You're in a known place, and then you're not. Parenthood, an empty nest, grief, a career, retirement. Tommy spent the summer wondering if this was the year he let Space for Life go, then he found Encore. Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons left big law at 35 to be with her kids, called it front ending retirement, and lost her identity anyway.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Tommy takes a sabbatical, wonders if Space for Life is over, and then reads Encore.
• Elizabeth leaves Milbank at 35 to be with her kids, moves to Tucson, and loses her identity.
• The difference between the roles we walk in with and the person under those roles.
• Tommy adds a line to his mission statement, I am God's son.
• How to make a plan so you don't base jump into a panic.
• Grief, the choice toward hope, and taking one small action when you are stuck.

(0:00) Season eight after a sabbatical 

(2:55) Meet Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons

(4:04) Leaving big law at 35

(7:40) Far from just fine

(12:17) The roles we lead with

(16:16) Who stays when roles go

(23:11) Tommy's encore after 40 years

(25:14) Call it a graduation 

(33:50) Plan, don't panic 

(38:08) Treat it like an experiment 

(41:50) Structure that fills you 

(47:28) Don't kill the dream 

(50:40) Hope after a terrible change 

(54:50) One small action

Encore, A High Achiever's Guide to Thriving in Retirement 

https://encoraco.com 

https://zelinkaparsons.com 

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons on LinkedIn

Tommy revisits a conversation with Lisa Ould, executive director of Barnabas Center and decades-long counselor, on one of the most personal and underaddressed topics he has taken on across all of Space for Life. Whether you tend to suppress what you feel or find yourself regularly overwhelmed by it, this episode offers a clear framework for understanding where emotions come from, why they matter, and how to stay in what Lisa calls your window of tolerance. Tommy gets personal too, sharing a formative story from his high school lacrosse days that quietly shaped how he has related to his own emotions ever since.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• What the emotions wheel is and why most of us only have five or six words for what we actually feel.
• The critical distinction between experiencing an emotion, expressing it, and the choices you make from there.
• The counseling concept of the window of tolerance, and what it looks like to be in hyperarousal or hypoarousal.
• How your belief systems shape your habitual emotional patterns, and why naming those beliefs is the first step toward changing them.
• Practical guidance for the over-expressive person and the emotionally shut-down person, including how habits and movement can shift where you land.
• Tommy's high school lacrosse story, the moment he made a quiet vow to shut down his emotions, and the cost of that vow on both the hard feelings and the good ones.
• Why the goal is never to stop feeling but to grow your ability to stay present and functional while you do.
• How faith and scripture connect to emotional health by reshaping the belief systems that drive our habitual responses.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(4:11) Emotions as part of how we're made

(6:20) The emotions wheel

(10:18) Feeling vs. expressing vs. choosing

(15:40) The window of tolerance

(21:44) Beliefs, emotions, and choices

(30:55) The person stuck in habitual negative emotion

(36:00) The emotionally shut-down person

(38:14) Tommy's lacrosse story and the vow he made

Resources / Next Steps:

Learn more about Lisa Ould and Barnabas Center at barnabascenterclt.com.

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Ana Megrelishvili went through a troubled childhood: her family was poor and in disarray, and her own father sexually abused her. Nevertheless, she did not let trauma shape her identity, and she eventually found healing and peace after going on a silent retreat. In this episode, Ana joins Tommy Thompson to share how she immigrated to the United States, overcame her resentment of God, and is now changing the lives of many after fully understanding her purpose in life. She talks about the origins of her non-profit Christian Professionals Network Worldwide and how they are addressing the worsening state of homelessness in the country.

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Tommy Thompson sits down with author and attorney Justin Earley to talk about one of the most underdiagnosed crises of our time, an epidemic of loneliness that most people are living with but can't even name. Justin is the author of The Common Rule, Habits of the Household, and his most recent book Made for People, which makes the case that we were created not just for connection but for deep, covenant friendship. This conversation traces the biblical roots of why friendship matters, what it actually takes to build it, and why one honest hour a week with the right person might be the most life-changing thing you can do.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Justin's unlikely path from English major at UVA to missionary in Shanghai to Georgetown law school and Richmond business attorney, and how that journey gave birth to three books.
• The collapse Justin experienced in his first year of lawyering, and how that season of anxiety and panic attacks led directly to The Common Rule.
• Why Justin believes loneliness is one of the most dangerous conditions of our time, one most people are living with but would never self-diagnose.
• What Genesis reveals about why God made us to be fully known and fully loved alongside other people, not just with him alone.
• Why having a full network of acquaintances and connections is not the same as friendship, and can sometimes make the loneliness worse.
• The concept of covenant friendship and its ten ingredients, from vulnerability and honesty to geography, time, and worship.
• Why vulnerability is the hardest thing to get your heart around, and why scheduling is the hardest thing to actually follow through on.
• Why one honest hour a week with the right person is all it takes to begin changing your life.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(0:47) Justin's background and three books

(9:19) Anxiety, collapse, and the birth of The Common Rule

(17:54) Why Justin wrote Made for People

(21:01) The epidemic of loneliness

(23:49) The theology of friendship in Genesis

(29:06) Ten ingredients of covenant friendship

(37:24) One hour a week is enough

(41:03) Where to start if you feel alone

Resources / Next Steps:

Pick up Made for People on Amazon and leave a review to help others find it.

Find Justin and all of his books at justinwhitmoreearly.com.

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Tommy Thompson and co-host Patricia Clark revisit a conversation that cuts to the heart of one of the most common struggles in modern life. Rather than treating stress as something to push through or accept as inevitable, Tommy makes the case that stress is a barometer, a signal worth reading about what is really going on beneath the surface. This episode walks through five practical ways to stop letting stress run the show, from the simple act of slowing down to the deeper work of engaging your faith in a way that actually changes how you feel.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Why stress has become epidemic in modern society and how the American dream may be quietly fueling it.
• The barometer concept, treating stress not as noise to ignore but as a signal with something real to say.
• A quick review of five practical tools from a previous episode, covering morning routines, breathing, mini getaways, and distractions.
• Tip 1: How to take a step back, ask why you are stressed, and why naming the source gives you power over it.
• Tip 2: Why rushing and stress are inseparable, and what intentionally slowing down actually does to your nervous system.
• Tip 3: How narrowing your focus to one or two truly important things cuts through the overwhelm of a long to-do list.
• Tip 4: The discipline of simplifying, identifying what can wait and letting yourself cut it without guilt.
• Tip 5: How faith functions as the deepest stress barometer of all, and what it looks like to live like what you believe is actually true.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:53) Stress as a barometer

(4:13) Why stress has become epidemic

(10:15) Review of five previous tips

(11:57) Tip 1: Take a step back

(17:10) Tip 2: Stop rushing

(20:32) Tip 3: Focus on the important

(26:44) Tip 4: Simplify

(28:43) Tip 5: Engage your faith

Resources / Next Steps:

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Today we're revisiting one of the more meaningful early episodes from Space for Life, a conversation with friend and co-host Patricia Clark recorded shortly after a full year sabbatical he called a Year of Jubilee. Tommy reflects on why he needed to step away, what he discovered when God took the year in a completely unexpected direction, and how creating that space led to a health transformation he never saw coming. Whether or not a full year off is possible for you, this episode is full of wisdom on what it looks like to rightsize your life and recover the rhythm between doing and being.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• The biblical concept of Jubilee and why Tommy used it as the framework for stepping away from work he loved.
• Why Tommy believes he was heading toward burnout but needed a different word to give himself permission to slow down.
• The unexpected health transformation that came out of clearing his schedule, something he says categorically would not have happened otherwise.
• The surprising freedom and joy that came from realizing how small he and his work actually are in the grand scheme of things.
• Why halfway measures like cutting back on one thing never give you enough of a break to actually reset.
• What Tommy calls mini jubilees, shorter but fully committed disconnects that anyone can build into their life.
• The balance board metaphor, and why staying in rhythm means constantly adjusting rather than finding a permanent steady state.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:15) Tommy and Patricia reconnect

(2:01) What is a Year of Jubilee

(5:41) Approaching burnout

(9:21) The unexpected health transformation

(17:34) The freedom of being small

(23:48) What if you can't take a year off

(25:42) Mini jubilees done right

(32:37) Rightsizing life and finding rhythm

Resources / Next Steps:

Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.

If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Tommy Thompson brings back one of the earliest and most beloved episodes from Space for Life, a conversation with his brother and 40-year business partner, Litt Thompson. After a business crisis in the early 1990s pushed Litt to his breaking point, one desperate morning spent alone in a university library set him on a path he has been following for over 25 years. In this episode, Litt shares his five-part formula for carving out intentional time to think deeply about your life, and why he believes it is the second greatest secret to life next to knowing Christ.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• The early 1990s savings and loan crisis that pushed Litt and Tommy to the edge of burnout, invisibly and simultaneously.
• The morning Litt spent alone in a university library with nothing but a legal pad and a pen, and why it became the most productive day of his career.
• How writing one focused question at the top of a page and going deep unlocks a level of creativity you cannot access in the middle of your normal day.
• Why so many of our stressors are fears in disguise, and how creating space helps you tell the difference.
• Litt's five-part formula for intentional solitude, including why place, time, and removing distractions all work together.
• Why this practice applies to everyone in every stage of life, not just entrepreneurs and leaders.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro

(1:25) Tommy introduces Litt Thompson

(3:20) The 1989 business storm

(5:20) Litt's first day off the freeway

(9:37) Legal pad and the blank slate

(15:33) From crisis tool to life practice

(21:15) Litt's five-part formula

(29:18) This applies to everyone

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://tommythompson.org

Keith McCurdy is back on Space for Life for a follow-up to his episode on raising sturdy kids. This time the focus shifts to the adults, because it takes a sturdy adult to raise a sturdy child. After 40 years in mental health and tens of thousands of families, Keith shares why healthy struggle is the engine of growth, how to stop letting your emotions run the show, and the practices that build the kind of strength to do hard things and stay rooted in what actually matters.

What You'll Take Away:

• Why healthy struggle is the engine of growth and maturity for adults, not just kids.
• How to stop letting emotions run you with the "no parenting above a five" rule.
• A simple framework for processing your past: honor what's honorable, respect what's respectable, and forgive the rest.
• Why most things that feel like emergencies are not, and the question to ask yourself in the moment.
• The four Ps that keep adults chasing the wrong identity, and what to chase instead.
• How forbearance and forgiveness function as the glue of every healthy relationship.
• Why cultivating relationships takes the same intentional effort we give our hobbies and our work.
• The one small step Keith recommends to start with today.
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Timestamps: 

(0:00) Intro

(3:19) Why sturdiness matters now

(10:35) Short term happiness vs long term wellness

(19:48) We are not victims of our history

(25:49) Are your emotions running you

(27:14) The emotion Richter scale

(38:38) The four Ps of false identity

(43:54) Why we should not avoid struggle

(54:35) The practice of forbearance

(1:03:15) Start small with one thing

Resources:

• Keith's upcoming book, Raising Sturdy Kids, releasing May or June 2026.
• Basecamp Live podcast with Davies Owens, where Keith has appeared on roughly 50 episodes covering related topics.

In this episode, Tommy sits down with Shola Richards, known as The Kindness Extremist and Brother Teresa, to talk about what kindness actually looks like when life gets hard. Shola shares his story of moving from bullying, burnout, and a near tragic moment on an LA freeway to building a global mission around freakishly practical kindness. The conversation gets into the real difference between niceness and kindness, how to handle the toxic people in your life, and why the hardest person to be kind to is usually yourself.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Why kindness takes more courage than most people realize
• Shola's story of being highly sensitive, bullied, and burned out, and the moment that redirected his life
• The clear difference between being nice and being kind
• Six warning signs of a truly toxic person versus someone just having a bad day
• The Just Like Me practice for staying open when you would normally judge
• Why forgiveness is an act of kindness toward yourself, not the person who hurt you
• A simple courtroom framework for cross-examining your own negative self-talk
• Box breathing, knowing your triggers, and other tools for staying responsive instead of reactive

Timestamps: 

(0:00) Intro

(4:01) Shola's Story

(8:28) Making kindness freakishly practical

(14:05) Why kindness takes real courage

(16:30) Niceness vs kindness

(19:00) Six warning signs of a toxic person

(26:23) Are we part of the flood

(29:18) The 'Just Like Me' practice

(33:24) What forgiveness really means

(42:25) Boundaries as a backdoor kindness

(45:47) Turning kindness toward yourself

(49:29) The courtroom of the mind

(55:47) Where to find Shola

Resources / Next Steps:

• Shola's website, thesholarichards.com
• The Kindness Extremist Podcast
• Shola on Substack and LinkedIn
• Civil Unity by Shola Richards
• Go Together Global

Tommy reunites with close friend and collaborator Patricia Clarke for a rich, wide-ranging conversation on one of life's most important and most misunderstood questions: what does it actually mean to find and live a life of purpose? They bring two completely different approaches to the table, one intuitive and spontaneous, one intentional and structured, and together they land on something that applies to everyone regardless of age, season, or personality type. This is one of those conversations that will make you think differently about your own life.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Why the question of purpose never goes away and keeps changing at every age and stage of life
• Patricia's Michelangelo framework: purpose is not something you implant, it is already inside you waiting to be revealed
• Tommy's four P framework for finding your purpose: passion, power, personality, and purpose
• Why the things that come most naturally to us are often the things we discount the most
• How accepting your deficiencies, not just your strengths, is one of the most freeing parts of living on purpose
• Patricia's waterfall story from Joshua Tree and why anything done in love has an eternal quality to it
• Why your grandmother's mashed potato recipe matters more than you think

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro and reunion

(3:03) Purpose is a question that never goes away

(5:47) Michelangelo and the purpose already inside you

(11:08) Patricia's approach: spontaneous, intuitive, looking back

(20:12) Tommy's four P framework: passion, power, personality, purpose

(33:21) Accepting your deficiencies and living in your lane

(44:08) The Joshua Tree waterfall and love's eternal quality

(54:56) Closing encouragement for people who feel stuck

Resources / Next Steps: Share this episode with someone who is navigating a season of uncertainty about their purpose or calling.