Bread for the Journey Radio

For years Glennon Doyle Melton built a wall between herself and others, hiding inside a bunker of secrets and shame. But one day everything changed: Glennon woke up to life, committing herself to living out loud and giving language to our universal (yet often secret) experiences. She became a sensation when her personal essays started going viral. A selection of them have been compiled into a book titled Carry On, Warrior – Thoughts on Life Unarmed. Each humorous chapter exposes her mistakes and triumphs, demonstrating that love wins and that together we can do hard things. Glennon’s new found fame aligned with her compassionate heart and she began inviting her blog-following friends to financially help families in need. Many people responded, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars which prompted the start-up of Monkee See—Monkee Do, a non-profit organization, of which Glennon is the President. You won’t want to miss this enlightening and fun interview with Glennon Doyle Melton.

Many people have come through a difficult life experience and, upon recovery, were moved by generosity and inspired to help others. Over the span of sixteen years as Executive Director of Bread for the Journey, I have observed that there is a natural relationship between grief and generosity. And if the inspired impulse toward generosity is noticed and nurtured, it leads to an experience of belonging, connection and love that is life-changing and transformative. Join me this week for a talk on Grief, Generosity and Love which will be the subject of my next book. I’d love your company!

Bread for the Journey of Marin County made a grant of $1,500 to Go Inspire Go. We funded a their Community Heroes program, which is a pilot project that works with young people, helping them to focus their inherent generosity by performing acts of kindness and community service. Kala Shah, the innovator of this program looked around and saw privileged kids living alongside people in need and yet the two were not in relationship with one another. She wanted to change that. Rolling up her sleeves, she started where she could—her own children’s elementary school. Today the program is spreading across the country. Toan Lam, the founder of Go Inspire Go, helped Kala make her dream a reality by listening to her deep need to make a change and encouraging her to create the Community Heroes project under the auspices of Go Inspire Go. Toan Lam—trained as a journalist and TV reporter—created Go Inspire Go as a way to transform media by telling inspiring stories of kindness and generosity on film, and working to leverage social media for social change. Today, Kala and Toan are the dynamic duo, working to grow Go Inspire Go and all of its projects. Join us this week for an inspiring conversation with Toan Lam and Kala Shah of Go Inspire Go.

One of the kindest things we can do for ourselves is to honor the deeper urging of the soul by bringing it to the surface and hearing what it has to say. One way to do this is through writing poetry. John Fox, Founder and President of The Institute for Poetic Medicine, recognizes the healing touch of poetry, and he devotes his life to helping people find their poetic words, to write them on paper, to express what matters to them. Marianna Cacciatore has been a writer for many years and recently has returned to writing poems, which feels to her to be the most important thing she is doing right now. This week, John and Marianna will share their own poems with each other. They will talk about what inspired each poem, why images were chosen, what surprised them, how it felt to write it, and perhaps what is happening today as it relates to that poem. Marianna and John will offer simple writing prompts, helping you put pen to paper and jot lines of your own. Please join us for this interactive show designed to encourage the poet in you to emerge.

There is a way in which poetry reaches down into our depths and places its finger on a healing touchstone. Something happens inside and we are changed. John Fox has devoted his life to the service of poetry as healer. He is the Founder and President of The Institute for Poetic Medicine (IPM). John works with educators, counselors and therapists, doctors, nurses and medical students, those in chaplaincy and pastoral care, cancer support, those in the field of substance abuse, hospice volunteers and staff. He brings “poetic medicine” to people who are living with cancer, who are grieving, children and young people with physical disabilities. IPM funds a range of projects that bring poetry as healer to people. Those projects include people who are homeless, immigrant and refugee youth, those living with acquired brain injury and those with moderate to severe mental health challenges. John believes that there are no limits to the places where poetry can reach to do its healing work.

“In 1979, I destroyed all the art I had created, gave everything I owned away, and began a new life…The new life that I gave myself to required unconditional trust and noninterference. I asked for nothing from any human being. I needed to know if there was a God, and I risked my life to find that out….I ate when I had food and I fasted when I did not. I accepted whatever came into my life. It was that simple.” This excerpt from Jerry Wennstrom’s book, The Inspired Heart, with an Introduction by Thomas Moore, describes how Jerry began a new life. His experiences have shaped him in profound ways and informed how Jerry has continued to live these many years. He and his wife Marilyn Strong have been friends of mine since the early 1990’s. I have stayed with them at their home on Whidbey Island several times and spent many satisfying hours in unhurried conversation about the deeper currents of life. Join us for this engaging interview where we will trust the natural current of our conversation to take us where it wants to go, spending an hour with you the way Jerry lives his life. Please take a moment to read his biography below and follow any of the links. I promise you will walk away with an inspired heart. On another note, Bread for the Journey's June Fundraising Campaign is in full swing. Please follow the link to our website and make a donation. You are the reason we exist and, as such, we cannot do our work without you. Your gift means more than you may ever know. Thank you.

The value we place on community includes healthcare for every man, woman and child, no matter their circumstances. Neighborcare Health in Seattle is an independent community clinic that uncompromisingly provides 100% access to everyone, no matter their economic situation, status of health, or insurance coverage. Beyond their 4 walls, they are on the street, in people’s homes, talking with the homeless and working to build trust among the most marginalized people in the community. Meet Tricia Madden, Program Manager, Homeless Services and Mark Aytch, Physician’s Assistant, as we discuss the day to day rewards and challenges of their work to build an accessible healthcare organization that lives up to its name–Neighborcare. It’s quite amazing to feel their love and commitment to the people they serve and know that Neighborcare Health provides medical services to 50,000 people a year. We would all be lucky to feel so loved by our healthcare professionals. Join us for this enlivening conversation.

We are replaying part two of one of our most listened-to shows—our interview with Francis Weller MFT, whose work is deeply attentive to the issue of grief. Francis writes, “For nearly thirty years I have worked with individuals in my practice as a psychotherapist and in workshop settings. The one persistent emotion that has touched everyone is grief. It may be the grief we finally allow ourselves to feel for the life we did not choose. It may be our sorrow for losses that happened early in our life, losses that we were unprepared to grieve. It may be for relationships that fell apart, friendships that have vanished, times of violation and abandonment, or for the suffering we feel for our ravished earth.” Francis is author of the book, Entering the Healing Ground – Grief, Ritual and the Soul of the World. My worn-out copy is filled with notes in the margin, underlined passages and highlighted words. It is one of the best books on grief I have ever read. Please join us tomorrow for PART TWO of my conversation with Francis Weller. If you’d like to listen to PART ONE, click here. You won’t want to miss this interview.

We are replaying one of our most listened-to shows—our interview with Francis Weller MFT, whose work is deeply attentive to the issue of grief. Francis writes, “For nearly thirty years I have worked with individuals in my practice as a psychotherapist and in workshop settings. The one persistent emotion that has touched everyone is grief. It may be the grief we finally allow ourselves to feel for the life we did not choose. It may be our sorrow for losses that happened early in our life, losses that we were unprepared to grieve. It may be for relationships that fell apart, friendships that have vanished, times of violation and abandonment, or for the suffering we feel for our ravished earth.” Francis is author of the book, Entering the Healing Ground – Grief, Ritual and the Soul of the World. My worn-out copy is filled with notes in the margin, underlined passages and highlighted words. It is one of the best books on grief I have ever read. Please join us for this two-part series on Saturday, May 17 and 24, 2014. You won’t want to miss them.

Thom Markham is on a mission. His goal is to change the world by changing education. With curiosity and creativity at its core his field-tested model of Project Based Learning is changing the landscape of education. His work is rooted in three themes he believes are essential to education in the global age: opportunities for every child; the reunification of brain and heart; and the global ideal of a just world. He is calling for a systematic redesign of our schools and learning environments by integrating projects based learning with a high performance culture, whole child principles, teacher discovery and empowerment, teaching and assessment of 21st century skills, an inquiry-based curriculum, and use of digital resources for teacher and student collaboration. Join me for this stimulating conversation with a passionate educator about the range of possibilities he envisions in the world of education

The Dayak Benuaq people of Muara Tae in Borneo are losing their forest to palm oil. Western-style negotiations have failed them. With the bulldozers poised to take what little remains of their 140 million year-old ancestral rainforest, tribal elders say their best hope is to hold a ceremony that since ancient times has been used to resolve difficult disputes with great power. Because we rely on the rainforest for our oxygen, tribal leaders are inviting us to join them in this ancient vow ceremony (called Sumpah Adat) to protect their forest. We don’t have to travel to Borneo to participate. This ceremonial method of conflict resolution taps into the heart and the big picture, where we examine our part in the conflict, reconnect to our true values and recommit to our original purpose as humans — to nurture the health and balance of the earth. The ceremony will address tensions with neighboring villages over disputed land by creating an opportunity to inquire deeply, celebrate and feast together. The tribe will also invite company and government officials to join in this process of remembering the long view that includes the duty of humans to each other and to the earth. Our participation, and joint intention, will add power to the ceremony by extending it across the globe, help avert violence and, with great hope, change some minds and hearts so that the remaining forest can be preserved. Join me for an interview with author Jane Brunette, a committed, heartful, passionate woman who is helping the Dayak Benuaq people reach out to us—the family of the earth—with their invitation.

Centering prayer is a form of Christian meditation that deepens ones experience of God. The transformative power of this practice is found in the idea that centering prayer is not something you do to find God, but involves being found by God and “saying yes to God’s presence acting in you.” The Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton, and Father Thomas Keating have written much about this practice, and now David Frenette’s book, The Path of Centering Prayer, adds to the rich literature on the subject. Join me this week as I speak with David Frenette. Together we’ll learn about the subtleties, intentions, and “Contemplative Attitudes” that make this a rich, daily practice that opens us to “experience the deep ways of grace, the profound sense that everything is in God, and the mysterious ways God acts in you.”

Have you ever thrown your hands up in frustration because you’ve been misunderstood? Or walked away from a conversation feeling angry and fuming? Or tearful because you’ve been going round in circles trying to communicate with someone you love? Join me in this interview with Sharon Strand Ellison as she talks about her remarkable program called Powerful Non-Defensive Communication. This is an easy-to-understand method of “taking the war out of our words” and learning a new way to say what we mean in a way that is much more likely to prompt people to drop their defenses, often instantly, and create the conditions for an honest, fulfilling way of talking and being understood. With a few simple techniques, we’ll be able to see what we’ve been doing that isn’t helpful, and change it. She and I will role play during the interview, making this a fun and informative session. Join us! I promise, in one hour, you’ll walk away with enough knowledge to make a change immediately.

Margaret Blaustein has dedicated her life to the healing of trauma—especially in kids. She and Kristine Kinniburgh, LICSW, created the ARC intervention framework which is the basis for the Head Start Trauma Smart program currently serving some 3,300 children annually in 26 counties in Kansas and Missouri. ARC stands for Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency, and the beauty in Blaustein and Kinniburgh’s evidence-based work is that the training and mentoring is designed for anyone in a child’s life, from their school bus driver to the teachers, parents and grandparents. Kinniburgh and Blaustein’s groundbreaking work is helping parents, caregivers and teachers tune in and understand the messages children are sending through their behavior. What’s more important, the adults are learning to respond in a way that is calming, effective and, most of all, welcomed by the children. Please join us for this stimulating interview with Margaret Blaustein. Whether you work with children who’ve been traumatized, or are simply a parent seeking a few tips on how to be with an upset child, you’ll find this interview meaningful and useful.

Imagine a courtroom in which everyone is working together toward the same goal. Imagine a courtroom in which the perpetrator of a drug related non-violent crime is held accountable, but is managed in a way that is encouraging and supportive. Imagine 75% of its participants successfully completing their “sentence” program, going on to lead productive lives and not re-offending. Well, imagine no further. Such a thing exists and it’s called Collaborative Court. The model was created in 1989 and is now being practiced in all 50 states in the U.S. There are about 2,380 collaborative courts nationwide. Join me as I speak with Dianne Marshall, Founder and President of the CA Collaborative Justice Courts Foundation. Dianne and her colleagues truly fit the image of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Deeds.

What if there were a single skill that could directly and radically improve your relationships and your life? Karla McLaren believes that skill is empathy, and she knows it is a skill we can develop and manage. Karla writes: Empathy is everywhere: it’s in the air you breathe and the ground you walk on; it makes relationships, communities, and societies work. And yet, empathy can also be something of a mystery. Because empathy is such a central part of everything you do, you can overlook it and almost ignore the processes that make empathy work (or stop working.) Certainly at our non-profit organization, Bread for the Journey, empathy is a central function in the art of becoming a person who is generous of spirit. Join me this week as I speak with Karla McLaren about her groundbreaking book, The Art of Empathy – A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill. Together we’ll learn what empathy is, how to develop it or calm it down, and what makes it so mysterious.

Let Cathey Capers and Birch Dwyer take you on a journey to the remarkable Canyon de Chelly in Arizona for an experience of a lifetime. They are planning a trip for a small group of women to experience spectacular beauty amidst seldom seen archeological sites and soaring canyon walls while also exploring the inner landscape of the soul. There will be quiet time in solitude, wholesome food, writing and reading poetry, sleeping under the stars, and a walking journey into territory few have been given the opportunity to see. Lupita McClanahan, a Diné (Navajo) healer, teacher and mother who has lived on this summer homestead, will guide this group to sacred sites and offer a window into a way of life that walks in beauty and balance. Join us this week as I interview Cathey and Birch about this journey of Poetry, Place and Soul.

Resilience is the ability to face and handle life’s challenges. We all respond differently when hard stuff arises, and some things are easier than others. But in the past decade, brain science has uncovered “neuroplasticity.” What we thought was hardwired can be rewired. This is a game-changer when it comes to resilience and Linda Graham has literally written the book on Bouncing Back. This book offers more than 80 practices that that help us rewire our brain and recover our innate capacities to cope–focusing on calm, compassion, clarity, connections to resources, competence and courage. Furthermore, it explores the science of emotions like kindness, generosity, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness and love, clarifying how they actually strengthen capacities like optimism, creativity and resilience. As it turns out, resilience is an outcome of practicing generosity—the focus of Bread for the Journey’s work. I have been exploring Linda’s exercises this week, and I’m impressed with their range—spanning from beginning to advanced. In other words, no matter what you are currently doing to manage difficult circumstances, the practices in Bouncing Back can take you to the next level. And because of neuroplasticity, the practices have a lasting effect that can change our lives forever. Linda has been applying these exercises with clients for many years and has a style of teaching that is easy to understand and is very inspirational. Please join us for this enlightening interview!

Ross Holzman and his team believe that creating art is a way to deepen one’s commitment to peace. And that creating peace is possible, one person at a time. Ross is the founder of the San Francisco based non-profit, Create Peace Project. They work primarily with children and youth, facilitating collaborative art projects shared with students in countries as far flung as India, Uganda, Nepal, Ghana and Bosnia. Create Peace Project is built upon a belief in the power, potential and wisdom of our children and youth and the transformative influence of art, creativity, collaboration and self-awareness to bring about peace on earth. Join me as I speak with this motivated artist who has an unshakable vision of empowering youth to raise their voices and share their visions for how we can create peace. http://breadforthejourney.org/radio/creating-peace-ross-holzman/

Dr. Richard Heckler traveled the United States during a three year period, interviewing people who attempted suicide and who, through their own hard work and the assiduous care of others, recovered to where their lives were happy and fulfilled, their work and relationships nourishing and rewarding. He did this because he felt that an essential piece of the human narrative – how people overcome tremendous emotional challenges – was missing in our conversations. Some years ago, he wrote the book, Waking Up, Alive: The Descent, the Suicide Attempt and the Return to Life, and, in the process, discovered the steps and stages of how people begin to recover happiness and balance from a turbulent life. The book is being re-released as an e-book and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Over the last ten years we have witnessed the suicide rate in the military double. More firearms are used in suicides than homicides. The third leading cause of death among young people between the ages of 15 and 24 is suicide. It’s time for a vibrant national conversation about how we overcome adversity and go on to lead happy, healthy lives. Join us.