In today’s episode, we’ll be speaking with Parker Palmer, a writer, speaker, activist, and founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal.

He has reached millions worldwide via his ten books, including the best-selling Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, and A Hidden Wholeness. His latest bestseller is On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old (2018).

Palmer holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, and 13 honorary doctorates. In 1998, the Leadership Project, a national survey of 10,000 educators, named him one of the 30 “most influential senior leaders” in higher education and one of the 10 key “agenda-setters” of the past decade.

I first learned about Parker Palmer through Krista Tippet, as I was a part of the On-Being weekend at 1440 Multiversity many years ago, and was moved by his books.

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We talk about the following and so much more:

✅ His book, “Let your life speak” and what he means by the phrase: "living the life that wants to live in me."

✅ How he made the decision to create his own path as a teacher and a leader

✅ How he knew that he was not going to go down the conventional road

✅ “Age itself,” he says, “is no excuse to wade in the shallows. It's a reason to dive deep and take creative risks.”

✅ How he decided to take creative risks

✅ In his book, Let Your Life Speak, he talks about how leaders can cast both shadow and light, and a few shadows are: insecurity about identity and worth, and the belief that the universe is a hostile battleground.

✅ His time with the Quakers and how it shaped him

✅ How his journey through the depths of depression shapes his life

You can learn more about Parker Palmer here: https://couragerenewal.org/wpccr/parker/

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