Grounded on Purpose

This episode brings home many of the topics we discussed over the past two seasons. Conflict consultant and award-winning author Michael McRay has traveled to Israel, Palestine, Northern Ireland, and Africa studying conflict and resolution. These experiences inspired Michael to build his own company, Becoming Restoried, which uses the power of story to make meaning, heal harm, and repair relationships.

Michael takes us around the world, sharing his personal interviews with people who were deeply divided but came together despite all odds. Michael also opens up about his own journey of finding peace with himself, which inspired his life’s work. 

Links to Michael’s work and his TEDx Talk are below.

Becoming Restoried:

https://www.becomingrestoried.com/ 

Book - I Am Not Your Enemy:

https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Enemy-Transform/dp/1513805932 

TEDx Talk: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g8EREBbdxY 

*Special note: Mental health topics including suicide are discussed during this conversation. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text 988. Wherever you are, please know you are not alone and people are on call at all hours to help you.

It’s been an eventful month in Northern Ireland. I was fortunate to be in Belfast as the region celebrated 25 years with the Good Friday peace agreement. The politics in Northern Ireland today are far from perfect, but sectarian violence has decreased significantly with about 164 security-related deaths in the past 25 years. This is a dramatic shift from the 3,500 deaths during the 30-year span of the Troubles.

Northern Ireland is still deeply divided, but despite their differences, many political leaders gathered in one room at Queen’s University Belfast over a three-day period to directly address these divides. Architects and brokers of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement also took the stage to explain the importance of listening and finding common ground. 

The keynote speaker, Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, has been described as the glue that held leaders from different political parties together during the 1998 Good Friday peace talks. After three years with no public appearances, Mitchell gave an address that brought nearly everyone on their feet as applause echoed throughout the historic hall, which had its own history of conflict and questionable completion during World War II.

At 89 years old battling acute leukemia, Mitchell could have appeared remotely. But the power of his presence as a leader in both the U.S. and Northern Ireland spoke volumes. 

This episode features highlights of George Mitchell’s historic speech.

A link to George Mitchell’s full speech can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xuno4MP6O8&t=2871s 

*Special thanks to Queen’s University Belfast for their continuing support and for allowing me to cover the “Agreement 25” events.

Hi everyone! I’m so glad you're joining us this month. The conversation you’re about to hear is a follow up on our last episode, Finding Common Ground Despite our Differences. 

Have you ever talked with someone who continued to spread information that just isn’t true? I definitely have, and it can be frustrating, especially when it happens on social media.

My frustration reached a peak in 2020 when we were locked down and only communicating online. I searched high and low for ways to confront these disinformation dilemmas. Thankfully I found psychologist and UC Santa Barbara Professor Tania Israel.

Listening to this conversation with Tania again reminded me that reaching across the political divide and finding common ground are skills we need to constantly remind ourselves of and practice often.

There's so much to glean from Tania's tips and takeaways. I can't wait for you to join our conversation. 

Thank you as always for listening!

It’s a New Year, and if you’re like me, you’re probably one of the millions of people around the world with new goals in mind for 2023. This likely includes how to create meaningful relationships and keep them, even if there are some differences with those we hold dear.

As always, thank you for listening. For more updates and bonus content, follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @GroundedOnPurpose.

*This episode was edited and produced by David Pang and Jennifer Duck. The Grounded on Purpose theme music is by J. Lauren and Mike Olekshy.

We’re joining you again from the Sonic Arts Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, and we are thrilled to welcome Belfast-born journalist, author, and co-founder of the Oh Yeah music centre, Stuart Bailie. Stuart is also editor of Dig With It magazine.

In our last episode, we talked about conflict, politics, and peace through the Troubles, and in this episode, we will dive more specifically into music’s role through the 30-year conflict.

Stuart explains in his book Trouble Songs, “...music has not been a passive voice. It has called for subversion and disobedience. It has put out stories that have challenged the given histories. And in the place of the old, stuck ideas, music has imagined new fixes…the punk rockers, ravers and rogue strummers have all done their job."

Growing up in a small town, music was often my window to the outside world and big news events. I love U2, the Cranberries, Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison, and Sinead O’Conner, among others. When I heard their songs growing up, it made me dig deeper into world events.

As Stuart says, "God bless music. It just can take you to places that you're not expecting and can challenge all sorts of given stories."

In honor of that, a personally curated playlist to accompany this podcast is linked below:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3BRUcTbj1iLCp6sSqynLxt?si=d7ceed204a88488f 

Thank you as always for listening.

*Special thanks to James Elliott who introduced me to Stuart, to my husband Quinn and Jodi Marr who helped me with the playlist, and to Molly Seuss who has been helping with editing. Heartfelt thanks also goes out to Mike Olekshy and J. Lauren who helped me launch this podcast and created our main theme music.

I’m so thrilled to join you this month from Queen's University, Belfast.

I spent two weeks in Northern Ireland learning more about the history, the people, and the politics. There's so much to take in and it's truly such a beautiful and resilient place.

As I sit across the pond and watch U.S. divisions dominate headlines, family conversations, and social media feeds, I'm grateful to learn more about a region that has one of the most prominent peace deals in modern political history.

However, this came at a huge cost, and the people in Northern Ireland have told me they worry that the U.S. will fall into a similar violent history if we continue to let extreme polarization take over our lives.

Joining me for this special interview is Richard English, Professor of Politics at Queen's University, Belfast, where he is also Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security, and Justice. Richard's research focuses on the history of political violence, terrorism, and nationalism. He has authored several books focusing on Irish Freedom as well as the IRA.

As the United States has reached an unprecedented point of polarization in this current century, Richard explains so eloquently how history can help us avoid a tipping point. “You can hear echoes of what's happened elsewhere and possibly even pre-echoes of what might happen elsewhere in these layered situations of political polarization and division,” Richard explains.

Never has there been a more important time to tune in. Thank you as always for listening and for following our bonus content on Facebook and Instagram: @GroundedOnPurpose

*This episode was edited and produced by Jennifer Duck and Molly Seuss. The Grounded on Purpose theme music is by J. Lauren and Mike Olekshy.

Welcome to Season Two of Grounded on Purpose!

This season, we’re leaving the states and taking the pod across the pond to Northern Ireland, a place where common ground felt almost impossible just a few decades ago during the 30-year conflict known as "the Troubles." 

This season's guests will guide us through the history and introduce us to the music that helped end the Troubles. 

We'll also journey together to a sacred place called Corrymeela on Northern Ireland's coast. This peace and reconciliation retreat is known for bringing people together, and it has hosted high-profile peacemakers, including the Dalai Lama.

At a time when the U.S. feels more divided than ever for most of us, I can’t wait to share all I'm learning from these amazing thought-leaders.

So tune in once a month as we get Grounded on Purpose in Northern Ireland.

Thank you as always for listening!

It was so nice practicing what I've preached and taking a little pause this summer, but I’m not gonna sugarcoat it – getting back into the groove can be a little rough!

We are ending Season One with author and professor Bonnie Smith Whitehouse. This interview is sure to inspire and help you get back on your feet. Bonnie explains how rituals like walking and finding time to capture your creativity can work wonders for the seasons we’re in. We also dive deep into her new book Seasons of Wonder, which comes out this fall.

Thank you all for joining me as I worked through my first season of solo podcasting! Stay tuned for Season Two as we take a life-changing trip to Northern Ireland. I can’t wait to have you along for the ride on these incredible adventures.

If you’ve been following the pod, you likely remember Episode 3 with music journalist and author Marissa Moss talking about her book, “Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be.”

Marissa’s book was just released to the world for everyone to read, and it’s getting a lot of attention.

Marissa graciously allowed me to read an excerpt of choice from the book on today's episode, and I can't wait for you to hear it.

You can order "Her Country" at the links below:

https://bookshop.org/books/her-country-how-the-women-of-country-music-became-the-success-they-were-never-supposed-to-be/9781250793591 (*Every sale supports local bookshops)

Thanks as always for listening and learning more with me.

This episode is a little different than the past few, and I want to warn you, I do share some stories that will pull at your heart. Although it may be harder to listen to, I believe it’s vital for all of us to hear. We need to tune into hard topics instead of tuning out. 

Throughout the past 20 years, I've talked with hundreds of mass shooting survivors and victims’ families. I’m forever changed by long conversations with the parents of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, victims’ families from the Ft. Hood massacre, people who witnessed deaths in churches and synagogues, concert goers who were killed watching their favorite bands at a country music festival, students who lost their best friends at a Parkland high school, Virginia Tech, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. I’ve also talked with parents of shooters who took these people’s lives. Sitting face-to-face with all of these people forever changed me. 

I hope hearing my experiences gives you a new perspective and the will to listen, dig deeper, and act.

Thank you as always for listening.