"Once we can see that we are not this enduring, consistent, perfect self that we've constructed ourselves to be—that we see all the ways in which we don't show up aligned with our intentions or who we want to be in the world—we start to have compassion for other people and their challenges in doing so. Once we see our complexity, we can see others' complexity."

— Valerie Livesay

Embracing every aspect of ourselves can feel squarely at odds with how we're accustomed to showing up in our lives. But what is the cost of only ever putting our best foot forward? In this episode Valerie Livesay invites Zafer Achi and Gideon Culman to reflect on their experiences of integrating the parts of their lives that they had until recently been reluctant to fully claim.

"The linear approaches are genuinely slow and methodical. And we've missed our window for that. We now need lots and lots of experiments that need unpredictable results, hopefully in the positive direction. And that's going to get us out of this next huge global challenge."

— Patrice Laslett

Patrice Laslett works as a partner at Cultivating Leadership. She is a faculty member of the Growth Edge Coaching workshops.

"One of the great feelings about intimacy is that it keeps unraveling itself. It keeps exposing itself. It keeps flowering anew. You keep feeling like you're discovering an unknown other for the first time, because what you're discovering is new for you."

— William Torbert

William Torbert's oeuvre of Collaborative Developmental Action Inquiry has been making waves for decades. But when we approach Torbert's remarkably practical body of work intent only on optimizing our own effectiveness, are we doing ourselves a disservice? In this conversation about Torbert's memoir Numbskull in the Theatre of Inquiry we consider the importance of spiritual questioning that hinges on timely inaction.

"There is some really good coaching happening without even seeing the coach or knowing what the coach's name is. I've been doing some digital debrief . . . and it's my colleague Nick's picture up there, it's not even me. They don't even know who I am. And in some ways, it's kind of fun because I've got my invisibility cape on but in another way I can really see how it's more about the client and their process."

— Jan Rybeck

"It's very important to just take those few minutes to hold that coffee cup, to think of that good memory, to pull out an old photo, listen to one song that you absolutely love. But that's the stuff, just those little tidbits, because the rest of it is not joyful. It's not."

— Jodi Sleeper-Triplett

Jodi Sleeper-Triplett is a Master Certified Coach, trainer, mentor, and speaker. She is the author of Empowering Youth with ADHD and contributing author of Becoming Self-Determined: Creating Thoughtful Learners in a Standards-Driven, Admissions-Frenzied Culture. Her company, JST Coaching & Training, provides student and ADHD coach training programs to individuals and educational institutions.

"I want to have my insides match my outsides. I want how I view myself internally to match my external behavior. That's my objective every day. That's my purpose. And if I do that, then I know I'm a good human for others."

– Carly Anderson

Carly Anderson is a Master Certified Coach. Since 2005 Carly has served the International Coaching Federation as an assessor, evaluating the skills of coaches applying for credentials. Carly also mentors coaches engaged in growth toward their next credential. In this conversation, Gideon Culman and Carly Anderson each share their path into master-level coaching and discuss how this journey has impacted their lives.

"If I could tell every parent in the United States right now something from a teacher: 'You're doing fine. Whatever you're doing today is enough. And I don't think parents are hearing that enough. And it's true. Your child is learning. We promise.'"

— Anne Huntington

Anne Huntington and Emily Newman founded Beyond the Classroom Consultants to guide parents through the process of making informed educational choices for their elementary aged children. As young students and school districts across the country wade into the uncharted waters of remote learning, Emily and Anne offer practical perspectives to make life easier for parents.

"Nobody is doing this right. There's no rulebook. I think the best that we can do is acknowledge that we are struggling, find little moments of connection and enjoy, because we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring."

— Lea Didion

Psychologists define trauma in terms of incidents and events. How does our understanding of trauma evolve when people around the world face new traumas every day with no end in sight? Lea Didion, Psy.D. who specializes in the assessment and treatment of trauma discusses her take on this question.

"It is an incredibly scary thing to do to face into the parts of self that we seek to deny, that we felt like we had obliterated. And to recognize that they live within us still is really frightening. And it can be painful to re-encounter them and there can be so much incredible loss in seeing the self that is full and whole and imperfect. And there are such beautiful gifts to be found from exploring our fallback."

— Valerie Livesay

The growth we undergo as adults isn't always expansive. Stressful times can make us shrink. Adult development theorists call this shrinkage 'fallback'. Writer Valerie Livesay illuminates in this episode how cultivating a willingness to confront the fear, pain, and loss of coming to know and embrace every aspect of ourselves has informed her research and experience of fallback.

Pandemic Companions episode in which Valerie defines fallback

The growth we undergo as adults isn't always expansive. Stressful times can make us shrink. Adult development theorists call this shrinkage 'fallback'. Author Valerie Livesay illuminates in this episode how a world embroiled in crisis has informed her research and experience of fallback.