Beyond the Cookie Cutter

Hosted by Mary Black

Business Entrepreneurship Kids Family Parenting Education

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Episodes

177

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Feeling stuck in a cookie cutter life? Struggling to inject order into schedule, children, work, and budget? No time for YOU and your UNIQUE needs? In this podcast, you will find insights from women who have – and are still living through many of the things that you are experiencing. They freely share wisdom and valuable lessons from years of experience. Mary Black shares her own lessons learned, along with outside interviews with beautiful, experienced women. Mary is an amazing communicator. She loves to teach naturally through stories that touch the heart. She helps women connect to the power of their own narrative to grow themselves and those they influence in joyful, inspiring ways.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 13, 2026Episode 2216 min

Stop Wasting Time on Good Things! Do This Instead.

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! Could you actually be wasting time by getting everything done? Ever reach the end of a busy day and wonder where the time went—and why the things that matter most are still waiting for you - undone? In this episode, Mary explores how good things can sometimes crowd out better things, and how identifying our values can help us make more intentional choices. Discover how small, everyday decisions can shape the life we want to create, why an unfinished to-do list doesn't mean an unsuccessful day, and how to make room for what matters most without expecting perfection. With a little gardening wisdom, a few simple truths, and practical questions to consider, you'll be encouraged to rethink how you spend your time and energy. We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

October 6, 2026Episode 219 min

Twenty Feet of Zucchini: The Six Steps of Growing Anything

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! What if the life you want to grow follows the same rules as a garden? In this episode, Mary pulls together the six-step flow — Seek, Discover, Create, Grow, Manage, Share — and walks it straight through a garden, from wanting one in the first place to standing in your driveway trying to give zucchini away. Along the way: why you can't make a plant grow faster by pulling on it, why admiring gardening magazines has never once produced a tomato, what the Law of the Harvest asks of us after the harvest arrives, and why "Fun Mon" belongs in your budget on purpose. Small choices. Simple truths. Sustainable growth. (Just not too many zucchini.) We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

September 29, 2026Episode 2013 min

Seasons: The Harvest Isn’t Only Meant for Today

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! Every season of life is different. Some bring abundance, and others require us to draw on what we’ve prepared and preserved. In this episode, Mary explores what gardens, savings, and even difficult seasons can teach us about preparation, delayed gratification, and making the most of the season we’re in. Through a personal story and the example of Nelson Mandela, we’ll consider how to prepare for the future without living in fear—and how every season can help us grow. We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

September 22, 2026Episode 1918 min

The 60/40 Rule: Making Room for Growth

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! In this episode, you’ll learn more about how the 60/40 Rule is a simple way to create financial space—to give, save, receive, prepare for the future, and live with greater freedom today. Mary shares personal experiences and explores how small financial choices can shape not only our finances, but also our character, our peace of mind, and our ability to bless others. Resources: The Transforming Power of the 60/40 Rule. Listen to the interview here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2120872/episodes/19770464 We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

September 15, 2026Episode 1813 min

Gardening and Life: What Are You Planting?

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! The garden has its own way of telling the truth: what we plant matters. In this episode, Mary explores the law of the harvest and how simple truths, combined with small choices repeated over time, can influence what grows in our lives. She also considers gratitude, patience, and what God has already placed in our hands. Resource: Frog and Toad: Storybook Favorites, by Arnold Lobel. HarperCollins, 2014. We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

September 8, 2026Episode 1732 min

The Transforming Power of the 60/40 Rule (Interview)

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! Have you ever felt helpless to change your financial situation? In this interview, my friend, Mary Ann, tells of her experience with the 60/40 Rule of Saving and how it has changed her perspective on money as well as the whole financial landscape of her family. Challenges still come, but she describes how peace has also come to replace the former persistent feeling of lack. Don't miss this one! We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

September 1, 2026Episode 1615 min

Enjoy the Adventure!

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! What if improving yourself isn't about fixing what's wrong with you, but discovering what's possible within you? In this episode, Mary explores the difference between self-criticism and genuine growth—and how God invites us to grow while helping us take the next step. You'll be encouraged to look at one area of your life with curiosity instead of judgment, and to see growth not as proof that you're not enough, but as an opportunity to discover more of who you really are. We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

August 25, 2026Episode 1512 min

Small Choices. Simple Truths. Sustainable Growth.

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! What if lasting change doesn't come from doing everything, but from making small choices, living simple truths, and allowing growth to happen over time? Mary shares the story behind the new tagline and the philosophy shaping this next chapter—helping women discover who they really are, become confident creators, and use what they have to create a better future for themselves and others. We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

August 20, 2026Episode 1413 min

Scarcity and Finding Enough

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! In the last episode, we talked about the emotional ledger—the invisible account we keep when someone hurts us, and the debts we continue trying to collect. This episode takes that conversation one step further: What if part of the reason we have such a hard time letting go is that, underneath the hurt, there is a scarcity belief? We buy into the false belief that “If something was taken from me, there won't be enough left for me.” Mary shares a personal story about discovering how scarcity thinking had turned a difficult relationship into a power struggle—and how letting go of the emotional debt gave her something she didn't realize she was missing: freedom. Because abundance isn't the belief that we'll never experience loss. It's the belief that loss doesn't have the final word. What if there is still enough and more than enough? Enough for you to create, grow, give. Enough for you to become who you were created to be. Sometimes finding abundance isn't about getting more. Sometimes it's about discovering that there was plenty available to us all along. We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary

August 13, 2026Episode 1313 min

The Forgiveness Ledger

Send us a Text Message! We would love to hear from you! In this unique discussion about forgiveness, Mary shares some of her insights about how scarcity just might be related to forgiveness. Every grudge is a debt we're waiting to collect. Every act of forgiveness is a debt we choose to release. The Forgiveness Ledger explores the surprising overlap between how we handle money and how we handle hurt — why some of us can't stop keeping score, and what it actually takes to close an account for good. We love hearing from you! For more discussion, join us in the Beyond Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/538808736953034 Gathering Women of Hope Facebook page: https://bit.ly/4vs9IOh Podcast Email: marybcooks@gmail.com Instagram: @marybcooks Here's to your joy-filled life! -Mary