Pause, Purpose, Possibility

This Thanksgiving episode invites you to reflect on the possibility that gratitude and calling are both primarily a matter of noticing, of paying attention.  Along the way I share the story of some days with my oldest son, trying to get the tractor started.  Spoiler alert: we succeed!  And that's just one of many things to be thankful for.

This episode invites you to dwell for a few minutes in the wisdom and beauty of autumn, this season of transition and paradox, the shoulder or hinge season here in the northern hemisphere between the hot, abundant, active, playful, energetic summer and the cold, dark, hazardous depths of winter.  What does autumn mean to you?   What does it convey about life?   What images, memories, sensations fe...

The last in a series exploring grief, this episode looks at the possibility of reemergence after devastation -- as manifest in the resilience of the natural world after the destruction wrought by a hurricane, or the coming of spring after the pain of deep winter.  Drawing on Parker Palmer's wisdom around the difference between "heart broken apart" and heart broken open," I point to the ways that a...

Grief is incredibly hard work.  And it's sacred work, not just something frivolous to indulge in while neglecting the "real" work that we're "supposed" to doing (like "getting past it" or "staying strong" or "making a living.")  And the contours or "geography" of grief can resemble actual geological landscapes, from soaring and plunging, wild, dramatic mountains to endless, flat, monotonous plains...

Last time I noted that the podcast had been on hiatus for almost a year and a half because of the death of my wife Kim. This episode begins to unpacks that reality a bit, to honor her … and to honor the reality that everyone, each of us, is touched by grief at some point in our lives. Each of us faces loss, heartbreak, devastation, suffering, loneliness.  It’s universal, unavoidable, inescapable –...

Season 2 kicks off with a lively conversation about all things superheroes, with TJ Warren. In this season of deep cultural division and despair, the creep of fascism and threats to democracy, we're well served by a re-launch episode that lifts our spirits, provides food for thought and nourishment for our souls, and invites us more deeply into the true selves that our families, our communities, t...

Here's the third installment of my delightful and illuminating conversation with the renowned author, educator, and activist Parker Palmer.  You can learn more about him and his work on the website of the Center for Courage and Renewal .   In this episode, Parker reflects on the "power of anger in the work of love" and its relationship with his steadfast commitment to active nonviolence in a troub...

This week’s episode is the second of what will be a three-part series featuring my rich and delightful conversation with none other than the renowned author and educator Parker J. Palmer.  You can see a more complete introduction of him in the show notes for Episode 23, or on the website for the Center for Courage and Renewal:  couragerenewal.org   A highlight of this part of the conversation revo...

This week’s episode is the first of what will be a three-part series featuring my rich and delightful conversation with none other than the renowned author and educator Parker J. Palmer.    I am grateful and honored beyond words by Parker’s generosity of spirit and time, every morsel of which begs to be savored – so again, this is the first course of three-course meal, a feast, a bounty of ideas a...

This episode continues our exploration of “pause” by inviting stories of models or exemplars of pause.  Who comes to mind and heart as practicing pause as an act of love? As solitude?  As an expression of care or connection?  Rest and renewal? Simply noticing?  We hear stories of a wide range of inspiration around pause -- where it can come from, what it can consist of, and how it can make for dee...

Each episode of the old TV show "Red Green" would end with the all-male cast gathering for the opening of the regular meeting of the Possum Lodge by bowing their heads for the Man’s Prayer:   I’m a man. But I can change. If I have to. I guess.   While it may be true that some things have changed since then, men still have a lot of work to do – a lot of inner work, a lot of relational work, a lot o...

Going through the boxes (or closets, or backpacks) of the "stuff" of one's life can be, like many things, both daunting and illuminating.  What are you carrying, and what's calling to be "unboxed," to come into the light and air -- maybe in some cases in order to be let go, and in others inviting you to live with intention into openness and possibility?  How might letting go of the overwhelm of to...

What if I try this new thing, and some people don’t like me?  My guest this week, Neal Hagberg, voiced these worries of his own many years ago to his then 8-year-old daughter.  Her response (you’ll love it!) set him free to take the risk, and opened up his life in ways he could’ve never imagined. She helped him to realize that “If you free yourself up to really be yourself, then you actually becom...

The word “matter” can have multiple meanings.  There’s the one which is the overarching focus of this podcast, the one that’s invoked when we say that something or someone “matters” or when I ask, What really does “matter,” and why?    And then there’s the meaning of the word that points to physical, tangible, measurable “matter”: things, objects, the “stuff” that everything is made of, that we ca...

The need for "pause" is built into the nature of things -- between inhale and exhale as we breathe, between the beats of our hearts, and (as we hear in this episode) between "stimulus and response" throughout our lives.  And yet it's so easy to neglect; it seems immensely difficult to actually do in any kind of consistent and meaningful way in the face of the relentless and frenetic pace of our da...

When daily life can feel overwhelming, and when EVERYTHING feels like it’s supposed to be a priority, how can it make sense to make plans or have goals at all, let alone to live with intention into a sense of vocation or calling?  My guest this time is the wise and delightful Dr. Danielle McGeough, founder and host of the podcast PlanGoalPlan.  She talks with me about re-imagining what goal-settin...

With reminiscences of growing up on a dairy farm in Minnesota as a starting point, this episode wonders:  What really matters, and how do we know?  What does it mean to live a life that matters?  We find ourselves deep in paradox here:  that people and experiences, things and details, my life and yours can both not matter at all, and that they can at the same time matter infinitely and intrinsical...

Jacqueline Bussie acknowledges that it took the sudden and tragic death of her best friend and husband, Matt, to help her to “unlearn” the cultural traps of overwork and of equating self-worth with productivity.  In this poignant and delightful conversation, Jacqueline speaks of friendship as her highest calling, of leaning into the long and anguished process of being “reborn” in the years since M...

As every season has its mysteries and magic, its occasion for suffering and wonder, ache and awe, its lessons to teach and questions to pose, so does winter. And so do the interior winters of our lives.  What wisdom might the cold and the dark of deep winter hold?  How might our search for meaning and purpose be enriched by winter's harsh rigors -- and its gifts?

Instead of being overwhelmed by "more, bigger, faster," what if it’s possible to live a different kind of life?  What if instead of being shackled to the hamster wheel we take tiny, purposeful, lasting steps toward depth and learning, toward sufficiency and wholeness?    My guest this week is parent and teacher and professional listener Ellie Roscher.   Ellie is also a sought-after workshop and re...

I’ve been thinking a lot about transitions lately.  Shifts in life.  The long, slow turn into the New Year.  Some of it has been about change, loss, grief.  Letting go, moving on.  In this episode I tell the story of three small birds that have found their way down the chimney (even though the damper was closed), become trapped in the stove, and died.  "I slowly lift each one out with the fingers...

This episode will drop one day after the annual holiday honoring the life and legacy of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr…. and some three months into the horrific war between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, not to mention the ongoing war in Ukraine, and deepening political divisions in this country.  King managed to see beyond violence and hatred; his words and his life heralded the possibili...

The turn of the calendar is often an occasion to reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re headed, to turn a fresh eye or open heart toward what you want to live into.  Some folks are big into making new years resolutions – I’m not among them, so this episode isn’t about that.  Instead, you’re invited to listen in on a living room conversation among friends.  We wonder with each other:  What's...

My kids grew up loving the "Magic School Bus" books and animated PBS series.  I had great help as a parent from the teacher in those stories, Ms. Frizzle, who was always reminding the kids (including my own): "Take chances! Make mistakes! Get messy!"  Michaela Rice, our guest today, has much the same attitude when it comes to experiencing and learning from the natural world.  In this conversation,...

The holidays are powerful times to celebrate the light that shines in winter's darkness.  They also tap into our capacity, our need, for awe and wonder.  The light of the holidays includes the awe-some and awe-inspiring light that we can bring to the dark places of fear and despair, hatred and brokenness of the world.  Our "practice to take with you" this week is from Kelsey Maddox, who shares del...