This episode is a continuation of the threads explored in episodes 14 and 13.

• How recognizing the safety of Death enables greater trust with Life
• How Life's needs moved through me at a recent concert
• Dancing and standing still at general admission shows
• Dancing with the variety of life's needs expressed through different people at different times
• A prayer and a blessing for your Trusting this moment

From a narrow and constricted view of reality, death can be a scary end.

From a wider openness to all of existence, death is safe.

• Death will not kill us
• A song of birth and death

Beyond the techniques of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) (explored in the last episode), I find a deep spiritual connection to life that NVC can bring us into greater contact with. When we connect with our needs, we are connecting with the dynamic edge of life's evolution. In this episode, I contemplate some of the juiciest and most interesting aspects of the philosophy underpinning NVC.

• How blaming others disempowers us
• Reclaiming power and responsibility for our emotional states no matter the circumstances
• Recognizing alignment - working with right/wrong in a way that doesn't violently divide life
• How Spirit speaks through needs - yours and every other individuation of life

Nonviolent Communication (NVC), developed by Marshall Rosenberg, has been used to foster peace, reconciliation, understanding, empathy, and collaboration in settings from warzones to personal relationships. It's also an incredibly helpful framework to develop self-understanding when you're feeling disturbed by an inner or outer conflict. In this episode, I explain the simple 4-step process of NVC so you can begin using it to create more inner and outer peace in your life.

• How to build a stronger connection with someone when you're upset with them, rather than a larger divide
• How to speak in a conflict without making the other person defensive
• How to tune into and take responsibility for what's really happening under the surface for you in a challenging situation

This episode largely focuses on Western Medicine and is inspired by Gabor Mate's book The Myth of Normal. This episode is not about taking a black or white stance for or against any particular strategy of health, it's about being informed and thinking critically about the decisions you make for your health.

• How Western Medicine can be a force of oppression and colonization (especially through birth)
• Colonization as "one right way" and the Borg
• Bias in expertise
• Working with alternative medicine

A working theory on the spectrum of "normalcy" and "neurodiversity."

• What is normal?
• Neurodiversity as a way of acknowledging needs
• Highly sensitive people and highly numb people
• The difficulty and magic of life on the spectrum in the modern world
• Weird blessings on blessed weirdness

A working theory on the spectrum of "normalcy" and "neurodiversity."

• What is normal?
• Neurodiversity as a way of acknowledging needs
• Highly sensitive people and highly numb people
• The difficulty and magic of life on the spectrum in the modern world
• Weird blessings on blessed weirdness

"The bad news is you're falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute.

The good news is, there's no ground."

- Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

In this episode:

- The Western tendency to solidify concepts

- All life as a verb

- Addressing anxiety about the past and the future through the Eternal Now

Desire is a driving force of life. It can be so helpful to clarify what your desires are. But what happens when you get stuck on wanting something other than what's happening?

In this episode, we address:

- the suffering of life

- how attachment to results causes much suffering

- what happens when you loosen your attachments to the specific results you want

- not getting the job you want

- wanting something else while parenting and being present with your kids

This episode is an invitation to deepen into your own experience of your life. Including:

• A quick vent about the crunchy pressure of capitalism
• Three dimensions of reality: thoughts, emotions, and sensations
• The difference between stories and direct experience
• Feeling the body's sensations as an invitation into the unconditionally supportive presence of being