Turning Towards Life - a Thirdspace podcast

We are far from powerless… though we often we imagine we are. And neither are we able to control how life goes… though we often long to be able to. Our making ourselves too small or too big rarely serves life. So what would it be to find a way to be in a responsive partnership with life itself - acting into life and then opening ourselves to life’s response, bringing the qualities we have to offer as humans and letting ourselves be changed by what comes? This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. Episode Overview 00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Turning Towards Life 02:50 The Emergence of a Collective Self 06:07 Exploring Uncertainty and Aliveness 09:05 Navigating the Unknown: Embracing Change 11:50 The Dance of Certainty and Uncertainty 15:07 Partnership with Life: Making Our Moves 17:50 The Nature of Human Qualities in Crisis 20:57 Reflective Practice and Self-Discovery 24:00 Being Human in Uncertainty 26:49 Closing Reflections and Gratitude Here’s our source for this week: We look with uncertainty We look with uncertainty beyond the old choices for clear-cut answers to a softer, more permeable aliveness which is every moment at the brink of death; for something new is being born in us if we but let it. We stand at a new doorway, awaiting that which comes… daring to be human creatures, vulnerable to the beauty of existence. Learning to love. Anne Hillman Photo by Karissa Mason on Unsplash --- Join Us Live in 2026 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 Keywords: uncertainty acceptance, essential qualities, human aliveness, partnership with life, permeable existence, doorway metaphor, vulnerable beauty, reflective practice, present moment awareness, control letting go, death brink living, softness cultivation, new birth allowing, offering making, response receiving, qualities emerging, steadfastness courage, generous heart, human goodness, unpredictability embracing, participation dance, life partnership, essential self, turning towards life, relationship reflection

A conversation about imagination as essential aliveness—and how treating life as purely literal diminishes our humanity. A great human power lies in choosing which story we live from, recognising that even dead ends become part of a larger narrative of redemption. What would change if we approached each day wondering along which secret aqueduct new life might be flowing toward us? This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. Episode Overview 00:00 Embracing Life's Multitudes 02:56 Gathering in Community 05:50 Machado’s Poem Last Night as I Was Sleeping 08:58 Imagining New Possibilities 11:59 Turning Towards Joy and Failure 14:53 The Imaginative Act of Being Human 17:47 Finding Connection in Shared Experiences 20:50 The Invitation to Storytelling 23:45 Practicing Presence and Openness Here’s our source for this week: Last night, as I was sleeping       Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt -- marvellous error!— that a spring was breaking out in my heart. I said: Along which secret aqueduct, Oh water, are you coming to me, water of a new life that I have never drunk?      Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt -- marvellous error!— that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.      Last night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt -- marvellous error!— that a fiery sun was giving light inside my heart. It was fiery because I felt warmth as from a hearth, and sun because it gave light and brought tears to my eyes.      Last night, as I slept, I dreamt -- marvellous error!— that it was God I had here inside my heart. Antonio Machado English version by Robert Bly Original Language Spanish Photo by Vivek Doshi on Unsplash ---- Join Us Live in 2025 Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from 10 September 2025 Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons from September. It's going to be 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 Keywords: marvellous error, secret aqueduct, golden bees, sweet honey, old failures, imaginative capacity, turning towards life, heart opening, sacred aliveness, storytelling power, redemption possibility, fiery warmth, divine presence, new life water, creative interpretation, dream consciousness, life-giving conversation, spiritual recognition, meaning making, transformation language, wonder invitation, possibility thinking, cynicism rejection, literal thinking, narrative choice People Mentioned: Antonio Machado (Spanish poet, author of the poem) Robert Bly (translator of the poem) Roger Housden (author of "Ten Poems to Change Your Life") Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer (podcast host of "Emerging Form") Christie Aschwanden (podcast host of "Emerging Form") Emerging Form Episode 146, Maria Kelson on Switching Genres https://emergingform.substack.com/p/episode-146-maria-kelson-on-switching

We spend so much energy trying to think our way to insight, yet a fuller understanding of our lives often arrives from somewhere beyond the usual way we know ourselves. When our hands are busy with ordinary tasks something vast can sometimes settle into awareness. What happens when we discover that our bodies know a kinship with the earth our minds may have forgotten? Could belonging be less about finding our place and more about recognising we never left it? This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. Episode Overview 00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life 03:03 Exploring the Source: Of Gravity and Light 05:43 The Significance of Menial Tasks 08:47 The Relationship Between Thinking and Receiving 11:45 Belonging and Recognition 14:43 Connection and Community 17:44 The Mystery of Existence and Our Place in It 20:59 The Importance of Acknowledging Our Already Existing Ways of Belonging 23:43 Creating a Sense of Belonging in the World 26:55 Conclusion and Invitations Here’s our source for this week: Of Gravity and Light  What we need most, we learn from the menial tasks: the novice raking sand in Buddhist texts, or sweeping leaves, his hands chilled to the bone, while understanding hovers out of reach; the changeling in a folk tale, chopping logs, poised at the dizzy edge of transformation; and everything they do is gravity: swaying above the darkness of the well to haul the bucket in; guiding the broom; finding the body’s kinship with the earth beneath their feet, the lattice of a world where nothing turns or stands outside the whole; and when the insight comes, they carry on with what’s at hand: the gravel path; the fire; knowing the soul is no more difficult than water, or the fig tree by the well that stood for decades, barren and inert, till every branch was answered in the stars. John Burnside Photo by Merri J on Unsplash ---- Join Us Live in 2025 Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from 10 September 2025 Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons from September. It's going to be 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 Keywords menial tasks, ordinary moments, body kinship, earth connection, belonging fully, inner mystery, thinking patterns, gravity metaphor, physical presence, everyday insights, transformation edge, soul simplicity, cultural belonging, human mystery, inclusion practice, overthinking habits, fearful analysis, mindful walking, dish washing, leaf sweeping, grounded presence, mysterious depths, embodied wisdom, life belonging, earthly home People Mentioned John Burnside - The poet whose work "Of Gravity and Light" is discussed throughout the episode

What if we recognised that every single thing we do - and everything we avoid doing - is quietly shaping us into the kind of person we're becoming? A conversation about discovering that we're already practising something all the time, whether we realise it or not, and that our choices about where to place our attention might be more consequential than we imagine. What would it mean to get good at the things that truly matter to us, or to surprise and widen ourselves by practicing new things that are outside of our familiar, comfortable range? This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. Episode Overview 00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Turning Towards Life 02:21 The Importance of Time and Choices 05:37 Practicing What Matters: Insights from Chloe Caldwell 10:08 The Impact of Our Practices on Our Lives 15:07 Awareness of Time and Intentions 19:09 The Role of Social Media in Shaping Us 24:28 Exploring New Practices and Joyful Experimentation 32:32 The Value of External Perspectives on Our Practices 38:01 Conclusion and Reflection on Our Practices Here’s our source for this week: You Get Good at What You Do My dad passed away last December, and he was in the top three closest people to me over my life. He used to have a phrase he used with his guitar students: “You get good at what you do. If you practice guitar, you get really good at guitar. If you don’t practice, you get really good at not practicing.” I love this phrase because you can apply it to every single thing in life, in ways both literal and abstract. If you write, you get good at writing If you look at Instagram, you get good at looking at Instagram. If you walk, you get good at walking. If you swim, you get good at swimming. If you write, you get good at writing. If you don’t write, you get really good at not writing. If you look at Instagram, you get REALLY good at looking at Instagram. I think my dad’s lesson seeped into my brain from hearing him say it so much. It wasn’t advice as much as a notion. Now I pass it along to my students and think about it once a day. It seems simple and like something we all know, logically, but the way it is phrased really drives it home. When he died, one of his guitar students wrote, “Rob was good at love and music. It’s what he did.” Chloé Caldwell via Cheryl Strayed’s Substack Photo by Majkl Velner on Unsplash ---- Join Us Live in 2025 Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from 10 September 2025 Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons from September. It's going to be 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 Keywords practising consciousness, attention choices, time dedication, intentional living, habit formation, social media impact, parenting practices, body movement, dance therapy, five rhythms, creative experimentation, relationship awareness, coaching practice, value alignment, present moment, death awareness, guitar teaching, love practice, Instagram scrolling, screen time, movement practice, flexible being, meeting world, self observation, community feedback, practice visibility, tender awareness, blind spots, coaching skills, professional development, turning towards life People Mentioned Cheryl Strayed Chloé Caldwell The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)

How do we attend to the something in each of us that longs to break free through the cracks of our self-image? A conversation about discovering that sacred uniqueness within ourselves and others in the everyday mundane acts of living, loving, working and being genuinely present with one another. This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. Episode Overview 00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life 02:50 The Singing Bird: A Poetic Exploration 06:03 Longing and Creativity: Uncovering the Singing Bird 08:57 The Unique Expression of Each Of Us 12:00 Navigating Self-Criticism and Inquiry 14:50 Vulnerability and Authenticity in Relationships 18:07 Embracing the Messiness of Life 21:08 The Complexity of Human Experience 23:56 The Interconnectedness of Our Stories 26:50 The Importance of Community and Conversation 30:02 Conclusion and Looking Ahead Here’s our source for this week: The Singing Bird The singing bird I have a hundred ways  Of keeping the singing bird Pushed down, Hidden,  Anaesthetised, Comfort-numb, Silenced.  But I have learned  How easily she  Can break free And Sing Anyway.  She sneaks out  Through the cracks That get made  By laughter And poetry And art And honesty And dancing And sunshine.  I wonder if you know  The ways you keep the singing bird Quiet?  And if you know how to forget yourself  So that she can sneak out And remind you of the song  You’ve always wanted to sing. Hollie Holden Photo by Lukáš Kadava on Unsplash ---- Join Us Live in 2025 Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from 17 September 2025 Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons from September. It's going to be 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. ---- 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 Keywords singing bird, creative expression, authentic presence, vulnerability sharing, sacred uniqueness, forget yourself, honest presence, creative practice, inner critic, right sizing, vast universe, cultural expectations, sacred something, judgement softening, unfolding process, kerfuffle acceptance, contactful being, depth confidence, whoness discovery, messy glory, genuine presence, practical spirituality, learning process, turning towards life, creative longing, existential wondering People Mentioned Hollie Holden (author of this week's source)

The hosts delve into how our identities are shaped by the stories we tell ourselves and explore the freedom found in embracing uncertainty. They reflect on Rilke's poetry and the idea of living in 'widening circles,' inviting listeners to reconsider what it means to be human. Discussions about vulnerability highlight the beauty of personal growth and deep connections, emphasizing the importance of community in navigating life’s complexities. Ultimately, the conversation celebrates the mystery of existence and the transformative power of self-discovery.

What happens when we choose to actively shape our own identity rather than only accept the stories handed down to us? How might we practice distinguishing between what belongs to us and what we've been told we should be? What becomes possible when we see ourselves as authors of our own ways of being in life? This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. Episode Overview 00:00 Introduction to the Conversation 03:18 Reading Maya Angelou's 'Phenomenal Woman' 08:01 Exploring Identity 11:07 The Invitation of Authenticity 16:03 Rejecting the Algorithm: Embracing Authorship 21:16 The Inquiry into Who We Might Be 26:25 Finding Belonging in Authenticity 30:01 The Call to Pay Attention to Life Here’s our source for this week: Phenomenal Woman Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They try so much But they can’t touch My inner mystery. When I try to show them, They say they still can’t see. I say, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need for my care. ’Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Maya Angelou Photo by Chris on Unsplash ---- Join Us Live in 2025 Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from September 2025 We also have the launch of our Turning Towards Life live programme which is going to run in six month seasons from September. It's going to be 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 register your interest for Season 1 of Turning Towards Life Live here. ---- 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 watch live and 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, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify. Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife Keywords phenomenal woman, inner mystery, self-making beings, authentic choices, conditioned narratives, cultural expectations, embodied identity, ancestral patterns, algorithmic conformity, gender stereotypes, truthful living, belonging to life, mysterious aliveness, elder wisdom, fierce invitation, active authorship, realness inquiry, powerful presence, liberation permission, identity deviation, life-giving stories, genuine aliveness, source of power, community belonging, truthful emergence

We are much more powerful than we often imagine, and in surprising ways. For most of us, our power is not in being remembered long beyond our lifetimes, or in being able to change the world that is far from us. It is rather in that we are each made by one another, and we make one another, by how we live, what we say, how we listen, and how we act. When we start to see that we are literally making a world for others to live in right here and now, in our every way of conducting ourselves it can open great possibilities both for gratitude and wonder, and great responsibilities for us as parents, friends, colleagues and neighbours in our everyday lives. In this conversation we remember Joanna Macy, whose writing we have featured a number of times, who died on July 19. And we talk together about what it is to be ‘good soil’ for one another, so that we get to make a world together that we want to live in.This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. Episode Overview 00:00 Introduction and Context Setting 02:59 Nature as a Narrative for Human Life 05:59 Reflections on Mortality and Legacy 08:50 The Interconnectedness of Human Experience 11:54 Being Soil for One Another 14:49 Relationships and Community 18:07 Parenting and World Making 21:06 Cultural Narratives that Limit and Bring to Life 23:49 Conclusion Here’s our source for this week: In Honor of Joanna Macy, 1929-2025 I write while staying in one of the great forests of British Columbia, a forest in which the inextricability of life from death is gorgeously evident… Magnificent fallen trees turn back into soil as younger trees reach downward to twine around their ancestors' trunks and upward toward the sky. The roots growing around and gripping these decaying logs look like veins and tentacles and fingers clutching and reaching toward an anchor in the soil. Some of the mature cedars and conifers stand on mounds that must be fully decayed trees or rather once were trees and are further along in the process of becoming soil. Often a great tree that's fallen over still has at its base a tall shield that is its roots still clinging to rounded stones and soil, and from this the trunk stretches across the earth. These trees from which trees grow are known as nurse logs… When I was younger, I was taught what an artist or writer was supposed to aspire to was immortality, the kind that Dante and Li Po and Shakespeare have, so that in centuries to come memory of your name and attention to your creations continue. Later in life, I realized that there was an entirely different thing to aspire to, an entirely different kind of creative success: to be so much part of your own time, of the present that is making the future, that rather than remaining what people think about, you become in some way how people think, how they value, what they prioritize. You stop being what's in front of their eyes and become part of what is behind their eyes, how they see the world, how they live, act, what they aspire to, what they hold close, what they resist. You become a nurse log on which new life can grow as you compost into the soil we call culture. And maybe this is the mindset of moist places, of an ecology of vivid decay and regeneration rather than of the arid places, where death dessicates and the mummies, skeletons, ruins, Dead Sea Scrolls, last for centuries or millennia. Rebecca Solnit, writing in memory of Joanna Macy 1929-2025 From ‘Meditations in an Emergency’, Rebecca’s ongoing public writing for these times Photo by Tomas Martinez on Unsplash ---- Join Us Live in 2025 Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from September 2025 We also have the launch of our Turning Towards Life live programme which is going to run in six month seasons from September. It's going to be 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 register your interest for Season 1 of Turning Towards Life Live here. ---- 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 watch live and 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, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify. Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife Keywords nurse logs, creative success, soil culture, interpenetrating lives, mortality meaning, forest metaphor, humility humus, world making, parenting soil, cultural foundation, death regeneration, collective memory, individual legacy, spiritual ecology, creative immortality, ancestral roots, living decay, fertile ground, cultural inheritance, generational impact, everyday power, relationship making, invisible influence, natural cycles, human connection

Explore the transformative journey of self-awareness through the Enneagram, a tool that helps uncover blind spots in our personalities. The hosts share personal stories, highlighting the power of recognizing patterns that can hinder growth. Discover how embracing our shadows can lead to deeper connections and authenticity. Insights into human nature and the quest for inner treasures reveal the gifts we often overlook. This conversation invites listeners to wake up from their 'zombie' states and live more consciously.

Dive into a heartfelt exploration of aging, illness, and mortality. Discover how embracing our fears can transform them into empowering allies. The speakers reflect on the shared human experience, urging us to connect deeply and authentically with one another. Engaging with profound questions, they emphasize the importance of meaningful conversations and community connection. By acknowledging our vulnerabilities, we can cultivate compassion, making every moment of being alive resonate with realness and aliveness.