Gaia's Call

Tomorrow, the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence. Two hundred and fifty years is no small thing. By any measure, it is a remarkable milestone in the life of a nation, especially one born from a bold and imperfect experiment in freedom. And yet, as I sit here listening to the pounding upstairs from the Loving Homestead renovations the day before this historic July 4t...

Check out Nate's interview of Rob Hopkins at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lspKl7pjUtz3WQDy9To8qp4-gRBpOTsJ/view?usp=sharing This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wbradfordswift.substack.com/subscribe

Over the next few weeks, I’d like to invite you into an exploration of an idea that has been quietly growing in importance for me. It sits at the intersection of my work as an author, my role as a grandfather, my One Cause experiment, my Write On Purpose Coaching practice, and my growing conviction that stories may matter far more than most of us realize. The idea is called Thrutopia . Subscribe f...

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In Part One of this series, we explored how the stories running in our minds shape what we believe is possible. If the narrative we carry says the future is doomed and nothing we do matters, our most likely response will be withdrawal, anxiety, or quiet resignation. But when we step back and notice that those stories are interpretations rather than inevitabilities, we begin to reclaim a small but...

Note: Due to tech issues with our regular recording modality, today’s episode was recorded using Google Meet. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wbradfordswift.substack.com/subscribe

In Part One of this series, we explored something deceptively simple but profoundly important: much of our suffering—and much of our paralysis in the face of global challenges—comes not from the events themselves but from the interpretations we attach to them. If the story running in our minds says the future is doomed (or some similar disempowering story), the most likely result is despair. If th...

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Part 1: The Story in Our Heads Is Shaping the World How our interpretations fuel despair—or possibility Not long ago I was outside in the yard with my grandson Logan, who had discovered something that instantly captured his five-year-old imagination. It was nothing particularly dramatic—just a small worm wriggling through the soil after a rainstorm. But to Logan, it might as well have been a drago...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wbradfordswift.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wbradfordswift.substack.com/subscribe

Over the past few years, a curious pattern has begun to emerge in many conversations about meaning and faith. Researchers and commentators—including Jamie Wheal in his discussions with the Home Grown Humans community—have pointed out that in times of instability and uncertainty, many people begin returning to religious traditions they may have previously set aside. In the West, that often means a...

There’s a moment that comes—quietly, and then all at once—when a question stops being philosophical and starts becoming practical. For Ann and me, that question is this: What is enough… and what is it for? After 32 years in our home, we are in the midst of a significant transition. We’re moving from 2300 square feet—multiple closets, two walk-in storage areas, and the accumulated contents of three...

There are moments in a parent’s life when a conversation shifts from the everyday into something deeper—something that feels like it matters not just for your family, but for the times we’re living in. This was one of those moments. Amber and I were talking—not about anything unusual at first. Just the world as it is right now. The noise. The intensity. The constant stream of headlines and opinion...

If dogs were my first teachers of kinship, the rainforest was my initiation into something far larger. We awoke before dawn to the sound of birds I had never heard before—notes that seemed less like “song” and more like conversation. The air was thick, humid, alive. My fellow travelers from the North— still a bit jet-lagged, but also curious, slightly unsure—gathered near the Amazon River with mem...

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I’m not writing this as an expert in animism. I’m writing as someone who, late in life, has discovered that something he has been practicing for more than seventy years actually has a name. Animism. It’s an old word. Older than most religions. Older than most civilizations. And yet it feels strangely fresh to me—as if I’ve simply rediscovered a way of belonging that was always there, waiting patie...

If something looks like a human, sounds like a human, responds like a human — but no one is actually there — what does that do to us? Are we using technology to solve crises… or to avoid feeling them? What happens when systems scale faster than our capacity for care? Is AI neutral — or is it simply revealing what we already value? At what point does innovation become organised abandonment? This is...

A few weeks ago, Ann and I reopened a conversation that has been quietly circling for years. What if Amber and Justin moved into the upstairs of Loving Homestead… and Ann and I moved downstairs to the ‘mother-in-law’ apartment? Four loving adults. Two extraordinary children. One shared roof. One shared experiment. It feels beautiful. It feels bold. It feels right. And then—as real life tends to do...

In our recent Gaia’s Call 2.0 conversations, Marla and I explored the polycrisis —the overlapping ecological, social, and spiritual challenges shaping our world. In this episode, we go one step deeper, asking a more intimate question: How do we live inside this reality without losing ourselves—or each other? Drawing from the simple yet profound inquiry “Grieve globally. Thrive locally,” we explore...

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The other night, Ann and I were having dinner with Amber and Justin (daughter and son-in-law). The kids were nearby—Logan and Piper laughing, moving, playing the way only young children can, fully inhabiting the moment. It was one of those evenings that feels quietly complete. Nothing spectacular. Nothing missing. And yet, somewhere between passing food and watching the kids, a familiar question r...

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Hello everybody. this is Brad Swift of Gaia’s Call and this is Gaia’s call, but this is 2.0. And as you will notice, it’s not just me, it’s also Marla from the Eco Chapter. Hey Marla. Hi. How are you? I’m good. I’m good. And I’m looking forward to this. And I’m a little trepidatious about it, you know, it’s it is a first, a lot of firsts are coming my way these days. but I’m also excited about it...

Living Through the Polycrisis - This is part three. Part one is here , and part two is here . When I think about the future now, I don’t start with graphs or projections. I start with my grandkids, Logan and Piper. And just as importantly, I start with their parents—Amber and Justin—the generation standing in the narrow, demanding passage between what was and what’s coming. The future stopped bein...