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There's a taboo around death, to the point we don't even want to say the word. With some cancer experiences that have had my journey venture closer to death than I wanted, I've recognized that I need to talk about death. We need to talk about it. To explore the depths of what a healthy relationship to death might be, I lean on the the brilliant wisdom from author and poet Christian Wiman. As always, I hope you find something of value here. Take care...  Matt

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What might it look like for you and me to see each person as from the Divine? Of course this notion shows up in religion, but it seems to me like there's a big gap between the idea and the practice. At least for me, I've got work to do here. Check out the included quote in the podcast - it captures this idea well. Hope it offers up something for you to think about. Much love to you...

You can always reach me at [email protected]

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Been a while, but trying out a small test for the podcast. More raw, less refined, easier to produce and share, and hopefully offers the occasional thought or question that is of use for you. 

This episode is about a quote I heard from Rabbai Shai Held that stopped me in my tracks. He has a book out called Judaism is About Love. His quote stopped me in my tracks. In here, I share the quote, why it hit pause for me, and what it made me think about. 

If it kicks up any thoughts for you, you can catch me at [email protected]. 

Take care...

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I'm lucky to have my friend Dr. Chad Seales join up for this episode. And buckle up! Chad is one heck of a thinker, so be prepared to hit the "go back 15 seconds" button a few times. 

As a launch point for our discussion, we start with this quote from Richard Rohr (who has shaped my thinking about faith / religion / spirtuality as much as anyone): My scientist friends have come up with things like Principles of Uncertainty and Dark Holes. They are willing to live inside imagined hypotheses and theories. But many religious folks insist on answers that are always true. We love closure, resolution and clarity, while thinking that we are people of faith. How strange that the very word faith has come to mean its exact opposite.

Enjoy!

Got thoughts? Catch me at [email protected]. 

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Trying out a new format for the podcast based on some lessons learned, so let's see how it goes. 

In this episode, I'll share a little bit about a mentor I was so fortunate to have. His name is Rick Lear. Rick died last week, which had me thinking a lot about him and all the wisdom he offered to so many of us. He was truly one of one, unlike anybody I've ever known. 

Early in my relationship with Rick, he advised a group of us to "don't just do something...sit there." And I've spent the last 12 years learning about everything that might actually mean. 

Hope you find something in here to just sit with. And, as always, you can catch me at [email protected]. 

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In this episode, my friend Dr. Jude Garnier joins me for a discussion about our abilities to more patiently hold seemingly opposite perspectives, possibly in the same moment, and how we can more patient in how we make sense of what's going on around us.

We use this quote from Dr. Robert Kegan to get us started: “You start…constructing a world that is much more friendly to contradiction, to oppositeness, to being able to hold onto multiple systems of thinking…This means that the self is more about movement through different forms of consciousness than about defending and identifying with any one form.”

And then we move on to another Robert Kegan quote Jude brought along: "Successfully functioning in a society with diverse values, traditions and lifestyles requires us to have a relationship to our own reactions rather than be captive to them. To resist our tendencies to make right or true, that which is nearly familiar, and wrong or false, that which is only strange."

Check us out at justsitwithit.com, and email me at [email protected]. 

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In this episode, I'm diving into a conversation with my friend, Drew Schrader, to explore the tension between identifying with the roles we inhabit versus identifying with the actions and things we do. 

To help us get into that conversation, we'll take a look at a Stephen Fry quote referencing an Oscar Wilde quote (a two-fer!). The quote from Stephen Fry is: “Oscar Wilde said that if you know what you want to be, then you inevitably become it - that is your punishment, but if you never know, then you can be anything. There is a truth to that. We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing - an actor, a writer - I am a person who does things - I write, I act - and I never know what I am going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.” 

As always, catch me at [email protected]. Thanks for giving it a listen! 

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In this episode, I've brought in two of my best friends, Matt Cooper and Ernest Horany, to help explore what it looks like to balance in some adventure into our mid-forties lives. Spoiler alert - it looks different than it did in our twenties. 

To give us a springboard into that conversation, we'll take a look at this Hunter S. Thompson quote: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'Wow! What a Ride!'"

As always, catch me at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

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Dr. Andrew Biros joins the podcast today. Andrew is the Associate Director of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Kroc School of Peace Studies.

We explore the topic of social justice and the wonderful folks who have committed their lives to that work. The quote we examine is from Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, a theologian, author and speaker. She says: 

“In all my years of traveling around the world, one thing has been present in every region, everywhere. One thing has stood out and convinced me of the certain triumph of the great human gamble on equality and justice.

Everywhere there are people who, despite finding themselves mired in periods of national [disruption] or personal marginalization, refuse to give up the thought of a better future or give in to the allurements of a deteriorating present. They never lose hope that the values they learned in the best of times or the courage it takes to reclaim their world from the worst of times are worth the commitment of their lives. These people, the best of ourselves, are legion and they are everywhere.

It is the unwavering faith, the open hearts, and the piercing courage of people from every level of every society that carries us through every major social breakdown to the emergence again of the humanization of humanity. In every region, everywhere, they are the unsung but mighty voices of community, high-mindedness, and deep resolve. They are the prophets of each era who prod the rest of the world into seeing newly what it means to be fully alive, personally, nationally, and spiritually. . .”

Find more about Andrew's work at Spark @ USD.  And catch me, Matt Thompson, at [email protected]. 

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In what can become the normal chaos of adult life, few things cut through the noise like receiving a cancer diagnosis. There's not many families that haven't been touched by cancer or life-threatening disease of some sort, and my family is no exception. My mom and I both were diagnosed with cancer within the same week in September of last year. In this discussion, we explore how that cancer experience has changed us in some fundamental ways. And we look at a poem about cancer's limitations - it's a poem that has offered us some inspiration for how we want to be present in the cancer experience and in our lives more generally. Mom discusses the large role that faith and community have played in lifting her up through this experience. What better way to bring a podcast to life than with the person that brought me to life?

Catch me at [email protected] and justsitwithit.com.