Today’s episode, with artist, entrepreneur and educator Susie Lee, is about moving through shifting and changing identities. Cultural, personal and professional shifts in identity happen for all of us. Susie shares the insights she’s gained as a child of immigrants, through career changes, and now, as a parent, sharing her life journey and the many ways she has learned to problem solve for different ways of being. Susie highlights the importance of flexibility, curiosity and choice—especially in the narratives surrounding pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. I particularly love the way she views life as an experiment, by looking at each stage of life as it is, knowing that the next stage is never certain.

You can learn more about her work at susiejlee.com and visit kaitlynschatch.com to learn more about my work in the world.

Content notification: This is an authentic conversation where we discuss the importance of choice and access in any person’s experience, and touch on things like miscarriage and social ideas of ‘normal’ and ‘natural’ pregnancy. I also want to acknowledge that not all folks who have babies identify as women.

Today’s collaborator is fellow Buddhist practitioner Ravi Mishra, founder of the Awaken App. We set out to talk about language, the importance of context, and how to cross-pollinate ideas by being clear about how we define the words we use. We dig into the use of terms like ‘awaken’, ‘woke’, ‘enlightenment’ and ‘liberation’ in both a Buddhist and social restoration context—accounting for English translations of words pointing to concepts formed in very different cultures and times to our own. I especially appreciated Ravi pointing out the importance of always remembering that “If we could only use language to convey what has already been conveyed then we could never convey anything new.”

 

Visit whynotawaken.com to learn more about the Awaken app, and visit kaitlynschatch.com to learn more about my work in the world.

This episode’s collaborator is Shannon Downey of Bad Ass Cross-stitch, who you may know from an amazing photograph taken during the 2017 Woman’s March—she had a giant embroidery that read: I’m so angry I stitched this just so I could stab something 3,000 times. She combines her passion for fibre art with her passion for dismantling a culture of patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism. Our conversation touches on so many things: creativity, the way questions help us grow, and the importance of seeing learning as a life-long endeavour. I was particularly struck by the practice Shannon has of what she calls ‘life editing’, learning how to discern what conversations and online engagement are worth her time, attention and effort, and choosing not to engage around vitriol and hate-speech.

You can connect with Shannon and learn more about the Badass HERstory project by visiting www.badasscrossstitch.com and www.badassherstory.com

To see more of my work in the world, visit www.kaitlynschatch.com

This episode was a fun experiment and challenge for both me and my collaborator, Jennifer Harkness. Jenn is a dharma sister, as well as a therapist. She brings her knowledge of psychology to the table, to help me translate the teachings and practices of Bodhichitta so they are relatable, regardless of your practice.

To find out more about Jenn’s work in the world, visit www.courageoushearthealing.com

To support this podcast & learn more about my work in the world, visit www.kaitlynschatch.com

This episode is a collaboration with Andy Chan, a volunteer with Books to Prisoners in Seattle, Washington since 1994. In addition to sharing a bit about the history of the organisation, and his role within it, he talks about the greater social impact of this kind of work, including how to manage personal feelings so he remains open to the humanity of the prisoners he communicates with.

To learn more about Books to Prisoners, visit www.bookstoprisoners.net

To support this podcast & learn more about my work in the world, visit www.kaitlynschatch.com

Today I collaborate with Diane Dutchin, a previous guest on the show, to talk about understanding our intention behind the questions we ask, and how to ask questions that really do challenge how and what we think. Diane shares how her curiosity as a child has transformed over time—from questioning gender roles to questioning her intention. She also talks about grace, and how asking questions reminds her of the grace she can afford others, when she considers the grace she would like to receive.

Diane is launching her own podcast, Women Rising Strong’ later this month (Feb 2018) You can find out more about her work by visiting www.makethemovecoaching.com

Visit www.kaitlynschatch.com to see more of my work in the world.

Today, to talk about the practice and work of discipline, humility and love, I collaborate with Tejai Moore, singer, songwriter and father of two. He shares with me how growing up in Germany and being exposed to difference, not as a problem, but just as part of life, has shaped his world-view. He also shares his practice of humility and discipline, and how habituating himself in this way helps him as a father and a musician—so much so that they are, in his own word “…now just who I am. It’s nothing that I have to try to do.”

You can check out Tejai’s latest album, ‘Write My Wrongs’ on iTunes, and find out more about how work at www.tejaimoore.com

Visit www.kaitlynschatch.com to see more of my work in the world.

In this episode I collaborate with John Tsungme Guy, a certified facilitator through Gender Equity & Reconciliation International, to talk about the work of Gender Reconciliation. John shares his insights as a professional and from personal experience, as he reflects on the privileges he has as a cis-gender man, and the marginalisation he's experienced due to racism. His work is informed and supported by Buddhism, in particular, the practice of noticing how we cause harm. A large part of this is bearing witness as a way to transform our understanding of the human condition, to expand it beyond our personal views and opinions to be more open, so we can genuinely be with one another. 

You can learn more about John’s work and connect with him through his website www.johntsungmeguy.com

CN: We discuss sexual harassment and abuse in this episode.

Visit www.kaitlynschatch.com to see more of my work in the world.

This episode is a collaboration with Jessica Pettitt, a diversity trainer with a seriously light-hearted approach. She describes humour as a heartbeat, contributing to a more flexible and spacious way of being. Jess is also full of pithy stuff that she admits sounds a bit like a bumper-sticker, but is totally true, like “I am the best tool anybody has for my work” and “If I’m doing anything because I think it’s going to reduce the amount of fear in the world, at the heart, that’s good” and my personal favourite “When did our ego get involved in the conversation about what is the right thing to do?”

You can connect with Jessica through her website www.goodenoughnow.com

Visit www.kaitlynschatch.com to see more of my work in the world.

In this episode, I collaborate with Tada Hozumi to examine how we can be wisely selfish by learning how to be in our bodies. They invite us to re-think our whole approach to social action by questioning the effectiveness of things like call-out culture and privilege shaming.

By not thinking transactionally, Tada says we can’t help but take a different approach—one based on emotional self-responsibility. This approach, they say, is one of social restoration, which is collaborative, compassionate and grounded in somatic awareness.

You can connect with Tada and find out more about his work at www.selfishactivist.com

Visit www.kaitlynschatch.com to see more of my work in the world.