With and For hosted by Dr. Pam King

I is for Identity & Narrative. A helpful way to think about your identity is as an evolving story of your life, that incorporates who you are, to whom you belong, and your life experiences. Whether you are spiritual or religious– or somewhere in between – it’s important to consider what bigger stories your life is a part of. Neuroscientist Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang discusses how we develop the...

R is for Relationships & Community. Spirituality and faith have as much to do with our human relationships as with our relationship with the divine. We are essentially relational beings. In an era when a lot of people are renegotiating their faith and how they engage religion or spirituality–this one is often overlooked. But to be spiritually healthy–we need others.  The late, great relations...

H is for Habits & Rhythms. Healthy spirituality involves spiritual habits or practices. It also involves regular rhythms–of rest, celebration, work, connection. Dr. Richie Davidson, a Buddhist and leading mindfulness researcher offers meditations as well as scientific insight into how we can train our minds for spiritual practices. This re-aired episode is part of our Best of With & For series. Wi...

T is for Transcendence. The research shows that an understanding of a loving or benevolent source - something bigger than we are – gives us meaning and offers us greater purpose. Dr. Lisa Miller is one of the leading researchers on spirituality and mental health–and shares her insight into how transcendence impacts us as human beings. This re-aired episode is part of our Best of With & For series....

Introducing our Best Of series, taking a look back at some of our most popular and wisdom-packed episodes from previous seasons.  Thriving is relational: it involves growing in deeper and more authentic connections with others, with our deepest values, with God or our sense of the sacred, and with ourselves.  Dr. King’s research points to the paramount role of spirituality and faith in t...

 Creating space for others to be heard—for their stories, concerns, and dreams to unfold—is such a gift. With the best of intentions, we often jump in with advice or our own perspectives, not realizing that we may be crowding the very space another person needs.  In this practice episode, Parker will introduce us to his Circle of Trust model, which has been at the heart of his transformative work...

One of the core aspects of thriving is living out love. But this isn’t easy – it takes commitment and intention. So today we have a practice to help you lean into reciprocating love. Inspired by the With & For interview with award-winning film director Nicholas Ma, this practice takes loving kindness into the real world.  With & For is a podcast of the Thrive Center, an applied research cente...

True vulnerability is a critical first step towards becoming fully alive. But it can be incredibly confronting to know how to get really honest with yourself. In this episode we have a practice centred around consolations and desolations, inviting you to review your day and answer honestly: when was I moving towards connection, and when was I moving away?  Elizabeth Oldfield is a writer, coach and...

In this divided moment, we are being actively encouraged to make enemies of one another. To resist these forces, we need to cultivate kindness.  Loving kindness is a simple but powerful evidenced-backed practice that helps us hold our own views and values, yet still honor the perspectives of others… even those with whom we disagree. Leading us through this practice is  Dr. Brad Strawn, licens...

 Understanding our deepest sense of purpose in the context of our many roles and personal goals can be really hard. The demands of life can make it difficult to discern the biggest aim of your life. So how to get going? Today, we have a pair of practices that act as your first step in orienting towards your inner desires.  Bonnie Wan is going to guide us through two exercises to help you tune...

Self-compassion goes much deeper than self-care.  It’s an invitation to reorient the way you live your life through love. Self-compassion then enables us to connect to the rest of humanity. That's one of the main pieces of wisdom that we took away from our conversation with Dr. Kristin Neff, a pioneer in the research of self-compassion, and was the first guest on the recent season of With and For....

At the Thrive Center, we know from research that developing the psychological capacities that we need to thrive, and the clarity about who we are and who we belong to, actually takes practice. These skills and direction just don't come out of nowhere. So to help you on that journey, we've created a special series of wisdom practices. These are short episodes that will guide you through a specific...

What it means to live a flourishing life has been one of the most animating questions of my career, and the brilliant, complex, nuanced conversations I had this season convinced me more than than ever: we are absolutely dependent on the world around us, on our friendships, our families, our communities, for all of us to become more fully alive. Our extraordinary guests on this season of With & For...

Poet Christian Wiman and theologian Miroslav Volf wrote each other letters in which they wrestled honestly with the big questions: what does it mean to love God? What is faith?  Letter writing deepened the friendship between these two intellectuals as they wrestled with their questions about faith and the nature of God.  The longings they discuss speak to our deepest needs for transcendence and co...

The first step in finding meaning and purpose in our lives is radical acceptance of the present moment.  Dave Evans is the co-founder of the Life Design Lab at Stanford, which applies principles of design thinking to our lives. Dave and his co-founder Bill Burnett wrote the hugely popular 2016 bestseller Designing Your Life. Their new book out this year is How to Live a Meaningful Life: Using Desi...

Researcher and author Dr. Todd Rose has one of the most unusual journeys of any academic. Todd dropped out of high school, became a father at a young age, and went on welfare to support his family.  Recognizing his own distinctive talents changed everything for Todd. He realized that humans are not cookie cutters: we have unique gifts, but that is not the same as individualism. We are fundamentall...

 When Jeff Chu turned up to work as a farmhand, he didn’t know anything about gardening. He says he actually had more experience killing plants than nurturing them. But this wasn’t just any farm: this was the Farminary, a 21-acre experiment in sustainable agriculture that’s part of Princeton Theological Seminary. Jeff calls it the world’s best classroom.  Writer, reporter, preacher and teacher Jef...

 What parts of yourself need more attention? What would it mean for those parts to be given space? Today’s conversation dives deep into these questions, leading to a conversation on what it means to be fully alive – and the individual and systemic obstacles that can get in the way of thriving.  Brad and Christin spoke openly about how they confront issues of power and privilege. And they also shar...

 When it comes to thriving, listening to our inner compass is crucial. Living out our purpose alongside others can only really happen when we use the tool of discernment. But that can often feel kind of daunting. It’s hard to know where to begin.  Bonnie Wan has developed a three-step process for tuning into our true desires – and then putting them into action.  Bonnie Wan is a strategist, bestsel...

Help us plan season 4. We want to hear from you. Take our survey now! https://forms.gle/doQYx73hoPU2tRdC7  Social connection is critical for our wellbeing – it’s as important as shelter and food. Combating loneliness can feel risky sometimes - especially if it means reaching out to a stranger. We might fear awkwardness or even rejection. But it’s worth it.  Dr. Natalie Kerr and Dr. Jaime Kurtz are...

 Help us plan season 4. We want to hear from you. Take our survey now! https://forms.gle/doQYx73hoPU2tRdC7 Nicholas Ma is an award-winning film director, writer, and producer. He produced Won't You Be My Neighbor?, about the life of Fred Rogers, which became one of the highest-grossing biographical documentaries ever made.  Nicholas’ latest movie Leap of Faith, is an incredibly ambitious, raw docu...

Help us plan season 4. We want to hear from you. Take our survey now! https://forms.gle/doQYx73hoPU2tRdC7  Lauded MIT professor Rosalind Picard invents technologies that help people better understand emotions and behaviors that impact human wellbeing and health.  In 1997 she wrote an incredibly influential book called Affective Computing, which proposed giving skills of emotional intelligence to c...

In our fractured and sometimes dark world, we so often focus on the leading causes of death – but what if we focused our energy on what gives life? That is the pioneering work of my guests today. Dr. Somava Saha and Rev. Dr. Gary Gunderson are leaders in public health. And while they come from very different faith traditions, together they believe that communities have within them the belonging, a...

 We often think of sacred texts like the Bible as being rigid, set in stone. But actually they’re really nuanced and complex, and crucially, they allow us to bring our own complexity. Dr. Janette H. Ok is a New Testament professor at Fuller Seminary. She empowers her students to embrace their unique perspectives and backgrounds, and use those as powerful tools in biblical reflection. In this conve...

Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet, theologian and host of the On Being podcast, Poetry Unbound. Belonging, identity and reconciliation are at the heart of his work. Growing up bilingual, speaking both English and Irish, showed Pádraig that there are multiple ways to say things, and multiple ways to look at things.  As a young gay man, Pádraig was subjected to abusive conversion practices, and it wa...