The Courageous Life

This is the finale in our 4-part series on the power of compassion, which has featured leading researchers and practitioners in illuminating conversations about how to live with a more kind, and open hearted stance toward the world. 

Today's conversation could not be a more fitting end as Roshi Joan Halifax and Rhonda V. Magee, two extraordinary pioneers working at the intersection of mindfulness, social change, law, and end-of-life care will engage in a deep and inspiring discussion about accessing compassion in the face of our most pressing challenges.

Some of the topics they'll explore include:

• How we might engage with ourselves, our communities, our perceived adversaries, and the broader world with an open heart.
• Training qualities of compassion, kindness, and love when fighting for causes one cares about
• Their experiences, including challenges they've faced, in cultivating compassion 
• The GRACE model for training compassion
• Overcoming fear
• Practices for responding (vs. reacting) in the heat of the moment or when one is triggered
• Working more effectively with failure and disappointment

As you'll hear this conversation will infuse the metaphor of an open hearted warrior as Joan and Rhonda discuss the possibility of meeting life's challenges with a blend of both backbone and heart.

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More Power of Compassion Series episodes:

#3: The Future of Work - Love, Safety, and Belonging | Leah Weiss & Jerry Colonna

#2: Moving From Fear to Love | James Doty & Jacinta Jiménez

#1: The Key to Resilience, Growth, and Possibility | Barbara Fredrickson & Sharon Salzberg

About Rhonda Magee:

Rhonda V. Magee is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and a leading mindfulness teacher with a focus on applying mindfulness to the hardest challenges of our times. She is an internationally-recognized teacher, guide and mentor, focused on integrating mindfulness into higher education, law and social change work. For more than 20+ years, Professor Magee has studied mindfulness, its underlying origins in Buddhism, and its potential benefits and applications in the world. A prolific author, she draws on law and legal history to weave storytelling, poetry, analysis and practices into inspiration for changing how we think, act and live better together in the face of the multiple interlocking challenges of our times. For more please visit rhondavmagee.com

About Roshi Joan Halifax

Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D. is Founder and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a social activist, author, and in her early years was an anthropologist at Columbia University and University of Miami School of Medicine . She is a pioneer in the field of end-of-life care and has lectured on the subject of death and dying at many academic institutions and medical centers around the world. She has also received numerous awards and honors from institutions for her work as a social and environmental activist and in the end-of-life care field. She has served as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress where she developed a heuristic map of compassion and created  the GRACE model for training compassion. She is Director of the Project on Being with Dying, and Founder of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners. For more please visit: www.joanhalifax.org.

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Do you ever get caught up in what I will casually call “the race”?

The experience of moving from one thing to the next

Swept up in the to-do list

Feeling an internal push to keep accomplishing, achieving, and making things happen

Constantly in a mode of “doing.” 

Is this relatable?

While neither good or bad I would invite you to consider the following:

At what points is this beneficial (in your experience)? 

When might it become detrimental?

Today’s practice will invite you to consider these questions, to step out of the race, and to let go of “doing” as you are guided through a simple process for finding a few moments of rest in the midst of a busy day.

Did you find today's practice valuable? Remember, courage is contagious. If you know someone who would benefit from today’s practice please share.

All practices can be found for free in our Practice Library. Access the library here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/join-library

Interested in taking a deeper dive into practices that support greater calm, clarity, courage, and meaningful connection?

In an effort to create a delightful and seamless on-demand practice experience we created The Practice Pass, an annual membership that gives you access to all of this dynamic original content including both live and on-demand learning experiences.

If you sign up up for the Practice Pass you’ll receive:

Existing on-demand meditation challenges:

◦ The Practicing Courage Challenge

◦ The 5-Day Transforming Stress Challenge

3 NEW live challenges each year. Future topics may include: finding purpose, building new habits, courageous conversations, authentic living, navigating transitions, letting go, and finding ease in challenging times. 

◦Any LIVE challenge during a year will be made available on-demand afterward which you will have access to as a Practice Pass member.

Learn more and register for the pass here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/signup-practice-pass

Curious to explore this topic further? Here are some conversations on the podcast we think you'll love:

• How Mindfulness Rewires Your Brain For Calm, Clarity and Joy - Dr. Shauna Shapiro
• Letting Go of Perfectionism and Finding Happiness - Tal Ben-Shahar
• Learning Self-Acceptance and Finding Real Happiness - Alison Canavan

Til next time,
-Joshua

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What happens when you begin to shift your attention outwardly to the ways in which we are connected and support one another? 

This in itself can be a question to explore and experiment with over time. 

Today’s practice will invite you to use your imagination to foster a mindset of connection and interdependence.

For many, a shift to focusing on connection can bring with it numerous benefits.
 
 Here’s a couple of points that highlight this:

1. When we over-focus on ourselves it narrows our possibilities, our perspective, and can often lead to isolation, pain, and suffering
2. When we feel connected it expands possibilities, our perspective, and we often experience wellbeing. And this sense of connection, and interconnection is something that we can access through practice.

Did you find today's practice valuable? Remember, courage is contagious. If you know someone who would benefit from today’s practice please share.

All practices can be found for free in our Practice Library. Access the library here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/join-library

Interested in taking a deeper dive into practices that support greater calm, clarity, courage, and meaningful connection?

In an effort to create a delightful and seamless on-demand practice experience we created The Practice Pass, an annual membership that gives you access to all of this dynamic original content including both live and on-demand learning experiences.

If you sign up up for the Practice Pass you’ll receive:

Existing on-demand meditation challenges:

 The Practicing Courage Challenge

The 5-Day Transforming Stress Challenge

3 NEW live challenges each year. Future topics may include: finding purpose, building new habits, courageous conversations, authentic living, navigating transitions, letting go, and finding ease in challenging times.

Any LIVE challenge during a year will be made available on-demand afterward which you will have access to as a Practice Pass member.

Learn more and register for the pass here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/signup-practice-pass

Curious to explore this topic further? Here are some conversations on the podcast we think you'll love:

• Sharon Salzberg and Barbara Fredrickson - The Key to Resilience, Growth, and Possibility
• Dr. Jeffrey Hull - The Art & Science of Leadership in a Changing World
• Rick Hanson - Solving Conflicts, Building Connections, and Fostering Love

Till next time,
-Joshua

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Today’s guest is Dr. Mylien Duong, Senior Director of Research at The Constructive Dialogue Institute, where they define Constructive dialogue as a form of conversation in which people who have different values, beliefs, and perspectives seek to build new ways to understand and interact with each other, even as they sustain commitments to their own principles and perspectives. The format is ideal for discussing important, complicated issues that can divide people.

Mylien helps to build out evidence-based content for having constructive dialogues, and oversees measuring the efficacy and effectiveness of the programming and learning content that the Institute puts out.  So far programming offered by the Institute: 

• Has impacted over 50K learners 
• Is being leveraged by 900+ Institutions 
• Shows that 86% of learners improved communication across difference
• And, 95% of educators recommend their programming

Their work has been featured in Time Magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Oprah Magazine, Psychology Today and more

In today's conversation we are going to dive deep into the topic of how to have constructive dialogues including: 

• Part of Mylien’s story about how she came to this work
• The 5 principles of Constructive Dialogue that the Institute has established
• The role of curiosity
• The power of storytelling, and witnessing people’s stories
• The importance of humility, self-worth, and feeling that you matter
• What role emotion intelligence and nervous system regulation plays
• And more!

More about Mylien:

Dr. Mylien Duong has deep expertise in developing scalable behavioral interventions. Trained as a clinical psychologist, she was previously a senior research scientist at the Committee for Children, where she led the research to develop a social-emotional learning program for teachers in K-12 schools. Prior to that, she was faculty at the University of Washington, where conducted federally funded research studies to develop and test behavioral interventions for children and youth in school and juvenile justice settings. A researcher through and through, she has received over $17 million in grant funding and published over 40 scientific articles and book chapters. For more on the Constructive Dialogue Institute please check out https://constructivedialogue.org/

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are more conversations we think you'll love:

Dr. Marc Brackett - Permission to Feel: The Power of Emotional Intelligence

Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren - The Transformative Power of Humility

Dr. Kelly McGonigal - Finding the Hope, Connection, and Courage to Transform

Enjoying the show? Please rate it on Apple Podcasts!

Thanks for listening!

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Are there habitual ways of thinking or behaving that if you were to let go of, would bring more ease, wellbeing, and fulfillment?

Today's practice will introduce you to the work of Dr. Jud Brewer and explore how we can leverage knowledge of how our brains work, the latest science of habit change, as well as a powerful blend of curiosity and kindness, to ultimately let go of ways of thinking and behaving that no are no longer helpful or beneficial in the pursuit of what we care about most.

Thanks for practicing with us!

Did you find today's practice valuable? Remember, courage is contagious. If you know someone who would benefit from today’s practice please share.

All practices can be found for free in our Practice Library. Access the library here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/join-library

Interested in taking a deeper dive into practices that support greater calm, clarity, courage, and meaningful connection?

In an effort to create a delightful and seamless on-demand practice experience we created The Practice Pass, an annual membership that gives you access to all of this dynamic original content including both live and on-demand learning experiences.

If you sign up up for the Practice Pass you’ll receive:

Existing on-demand meditation challenges:

 The Practicing Courage Challenge

The 5-Day Transforming Stress Challenge

3 NEW live challenges each year. Future topics may include: finding purpose, building new habits, courageous conversations, authentic living, navigating transitions, letting go, and finding ease in challenging times.

Any LIVE challenge during a year will be made available on-demand afterward which you will have access to as a Practice Pass member.

Learn more and register for the pass here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/signup-practice-pass

Curious to explore this topic further? Here are some conversations on the podcast we think you'll love:

• Dr. Jud Brewer - Is Curiosity a Superpower?
• Dr. Jud Brewer - Harnessing Neuroscience to Change Habits and Find Happiness
• Dr. Leah Weiss and Jerry Colonna - The Future of Work: Love, Safety, and Belonging

Til next Tuesday,
-Joshua

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Today's guest is Shane O'Sullivan – an Executive, Leadership and Performance Coach at Inspiring Excellence, a company that focuses on empowering organizations and their people to achieve sustainable high performance. Shane has worked with some of the best in the world, training high performance principles and mindset skills essential to revealing one’s potential. Some of Shane’s clients include Fortune 50 Leaders, Multinational Corporations, CEO’s and Professional Athletes. In addition to his work as a performance coach he competed at the highest level of Ireland's national sport of Hurling for 20 years. Throughout his storied career he won numerous national honors and competed in Ireland’s most iconic sporting events, the All-Ireland Hurling Finals.  

Today we’ll dive into some of the things he’s learned about performance, excellence, and success both on and off the field.

In this wide ranging and heartfelt conversation Shane will share:

• Key insights for performing at a high level
• Some of his favorite coaching techniques for unlocking the potential of his clients
• The types of mindsets and beliefs that can foster success and fulfillment
• What he learned from his dad during the time he was alive, and in his death, about living well and what really matters
• The role of compassion and kindness in high performance environments
• Keys to resilience in the face of challenges and adversity
• Finding the courage to live an authentic life, true to one's self
• And more!

More about Shane O'Sullivan

Shane’s work as a coach focuses on the principles of high performance and mindset training with Inspiring Excellence, the organization he leads. Inspiring Excellence has conducted work across 5 continents, in over 30 of the worlds major cities and with some of the worlds leading organizations. You can learn more about Shane’s work at inspiringexcellence.ie or you can connect by following him on LinkedIn.

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are more conversations we think you'll love:

Steph Labbé - The Courage to Become Your Best Self

Dr. E. Elisbaet Lahti - Shifting the Way We Define True Strength

Enjoying the show! Please rate it on Apple Podcasts!

Interested in joining the Practicing Courage Community? You can learn more and join for free here!

Thanks for listening!

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When your heart begins to close, how can you find ways to open it again?

First offered by Mark Nepo in our conversation from 2018, this has become a central question I've been exploring on the Courageous Life for years. Today's practice will invite you to pause, reflect, and explore this question as you move forward through your week and beyond.

As you listen you'll be invited to engage in a brief guided practice, and you'll be exposed to intriguing findings from neuroscientists and leading emotion researchers. Additionally, you'll gain insights that I've distilled from the podcast for opening the heart and mind, and ultimately moving from contracted states to more expansive ones. Some of which include:

• Opening to learning, possibility, and growth (vs. closing off or shutting down)
• Responding from a place of choice (vs. reactivity)
• And moving from fear to love

Thanks for practicing with us!

And remember, courage is contagious. If you know someone who would benefit from today’s practice or the FREE practice library please share.

The practice library is here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/join-library

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Welcome back to the Practicing Courage Community - a space where we are dedicated to exploring what it means to live well, and engaging in practices that support finding the courage to do so. 

To support your own exploration of these deep and personal questions, once-a-week I will be offering you a brief practice that will infuse storytelling, research, and tips for making the most of whatever tool or practice may be offered. 

Today's practice: The Keys to Resilience

Part of the journey of living well is gaining clarity about what really matters to you, and then pursuing a life that is in greater alignment with whatever that may look like.

In that pursuit there will inevitably be times where one stumbles, falls, or fails.

Today’s practice is about these moments, and how we can meet them in ways that give rise to resilience, and the courage to keep going.

You'll be be invited to explore a multi-step process of bringing awareness, curiosity, reframing, and compassion to moments where you may fall short, stumble, or fail.

When meeting moments in these ways, you may notice more energy to push forward, more courage to get up and try again, and greater satisfaction when you succeed.

Ready to dive in?

Let's begin.

Thanks for practicing with us!

Did you find today's practice valuable? Remember, courage is contagious. If you know someone who would benefit from today’s practice please share.

All practices can be found for free in our Practice Library. Access the library here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/join-library

Interested in taking a deeper dive into practices that support greater calm, clarity, courage, and meaningful connection?

In an effort to create a delightful and seamless on-demand practice experience we created The Practice Pass, an annual membership that gives you access to all of this dynamic original content including both live and on-demand learning experiences.

If you sign up up for the Practice Pass you’ll receive:

Existing on-demand meditation challenges:

 The Practicing Courage Challenge

The 5-Day Transforming Stress Challenge

3 NEW live challenges each year. Future topics may include: finding purpose, building new habits, courageous conversations, authentic living, navigating transitions, letting go, and finding ease in challenging times.

Any LIVE challenge during a year will be made available on-demand afterward which you will have access to as a Practice Pass member.

Learn more and register for the pass here: https://www.practicingcourage.com/signup-practice-pass

-Joshua

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Today’s guest is Kelli Harding - a medical and public health doctor based in New York City whose goal is to make the world a kinder and healthier place for everybody. She wrote a critically acclaimed book about social connection and health, The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness. As a medical doctor Kelli believes everybody deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion, and kindness while receiving the best evidence-based medical care.

She is Board-certified in Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, and trained in psychiatry and research at Columbia University, where she continues to teach. She also has a degree in public health from Columbia University.  Kelli's work has been featured across media outlets including on Today, Good Morning America, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Medscape, BBC World, Oprah.com, The World Economic Forum, LA Times, Parents Magazine, and Prevention. She’s also the co-founder of Our Kind of Club, a global, inclusive, action-oriented kindness movement—you can learn more and sign up at kellihardingmd.com

Kelli shares:  "All my years of education and research have taught me that the best care comes down to treating every person with kindness."

In today’s episode we dive deep into Kelli's work around kindness, including: 

• Kelli’s journey in medicine, how she found kindness, and why it’s become a central focus in her work, and everything she does
• The health implications of kindness
• Practices for incorporating kindness into the busyness of everyday life
• Kelli’s incredible story of meeting a Nobel Peace Prize winner and what she learned from her about kindness and compassion
• Kelli’s thoughts about kindness as a form of courage, including responding to harsh circumstances and adversity with an open heart
• Kelli’s views on whether kindness has a role in high performance cultures in healthcare and beyond
• The role of kindness in a life well lived and why kindness may be what matters most at the end of life

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you’ll love:

Kelly McGonigal: Finding the Hope, Courage, and Connection to Transform

Shauna Shapiro: How Mindfulness Rewires Your Brain for Calm, Clarity, and Joy

The Practicing Courage Community launched last week. This is a free space where we are dedicated to exploring what it means to live well, and engaging in practices that support finding the courage to do so. In less than a week hundreds of people around the world have already joined the community. If you’re a part of it, thank you for joining. If you haven’t joined yet, but are curious about it you can find all the details and sign up for free at practicing courage.com/join-community

Please rate the show on iTunes!

Thanks for listening!

Support the show

Welcome to Practicing Courage - a space where we are dedicated to exploring what it means to live well, and engaging in practices that support finding the courage to do so. 

To support your own exploration of these deep and personal questions, once-a-week I will be offering you a brief practice that will infuse storytelling, research, and tips for making the most of whatever tool or practice may be offered.

You’ll be able to find all of these recordings here on the Courageous Life podcast feed under the mini episodes that have “Practicing Courage” in the title, or at https://www.practicingcourage.com/join-library, which is a free space where we are housing all of the practices over time. The hope being that are able to choose to access them in whatever way is easiest and most preferable for you.

The micro-practices will vary widely in content coming from my own experiences of exploring these questions over my career - including conversations on The Courageous Life, teaching positive psychology and mindfulness, and my work as a coach.

Today, we are kicking things off with:

• An introduction to this community
• The intention of offering a space like this
• Highlights from the science of courage
• An inspiring clip from a conversation with Amy Edmondson
• And a simple 3-part practice for finding more courage in the midst of our busy day-to-day experiences as well as tips for how to make the most of it.

Thanks for practicing with us!

Find out more at https://www.practicingcourage.com/join-library

And remember, courage is contagious. If you know someone who would benefit from today’s practice please share!

Support the show