Turning Towards Life - a Thirdspace podcast

When something difficult or unwelcome happens, there are many reasons for us to contract away from our lives in an attempt to control what we're feeling. It's a kind of self-protection, yes, but can also be a kind of violence to ourselves. And it often cuts us off from what could most support us, open us, and hold us. So how about  learning to connect to the memory of our vastness, and our intimacy with all of life, when we are triggered to retreat? This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about remembering the ways in which we already belong to life, and what might come from that; hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Lizzie, and written by Jasmina Zukan: When the unexpected hit Comes Allow Its raw violence To force the air Out of your lungs From the inside out Let it shatter Your heart into Million pieces Watch it blow Your center away Like it was nothing More than a dune In a desert sand Fall into nothingness As you feel the ground Being pulled under you Be still As a sailing boat On a windless sea And surrender To The One Who created you The first time To Him we belong And to Him we return And only He Creates us Again And again Each time more beautiful Surrender And witness His work Of making You Whole Again And flow In His Mercy And Love And love Jasmina Zukan Photo by Peter Fogden on Unsplash

So much of what we're afraid of is inside us... we're afraid of the feelings that will come with shame, or with grief, or if we really let ourselves feel the scale of our love or our longing or our hurt. And often our fear is, itself, a way not to feel what we imagine we won't be able to tolerate feeling. So what happens if, instead of treating all these experiences as terrors, we start to see them as, in their deepest essence, something helpless in us that really wants our love? This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about staying with one another while we discover what there is to feel, and learning not to turn away from the parts of ourselves that are trying to protect us while they, secretly, long for our love; hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Justin, and written by Rainer Maria Rilke: If we adjust our life to the principle which advises us that we must always attach ourselves to what is difficult, then that which now still appears to us most strange, will become our most familiar and loyal friend. How can we forget that old myth, which is to be found at the beginning of all peoples—the myth of the dragon, which at the last moment changes into a princess? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love. So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloudshadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you. -Rainer Maria Rilke - Letters to a Young Poet Photo by Jéan Béller on Unsplash

"The opposite of life is not death", writes Caitlin Johnstone, "The opposite of life is habit." So how, we wonder in this conversation, can we invest the ordinariness of life with the reverence and awe that calls to us? How might we find that aspect of ourselves, in our vast inner landscapes, that is neither our reactivity nor our defensiveness, but is itself life looking out at life in wonder? This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about the difficult and liberating possibility of choosing to live in the midst of all that we might turn away from, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Lizzie, and written by Caitlin Johnstone. The Alive Ones The opposite of life is not death. The opposite of life is habit. One who moves from cradle to grave in the flip book illusion we call time without deeply attending to this cavalcade of miracles is one who never lived. Lifeless are they who live by habit, who walk by habit, who sit by habit, who see by habit, who think by habit, who feel by habit. Lifeless are they who drift through on dead patterns instead of giving the omnipresent Holiness its due reverence. The alive ones meet each moment like a dog greets its master at the door after work. They do not think: they wonder. They do not watch: they marvel. They do not walk: they adventure. They do not sit: they engage. They do not wait: they worship. Awe was never meant to be exceptional. Awe is the only sane response to this mess. The alive ones know this. The alive ones live this. The mundane does not exist for them. The ordinary is a fairy tale told by the lifeless to which the alive listen with rapt fasciation. They take in breath with the passion of a lover in bed. They entertain light in their retinas like a beloved guest. They merrily lose every war with the world. They dance without music in the frozen food aisle. They go out into the rain with bare feet and empty wine glasses. They greet every experience with exuberant curiosity, and as death approaches it receives that same greeting. And when they are gone those they leave behind will be saddened but fulfilled, and so very grateful, to have known one who truly showed up here. Caitlin Johnstone Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash

How can we cultivate a real, mature kind of gratefulness that keeps opening us to both the wonder of life and the suffering and difficulty that's here? A gratefulness that doesn't seek to cover over anything at all, but instead awakens our care, skilfulness, and capacity to step into the world with the action that is called for? This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about having love be what holds our care, fear, hope, anger and defensiveness so that we can turn deeper into life rather than turning away, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Justin, and written by Joanna Macy. And the Spiral Begins Again Just to live is holy To be is a blessing -- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel We have received an inestimable gift. To be alive in this beautiful, self-organising universe - to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it - is a wonder beyond words. Gratitude quiets the frantic mind and brings us back to source. It reconnects us with basic goodness and our personal power. It helps us to be more fully present to our world. That grounded present provides the psychic space for acknowledging the pain we carry for our world… We begin to know the immensity of our heart-mind, and how it helps us move beyond fear… The truth of our inter-existence, made real to us by our pain for the world, helps us see with new eyes. It brings fresh understandings of who we are and how we are related to each other and the universe. We begin to comprehend our own power to change and heal. We strengthen by growing living connections with past and future generations, and our brother and sister species. Then, ever again, we go forth into the action that calls us… Even when we don’t succeed in a given venture, we can be grateful for the chance we took and the lessons we learned. And the spiral begins again. Joanna Macy, from ‘World as Lover, World As Self’ Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

What does it take to allow ourselves to be who we are, and to allow other people to be who they are? What happens when we relate to one another from a deep respect for our own goodness, power and care, and a deep respect for the goodness, power and care of others? This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about the possibility of being in relationship in a way that allows us to bring the world alive for one another, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Lizzie, and was written by John Welwood: Great Perfection You bring the world alive each moment, In the freshness of your look, Your touch, your waking. Recognise this, your creation, at last. It is always arising anew, In each moment of looking freshly, Letting everything happen as it does, without making something out of it. You thought you were cold and hungry, Wandering lost in an alien place, But now you can see: This world is your light show, Everything shining and shimmering, In the blaze of your presence. Be glad then. Go forth nakedly and claim your royal seat. John Welwood Photo by leonie on Unsplash

We are made for belonging... we are made to be the ones who can hold onto one another with hope and love as we descend into the darkness... and we are made for  discovering in ourselves and one another an indestructable goodness that holds and welcomes all our hurts, all our difficulties, all our confusion. This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about the practices of hopefulness and love we can bring to one another in the midst of whatever we're experiencing, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Justin, and was written by Albert Camus, from his book 'The Stranger' My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realised, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. Truly yours, Albert Camus Photo by Sergey Nikolaev on Unsplash

We all carry wounds and hurts with us into our lives, and we present them to the world in our longing to be seen and to be healed. Perhaps when our hurts are so easily 'out front' we shouldn't be surprised at how often we each get triggered into self-protective and defensive patterns which are at odds with our deeper intentions and longings. But if we could find a way to support one another in hearing not just the wounds but the steady pulse of life that flows beneath all our hurts? This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about being with one another in a way that welcomes all of us home, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Lizzie, and is written by Carrie Newcomer: The Shape of a Heart There are stands of beech trees Covering the hills around my home. They are old companions With bodies like sturdy elephant legs, Smooth and grey With so many wrinkled eyes. Willowy when young, Straight and stately as they age. I laid my hands on one these trees last evening. Flat palmed like a Baptist blessing Putting my ear to the bark Listening for that steady pulse. There is a charred hole about thirty feet up, The evidence of something long-ago A crash of thunder A lightning strike A natural event A blameless bit of bad luck That over time has mostly grown over, Transforming an open wound Into an open space, Shaped exactly like a heart. It is a miracle she survived, Living with and then living into Her most devastating wound, Which the slow process of healing, Created something singular Utterly striking Head scratching wondrous Even beautiful. We stood there together In a quiet kind of kinship, Unconcerned about the ash, Giving off the faint smell of ozone, Listening to the rustle of leaves Nodding as the golden light Slipped over the ridge. by Carrie Newcomer Photo by Anastasia Vityukova on Unsplash

It's in the small acts that we build a life: the way we look at one another, the way we talk to one another, the way we listen. At these times when so much of what we rely upon is being called into question, what does it take for us to see that it's these small acts that also shape who we are? Can we learn to be the ones who, a step at a time, bring to the world exactly what we are longing for? Can we learn to be the ones who relate to one another with the dignity and sacredness that's the possibility for all human beings? This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about reciprocity, kindness and simple acts of mutual recognition, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Justin, and is written by Danusha Laméris Small Kindnesses By Danusha Laméris I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you” when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying. And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass. We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here, have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.” from 'Bonfire Opera', University of Pittsburgh Press http://www.danushalameris.com/ Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

So many of us live in the midst of a harsh narrative of self-criticism and self-doubt, feeling all the ways we imagine we fall short of who we're meant to be in life. But every now and again we might catch a glimpse of something very beautiful in us, something essential, that reminds us that to be a living being in the midst of a living world is always in one way or another to belong, to be at home. How can we remember this life-giving truth from the midst of our forgetting? We have some ideas... with the help of an exquisite poem written by Lizzie's sister Hollie. This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about receiving our lives and letting ourselves be loved, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Lizzie, and is written by Hollie Holden: Some days my soul taps me on the shoulder, A lot. And some days, I ignore her, Over and over again. And then she has to get serious Because she sees how I can get. And she knows I can't resist stopping To look at leaves. And so today, She made a deal with a tree And arranged for this one To land right in front of my feet, Not red, not green, not yellow, not orange, And exquisite in her raindrop gown of Great Change. And while I was admiring her offering, She snuck in a whisper, That sneaky soul of mine: You too are that beautiful to me, you know. Before you Get There, While you feel stuck, In the middle of all the feelings, In the midst of so much change, As you sit in the In Between space Of red, green, yellow, orange. You too are that beautiful to me. Hollie Holden Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

Listening deeply, lovingly and fearlessly to one another is among the most nourishing and life-giving practices we humans can take up, and yet many of us have few places in our lives where we regularly do this. Perhaps that's because laying out a 'table made of listening' for one another, one that is open enough and solid enough and safe enough, calls on us to welcome parts of ourselves and others that we often push away. It turns out that the practice of listening to one another, difficult as it may be to start with, cultivates exactly the kind of welcome of ourselves that allows us to be a welcome to others. And that this is something deeply needed in the world and in our lives right now. This episode of Turning Towards Life is a conversation about conversation, hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace. This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website. Our source this week is brought to us by Justin, and is written by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer:  Setting In every conversation there is a table made of listening. Sometimes the tables are beautiful, solid, clean—the kind that can support anything you put on them. Sometimes, they’re like the tv dinner trays of my childhood— a little rickety, but they’ll do if what’s put on them is light. Sometimes they’re so cluttered that whatever’s placed on their surface is almost immediately lost. Let tonight’s table have a small vase of flowers and a candle perhaps, nothing else. May it be small enough we might see each other’s eyes, might notice every nuance of breath. Whomever I am most nervous to invite, may I invite them. And though the tea is just a metaphor, may I offer. May they accept. - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Photo by Alvin Engler on Unsplash