Join your host, Anna Lucas, as she looks back on season one of the Spark Connection podcast. In this episode Anna reflects on her original intention with this project, to "live boldly and lead with love." In this season one wrap, she shares take-a-ways from each conversation with esteemed teachers and friends, and reflects on key themes that emerged when exploring how we can cultivate connection and build community at the individual, organizational, and community levels.

Anna recaps learnings around self-compassion and anchoring around the process vs. outcome, she talks about the power of ritual and listening within an organizational context, and she reminds us that meaningful community change begins with meaningful relationships. Compassion played a unifying role throughout this season's conversations and Anna reflects on the importance of moving from personal practice to meaningful action. 

Anna is a learning and development consultant, educator, and community builder. For over ten years she has devoted her time and energy to building community and enhancing wellbeing within diverse organizations across the US. As a coach and consultant, Anna supports individuals, organizations, schools, and communities to build cultures of wellbeing and greater connection through meaningful learning experiences. Anna is a graduate of the Master's in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and she is passionate about translating the science of Positive Psychology to empower others to thrive!

Anna invites you to stay connected through LinkedIn, Instagram, and or through her website . Thank you for tuning into this season the Spark Connection podcast! 

In this episode, I have the opportunity to sit down with my teacher, advisor, and someone I deeply respect: Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky. Together we discuss a more holistic, ecological definition of what it means to be well as individuals, organizations and communities.

In this episode, Isaac and I cover a lot of ground as we explore together the subjective and objective factors that create wellbeing across multiple levels of our lives. Isaac shares from his career as a community psychologist, academic, and researcher, as well as from his personal experience of being born in Argentina, losing his parents at a young age, and living around the world in Israel, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Isaac has an incredible ability to weave his personal story into his professional knowledge and I hope you enjoy learning from him as much as I do.

Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky is the inaugural holder of the Erwin and Barbara Mautner Chair in Community Well-Being at the University of Miami, where he also served as Dean of Education and Human Development and Vice Provost for Institutional Culture. He has published twelve books and over 130 articles and chapters dealing with community psychology and community well-being. His interests explore the connections between individual, organizational, and communal well-being and he is currently exploring relationships among wellness, fairness, and worthiness. Isaac is an experienced facilitator of group processes and has considerable expertise in partnering with community organizations to advance the common good. His latest book is How People Matter: Why it Affects, Health, Happiness, Love, Work, and Society.

He is the recipient of the 2014 “Lifetime Achievement Award in Prevention” by the Society for Counseling Psychology, Division 17 of the American Psychological Association. He is also the recipient of the 2011 "Distinguished Contribution to Theory and Research Award" of the Community Psychology Division of APA. In addition, he received the ‘Seymour Sarason Award” and the “John Kalafat Award for the Practice of Community Psychology” from the same division of APA. Isaac is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the American Educational Research Association. In 2002 he was a visiting fellow of the British Psychological Society.

If you'd like to learn more about Isaac's work, please check out his website, subscribe to his blog, explore fun for wellness, or order his book. 

In this week's episode, I am super lucky to have the opportunity to speak with/geek out with Julie Rusk on all things related to community wellbeing. Julie has spent her career working within and between organizations, including a significant period of time within local government in Santa Monica, California. Her rich experiences anchor our conversation as we explore together the importance of partnership and collaboration for meaningful systems change. Julie broadens our perspective of wellbeing, touching on the importance of things like education, affordable housing, racial equity, and more. She highlights the critical work of building bridges between these different components to create the conditions for sustainable wellbeing for all.

Julie is a strategic leader focused on social impact partnerships leading towards equity and wellbeing for all. After three decades in local government and nonprofit leadership positions, in July 2020 Julie co-founded Civic Wellbeing Partners, a startup project designed to advance and spread wellbeing leadership and practices.

Prior to founding Civic Wellbeing Partners, Julie led the City of Santa Monica's award winning work to define, measure and actively improve community wellbeing including Santa Monica’s wellbeing index. Prior to this, Julie developed and led the City’s Human Services which included a diverse portfolio of social, health, cultural, education, affordable housing, recreation, and placemaking initiatives.

I invite you to check out Julie's website to learn more about her work with the Civic Wellbeing Partners. You may also read more about the microgrant project as well as the mapping collective wellbeing project, and stay connected with @cityofwellbeing on Instagram. 

In the second half of this masterclass with Jane Dutton, PhD and Monica Worline, PhD, Jane and Monica tease apart the concept of compassion fatigue and share what the research says when it comes to the distinctions between compassion fatigue, burnout, empathetic fatigue and secondary trauma. They talk about the role and responsibility of organizations to buffer individuals from some of these outcomes, as well as the importance of self-compassion when it comes to sustaining personal resilience in the face of challenging circumstances.

Jane gives a mini-lesson on the power of High-Quality Connections and shares how they go hand-in-hand with compassion and Monica touches on the importance of bringing compassion into all places and settings. In this special edition of the Spark Connection Rapid Fire Question Game, Jane and Monica both share openly from their experience as women leaders working to bring together our hearts and minds within the realm of education and practice. They share morsels of wisdom in their advice: "don't do it alone" and to "go to the light, it will never steer you wrong."

I hope you enjoy this deeply inspiring, powerful and personal conversation with Jane and Monica as we wrap up this 2-part masterclass on Awakening Compassion at Work and Beyond!

The book we reference throughout our conversation is co-authored by Jane and Monica and titled Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations. Please visit the websites of Jane and Monica to learn more about their work.

Spark Connection is back from our summer break with a very special two-part conversation with Dr. Jane Dutton and Dr. Monica Worline. In this first part of our conversation, we have the opportunity to 'meet' Jane and Monica, learn about their professional partnership, and begin exploring the science of compassion within organizations, as well as some myths that can still cloud this practice within organizations today. Jane and Monica share generously from their rich experiences as researchers, academics and practitioners throughout our conversation, a two-part episode I am calling a masterclass in awakening compassion at work and beyond!

Jane Dutton is the Robert L. Khan Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology and cofounder of the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business; she is also a founding member of CompassionLab.

Monica Worline is the CEO of EnlivenWork. She is a research scientist at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion & Altruism Research and Education and Executive Director of the CompassionLab.

The book we will be referencing throughout our conversation is co-authored by Jane and Monica and titled Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations. Please visit the websites of Jane and Monica to learn more about their work.

Other resources mentioned in our conversation:
Compassionomics by STEPHEN TRZECIAK, MD, MPH and ANTHONY MAZZARELLI, MD, JD, MBE
Relational Coordination Collaborative Resource Library from Brandeis University 

In this week's episode, I am joined by Ve'lyn Crosby. In our conversation, Ve'lyn tells us about her personal journey from corporate consulting to becoming a spiritual life coach and intentional living guide. She shares about her experience of care-taking and talks about what it means to be spiritually liberated. We discuss our ongoing journeys of choosing love over fear and Anna shares a recent experience where this choice was put to the test! Together we discuss what it means to live with intention and Ve'lyn walks us through how to get clarity around our guiding values. We wrap up our conversation with an important discussion about the importance of feeling our emotions and the beauty that can be found when we embrace the fullness of what it means to be human.

Ve’Lyn Crosby supports individuals who are engaged in the process of reimagining their lives by creating sacred spaces for inner reflection, healing, and expansion. She deeply believes that every moment of life is a sacred gift from The Divine and that it’s our privilege, honor, and responsibility to live intentionally. This includes understanding our true values, committing to living and loving purposefully, and proactively seeking to choose love over fear daily.  Ve'Lyn is a proud Alumna of Spelman College and holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She is grateful to have developed a wide array of skills during her professional career as a consultant, project manager, and Leadership Coach. However, it is her personal journey as a part-time caregiver throughout her mother’s ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s that led Ve’Lyn to her true calling as a coach and guide. 

Ve'Lyn is working with a small group of aligned clients this year and welcomes all invitations to connect on a heart-level to hear more about her current offerings. She may be reached via her website or you are welcome to connect via Instagram @velyn.crosby. If you'd like to email Ve'lyn, please reach out to to [email protected]. 

In this episode of Spark Connection, I am joined by my friend Emily Schickli.  Emily is a triple-certified Life Coach, Yoga and Meditation Teacher, and Reiki Master with a Masters in English and Curriculum Design from the University of Chicago. In our conversation, Emily shares her definition of self-care, and talks about some of the basic psychological drivers that play a role in practicing self-care that works. She reads an excerpt of her newly released journal/planner (order yours now!) and leads me through a mini coaching session centered around moving from intention to action. 

Emily has led workshops for companies like Google, Microsoft, Course Hero, and more, and loves guiding stressed out humans to turn busyness into magic through the power of bite-sized self-care. Through her coaching programs, her clients have doubled their energy and increased their ability to manage their time by 1.5x on average––resulting in things like promotions, deeper relationships, and a renewed sense of self. When not coaching, she’s playing with her Havanese pup, Mac, and designing her own Oracle deck in the SF Bay Area.

To learn more about Emily's work, please check out her website and follow her on social platforms @mindbodydharma. 

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In this special episode of Spark Connection, I am joined by Katie Elliot, a writer, educator, habit coach and organizational consultant, specializing in wellbeing and behavior change. In our conversation Katie shares about her journey to find mental health and talks about the role of community and connection in sustaining wellbeing over time.

Katie is an expert connector and brings people together through transformative conversations and learning opportunities. She shares about her experience with making room for discomfort as well as the freedom of adopting a learner's mind. At the end of our conversation, Katie gives us all a little challenge to accomplish from her deck of Amiko Cards, and she generously provided a free poster for anyone who might like to access the full deck.

Thank you to Katie for sharing her story with such courage and strength, she gives us all permission to make room for our humanness. I hope you listen to this episode and are reminded that you are not alone, we are all in this together.

You may stay connected with Katie on LinkedIn and learn more at her website.  

If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Use these resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member:

• Call 911 if you or someone you know is in immediate danger or go to the nearest emergency room.
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:                                                                                                          Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255); En español 1-888-628-9454
  Use Lifeline Chat on the web
  The Lifeline is a free, confidential crisis service that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Lifeline connects people to the nearest crisis center in the Lifeline national network. These centers provide crisis counseling and mental health referrals.
• Crisis Text Line
  Text “HELLO” to 741741
  The Crisis Text hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the U.S. The Crisis Text Line serves anyone, in any type of crisis, connecting them with a crisis counselor who can provide support and information.

In this episode, I am joined by my friend Miles Bukiet. In our conversation, Miles shares about his journey over the last 10 years from living as a monk in Thailand, to completing two years of solitary retreat (ie: living in a cabin in the woods, meditating for 10 hours a day, living on rice and beans). In our conversation, we talk about his journey with Buddhism, the importance of a teacher, and his involvement in NYU's Center for Psychedelic Medicine.

Miles shares about his work with interpersonal meditation, compassion, and his deep dedication to better understanding the body, healing trauma, increasing happiness and reducing suffering in the world. I hope hearing Miles' story can inspire us all to 'follow our nose' when it comes to exploring what makes us come alive. Miles gives us all permission to chart our own path and live lives of greater depth and continual growth.

You can stay connected to Miles through his website and the new Madrona Meditation app. If you'd like to learn more about Dharma Gates, you may check out their offerings here, as well as read about NYU's Center for Psychedelic Medicine.  

Miles Bukiet brings a decade of intensive study in a range of mind-body disciplines to bear on his work as a teacher, coach, and consultant.  He leads meditation retreats, coaches individuals one-on-one, is part of a team building a meditation app, and is the co-founder of Dharma Gates, (a non-profit that connects young people to intensive meditation practice). Much of his training was with Buddhist teachers including two years of solitary retreat and several years of living at monasteries and practice centers in the United States and Asia. He also has also completed a 1,600 Alexander Technique teacher training and is currently finishing a Master’s of social work while working at NYU’s Center for Psychedelic Medicine. He is a perpetual student of the body, Buddhism, meditation, and trauma among other things. 

In this episode I am joined by Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, an Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of San Diego, a Faith in Food Fellow at Farm Forward, and the lead pastor of The Loft in Westwood, California. In our conversation, we discuss everything from long-term partnership and marriage, faith and spirituality, and how radical compassion can transform our lives, from the inside, out.  Dr. Carter weaves in compelling personal stories which inform his work with environmental justice, food justice, antiracism, as well as his journey to veganism. 

Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter’s teaching, research, and activist interests are in Black, Womanist, and Environmental ethics, with a particular focus on race, food, and nonhuman animals. He is the co-creator of Racial Resilience, an anti-racism and anti-bias program that utilizes the combined insights of contemplative practices and critical race theories. His academic publications include The Spirit of Soul Food (University of Illinois Press, December 2021), and “Blood in the Soil: The Racial, Racist, and Religious Dimensions of Environmentalism” in The Bloomsbury Handbook on Religion and Nature (Bloomsbury, 2018).

The passion that informs all of his work evolves out of his family's struggle to loosen the chains of systematic racism – similar to bell hooks he believes that education is the practice of freedom. He believes that at its broadest level, learning should be transformational: it should transform how the student views herself, her neighbor, and her worldview. You can stay connected with Dr. Carter on Instagram  @dr_chris_carter and his website where you'll find additional information about his book and his racial resilience work.

In our conversation, I mention Stanford's Cultivate Compassion Training Program, if you are interested in learning more, you can find additional information at their website. 

Thank you to Connor Garvey for so generously sharing his song 'Spark' and  our Cover photography is by Leonard Von Bibra via Unsplash.