Empathic Distress

Today's episode is about the concept of "pronoia." While paranoia is the sense that others and the world are out to do us harm, pronoia is the feeling that a force or divine presence is conspiring to help us. We reflect on the story of Howard Thurman and how his life embodies this posture. 

Today's episode is about remembering those who died and bravely served in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. I share a bit about where I was on that tragic day. And then lift up the practice of Rabbi Irwin Kula who listens to some of the voicemails of those who perished - words of husbands to wives and mothers to daughters and parents to children. I end by reflecting on the call to be peace-makers, and what each one of us can do today in the three-feet-around-us at any given time.

Today's' episode is about a brilliant and generative question I first heard from Barbara Brown Taylor several years ago. "What's saving your life right now?" I offer a few answers I'd give today and invite you to do the same.

Good to be back in this podcast space after a long hiatus! Reflecting on a newsletter article I read over the summer about "Ultraprocessed Time." Mentioned the book I read with our older kids, "The Amazing Generation," the challenge to spend more time outside and transition into the fall with generative and healthy spiritual habits. 

Today's episode is about empathic distress. It's what we experience when we feel the pain of others' but feel unable to help alleviate it. Instead, we're invited to let our empathy be a pathway to compassion, an active place where we can acknowledge the suffering of someone, assuring them of our support, and seek to help them.

Today's episode is about being mindful of the preciousness of life and making two-degree shifts toward "eulogy virtues," the things that matter most. I tell the story of downloading the app, "WeCroak," and how it has grounded me in these weighty days. Thanks for listening!

Today's episode is inspired by a question I first heard from Barbara Brown Taylor: "What's saving your life right now?" It's a powerful question that invites us to name concrete things that are helping us stay attuned to what matters most. I answer the question for myself - and it would be different a day from now and certainly a year from now. But that's part of its generativity. I encourage you to answer the question for yourself, tell a loved one and ask them to answer it too.

Today's episode is about how change actually happens: not through outside heroes to swoop in and work on their own, but through small groups of dedicated people who want to heal the world. We hear a few lines from Margaret Mead, Howard Thurman and John Paul Lederach, but then spend a few minutes on the recent TED talk by David Lamotte, "Why Heroes Don't Change the World." How can you be part of realizing God's dream in the three-feet around you right now? Which 2-3 people can you meet with to work on something that breaks your heart right now?

Today's episode is about the cliche, "Life is short." We explore how being fierce with reality can be clarifying and animating for our life. I mention a few recent books: Life Is Short by Dean Nickles and Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkemann. And then we end with words from Henri Frederic-Amiel, "Life is short, so we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk with us. So be swift to love and make haste to be kind." Deep peace to you, friends!

Today's episode is about the practice of "scruffy hospitality," a term coined by Jack King. I learned about it from the recent book by Oliver Burkemann, Meditations for Mortals. The basic idea is that we need to forgo "hospitality with excellence" for the more human and compelling "scruffy hospitality" - a way of living and  inviting others into our presence that reminds us we are human.