Lifefulness: Live Life Fully

Gillian Straine is a remarkable woman, who has a physics pHd, then became a priest and now runs a charity that is exploring how churches can create health. As the healthcare system in the UK faces more strain, she sees congregations as vital way we can create wellbeing. On top of that, she's great company, which means she's pretty much our ideal guest.

What we found particularly thought-provoking was the rich and progressive way she viewed health. Health isn't just not being sick, but being able to really flourish and grow as part of a society that is healthy. Her theology has led her to a definition of health that is totally aligned with that of many innovators in the healthcare space today.

In this podcast she speaks about the charity that she leads, how she helps local vicars see their work through a healthcare lens, her struggle within the church and much else besides.

You can follow her on Twitter @gillianstraine

Lifefulness Project

Interviewing Gillian is part of our work at The Lifefulness Project to create a new science of secular and inclusive congregations. We believe the lessons from spiritual communities and congregations can be adapted in a way that can be applied in an organisation or community, or an individual's life.

We are dedicated to building community online which leads to connection online, and we do that through our small groups. You can become a member here.

Please subscribe to the podcast wherever you hear it.

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We love Dean Burnett: neuroscientist, comedian, author, journalist and general spreader of wisdom. On the pod we talk to him about the neuroscience of grief, which became a major focus when he lost his father to Covid

Hearing how he had to say goodbye over the phone to his unconscious Dad will leave you in bits (or at least it got to me). What makes Dean such a great guest is that he can switching between exploring the deep pain, to discussing a key academic finding, and then he'll throw in a joke.

We discuss:

• Socially distant funerals
• The importance of funerals in grieving
• The power of grief journals
• The death of Robin Williams
• Separating science writing from politics

More about Dean:

Dean Burnett is a Welsh neuroscientist and author. He is best known for writing the book ‘The Idiot Brain’, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Goodreads Best Science & Technology Book Award. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages.

He began his writing career as a result of his satirical science column ‘Brain Flapping‘ at the Guardian, which ran from 2012 to 2018 which was the most read on the Guardian science network, with over 15 million views since 2012. The blog now runs at the Cosmic Shambles network.

Lifefulness Community

We always talk about the Lifefulness Community because that is what we're all about. The next intake of Lifefulness Small Groups is open now.

Thanks so much for listening!

• Lifefulness Small Groups

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In 2013 Sunday Assembly launched, it was a new movement of non-religious congregations that spread across the world. Today we interview Dr. Josh Bullock who wrote his pHd on the sociology of Sunday Assembly through in-depth interviews with members and participants.

The interview is a fascinating deep dive into a truly pioneering organisation which I should mention, I co-founded. In a world (oooh, that sounds very movie trailer-esque) where division, polarisation, atomisation and meaninglessness prowl in rosebushes, the questions that are being asked and answered in Sunday Assembly are vital.

In this interview we really dive into who attends Sunday Assembly, why do people join these communities, who is the 'average' attendee, why is the congregation so white, and much else besides.

Josh's phd: https://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/id/eprint/41775/

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It's our birthday! Or at least it was two weeks ago. Yes, the Lifefulness Podcast is 1 year old, which totally blew our minds. 

We decided to do a special episode reflecting on what we've learnt through 63 interviews. The 8 questions we dig into are:

1) What did you learn about Lifefulness?

2) What did our guests have in common?

Then we dig into the 6 PIllars of Lifefulness:

3) What did we learn about Ultimate Meaning?

4) What did we learn about Celebration and Contemplation?

5) What did we learn about Community Life?

6) What did we learn about Personal Growth?

7) What did we learn about Serving Others?

8) What did we learn about Speaking Truth?

It turns out that speaking to incredibly smart people every week, will do wonders for your thinking. We've essentially had deep-dives with thought leaders in our field once every 7 days, and boy has it helped us.

Thanks so much for listening. You're amazing. We love doing this for you. Can't wait to see where it goes.

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Great new podcast today with a legend in the world of online community building, Rosie Sherry. Rosie turned her first community into a $1.5 million business, before being hired by the Indie Hackers site to turbo-charge their growth. Now she's been hired to build community for a software company that builds community building software - a sure sign she's one of the best.

Why are we interviewing her? Because community is vital to Lifefulness, and to living life fully, and she's been at the forefront. Rosie is part of the growing number of secret secular vicars, or stealth chaplains, who are carving their own way in the world.

In this interview we talk about:

• What people get from community.
• The dangers of online community.
• The myths around online community.
• The reason business is suddenly into community.
• And much more....

Can't wait for you to listen to the podcast. Please follow Rosie on social media and check out her work online - she's great!

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Our guest on the Lifefulness Podcast is climate campaigner, sustainability consultant, podcast futurist and renaissance man, Ed Gillespie. Ed has dedicated his life to regenerating the planet by encouraging companies to reform - but will that work? Can companies be part of the solution?

The podcast starts a little differently by asking Ed about where he finds joy, wonder and mystery in life. We made this change after feedback from listeners that the podcast didn't have a central theme when, in fact, it does. Lifefulness is all about treating life as though it is sacred, so that's where we'll start.

More about Ed:

Ed is a wonderful writer for publications like the Guardian and Conde Nast, the author of 'Slow Travel' - the story of his travel around the world without planes; and now publishes poetry on Medium.

For almost 20 years he ran the sustainability consultancy Futerra, and today he's a Director of Greenpeace UK, along with various other work with companies and charities.

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We're so lucky to be joined by Cassie Robinson - designer, social change maker, systems theorist and much more - to speak about the power of stories. After years of pushing the field of social change forward, she now runs the Big Lottery Strategic Fund - making her one of the biggest funders in the UK, and probably the world - and they've invested in stories.

From her position looking at so many different projects and strategies, Cassie (and her team) decided that the best way to create social change was to fund tales. Why is that? We get into this question and so much more. 

To find out more about Cassie go to:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cassierobinson

Website: https://www.cassierobinson.work

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Jillian Richardson is a loneliness expert, professional facilitator, and bestselling author. She’s also the founder of The Joy List, a weekly newsletter of community-centered events in NYC.

In her work she helps people learn the skills to connect more deeply to themselves and others, and has inspired thousands through her workshops, interviews, and public speaking engagements.

Jillian has been featured as a source for NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NBC, and Outside Magazine, among many other outlets. Jillian is a certified coach through the Coach Training Alliance and a current Community Minister at Judson Memorial Church. She geeks out over the future of spirituality outside of organized religion and is considering becoming an interfaith minister.

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Mark Vernon is psychotherapist and writer, with a keen interest in spirituality and inner life. He has a PhD in ancient philosophy, as well as degrees in physics and in theology. His latest book, A Secret History of Christianity, is out now.

He has contributed to and presented a number of programmes on the radio, writes as a journalist, with his work being published by the BBC, Aeon, Church Times, and elsewhere. He teaches at The Idler Academy and also lead workshops and give talks.

He's recently started working with the think tank Perspectiva on renewing our sense of relating to the spiritual aspects of life, be that at an individual or social level.

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Tez Ilyas is one of the most celebrated stars in British comedy, an author and an activist.

The guy is also one of a new generation of British Muslims who are public and proud about their heritage. This is all explored in his new book 'The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 3/4'.

In this conversation we explore his life, have a laugh and all of that but the thrust of the conversation is to explore what Muslims get from going to mosque. What are the different practices? What does he get from them? How do they make him feel? In a country that is culturally Christian the ins and outs of Muslim life are relatively unknown.

This conversation is a companion to our interview with Liz Oldfield called 'What Do People Actually Get From Church'.

You'll have seen Tez on Live at The Apollo (BBC Two), The Last Leg (C4), Mock the Week (BBC Two), Live From the BBC (BBC Two), The Chris Ramsey Show (Comedy Central), Man Like Mobeen (BBC Three), Roast Battle (Comedy Central) and The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice (C4). Tez’ Channel 4 comedy Blap Bounty was the most watched show in the strand’s 10 year history. Oooooh.

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