which […]

The post 13 Advanced Link Building Strategies You (Probably) Haven’t Used appeared first on ViperChill.

As this site slowly crumbles and falls apart, it’s about time I made a small announcement as to where you can find me. 99% of my audience should know I’ve already moved to Detailed.com and Gaps.com, but if you didn’t, then here we are. I’m secretly hoping this might go out to some RSS feeds […]

The post I No Longer Blog Here: Please Join Me on Detailed.com and Gaps.com appeared first on ViperChill.

Fr. Seraphim introduces his new podcast and explains why he decided to become a monk.