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For a habitual overthinker like me, the happiest of occasions can cause a spiral. Especially when there's nothing to worry about. IYKYK, and if not, don't tell me to calm down. Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

In this episode, Here's A Thought reaches a milestone that a lot of podcasts never achieve — and that is entirely thanks to listeners like you. So I'm enormously appreciative. I'm also thinking deeply -- which is distinct, I hope, from overthinking — about the interview I did for another podcast I'm involved in, and how it was driven home to me by the recent news about Derek Chauvin — the former Minneapolis cop who was sentenced to 22 1/2 years for killing George Floyd in 2020 — being stabbed in prison. Whatever offense a convict has committed, violence, sexual assault, and dehumanizing conditions are not supposed to be part of the punishment. And the hard truth is that not everyone who is languishing in prison even belongs there. It's a reality that most of us are insulated from confronting — but after my  interview  with Dr. Greg Hampikian, co-founder of the Idaho Innocence Project, for an episode of the Crow's Feet: Life As We Age podcast (release date January 24, 2024), I've lost my insulation. I don't think that's a bad thing. Here's A Thought will be taking a hiatus after this episode -- so check out any of the previous ones you may have missed and please join me in the meantime at: Crow's Feet: Life As We Age -- on all major podcast platforms. Links for today's episodes: Dr. Greg Hampikian Idaho Innocence Project Amanda Knox Bureau of Justice Statistics, report cited on sexual victimization in prisons New York Times, November 27, 2023: "The Stabbing of Derek Chauvin: What We Know Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, Just Detention International Prison Policy Initiative Sharia Law and punishment Opening Sound Effect from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

In  this 99th episode of Here's A Thought, we think about Thanksgiving, which is happening in the U.S. this week — what it means, what it's supposed to mean, how it started, and what happens when it doesn't live up to expectations: a meditation partly in rhyming verse for your consideration and (hopefully) amusement. ound Effect by UNIVERSFIELD from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

I keep the journals I've written over the years — but now, as the recipient of the many private journals and diaries that my mother wrote over the course of decades, I'm rethinking whether I should hang onto mine. Or, hers. What's the right thing to do with my mother's journals? How do I respect her memories, especially when they're at odds with mine? Opening Music by Zakhar Valaha from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

In this 97th (!) episode of Here's A Thought, I offer the lessons that horses have taught me about adolescent humans (they have a surprising amount in common), and why I write for them — adolescents, that is, not horses.   Sound Effect by UNIVERSFIELD from Pixabay   Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

Here's hoping you and yours enjoyed a lovely Halloween! This episode is going live on November 1, traditionally the Day of the Dead: so I've been overthinking about a news article I read not long ago about a very rich, very determined man who is convinced he's got a plan that will allow him to beat the Grim Reaper — forever. Not only that, but his body — including his man parts — are going to revert to age 18 and stay that way. That is, if his algorithm works the way it's supposed to. Most of the information  and quotes in this episode are taken from a profile of Bryan Johnson written by Time correspondent Charlotte Alter: "The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever", Time Magazine, September 20, 2023 Also referenced: Nir Barzilai, M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine Pinchas Cohen, M.D., Dean, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California  Blueprint Protocol: BryanJohnson.com arguably immortal jellyfish: Turritopsis dorhrnii Opening Music by Pixabay Music Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

There's a lot of thought and discussion about the three aspects of the feminine: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. All three have their positive and negative aspects, but in our youth-obsessed culture, a lot of women find it very, very painful to relinquish their youthful allure — and embrace the aspect of the wise but sometimes fearsome Crone. But which has more power, the Maiden or the Crone? If you could choose to be either, what would you be giving up? All these are hints as to the story for this week, "Turn" — written by yours truly, and I do hope you find it . . . haunting. Link to quoted book: The Singing Woman: Voices of the Sacred Feminine   by Elizabeth S. Eiler Ph.D. Opening and Incidental Music by Alexey Ivanov from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

For the third installment in our Halloween-ish story series — all written by yours truly — we consider the question: do devils and demons ever take a day off? And if they do, how do they spend it? Episode Music by SPmusic from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

It's the haunting season, which makes this a suitable time for another short, twisted tale written by yours truly — in one of my darker moods. This one is a tale in rhyming verse. That doesn't mean it's nice, but you may find it . . . satisfying.  Settle back and give a listen to "Sweet Boy" by Jan M. Flynn Music for this episode by Alexi Action from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

To honor the fall of the year — the time when the veil between the worlds of the seen and unseen grows ever thinner with each passing, lengthening night — Here's A Thought offers a series of short, somewhat twisted stories, all written by me, that I hope you'll find suitable for the season. This one has some adult language and, of course, deals with the supernatural — so be warned. Opening  Music by Dmitry Taras from Pixabay Sound Effect from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

There are some things in life that are just the thing to do, even when we don't relish the thought of doing them. Going to funerals probably ranks below even paying taxes. And in a lot of cases, if we just don't go, who's going to know? In this episode, we consider how that's not really the point, and hopefully find some encouragement for showing up whenever we can. Quote on Varanasi, India from Francesca Mills writing in National Geographic, April 2019:  https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2019/01/india-life-and-death-in-varanasi#:~:text=Varanasi%20is%20the%20city%20where,human%20being%20is%20entrapped%20in. Advance Care Directive information: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order information: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/8866-do-not-resuscitate-orders#:~:text=A%20do%2Dnot%2Dresuscitate%20(,or%20other%20serious%20medical%20condition. Opening Music by michaelhersch from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music

 I've developed a strange compulsion. Maybe telling you about it will help. And maybe, just maybe, you've got a compulsion not all different from this one.  All I ask is that you don't judge me until you've heard me out . . . For information on the Pudelpointer dog breed:   https://www.dailypaws.com/dogs-puppies/dog-breeds/pudelpointer https://www.gundogmag.com/editorial/pudelpointer-breed-profile/175444 https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/pudelpointer/ Intro Music by Oleg Kirilkov from Pixabay Support the showDo you have comments to share or an idea for an upcoming episode? Need something overthought? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at [email protected] Or, contact me on my website at www.JanMFlynn.net Or, DM me on Twitter: @JanMFlynnAuthor Theme music courtesy of Pixabay Music