Introducing The Best of You Every Day: A New Daily Practice

January has a way of pulling us straight into the how.

How will I fix what feels off?
How will I be more disciplined?
How will I finally get it right?

But what if there’s a deeper—and more grounding—place to begin?

Dr. Alison opens the year by inviting you to start somewhere different. Instead of beginning with self-improvement or striving, Scripture starts with meaning, presence, and relationship.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

-Why losing sight of the why fuels anxiety, striving, and burnout

-How meaning and grounding are closer than you think

-What “the light shines in the darkness” really means

-How orienting your life around love changes everything

Plus, you’ll hear a special announcement about something new coming to The Best of You—a daily way to stay anchored in Scripture and wisdom as you move through your day.

For additional resources and the full episode transcript, visit the podcast episode page here

If you loved this episode, check out:

Episode 122: Navigating Anxiety, Therapy, and Spiritual Formation with John Mark Comer 

Episode 113: A New Vision Of Human Flourishing with Dr. Warren Kinghorn

Get I Shouldn’t Feel This Way for just $2.99.

Grab your 3 free Boundaries For Your Soul resources here

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Got a question? Call 307-429-2525 and leave a message for a future episode.

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While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only.‍

© 2025 Alison Cook. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please do not copy or share the contents of this webpage or transcript without permission from the author.

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Transcript

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January 1st tends to invite reflection about who we are, about where we're headed,

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and how we want to live. It is so easy to lose focus to get pulled in too many

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directions when what we need more than ever is to stay grounded in the wisdom of

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Scripture and in God's steady presence with us. Today, I have a big announcement.

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Starting this year, 26, here at The best of you we're adding something new it's

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called the best of you every day hey

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everyone and happy new year I'm so glad you're here with me on January 1st this

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very first day of the new year there's something about this day that carries so

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much meaning, a fresh start, a turning of the page. Even if you're not, someone who

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makes resolutions, January 1st tends to invite reflection about who we are,

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about where we're headed, and how we want to live. And today, I have a big

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announcement. Starting this year, 2026, here at The Best of You, we're adding

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something new. It's called The Best of You Every Day. Every single weekday,

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I'll be here with you for about 10 minutes. Think of it as a short daily

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devotional. We'll read scripture and then I'll reflect on that scripture, especially

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through the lens of psychology. What makes this a little different is the lens we'll

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be using. Each day we'll be grounding ourselves in scripture, paying particular

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attention to what scripture teaches us about being wise humans,

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about growing stronger hearts, more discerning minds, in a more grounded spirit.

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There's never been a time when we've needed that kind of wisdom more. And scripture

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tells us to be innocent as doves and shrewd as serpents. And that feels especially

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relevant right now in my life. And I'm guessing also in years.

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There's so much happening Thank you.

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focus to get pulled in too many directions when what we need more than ever is to

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stay grounded in the wisdom of scripture and in God's steady presence with us.

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It's with us every single day. And sometimes we forget, right?

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I forget. I'm guessing you forget. And that's what I want this space to be,

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a place where we ground ourselves daily in real wisdom and in God's anchoring

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presence. So each day we'll look at a scripture through the lens of psychology,

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paying attention to how it speaks into things like fear, desire, control,

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rest, love, shame, anger, courage, relationships,

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and trust. You could say that each day we're learning how scripture invites us to

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become eyeser humans, innocent as a dove and shrewd as a serpent,

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walking always in partnership with God's spirit. This daily podcast doesn't replace

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our regular Thursday Best of You episodes. Think of this as your daily anchor.

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Here's how it works. Every weekday, one day through Friday, you'll receive a short

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episode about 10 minutes where we simply open up scripture and let it orient us for

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the day ahead. You'll want to be sure you're subscribed to the best of you because

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it will show up at the top of your feed each morning. We're not going to have ads

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on the daily podcast, no extra fluff, just a daily place to anchor our hearts and

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souls together, looking at scripture through the lens of psychology. And then on

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Thursdays, we'll still meet here for our regular long form, The Best of You podcast,

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where we'll have extended teaching, guest experts, and deeper dives into the topics

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that matter most to your emotional, relational, and spiritual health. So the best of

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you every day will drop on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Short 10 minutes

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anchoring for the day. And on Thursdays, we'll continue with our regular weekly show.

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This daily practice actually comes out of a longing in my own soul.

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I've been looking for years really for

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understand how the human mind and emotions work. Scripture helps us understand why

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our lives matter, what we're living toward and who we're becoming. On Thursdays,

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in our longer, best of you episodes, we'll continue to focus on the how, how we

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meant, how we heal, how we grow, how we relate, and how we care for our inner

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lives and our relationships. On the other days, we're going to return to the why.

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Why this work matters, why love is worth orienting our lives around and who is the

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one we partner with every single day, right? This isn't self -improvement.

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This is a deeper current of connecting to God's love at work in our lives every

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single day. In every single moment, in every single one of our relationships.

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This daily space is where those two things meet. The how, how we change, how we

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heal, how we grow, how we learn skills, and the why. Why does it matter? And it

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matters because of God himself and the son he sent to be with us every single

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moment of our lives. So today, on January first, I thought there was no better

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place to begin than the opening lines of the gospel of John.

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So today I want to give you a little preview of what the best of you every day

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is going to be like. We'll get started with today's scripture. John 1, 1 through 5.

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In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God.

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He was with God in the beginning. through him all things were made without him

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nothing was made that has been made in him was life and that life was the light

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of all mankind the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome

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it man that is such a powerful word to start off our new year in the beginning On

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day one, the word was with God and the word was God.

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Right there, we see the powerful anchoring force of all of our lives,

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right? Jesus was with God in the beginning. We are built on that relationship,

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the relationship between God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit

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that has been since the beginning of time and the word was god jesus also is god

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think about it when john opens this powerful gospel he doesn't begin with advice

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it's not about self -help he doesn't begin with instruction or even a story he

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begins with meaning in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and

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the word was God. That phrase in the beginning is intentional.

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John is taking us all the way back before our plans, before our effort, before

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resolution, before anything messy started, before our current situations even existed.

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He's taking us out of ourselves and into the bigger picture, the foundation. And

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what does he place at the center? Not chaos, not striving,

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not uncertainty, but relationship. The word was with God and the word was God.

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In other words, before there was anything to fix or prove or manage, there was

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connection. And that matters as we begin a new year. So often January invites us to

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start with the how. How will I finally lose weight? How will I be more disciplined?

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How will I fix what feels off? But scripture starts us somewhere deeper.

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Before we ask how, John invites us to remember why. Why do we have hope?

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Why does love even matter? Why does presence always come before productivity?

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And John goes on, all things came into being through him. What has come into being

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in him was life And the life was the light of all people. Notice what he doesn't

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say. He doesn't say life comes from our effort or from our achievements or from

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getting it right all the time. Life comes from being connected to the source of

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life. From a psychological perspective, this is profoundly grounding.

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We don't flourish from our own efforts, right? from our own striving we flourish

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when we're oriented around meaning connection and love capital l love himself when we

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lose sight of the why we easily become anxious driven or overwhelmed even good

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worthy goals start to feel heavy when they're disconnected from purpose john's opening

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reminds is that at the center of reality is not a task, but a presence.

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And then he says this, the light shines in the darkness.

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And the darkness did not overcome it, not will not, did not,

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which means that whatever this year holds, whatever uncertainty, whatever loss,

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whatever fears, whatever change, whatever hope, the deeper current has already been

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named. Light is not fragile. Love is not an afterthought.

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Meaning is not something we have to manufacture. As you begin this new year,

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the invitation is not to have everything figured out, right? It's not to have the

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perfect goals or your own self -effort. It's to begin oriented to what's true,

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to let your days be shaped not only by what you need to do, but by what is

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already true, that your life is held, that love always proceeds,

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effort that God's presence is already at work before you even try, before you even

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decide, before you even move. That's the way we return to every single day.

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That's the why. And we highlighted here on this first day of the new year. The

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word was with God and the word was God and the light outshone the darkness.

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Not only then, but today and every single day this year. So as we close this time

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together, may you begin this day and this year rooted in God's love. May you live

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from love today rather than striving, and may the light that was present in the

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beginning guide you on this day. Thank you for joining me for this episode of The

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Best of You. Be sure to check out the show notes for any resources and links

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mentioned in the show. You can find those on my website at Dr. Allison Cook .com.

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That's Alison with one l .cook .com.

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