If you're a spiritually-minded person in the beautiful, messy process of creating your life and asking the hard questions then you just found your people. Middle Ground is hosted by life coach and mom Brynne Erickson, and is a space for the real, honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations about faith, identity, relationships, health, personal growth and much more. With roots in Latter-day Saint (Mormon) faith and culture, this show explores the full, multidimensional experience of being human and becoming more with genuine curiosity about the many other ways of living and believing. Because the more honestly we see each other, the better we love ourselves and the people around us.
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Brynne Erickson - Educator, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Life Coach, Mother
The Marriage Constitution: How to Stop Fighting and Start Communicating — Krystal McCort
In this episode, I sit down with my cousin Krystal McCort, a marriage coach who teaches couples how to design their marriage constitution. Think of it like the actual US Constitution but for your relationship: a living breathing document that outlines the laws and rules that govern how you communicate in every area of marriage. Krystal shares her Kerfuffle Formula, a step-by-step process for how couples bring up disagreements, process them, and reach resolution. We talk about the big three areas she coaches: how to fight, money, and the bedroom. She shares how unwritten expectations are the source of most marital conflict and how most of us are trying to enforce rules we never actually said out loud. I get vulnerable about my own money dynamics with Dallin and what I’m working on. Krystal’s best advice: learn how to communicate vulnerability with your spouse and it changes everything.
Brynne’s Resources:
✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/faith_in_process_comunity_offer (https://www.brynneerickson.com/faith_in_process_comunity_offer)
Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355)
Instagram: @brynne_erickson
https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ (https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/)
Threads: @brynne_erickson
https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== (https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==)
Krystal’s Resources:
Instagram:
@krystal_mccourt
https://www.instagram.com/krystal_mccort/ (https://www.instagram.com/krystal_mccort/)
@marriageconstitutioncoaching
https://www.instagram.com/marriageconstitutioncoaching/ (https://www.instagram.com/marriageconstitutioncoaching/)
Facebook:
Krystal McCourt
https://www.facebook.com/krystal.mccort (https://www.facebook.com/krystal.mccort)
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction: What Is a Marriage Constitution
02:00 — The Kerfuffle Formula: How to Fight Without Destroying Your Marriage
05:00 — Who You Talk to During a Fight and Why That Matters
08:00 — Where the Constitution Idea Came From
10:00 — Shared Values and Why You Need a Foundation First
13:00 — The Big Three: Fighting, Money and the Bedroom
16:00 — Unwritten Expectations Are Ruining Your Marriage
20:00 — Brynne Gets Vulnerable About Money and Dallin
25:00 — Sexual Expectations and Rejection Without Taking It Personally
32:00 — Scheduled Sex, Back Cave Time and Bringing Physical Back In
36:00 — Predetermining Parenting Scenarios Together
40:00 — No-Go Topics: When to Leave Something Alone
45:00 — Vulnerability, Childhood Wounds and Finances
50:00 — How to Find Krystal and Work With Her
3 Oct 2026
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: How Your Thoughts Are Creating Your Life — Part 4
In the final episode of the Thought Model series, I bring it all together with actions and results. The results in your life right now are not random. They are the output of a loop that has been running on autopilot. Thoughts generate feelings, feelings drive actions, actions create results, and results become new circumstances that trigger the loop again. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's research shows positive emotional states broaden our thinking and options while negative states narrow them. The loop becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where we literally create evidence for what we already believe. The most accessible place to interrupt it is at the thought. I walk through the difference between unintentional models running by default and intentional models that start with the result you want and work backward. Thanks to neuroplasticity, you are not stuck with the brain or the thoughts you have always had. Every intentional thought you choose is building a new neural pathway.
Brynne’s Resources:
✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/faith_in_process_comunity_offer (https://www.brynneerickson.com/faith_in_process_comunity_offer)
Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355)
Instagram: @brynne_erickson
https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ (https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/)
Threads: @brynne_erickson
https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== (https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==)
Chapters:
00:00 — Your Results Are the Output of a Loop
01:30 — Feelings Drive Actions: Dr. Barbara Fredrickson's Research
03:00 — The Loop: How Results Become New Circumstances
04:30 — The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and Why It Keeps Running
06:00 — Unintentional Models vs Intentional Models
07:30 — Working Backward From the Result You Actually Want
08:30 — Where Affirmations and the REACH Method Fit In
09:30 — Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together
10:30 — Neuroplasticity: You Are Not Stuck With the Brain You Have
11:30 — The Full Model One More Time: Let It Land
12:30 — You Are Not at the Mercy of Your Circumstances
19 Sept 2026
Feelings Last 90 Seconds: The Science of Emotions in Your Body — Part 3/4
In part three of the Thought Model series, I get into the actual science of what happens in your body when an emotion fires. An emotion has a 90-second physiological lifespan. After that, the only thing keeping a feeling alive is the thought that keeps retriggering it. Dr. Candace Pert showed that emotions are biochemical events happening throughout your entire body, not just your brain. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk showed the body stores emotional imprints that the thinking mind cannot fix on its own. When a strong emotion fires, your prefrontal cortex goes partially offline, which Dr. Daniel Siegel calls flipping your lid. Willpower does not work in that state. The sequence is: let the chemistry move through, breathe, regulate, and then examine the thought. Anxiety, grief, anger, and sadness are all messengers with information. You are not too emotional. You are human and your feelings are doing exactly what they were designed to do.
Brynne’s Resources:
✨Faith In Process Community: https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist (https://www.brynneerickson.com/waitlist)
Facebook: @Brynne Erickson - my public page
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355 (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573316550355)
Instagram: @brynne_erickson
https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/ (https://www.instagram.com/brynne_erickson/)
Threads: @brynne_erickson
https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== (https://www.threads.com/@brynne_erickson?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==)
Chapters:
00:00 — The 90-Second Emotion: What That Actually Means
01:30 — Feelings Are Caused by Thoughts Not Circumstances
02:30 — The Biochemistry: Dr. Candace Pert and Molecules of Emotion
04:00 — Why Feelings Live in Your Body: Gut, Chest, Throat
05:00 — The Body Keeps the Score: You Cannot Think Your Way Out
06:00 — Flipping Your Lid: Why Willpower Fails Mid-Emotion
07:30 — The Sequence: Regulate First, Examine the Thought Second
08:00 — Feelings Are Information Not Problems
09:00 — Anxiety, Grief, Anger, Sadness: What Each One Is Telling You
10:00 — Emotional Intelligence and Why It Changes Everything
11:00 — Next Episode: Actions, Results and How to Change Your Life on Purpose
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
10 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
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