Turning Towards Life - a Thirdspace podcast

When we think of ourselves only as isolated, separate individuals, we lose sight of the vast life that came before us, which gave us birth, and the vast life which will come after us. Even though we will all, without exception, eventually be forgotten, there is no knowing how the gifts we bring flow on into the life we leave behind us. And there, perhaps, there is both solace and also inspiration - that what we do, and whose lives we touch, matter far beyond anything we can see or tell.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction and Context
03:06 Exploring Parker Palmer's Wisdom
11:56 The Nature of Existence and Relationships
21:00 Essence and Contribution in Life
26:47 Embracing the Mystery Together

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

The Great Weave of Nature and Humanity

Sooner or later, everything falls away.
You, the work you’ve done, your successes,
large and small, your failures, too. Those
moments when you were light, alongside
the times you became one with the night.
The friends, the people you loved
who loved you, those who might have wished
you ill, none of this is forever. All of it is
soon to go, or going, or long gone.
Everything falls away, except the thread
you’ve followed, unknowing, all along.
The thread that strings together all you’ve
been and done, the thread you didn’t know
you were tracking until, toward the end,
you see that the thread is what stays
as everything else falls away.
Follow that thread as far as you can and
you’ll find that it does not end, but weaves
into the unimaginable vastness of life. Your
life never was the solo turn it seemed to be.
It was always part of the great weave of
nature and humanity, an immensity we
come to know only as we follow our own
small threads to the place where they
merge with the boundless whole.
Each of our threads runs its course, then
joins in life together. This magnificent tapestry –
this masterpiece in which we live forever.

Parker Palmer

Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash
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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 3, from September 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

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About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

Crossing thresholds in life - birth, death, loss, love, discovery, confusion - is inevitable. How can we do this in a way that recognises the mystery of each of life's great transitions, and which honours how each changes us? And how can we be ones who are wise, compassionate and courageous as we witness and accompany others through those inevitable transitions, without turning away? We recorded this conversation in front of a live audience of Thirdspace alumni, at our March 2026 Retreat. 

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Celebrating Togetherness and Community
04:15 Exploring Thresholds: A Journey of Change
08:33 Navigating Life's Unforeseen Transitions
12:36 The Power of Connection in Times of Change
16:33 Navigating Life's Thresholds
19:07 The Importance of Rituals
22:10 Community and Connection in Transition
25:09 Grounding in Everyday Rituals
27:55 Witnessing Each Other's Journeys
31:02 Embracing Vulnerability and Seeking Help
34:14 The Spirituality of Everyday Life

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

Thresholds [Part 1]

A threshold is not a simple boundary;
    it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms and atmospheres.

Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience
    or a stage of life that it intensifies towards the end into a real frontier
    that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up.

At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive:
    confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope.

This is one reason why such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual.

It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds:
    to take your time, to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there,
    to listen inwards with complete attention
    until you hear the inner voice calling you forward.

The time has come to cross.

To acknowledge and cross a new threshold is always a challenge.

It demands courage and also a sense of trust in whatever is emerging.

This becomes essential when a threshold opens suddenly in front of you,
    one for which you had no preparation.

This could be illness, suffering or loss.

Because we are so engaged with the world,
    we usually forget how fragile life can be and how vulnerable we always are.

It takes only a couple of seconds for a life to change irreversibly.

Suddenly you stand on completely strange ground
    and a new course of life has to be embraced.

Especially at such times we desperately need blessing and protection.

John O'Donohue


Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash
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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 3, from September 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

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About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

Our 440th episode considers what it is for each of us to dare to bring our unique form of expression to the world. How we might take the ways we've learned to belong in our lives - which may have supported us and constrained us - and give enough space around them that we can be our own voice, rather than an echo; what ways of supporting one another are called for, so we can help one another do this; the kind of openness, curiosity, sensitivity, welcome and daring it can take to encourage others to be a voice of their own; and how welcoming in this way might be a way to learn and at the same time an act of deep service to life.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction and Listener Engagement
02:54 Exploring the Poem 'The Artist' by Bobby Morrow
06:00 The Process of Letting Go and Transformation
09:04 Art as a Reflection of Truth and Identity
11:46 The Role of Belonging in Personal Growth
14:42 Radical Amazement and Curiosity in Relationships
17:47 Creating Safe Spaces for Expression
20:57 The Necessity of Community and Connection
23:37 Conclusion and Reflections on the Journey

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

The Artist

Breathing life into the artist 
Is a deadly mission.
It will cost you this version of yourself,
perfect and all knowing.
As you die, tell me
what’s it to cry with curiosity?
To write with your frightening tears?
To feel fully?
This is what it is to breathe life into your words.

Becoming the artist is a deadly mission.
To roll the stone away and be alive in your truth takes an everydayness.
We practice and build,
We fall and find our feet,
We create masterpieces,
We wash them away.
I know you worked so hard
on this sense making,
Those sensible makings have carried you.
But still I ask.
What is this world without your art?
How do you love without your truth?

Bobby Morrow

Photo by Simi Iluyomade on Unsplash

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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 3, from September 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

----

About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

A conversation about the qualities that seem absent in us, that we long for so greatly, and the way they are already present in us because that is what humans are. How we  find our courage, or integrity, or creativity or love not so much by trying to fill the absence from outside but by walking our way, patiently, into them in our everyday way of moving through life. All inspired by a wonderful poem 'Keeping Things Whole' by Mark Strand

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Celebrating Community and Connection
06:05 Exploring the Poem: Keeping Things Whole
11:56 Understanding Presence and Absence
18:07 Longing and Movement in Life
23:53 Cultivating Inner Qualities
29:52 Finding Wholeness in Everyday Life

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

Keeping Things Whole

In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.
When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body’s been.
We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.

Mark Strand

Photo by Klara Kulikova on Unsplash
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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 3, from September 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

----

About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

A call to our imaginative capacities when we are caught in conflict with one another... our capacity to uncover new stories and new ways of understanding that bring us into a different kind of relationship with ourselves, with each other, and with the something we seem to be in conflict about. Imagination as a path to choice, invention, discovery and as a counter to our familiar ways of keeping ourselves safe, habitual and automatic. All inspired by a luminous poem by Joy Harjo.

In our conversation we talk specifically about Turning Towards Life - Live - Season 2, which begins in March 2026.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life
04:01 Exploring Joy Harjo's Work
08:28 Navigating Conflict and Self-Discovery
13:59 The Nature of Conflict and Imagination
25:09 The Sacredness of Everyday Experiences
30:34 Redefining Forgiveness in Context

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings

Part 4
REDUCE DEFENSIVENESS AND BREAK THE DEFENSIVENESS CHAIN:

I could hear the light beings as they entered every cell. Every cell is a house of the god of light, they said. I could hear the spirits who love us stomp dancing. They were dancing as if they were here, and then another level of here, and then another, until the whole earth and sky was dancing.

We are here dancing, they said. There was no there.

There was no  "I"  or "you."

There was us; there was "we."

There we were as if we were the music.

You cannot legislate music to lockstep nor can you legislate the spirit of the music to stop at political boundaries—

—Or poetry, or art, or anything that is of value or matters in this world, and the next worlds.

This is about getting to know each other.

We will wind up back at the blues standing on the edge of the flatted fifth about to jump into a fierce understanding together.

Part 6
AND, USE WHAT YOU LEARN TO RESOLVE YOUR OWN CONFLICTS AND TO MEDIATE OTHERS' CONFLICTS:

When we made it back home, back over those curved roads
that wind through the city of peace, we stopped at the
doorway of dusk as it opened to our homelands.
We gave thanks for the story, for all parts of the story
because it was by the light of those challenges we knew
ourselves—
We asked for forgiveness.
We laid down our burdens next to each other.

Joy Harjo

Photo by Alexey Demidov on Unsplash
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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 2, from 4 March 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

----

About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

When we make mistakes or take a wrong turn, it's understandable that our first move might be to blame others, or try to defend ourselves, or do all we can to avoid the feelings of shame or disappointment that come our way. What those responses do, though, is close us off to our human capacity to learn and to be creative in the midst of our difficulties. So what does it take to turn towards the 'holes we fall into' with a kinder, more expansive spirit, and to grow ourselves a little bit bigger so we can respond? And, perhaps most importantly, what does it take to do this not on our own, but together with others?

In our conversation we talk specifically about Turning Towards Life - Live - Season 2, which begins in March 2026.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life
03:01 On Reflection and Learning
05:46 Exploring Portia Nelson's Poem
09:11 Personal Reflections on Mistakes and Relationships
11:58 The Importance of Responsibility and Kindness
15:07 Navigating Relational Patterns and Habits
17:56 The Power of Choice and Agency
20:53 Understanding the Dynamics of Relationships
23:50 Finding Purpose in Conversations
26:46 The Role of Community in Growth
29:54 Conclusion and Invitation to Join the Journey

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

Autobiography In Five Chapters

I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place
but, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
my eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V
I walk down another street.

by Portia Nelson
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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 2, from 4 March 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

----

About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

A conversation which begins with a beautiful and stirring song from MaMuse [a link to the song is in the show-notes]. How might we imagine light inside darkness, and call to the light in ourselves and in one another, even as we feel grief and worry and sadness? And how might we bring our imaginative capacities to invite one another into relationships of mutual care, for each other and for the world, especially in a time which often wants to teach us to fear one another instead?

In our conversation we talk specifically about Turning Towards Life - Live - Season 2, which begins in March 2026.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to Intentional Practice
02:56 Exploring the Source: 'I Am Home in the Holy'
05:52 The Power of Mutual Care
09:05 The Invitation of Community
11:46 Navigating Grief and Tenderness
14:51 The Role of Language in Connection
18:02 Cultivating Joy and Playfulness
20:55 The Ground Holding Us
23:46 The Importance of Togetherness
27:08 Closing Reflections and Invitations

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

Home in the Holy

I am home in the holy
I’m stepping in fully
To the shift
To the change
To the ground
That’s holding me.

I’m alive to the midnight,
Wide eyed in the twilight
Giving up
Giving in
Giving over to the mystery

May my life be an offering
To serve our mutual flourishing
We are in the care of one another

I keep my inner fires burning
Fuel the passion and the yearning
To give these gifts
To keep on learning
Without end

MaMuseMusic
Video of the full song is here

Photo by zenad nabil on Unsplash
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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 2, from 4 March 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

----

About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

How do we counter the stories in ourselves that render our lives flat, meaningless and mechanical? And how might we find sources of life inside ourselves and around us that support our participation, relationship and contribution, especially when we are feeling afraid or disoriented? A conversation about the everyday, about a radical appreciation of the sacredness of everything, and about breathing ourselves bigger to meet the one life that is offered to us.

In our conversation we talk specifically about Turning Towards Life - Live - Season 2, which begins in March 2026.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction and Connection
02:12 Exploring Creative Processes and Literature
03:21 Introduction and Overview of Turning Towards Life
06:26 Exploring the Improbable Nature of Existence
09:50 The Illusion of Control and the Power of Wonder
14:12 Finding Sacredness in the Ordinary
19:44 Engaging with Life's Complexity and Meaning
24:27 The Invitation to Expand Beyond Habitual Responses
28:26 Reflections on Time and Choices in Life
31:45 Closing Thoughts and Future Conversations

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

On the Calculation of Volume

It seems so odd to me now, how one can be so unsettled by the improbable. When we know that our entire existence is founded on freak occurrences and improbable coincidences. That we wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for these curious twists of fate. That there are human beings on what we call our planet, that we can move around on a rotating sphere in a vast universe full of inconceivably large bodies comprised of elements so small that the mind simply cannot comprehend how small and how many they are. That in this unfathom-able vastness, these infinitesimal elements are still able to hold themselves together. That we manage to stay afloat. That we exist at all. That each of us has come into being as only one of untold possibilities. The unthinkable is something we carry with us always. It has already happened: we are improbable, we have emerged from a cloud of unbelievable coincidences.

Anyone would think that this knowledge would equip us in some small way to face the improbable. But the opposite appears to be the case. We have grown accustomed to living with that knowledge without feeling dizzy every morning, and instead of moving around warily and tentatively, in constant amazement, we behave as if nothing has happened, take the strangeness of it all for granted and get dizzy if life shows itself as it truly is: improbable, unpredictable, remarkable.

Solvej Balle, from ‘On the Calculation of Volume’, Vol 1

Photo by Mario Losereit on Unsplash
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Join Us Live in 2026

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 2, from March 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

----

About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

There's a certain kind of faithfulness in ourselves and in one another that is required if we are to address both the joys and the real difficulties of our lives. It's something beyond mere appreciation or even love, but a kind of fierce commitment to the sacredness of being a human. It allows us to be loving, to be tender, to say what's true, to recognise what is, to name suffering, to call on one another's capacities to respond. It requires us neither to diminish (ourselves or others) nor to inflate (others or ourselves), but to relate to one another with actual hope. It's a faithful attending to the aliveness and sheer awe-inspiring unlikeliness of being here that allows us to meet life and one another with deep respect and deep care. And it's embodied beautifully by our source, which in this episode comes from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

In our conversation we talk specifically about the Thirdspace Professional Coaching Course, which next begins July 2026. You can hear all our other conversations about this programme at www.turningtowards.life/coaching

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Turning Towards Life
02:42 Exploring the Poem: 'In Case You Don't Know Already'
05:52 The Significance of Self-Recognition
08:52 The Power of Faith and Luminosity
11:41 Navigating Shadows and Clouds
14:44 The Role of Connection and Tethering
17:44 Faith in the Face of Darkness
20:48 The Depth of Human Experience
23:52 Faithfulness in Relationships
27:01 Conclusion and Reflection

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

In Case You Don't Know Already
 
One day you will wake
and discover you are a sun,
radiant, fueled by your own core,
capable of luminosity so great
you blaze through lightyears of darkness.
You will know your own power
and it will never occur to you
not to trust it, not to share it.
You will not be able to forget
your own magnitude.
Nor will such glory be a burden.
You will simply shine
because that is who you are.
No need to apologize.
No reason to be jealous
of any other sun,
of any other star.
On that day,
you will see how it is
you have always been a sun,
even in the darkest days.
Then, you were also the clouds
and the great shadow
that made you stop
believing in your light.
You are, in fact,
what makes the day itself—
you are that integral,
that crucial,
that bright.

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
www.wordwoman.com

Photo by Braňo on Unsplash

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Join Us Live in 2026

Foundations of Coaching, Feb 9-10 2026, Online
Our two day introduction to the deep and wonderful way of working with people that we call 'Integral Development Coaching'.
www.wearethirdspace.org/foundations-of-coaching

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.

You can hear us talk about the programme here:
www.turningtowards.life/coaching

And you can read more about it here:
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 2, from March 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

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About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

Thirdspace turns 21 years old today, and so we take this opportunity to reflect together on one of our central commitments: learning to respond ever more to the world with wisdom, creativity, and compassion. We talk about what it is to be an integral development coach, and what it is to learn to coach with these commitments in mind, especially during these times. And we reflect on the joys and opportunities of being intentionally of service to others and to the world around us.

In our conversation we talk specifically about the Thirdspace Professional Coaching Course, which next begins July 2026, and the Foundations of Coaching 2-day programme on February 9-10 and May 11-12.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to the Year-Long Coaching Programme
04:31 Understanding Integral Development Coaching
11:47 The Importance of Community in Coaching
18:29 The Role of Service in Coaching
26:04 Awe and Wonder in Coaching Relationships
32:09 Conclusion and Invitation to Join the Programme

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Here's our source for this week:

"Despair is the covering of our love for our world, and we crack it open by speaking it so that our love can act. So the key is not being afraid of our pain for the world." 

"This is the story of the transition from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life-Sustaining Society... More and more people come to see how interwoven we are as peoples and recognize that solidarity with one another is a way through these crises. So we join together to act for the sake of life on Earth." 

"When we open our eyes to what is happening, even when it breaks our hearts, we discover our true size; for our heart, when it breaks open, can hold the whole universe."

Joanna Macy
www.joannamacy.net/work

Photo by Justin Wise

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Join Us Live in 2026

Foundations of Coaching, Feb 9-10 2026, Online
Our two day introduction to the deep and wonderful way of working with people that we call 'Integral Development Coaching'.
www.wearethirdspace.org/foundations-of-coaching

Professional Coaching Course, begins July 2-5 2026, Online
Our year long programme, an opportunity to learn to support others in deep, life giving discovery and development.
www.wearethirdspace.org/professional-coaching-course

Turning Towards Life Live Season 2, from March 2026
Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons, in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.
You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live

----

About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe
Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife