This Most Unbelievable Life!

Hey all! This episode is a bit of a departure from our usual podcast format. This one is an exclusive Cheri Spiegel production on the topic of Empathy. As Cheri talks through in this episode, unlocking empathy takes a little bit of work, and it takes some skill to fully engage with it throughout a lifetime. Sometimes, when we really look around honestly at the world, as it is, it can break our hearts, and the pain and suffering of it can sometimes be too much to bear all at once. How can we know how much we can engage with it, and act upon it, without falling into despair, shutting it down in response, and turning it off completely? Give Cheri a listen on this one, and see what you think of our framework for engaging with empathy as a lifelong practice to live a full and complete life. Living with empathy is hard work sometimes, but we really do believe that empathy comes naturally to us, and that life really is richer, deeper, and more meaningful with a skillful empathy practice. Of course, this includes self-empathy. More on this in the podcast! Thanks all!

Do we have an interesting episode for you today? Well, we certainly think so! Ironically enough, we didn't intend to discover anything particularly new when we recorded this episode. Instead, we simply planned to share what we learned about the concept of discover through the workshop we've offered entitled "Discover: Exploring Needs as They Emerge In College Contexts." While we did share a bit from that experience, we got an invitation to really explore what it takes to be open to discovery when...a young man knocked on the door of the room we were recording in and asked, curiously enough, where he might be able to learn more about recording a podcast! You'll hear Cheri start to get distracted as she's finishing a sentence and then you'll be treated to Paul and Cheri debriefing the experience and using it as a tool to think through the things we agree one needs to accept if they're going to move into discovery mode! For quick reference, we provide them below here, but listen in to hear us talk through them - and for our most curious recording experience to date! To become a discoverer, you must first meet and accept the following things: Depending upon your background, experiences, and abilities, some of these premises might be more or less difficult to accept.

This is Episode 117 of the This Most Unbelievable Life Podcast! This episode looks at the concept of reflection and its importance as a way of processing and moving us forward in our lives (more traction!). We contrast reflection with rumination, which can cause us just to spin our wheels! Building on our car metaphor, we walk through an exercise we love using in our shared spaces, "The Parking Lot Reflection." If you're interested in using this tool yourself and/or with groups you lead, consider purchasing the PDF and PPT downloads we offer up on the brand new TMUL Etsy Store!

Welcome to Episode 116 of the Podcast! This episode takes a look at our deepening understanding of what it means to have a pause practice. We take a look at instances of when we get to choose to pause, as well as times when pausing is thrust upon us. It's something that we'll all have to engage with eventually. What is the skill set for this?

Hey all! Well, we're back! In this episode, we take some time to catch folks up with all we've been doing over the past 8 months, and to begin to share some of the ideas we've been developing over the past academic year. We're excited to be recording again, and we hope you enjoy this one! If there is a path that we're on in this life that leads to where we want to go, what provides the traction that lets the wheels grip the road to move us forward? Spoiler alert... we say it's compassion. Thanks everybody! Paul and Cheri

Hey folks! This episode was recorded fresh on the heels of our latest Compassion workshop on our campus, and this being at the end of a busy couple of weeks, the conversation is pretty wide ranging! Since we have the tools of practical, embodied compassion in our hearts and minds as we offer workshops to our community, naturally, the conversation reflects on that. This conversation curiously, but somehow naturally, flows into a discussion of the eternal question, “what is all of this?” Give this one a listen and let us know what you think the benefits of a compassion-based life might be as we explore this topic ourselves! Thanks folks! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Aaaaaannnd were back! It was quite a summer for us over here, but not too much of what we were up to was visible - thus, this episode! As we get the creative podcast juices flowing once again, give this one a listen and hear what's been pulling us away from the microphone, and what we're working on as we fire it back up. Thank you for your patience, folks! It's good to be podcasting again! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Episode 112 - "Seeing What Is Around Us, with Honesty" Hey folks! This episode brings us a chat about chapter 3 in Maria Arpa’s book, “Mindfulness at Work.” This chapter, for us anyway, describes where the real work starts! When we turn our magnifying glass to all that is around us in the workplace, or anywhere for that matter, what do we notice, what do we like, and what could use a little attention? We especially like the use of the metaphorical magnifying glass in this chapter. With that, we can see things up close, or we can see them from farther away. Is it the details that we like or don’t like, or is it the whole thing, in its entirety? Let us know what you think about this one! Next time, Chapter 4 - “The Conflicts!” If you’d like to pick up the book, “Mindfulness at Work,” by Maria Arpa, here is a link to the book from the publisher page : https://www.quartoknows.com/ourbooks/bookinfo.aspx?ean=9781782409342&bkey=39221980 Thanks folks! P + C Shoutouts A big shoutout to the Zoom corporation, the makers of some of the best, affordable sound and video equipment out there. Notice that we seem to be into video now! Check us out on YouTube! This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hey folks! In this episode, we talk through Chapter 2 of Maria Arpa’s book, “Mindfulness at Work.” The title of this chapter, “Freedom & Sustainability,” seems to us to be about how we might find a way to operate in a joyful, mostly resistance-free way in the structure of our workplace. We live with this contrast between doing what we want, and needing to pay the bills. How do we find a middle ground in this that might be more than merely acceptable? Can we find ways to do the work we love to do AND hold a steady job, or does that require a total change in the container in which we operate? Give this one a listen and let us know what you think! Next time, Chapter 3 - “The Honest Audit!” If you’d like to pick up the book, “Mindfulness at Work,” by Maria Arpa, here is a link to the book from the publisher page : https://www.quartoknows.com/ourbooks/bookinfo.aspx?ean=9781782409342&bkey=39221980 Thanks folks! P + C Shoutouts A big shoutout to the Zoom corporation, the makers of some of the best, affordable sound and video equipment out there. Notice that we seem to be into video now! Check us out on YouTube! This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hey folks! In this episode, we talk through Chapter 1 of Maria Arpa’s book, “Mindfulness at Work.” The title of this chapter, “Wake Up & Smell the Coffee,” seems to us to be about acknowledgement. It starts with the acknowledgement that we are where we are in the workplace because we accepted things as they were, made decisions, even unconscious ones, on how to best operate in the environment we found ourselves in, and reacted and responded to situations as a result of the causes and conditions of our lives. As Maria Arpa writes, “By remembering and acknowledging those experiences, you will understand their effect on the choices you have made about work and can begin to take steps to remedy this.” Give this one a listen and let us know what you think! Next time, Chapter 2 - “Freedom and Sustainability!” If you’d like to pick up the book, “Mindfulness at Work,” by Maria Arpa, here is a link to the book from the publisher page : https://www.quartoknows.com/ourbooks/bookinfo.aspx?ean=9781782409342&bkey=39221980 Thanks folks! P + C Shoutouts A big shoutout to the Zoom corporation, the makers of some of the best, affordable sound and video equipment out there. Notice that we seem to be into video now! Check us out on YouTube! This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hi Everybody! We have a bonus episode for you this time! It’s just a little short one to let you in on what’s been going on over here at the TMUL shop. Long story short… acknowledging limitations! There are times in our lives when we discover that we can’t do it all (blah blah blah - the same words we’ve heard all our lives). We do hit limitations sometimes, and as we discovered this month, until we can acknowledge our limitations, we can never be free. That’s the message of this one. How do we acknowledge our limitations and be ok with them? On the one hand, we want to do great and be invincible. On the other hand, we’re humans… humans with limitations. For the long story long, check this bonus episode out, and let us know what you think! We’ll be back with the longform regular programming soon. Take care, folks! P + C Shoutouts Last week we had a shoutout to Zoom Corp - the A/V hardware company. This week, a mad props to Zoom the software company, without whom this episode, and many other podcasts by awesome creators around the world wouldn’t be possible. This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hey folks! This episode marks the first in a seven-part series where we discuss the book, “Mindfulness at Work,” by Maria Arpa. As we work to bring our contemplative practices more fully developed into all aspects of our lives, we naturally ask, “how might we do this at work?” What we do on nights and weekends is one thing, what we do on the job, however… is that something else altogether? Or might these mindful awareness practices apply to all aspects of our lives? It’s easy to be mindful while engaging in leisure activities or perhaps during times of rest, but during the majority of your waking, workday hours? What does that look like? This week we discuss the introduction of the book and the history of why we’ve chosen this one as the subject of conversation. Also, if you would like to join us in this experience, you too may pick up a copy of the book and come along on this journey with us. You could even start your own Mindfulness at Work book group at your place of employment! That’s what we’ve done! If you’d like to join in with us, here is a link to the book from the publisher page : https://www.quartoknows.com/ourbooks/bookinfo.aspx?ean=9781782409342&bkey=39221980 Thanks folks! P + C Shoutouts A big shoutout to the Zoom corporation, the makers of some of the best, affordable sound and video equipment out there. Notice that we seem to be into video now! Check us out on YouTube! This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

What, indeed, is the advantage of embracing the practices of mindfulness in the workplace? So often, we hear of businesses and organizations promoting mindfulness at work, and working on ways to institutionalize mindful approaches and activities, such as yoga, meditation breaks, and other holistic invitations. Is a 10 minute breathing break in the middle of the workday what we really need, though? In this episode, we talk through what it might mean to change our workplace experiences in a more complete and personal way by using awareness of communication with our colleagues and ourselves as the actual framework for workplace wellness. Can we actually ask for compassion in the workplace outright, and how might that request be made to those with whom we work? We hope that you enjoy this episode! Let us know what you think! Link to Grok It Cards - https://groktheworld.com/ P + C Shoutouts A huge TMUL shoutout to our new patron, long-time supporter Jessica! THANK YOU JESSICA!!!! Your support means the world to us! Expect merch soon. :-) This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www .patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

We all have heard about workplace burnout, and there are whole books - many books - written about this topic. We sometimes think that if we REALLY loved our job, and if we were really happy with our work, we wouldn’t ever actually experience burnout. What if, however, occasional bouts with burnout were an inevitable part of any work that we do? If we approach feelings of burnout honestly and with a little compassion and patience, we can see it for what it might truly be - a natural, occasionally inevitable part of what it means to do work. How do we know when it’s time to change course with what we’re doing or how we approach our work? It turns out that occasional feelings of burnout might be a window into this. We hope that you enjoy this episode! Let us know what you think! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

What if compassion in the classroom was the foundation of the environment, rather than something “else” that you “ought” to do as a teacher? So often, we, as academics, are left with the thought that good classroom practices are “something else” that we have to do on top of the content that we teach. In this episode, we talk through the possibility that the content might actually be the second thing that we bring with us, and why the very nature of the classroom environment itself must be the first consideration to attend to, which, if established with compassion and non-violence as first principles, enables true, deep learning to happen. This episode also briefly hits upon a side topic not fully addressed in this episode, but one that has been raging on for years: what, in fact, does a grade in a class represent? Rather than this just being a gathering of opinions, which does have value, we also wonder if folks actually agree on what it is “supposed” to represent. If the goal is mastery of content, then clearly not everyone is starting from the same place, and PRESTO… academic privilege! As such, we explore some clear equity vs. equality conversation in this one, while anticipating that we’ll circle back to this topic for many years, as we see equity and inclusion as active ongoing aims in a complex educational landscape. We hope you like this one! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hey folks! From tea imagery to coffee! Where we go: into the grind! Truth - there are times when our days are easy, and there are times when days are hard. Sometimes we find joy in the daily little things, yet, sometimes what happens is met with resistance. Stuff happens, both expected and unexpected, and we look for opportunities for ease when we can. We also suffer the unexpected struggles when they arise. There’s no avoiding that! In that, we really don’t have too much choice. Easy things and hard things will happen, we promise. When faced with the truth of unpredictability, it can seem like this life is just happening to us, and that we really don’t have any agency in this life. Although unexpected and challenging things happen, what choices can actually be made that can have a meaningful impact in how we show up for what arises? We don’t always get to choose what happens, but we might actually have more options than we realize. Check this episode out, and let us know what you think! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hey all! Question… what do you think of tea? Throughout the course of the day, we drink a lot of tea! We enjoy it in the morning, after class, sometimes during class, in workshops that we host, and in meetings, with friends, colleagues, students, and even on our own. Most of the planning and conversation that we have, between ourselves and with others, starts with, “You want a cup of tea?” Our invitations to others often take the form of, “Join us for tea?” For us, and we suspect for many others, tea holds this special quality that not many other drinks can produce. There indeed seems to be something primal, mystical, or magical, about simple tea. To be clear, this conversation is about more than tea, it gets pretty deep into what we do, who we are, and what makes us tick. It all starts, however, with a cup of tea. Kick back, relax, grab a cup of tea, and give this one a listen and let us know what you think! So, let’s start with tea! Fire up the kettle, y’all! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Here’s an episode about fire! At last! How have two fire signs (one a Leo, the other, Aries) gone this long without tackling this topic? Well, it’s taken us a bit of time to learn to understand our own fire! Check this one out and hear more about how we have come to accept what fuels us and aim our “fire” in ways that help us - and those around us. The truth is that carefully aimed fire can bring life and warmth, while unfocused fire risks burning the whole place to the ground! Check this one out and let us know what fuels you and how you focus that energy in ways that you find sustainable! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hi all! When was the last time you really had to take some time to figure something out? If you’re anything like us, the times when we have the A-HA moments are quick and sudden, but they only really occur as the end of a much longer, more involved investment of time, energy, confusion, familiarizing, and quite often, struggle! Rather than the A-HA moment representing the process of learning, we suggest that the whole process of it - including the awkward, uncomfortable times of fumbling around - represents the learning process. If we put it like that, this means that the struggle, the challenge, the awkward fumbling, and even the frustration that comes with not “figuring it out” more quickly does not represent failure, or slowness, or inadequacy, or anything that one could disparage themselves for! Rather, quite the opposite might be true! To feel the struggle and challenge that comes with learning a new skill or idea IS the learning process itself, in its purest form. It’s that awkward fumbling through that truly represents learning, rather than the A-HA moment at the end. Besides, that A-HA moment really doesn’t last too long before we move onto the next thing. That A-HA moment does feel fantastic though, right? Of course it does. That is the reward we receive for our struggle. Thanks, folks, and keep learning! Discover something new to figure out, and embrace the awkward! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife

Hey folks! Hello beloved podcast listeners! Here it is, at long last (for us anyway!) - podcast episode 100! Question for you…. How do you honor the 100th time you do something? Just like with some other milestones, such as birthdays and New Years’ Day, in many respects it’s just another day. Likewise, in many ways episode 100 is just like any other episode! It has a beginning, a middle, one or several tangents, an ending, and it runs about an hour long. There is, however, a bit of a different feeling with notable episodes like 100, as there are with birthdays and anniversaries. There is cause for a bit of celebration, because that is what we do as humans, and it might actually represent something else. Clearly, it seems… we’re all in! To do 100 of something, we think, means something. That’s not always easy to do! And there have been many times when we’ve started things that can be counted, and didn’t get to 100 before we, or it, flamed out. What does it take then? Or, maybe better put, what does it mean to be all in? Lasting. Staying power. Commitment? Value and meaning? Purposefulness? Importance? Any, or all of these, may be true. We can do things 100 times, but what does it mean to do that with joy? That does tap into something deeper, we think. Yet, there’s another side to facing the sustaining power of something. How do we keep it going - or do more than 100 repetitions of something - without expectations? What’s that? Are you wondering: what’s so bad about expectations??? It turns out that, sometimes, rather than adding something that sounds meaningful, like accountability or validation, we see that those expectations are external to us. To do things from a place of true joy, meaning, purpose, and value, is to do them for ourselves! It’s the doing that is the reward, not the metrics! Expectations can set us up for challenge. Like we know what’s going to happen or something? We find we’re about as good at predicting the future as we can the weather! To release ourselves from expectation is to let go of what we think we know and can control, and to find true freedom in purpose. Surrender to the flow, y’all! And give this one a listen! We’d love to hear what you think! Thanks, folks! P + C This Most Unbelievable Newsletter Signup! If you’d like to get the Official TMUL Newsletter in your email inbox each and every month, click on the link below and sign up! All sorts of nifty tidbits in there in the months to come, including some guided meditations. Here’s the link! https://www.thismostunbelievablelife.com/newsletter Social Media Links Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email Support the Podcast! We'd love your support! If you would like to help out, here is the link to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/thismostunbelievablelife