Letting Go as an Act of Self-Compassion—with Sharon Salzberg
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When was teaching at a meditation retreat, a student asked her: Has anyone ever died of restlessness in meditation? Sharon said: Not from one moment at a time of it. “We have physical pain, disappointment, restlessness, and anxiety,” Sharon shared. “Whatever it is, we tend to compound it, not only: This is what I'm feeling right now. But, this is what I'm going to feel like next year. Everything congeals and feels permanent and heavy. But, when we realize that it's one moment at a time of it. Then, we can explore. What we see is that even though something may last over time,...
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How to Live with Ease—with Dr.Thema Bryant
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While preparing for my interview with , I was struck by an exercise she shared. During a podcast, she invited listeners to fill out the prompt: “I miss me who…” I was surprised by how quickly a simple prompt awakened dormant longings; And, eager to learn how to rediscover the lost parts of ourselves. In reflecting on her journey, she shared: “In healing, I return to the truth of myself.” Her sentiment captures why the prompt stood out to me: Too often, we wait too long to embody our essence—or never do it at all. In our conversation, Dr.Thema leads us on our path back...
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In Stillness, What You Need Finds You—with Pico Iyer
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The first time I read my favorite poem, On Prayer, this stanza stood out to me… For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether? And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart. And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing. When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in...
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Revitalizing Our Attention with Katherine May
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Before my interview with , a Mary Oliver quote resurfaced that felt representative of Katherine’s work: “This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness.” Katherine’s books, most recently and , are testaments that the quality of our attention transforms the quality of our lives. “I firmly believe that the depth of attention we crave can only happen if we let ourselves slow down," she says. "Most of the time, we are speeding so far past everything that we don't have a chance to engage with it....
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Awakening to Our Blessings
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was on her way to lead her community, —a Jewish community she founded 20 years ago with a new vision of how faith can center and connect us—in the sacred ceremony of Tashlikh, when she stopped to buy index cards and sharpies. It was an unexpected stop, given the day’s holiness: Every year between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the two holiest days of the year, the Jewish community visits a body of water to release their sins, or anything they don’t want to carry into the new year, into the water. Still, Rabbi Brous was reflecting on the dying wishes of her dear friend and community...
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Anne Lamott on the Love that Holds Us Invisibly
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“When we are paying attention, we see how much love holds us invisibly.” This is the line that stayed with me most from Anne Lamott’s new, and 20th book, I read it during a stressful weekend and it illuminated the beauty of my family and friends’ care. As Anne says, “humanity is another synonym for God.” Anne’s gift is her rare ability to combine spiritual wisdom and laugh out loud humor into an operating manual for life, even, and especially, amidst its imperfection. In our conversation, we explore our ongoing journey to find our center and cultivate the sense of peace we...
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Learned Excellence
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once said “I want to risk hitting my head on the ceiling of my talent. I want to really test it out and say, ‘Okay, you’re not that good. You just reached the level here.’ I don’t ever want to fail, but I want to risk failure every time out of the gate.” This bold and farsighted perspective is a key ingredient that Eric Potterat and Alan Eagle highlight in their work with and observation of a wide-ranging group of elite performers across business, extreme sports, and the militarily. In their book - Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the...
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The Cultivation of Freedom and Happiness
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‘When we can combine our urge to be happy with wisdom instead of ignorance it becomes a homing instinct for freedom.’ This is one of the insights I was most eager to explore with renowned Buddhist teacher from her new book, . I was curious why, despite devoting so much time to learning about happiness, I continue looking for it in the wrong places. Sharon introduced us to the yearning held within our grasping in and I was similarly moved by her wisdom in this one. “In most strongly emotional times, we're not looking at the emotion itself to try to see what’s at the heart of it and...
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Our Path to Belonging
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Remembrance is the first step we take with renowned coach and CEO and Co-founder Jerry Colonna in his new book, . At its heart, it’s an invitation towards deeper connection to our ancestors, ourselves, and each other. Each reader's path unfolds uniquely—through recognition, reconnection, and reclaiming—bringing them to a sense of belonging within themselves. Then, to one of the book’s central questions: How does my sense of belonging influence the sense of belonging I create for others? “I think what is often missing is landing into our own experience; Using our own body, almost as...
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The Soul’s Imperative
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When was approaching his seventies, he turned to a group of trusted friends to help him understand “what it meant to grow older in this particular dimension of life.” The process birthed one of my favorite questions he asks… What do I want to let go of? And, what do I want to give myself to? Despite articulating it in his seventies, Parker has devoted his life to it as an acclaimed , teacher, and the Founder of the . It’s why, after completing his PhD in 1969, he felt called to respond to racial injustice as a community organizer in Washington D.C. rather than pursue the secure...
info_outlineRabbi Sharon Brous was on her way to lead her community, IKAR—a Jewish community she founded 20 years ago with a new vision of how faith can center and connect us—in the sacred ceremony of Tashlikh, when she stopped to buy index cards and sharpies. It was an unexpected stop, given the day’s holiness: Every year between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the two holiest days of the year, the Jewish community visits a body of water to release their sins, or anything they don’t want to carry into the new year, into the water. Still, Rabbi Brous was reflecting on the dying wishes of her dear friend and community member, Erin, and had a question for the community.
During her final days, Erin wrote that each of us has an innate sense of who we’re called to be. Yet, despite that knowing, too often we construct reasons to delay fulfilling our calling. On the brink of her own tragic death, Erin asked—What if we don’t have forever?—and urged her community to live urgently. When Rabbi Brous delivered her message to the IKAR community, overlooking the Pacific Ocean for Tashlikh, she asked: What are you waiting for?
The question—What are you waiting for?—is the through-line of each topic we explore in this rich conversation about her book, The Amen Effect; From getting quiet enough to hear divine wisdom and cultivating our spiritual strength, to accompanying each other through joy and sorrow and, inspired by the Jewish ritual of being thankful for 100 blessings, creating our own system of blessings.
As you settle into this conversation, consider a yearning that exists deep within your heart. What are you waiting for to pursue it? What is one step you might take to move towards it today?