The Next Chapter with Charlie

Show Notes 

Today we’re doing something new… again. Since we are all sheltering in our homes, in quarantine, I have found many suggestions for maintaining sanity. One of the best suggestions out there is the one that satisfies a fundamental human need for connection: And that is “making phone calls” to friends, especially long lost friends.

So, what I decided to test is making one of the conversations on the podcast—live. The format is that I have contacted the person beforehand, just to let them know I wanted them to be on the podcast. And then I call them from the show to hold our “catch up in life” conversations.

Today’s conversation will be with my dear friend, Taryn Voget, a genuine gypsy in life and work. Still, very successful… and unique.

I hope you enjoy this experiment.

NOTE: we have just started testing the process, so expect a couple faux pas.

You can reach Taryn at [email protected]

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Truth is, the original podcast today lost good audio connection in taping, and could not be published today. I hope to publish another version next week.

So, instead of failing to post a podcast, Producer Paul, Terry Hershey and I did a 30 minute unprepared and unedited show on some interesting ideas of coping with the quarantine on “renaming” the situation we find ourselves in—one of opposites: the need for solitude in a crowded home and the need for a supportive and dependable community to depend on in these kind of circumstance.

No prepared questions with just a little prepared content direction, mostly just a conversation of three guys discussing probably the most awkward time of our entire lives.

Of all three ideas we concluded with please experiment with Terry’s free e-course on The Power of Pause that can help you adapt to these trying times. And allow a moment for your souls to catch up to these crazy times.

Visit Terry at www.terryhershey.com . Under the tab on e-courses you will find the free E-Course: The Power of Pause.

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

We are doing a timely show as we are deep in the initial stages of the Coronavirus on March 18, 2020 where virtually everything is cancelled or closed: schools and churches are cancelled, bars and clubs are closed, restaurants are closed to the public except for take out, no gathering of people at all so all events are cancelled from concerts to all sporting events to all conferences. And worst of all, Starbucks is limited to drive-through.

But, as our friend Terry Hershey wrote in his blog, Sabbath Moment, last Monday, one very important thing has not been cancelled, and that is HOPE. Hope has not been cancelled writes Terry.

Visit Terry at www.terryhershey.com

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Over the weekend I came across a quote by playwright George Bernard Shaw who wrote this, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

Let’s dissect that quote just a bit. First of all Shaw says that “Progress is not possible without change.” Assuming you are an advocate of Progress, then you cannot have progress without changing something. That’s a given.

But then notice where Shaw goes with the next piece of his quote. I find it quite unexpected: “and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” He talks about “changing your mind” as a primary element in progress and change. I really like that idea; change begins with an internal acceptance of doing or believing something different.

Our subject for today is Deliberate Change.

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Today’s episode is once again with my dear friend Terry Hershey who in two days will give a talk on emotional and spiritual immune systems. Before he told me about his speaking gig I had never really considered such a thing as emotional or spiritual immune systems. The thought intrigued me and so… here we are.

I thought about it and it occurred to me: When we take a vaccine, we are actually injected with a micro dose of the disease so that our bodies can build up an immune system. So I wondered, “Is the same thing true of our emotions?”

If so, then it must be the case that our emotional and/or spiritual Immune systems are developed in our brains only when we allow a negative emotion to have its way for a while.

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

I am most interested in our show today because there is a lesson for everyone in this episode. My guest, Richard Ward, and I plan to discuss how to plan for the future in your life, whether you are 20 or 70.

First of all, Richard Ward is an expert in this field. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ with a passion for helping people find their purpose in life. Richard believes that the secret to living life well and leaving a lasting legacy is found by making contributions in our communities that help others prosper. With more than 35 years of industry experience, Richard believes in taking a holistic approach to creating a financial portfolio that offers fulfillment and possibilities.

A published author, Richard’s book Redefining Retirement: Finding Purpose and Passion for Your Second Half is filled with stories of people who have found their new purpose and passions for the second half of their lives

Although today Richard works primarily with retired Business Executives, I have found his thoughts to be highly applicable to people of all ages, addressing the ever so troubling questions: What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

As regular listeners know I am prone to experiment with different forms of podcast. Most of the time I conduct interviews, sometimes I just talk and sometimes Producer Paul and I talk. Today is altogether different. MY dear friend Terry Hershey will interview me… well, sort of. I will still take the lead, but Terry will ask questions of the experience I recently encountered.

From this point on, please know these thoughts today come from another, newly recognized state of consciousness. So expect meandering and ramblings. Because “soul talk” is not made for words.

You see, I just returned 3 days ago from a 10-day retreat, 6 of which were spent in sequestered silence. EXPLAIN Ceremony of Healing by song and led to the deepest of reflection.

Richard Rohr

Thomas Merton warned against confusing an introverted personality with being a contemplative. They are two different things. The introvert finds solitude quite comfortable, while the contemplative mystic and hermit use solitude to discomfort themselves.

After several days in silence I concluded: that which cannot be recognized cannot be reconciled. Last week I discovered that recognition is steeped in discomfort. Recognition can be disgusting, shameful and reviling as well as the most blissful feelings imaginable. As I was confronted with my most threatening demons I was also provided with the solution—the only solution—love.

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Today is an extra special day as we have with us in studio Leah Kagasa, who is Miss Uganda 2016. I am so excited to interview Leah as she has lived a most interesting life: from experiencing life in poverty stricken rural Uganda, to life in a very small city, on to excellent public education, university, and was then surprised to run for and win the Miss Uganda Beauty Pageant in 2016.

Leah is currently a fashion model, a representative of Uganda and most importantly a very active philanthropist. As a matter of fact, I met Leah when she became interested in representing Wells of Life and has since become a most impactful Ambassador for our charity of drilling clean water wells in rural Uganda.

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Paul, today’s subject is not a light one. In fact, it may be one of the most troubling subjects I have discussed on the show after more than 130 episodes. Today is about very deep human pain and suffering, AND the potential learnings that can result, if one chooses to take that path.

Although we may love learning about life and our deepest inner selves… the path there is often most unpleasant.

David Whyte alludes to the power of suffering when he writes, “Suffering is as inescapable and inevitable as breathing…” If suffering is inescapable and inevitable, it might be asking us… to see suffering as our constant and instructive companion…” “Suffering asks us not to look for an alternative path, because there is no alternative path.”

Now… none of this eludes the pain and despair of suffering. It is not something to anticipate with glee. It sucks. Yet if suffering is inescapable, we are asked not only to expect it and learn from it, but also to actually embrace it as our unwanted “instructive companion.”

My very special guest today, Dr. John Bash, is most accustomed to suffering as well as the deep learning that comes from it. As a successful minister and church planter, In John’s resume I read… “John’s heart for leaders is a natural outgrowth of a life spent watching God turn pain and tragedy into comfort and healing.

His planting churches spread from East Coast to West with one church in Chicago; John’s unlikely story was always highlighted by what he calls “Two Sides”. John Writes, “Often it is in the secret vulnerable pain and embarrassment behind our stories that we find the deeper truth - grace is more than a concept.” John’s story has given him a passion for those affected by abuse, addictions, tragedy, and pain.

So, let’s bring on John and benefit enormously from his life and teachings.”

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Paul, today is my New Year’s Resolution episode, and it’s already more than two weeks late. I fear that may be sort of a projection of how my New Year’s Intentions will come to pass this year… late. In my Myers Briggs Personality Style Inventory, I fall into the class that defines “on time” as “always late.”

I’ve thought about it, I have determined that the deadlines associated with so many of our New Year’s goals really are false goals, because they are pretty much established rather arbitrarily the moment we made up our “goals.”

My guest today, our dear friend Terry Hershey who is endowed with my same personality defect, writes… “For me the word deadline simply means, “It’s time to get started.” We both believe that deadlines in truth are really just guidelines.

I know of no one better to talk about setting New Year’s resolutions than Terry Hershey. You know, I think we did the same kind of show last year and as I recall… we totally poo-pooed the notion of New Year’s resolutions.

Well… enter a new year… and… a new decade, and… I feel differently. I believe that the New Year and the New Decade provides a grand opportunity for reflection on the past and a promising introduction to the future. Only, for me, I have altered the term from “goals” to “intentions”—I like the word “intentions” because it feels a bit softer for those of us with the deadline vs guideline malady.

So today Terry and I will explore what an Intentionally Lived 2020 might consist of.

Before I bring on Terry I want to quote one of my favorites, Seth Godin who recently wrote: “For most of us, 2020 is going to be a turning point. Because it’s another chance to live tomorrow over again. A chance to reset, to decide what’s important and what’s worth working for.” To me, all of us in America would benefit by taking a moment “reset and decide what is important and what is worth working for…”

For more information on Terry Hershey you can visit www.terryhershey.com

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life