Wonder Dome

Wonder Dome

By Andy CahillHealth & FitnessMental HealthEducationSelf-Improvement
Download on the App Store

Wonder Dome episodes

  • #162 Positive Provocation (with Robert Biswas-Diener)

    Robert Biswas-Diener is a researcher, author, and well-known executive coach. His work has taken him all over the globe, studying culture as it relates to well-being. In addition to happiness, he’s researched subjects such as strengths, hospitality, friendship, and leadership. In 2024, Thinkers50 recognized Robert as one of the 50 most influential executive coaches in the world. A prolific author, Robert has penned many best-selling books including Positive Provocation, The Upside of Your Dark Side, and Happiness.

    Robert describes Positive Provocation as a love letter to coaching. It includes 25 provocative questions that challenges readers to examine the foundational architecture of coaching. In this episode, he and Andy talk about the importance of learning through reflection, challenging long-held beliefs, and getting curious about asking novel questions that interrogate the world around us and stimulate growth.

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published"Some Questions You Might Ask" by Mary Oliver
    Is the soul solid, like iron?
    Or is it tender and breakable, like
    the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?
    Who has it, and who doesn’t?
    I keep looking around me.
    The face of the moose is as sad
    as the face of Jesus.
    The swan opens her white wings slowly.
    In the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness.
    One question leads to another.
    Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg?
    Like the eye of a hummingbird?
    Does it have one lung, like the snake and the scallop?
    Why should I have it, and not the anteater
    who loves her children?
    Why should I have it, and not the camel?
    Come to think of it, what about the maple trees?
    What about the blue iris?
    What about all the little stones, sitting alone in the moonlight?
    What about roses, and lemons, and their shining leaves?
    What about the grass?

    Show Notes:

    • Positive Provocation: 25 Questions to Elevate Your Coaching Practice by Robert Biswas-Diener

    • www.robertdiener.com

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

    1 hr 9 min
  • #161 Dreamtime of the Gods (with Eleanor Robins)

    Eleanor Robins writes in service of imagination. Her work has been featured in publications such as the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, the Washington Post, and the LA Times. Her Substack, How to Go Home, is a newsletter devoted to essays, reflections, and conversations about imagination and the imaginal realm.

    A steward of dreams and stories, Eleanor studies the phenomena of the imaginal realm and how it shapes us and our relationship with reality. Following in the tradition of thinkers and mystics such as Henry Corbin and Cynthia Bourgeault, Eleanor and Andy’s conversation explores the imaginal realm as a real place apart from the physical, one with its own mode of perception separate from our ordinary waking consciousness; the space between the spiritual and the material; the dreamtime of the gods.

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published"I Am Like a Leaf" by Yone Noguchi
    The silence is broken: into the nature
    My soul sails out,
    Carrying the song of life on his brow,
    To meet the flowers and birds.
    When my heart returns in the solitude,
    She is very sad,
    Looking back on the dead passions
    Lying on Love’s ruin.
    I am like a leaf
    Hanging over hope and despair,
    Which trembles and joins
    The world’s imagination and ghost.

    Show Notes:

    • How to Go Home - Eleanor Robins on Substack

    • https://www.eleanorrobins.com

    • Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey into the Imaginal Realm by Cynthia Bourgeault

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

    1 hr 18 min
  • #160 Future Fluent (with Cecily Sommers)

    Cecily Sommers is a futurist, business consultant, and author of Think Like a Futurist. Cecily defines her practice as a futurist in terms of someone who studies the principles and mechanisms of change by looking at history, biology, and the universe in order to understand how societies transform over time. As a business futurist, Cecily’s zone of genius is as a consultant to some of the world’s biggest brands in the disciplines of strategy, innovation, and leadership development, helping organizations recognize and strategize around the forces of change impacting business and society.

    This week on The Wonder Dome, Cecily shares the significance of developing what she calls change literacy; an ability to cultivate an inner stability in tandem with an understanding of how the cycles of change function so that we can readily meet the future as it approaches. In an ever-changing geopolitical landscape, Cecily’s work is a balm that soothes uncertainty by helping us develop, “the other AI: an Anticipatory Intelligence that tells us not just what to follow, but how to leverage change for growth.”

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published"The Future" by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by A. Poulin
    The future: time's excuse
    to frighten us; too vast
    a project, too large a morsel
    for the heart's mouth.
    Future, who won't wait for you?
    Everyone is going there.
    It suffices you to deepen
    the absence that we are.

    Show Notes:

    • www.cecilysommers.com

    • Cecily Sommers on LinkedIn

    • Think Like a Futurist by Cecily Sommers

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

    1 hr 19 min
  • #159 Poet Assassin (with Mieke Jacobs)

    Mieke Jacobs (poet, coach, thought leader and systemic teacher) returns to the Dome to share from her book Poet Assassin; a fittingly-titled collection of “dense and ethereal” poems that excavate the collective psyche. It’s a fitting title for a body of work that flows through the mind and heart and yet is also sharp like an edge that cuts through the noise and speaks truth in a way that can be deeply felt in the body.

    With profound insight and honesty, Mieke reads from Poet Assassin and shares about her inspirations, processes, and meditations on the exploratory question behind the artistry of this book: “What is this strange, beautiful, glorious, and at the same time excruciating life about?

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published"Grace" by Mieke Jacobs
    If it be Your will
    I will stumble and fall
    Flat on the ground in full surrender
    I will pray and wait
    Wait
    Wait
    Until the larger movement of life is taking me
    Once again
    If it be Your will
    I will walk towards the River
    And give myself to it
    Feeling the river feeling me
    A graceful witness to my toil
    When I try to push the river
    Once again
    If it be Your will
    I will walk forever
    I will walk barefoot
    I will ride bareback
    I am willing to stand naked
    In front of the Truth
    Once again
    If it be Your will
    I will stay
    I will come into form
    I will live this life
    This glorious and excruciating living of life
    I will come
    I will be
    Once again
    If it be Your will

    Show Notes:

    • Poet Assassin by Mieke Jacobs

    • #44 Systemic Elegance (with Mieke Jacobs and Paul Zonneveld)

    • La Garçon - Truus Druyts

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

    1 hr 6 min
  • #158 The Neutral Project (with Nate Helbach)

    Nate Helbach is the founder and CEO of Neutral, a regenerative development company that crafts economically viable and ecologically sustainable built environments. Neutral creates beautiful housing developments that enhance existing neighborhoods, encourage the fostering of human connectivity, and generate profits all while mitigating the harmful effects traditional development tends to inflict on the natural world.

    With several projects underway such as a luxury multifamily apartment complex in Madison, Wisconsin and another in Fayetville, Arkansas with numerous communal amenities like a rooftop garden, Neutral is a pioneer of sustainability and design, enriching the lives of residents and promoting a healthier planet for all.

    1 329 S Duncan Ave | Fayetville, AR

    2 Bakers Place | Madison, WI

    Show Notes:

    • Neutral.us

    • #157 EcoResponsive Environments with Soham De and Prachi Rampuria

    • EcoResponsive Environments: A Framework for Settlement Design by Ian Bentley, Soham De, Sue McGlynn and Prachi Rampuria

    • Missing Middle Housing: Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today’s Housing Crisis by by Daniel G. Parolek

    • Soft City: Building Density for Everyday Life by David Sim

    • “How the Auto Industry Carjacked the American Dream” Climate Town on YouTube

    • Phius Passive Building

    • Thesis Driven with Brad Hargreaves on Substack

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    1

    https://www.neutral.us/project/bakers-place

    2

    https://www.neutral.us/project/329-s-duncan-ave

    What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

    1 hr 6 min
  • #157 EcoResponsive Environments (with Soham De & Prachi Rampuria)

    Housing is one of the greatest adaptive challenges we currently face as a species. It’s also a key solution to many other complexities around population, community, civic engagement, and the ecological crisis. Navigating our current global political landscape often feels like patching up a sinking ship, where the tools we use to mend it often reproduce the status quo that created the holes in the first place. In terms of housing, this looks like the expansion of repetitive, car-centric suburban developments that damage the earth and force us to spend more time in our cars commuting than in community.

    Prachi Rampuria and Soham De share another vision for what place making can be — one that calls for the building of a new ship to address today’s challenges with tomorrow’s solutions. They are co-founders of EcoResponsive Environments, an award-winning urban design and architectural practice based in London. Their work envisions the development of ecologically stable buildings, neighborhoods and settlements that are responsive to human needs for safe and just spaces to thrive, while also supporting our planet long-term.

    In this conversation, Andy, Prachi, and Soham imagine a world where through ecoresponsive design, we have the potential to create more sustainable, equitable, and vibrant communities for all.

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published"Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years From Now" by Matthew Olzmann
    Most likely, you think we hated the elephant,
    the golden toad, the thylacine and all variations
    of whale harpooned or hacked into extinction.
    It must seem like we sought to leave you nothing
    but benzene, mercury, the stomachs
    of seagulls rippled with jet fuel and plastic.
    You probably doubt that we were capable of joy,
    but I assure you we were.
    We still had the night sky back then,
    and like our ancestors, we admired
    its illuminated doodles
    of scorpion outlines and upside-down ladles.
    Absolutely, there were some forests left!
    Absolutely, we still had some lakes!
    I’m saying, it wasn’t all lead paint and sulfur dioxide.
    There were bees back then, and they pollinated
    a euphoria of flowers so we might
    contemplate the great mysteries and finally ask,
    “Hey guys, what’s transcendence?”
    And then all the bees were dead.

    Show Notes:

    • https://www.ecoresponsiveenvironments.com/

    • “Ecoresponsive Environments: A Framework for Settlement Design” by Ian Bentley, Sue McGlynn, Soham De & Prachi Rampuria

    • #148 It Makes a Village (with Jonathan Smales)

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

    1 hr 19 min
  • #156 A Hospitable Space (with Parker Palmer & Ariel Burger)

    Return guests Parker Palmer (author, activist, educator, and co-host of The Growing Edge) and Ariel Burger (scholar, musician, rabbi, and author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom) join Andy in sharing music, poetry, and reflections on humanity’s current moment with generous wisdom and insight.

    Parker and Ariel speak to what it means to be “awake” to the realities of hardship and suffering experienced by others; to be a witness rather than a spectator; and how through the compassionate creation of “hospitable spaces” we can engage with one another across even the most cavernous of divides.

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published"A Ritual to Read to Each Other" by William E. Stafford
    If you don't know the kind of person I am
    and I don't know the kind of person you are
    a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
    and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.
    For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
    a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
    sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
    storming out to play through the broken dike.
    And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
    but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,
    I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
    to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.
    And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
    a remote important region in all who talk:
    though we could fool each other, we should consider—
    lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.
    For it is important that awake people be awake,
    or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
    the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe —
    should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

    Show Notes

    • Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Joy [Title Video]

    • The Witness Institute

    • Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger

    • The Growing Edge with Carrie Newcomer & Parker J. Palmer

    • Martin Buber

    • Maurice Stanley Friedman

    • Taoism

    • Hasidic Judaism

    • Sarah and Abraham

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

    1 hr 10 min
  • #155 Becoming a Good Relative (with Hilary Giovale)

    “How can I become a good relative?” is the inquiry that guides Hilary Giovale’s work in writing, teaching, and reparative philanthropy. It’s a concept Hilary first became familiar with while building relationships with Indigenous communities; a goal to strive toward where we operate in support of the collective human community and of the Earth.

    In her book, Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers toward Truth, Healing, and Repair, she shares with warmth, compassion, and vulnerability her journey as a ninth-generation American settler reckoning with the realities of whiteness; the destructive impact its wreaked on Black and Indigenous communities; and walking the path of healing.

    This week, Andy and Hilary discuss divesting from whiteness; the humanizing power and spirit of storytelling; the importance of fostering a connection to the land as a foundation of this work; and ways listeners can commit to practicing reparations in our day to day lives.

    All proceeds of Becoming a Good Relative go to Jubilee Justice and the Decolonizing Wealth Project.

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published"A New National Anthem" by Ada Limón
    The truth is, I’ve never cared for the National
    Anthem. If you think about it, it’s not a good
    song. Too high for most of us with “the rockets
    red glare” and then there are the bombs.
    (Always, always, there is war and bombs.)
    Once, I sang it at homecoming and threw
    even the tenacious high school band off key.
    But the song didn’t mean anything, just a call
    to the field, something to get through before
    the pummeling of youth. And what of the stanzas
    we never sing, the third that mentions “no refuge
    could save the hireling and the slave”? Perhaps,
    the truth is, every song of this country
    has an unsung third stanza, something brutal
    snaking underneath us as we blindly sing
    the high notes with a beer sloshing in the stands
    hoping our team wins. Don’t get me wrong, I do
    like the flag, how it undulates in the wind
    like water, elemental, and best when it’s humbled,
    brought to its knees, clung to by someone who
    has lost everything, when it’s not a weapon,
    when it flickers, when it folds up so perfectly
    you can keep it until it’s needed, until you can
    love it again, until the song in your mouth feels
    like sustenance, a song where the notes are sung
    by even the ageless woods, the short-grass plains,
    the Red River Gorge, the fistful of land left
    unpoisoned, that song that’s our birthright,
    that’s sung in silence when it’s too hard to go on,
    that sounds like someone’s rough fingers weaving
    into another’s, that sounds like a match being lit
    in an endless cave, the song that says my bones
    are your bones, and your bones are my bones,
    and isn’t that enough?

    Show Notes:

    • Becoming A Good Relative: Calling White Settlers Toward Truth, Healing, and Repair by Hilary Giovale

    • Reclaiming Our Indigenous European Roots by Lyla June

    • Guide to Making a Personal Reparations Plan

    • Decolonizing Wealth Project

    • Jubilee Justice

    Connect with Andy:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

    • Instagram: instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

    Subscribe now

    1 hr 5 min
  • Apocalypse on Christmas

    After several years focused on parenting, podcasting, and leadership development work, I'm excited to release my new song Apocalypse on Christmas.

    I wrote it last winter in the wake of a period of depression and an intense bout with Covid that laid me up for over a month. Writing it helped me heal.

    It was kicked off by my five-year old daughter's playful attempts to steal my jacket. It turned into a love song for community amidst the fall of civilization :-)

    You can listen to the full song here on Substack. It’s also available for download on Bandcamp, along with two other wintery songs to warm the heart.

    Merry Christmas

    -Andy

    p.s. the well-read denizens of Substack might be hip to the fact that the word apocalypse - which in our modern era (circa 1980s) came to mean the “end times” of civilization - is rooted in the Greek apokalyptein which means to "uncover, disclose, or reveal," and evolved into the Middle English to mean “insight, vision; hallucination." The song is written in that spirit.

    Buy the Song

    Apocalypse on Christmas

    Let me take your jacket
    Rest here by the fire
    Ladle up some cider
    And tune the radio dial

    Until you find the station
    That's playing deck the halls
    We can raise our glasses
    And sing some Christmas songs

    God remember how we used to live
    So high up on that hog
    Guzzling gas, streaming shows
    Cinnabuns down at the mall

    Now the power grid's collapsed
    And we're waiting for the fall
    So let us raise our glasses
    And toast to all we've lost

    We'll sing... Merry Christmas
    Don't let it get you down
    We never needed that stuff anyhow
    So pour another round
    I'll pour another round

    Over at Saint Joseph's
    They're cooking up a feast
    The chaplain says her welcomes
    Volunteers are sorting cutlery
    And all the wandering souls
    Well, they have a place to be
    So let us raise our glasses
    And sing in harmony

    We'll sing... Merry Christmas
    Don't let it get you down
    We never needed that stuff anyhow
    So pour another round

    Merry Christmas
    The dark days are here
    But if we come together
    Our light can see us clear
    Yes our light is clear

    So let me take your jacket
    Rest here by the fire
    No one knows what's coming
    But it's probably gonna take a while

    And I'm really glad you're with me
    On this merry Christmas Eve
    The dawn will surely come again
    We'll see what we can see
    But for now the yule log's burning
    We've got everything we need

    So let's sing one more time...

    Merry Christmas
    Don't let it get you down
    We never needed that stuff anyhow
    So pour another round Merry Christmas
    The dark days are here
    But if we come together
    Our light can see us clear

    Yes our light is clear

    Buy the Song

    5 min
  • Save your spot at Firelight - Winter Solstice 2024

    The Winter Solstice is one of the world's oldest celebrations, marking the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. While it has the least amount of daylight, it also means the coming days once again begin to lengthen.

    In traditions around the world, it is an occasion for rebirth and renewal. A chance to greet the light that always emerges from the darkness.

    In that spirit, join me for Firelight, my third Winter Solstice gathering. We'll come together online to share in live music, poetry, storytelling, reflection, and connection. We'll be joined by my dear friend, award-winning composer and pianist, Todd Marston.

    There will be space for large group exploration, small group conversation, and individual journaling. This will give you time to make meaning of this past year and look ahead to the next. Portions of the session will also be recorded for you to revisit later.

    Register for Firelight

    This event is pay-what-you-can, with a suggested contribution of $95.

    That said, I invite you to contribute any amount that reflects the value of your time, mine, and the rest of the group, without putting you in undue financial stress. Whether you pay one dollar or one hundred, you are welcome.

    Everyone who attends will also receive a complimentary 1:1 coaching session as an expression of my commitment to helping others thrive, with the option to add on additional coaching sessions (my coaching clients typically invest $395 per 1:1 session).

    If any amount of money is impossible for you right now, please contact me directly. My team will provide you with access to the session.

    If this calls to you, then I'll see you by Firelight on Dec 21.

    Until then, go well & go bravely,

    -Andy

    Register for Firelight

    A bit of mythical history on the Winter Solstice

    Celtic myth dictates that the solstice is a symbolic annual battle between the Oak King and the Holly King, representing light and darkness respectively. At the Winter Solstice, the Oak King would prove victorious and daylight would slowly return until it was time for the two of them to battle again at Summer Solstice. This neverending dance between the two warrior-kings speaks to the inherent cyclical balance of all life.

    It was believed the sun came to a standstill during this time, rising and setting in the same place as the battle was waged. The word "solstice" comes from the Latin word "sōlstitium," translating to "sun stop" or "sun still."

    There will be no mythical battles waged at our session... hopefully that's not too much of a disappointment :^)

    Register for Firelight

    0 min

About Wonder Dome

From the publisher's feed

Increasing awareness. Deepening presence. Activating wonder. To be able for the times ahead and the times already here.