Contemplify

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love. Ali is taking over reins as host for Contemplify for 5 episodes in this miniseries called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler. This is episode 3 of Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality.

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love. Ali is taking over reins as host for Contemplify for 5 episodes in this miniseries called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler. This is episode 2 of Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality.

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love. Ali is taking over reins as host for Contemplify for 5 episodes in this miniseries called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler. This is episode 1 of Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality.

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love. Over the past couple of years my friendship with Ali has grown, and so has my awe and respect for her passion to cultivate tools, experiences and resources for families seeking to live out an authentic spirituality. In our conversation today, you will get a sense of who Ali Kirkpatrick is and her infectiously generous spirit, the thoughtful questions and embodied practices that form her spirituality, the path that lead her family to find another spiritual community, and the specific lessons she has learned from her kids and husband, and of course why I asked her to consider creating a mini-series for Contemplify specifically focused on family spirituality. It is my distinct pleasure to share this conversation with Ali Kirkpatrick in this episode and then I’ll get out of the way as Ali takes the reins as host for the remaining 5 episodes over the next 5 days of this mini-series called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler.

My guest today is Teresa Pasquale Mateus, a trauma specialist, contemplative practice teacher, author and co-founder of Mystic Soul Project, an organization that engages in a People of Color (POC)  - Centered Approach to Action/Activism and Contemplation/Mysticism. Teresa has written two books, Sacred Wounds: A Path to Healing from Spiritual Trauma and Mending Broken: A Personal Journey Through the Stages of Trauma & Recovery. We cover a lot of ground in our conversation. Teresa shares how the discovery of contemplative practices were integral to her healing process, the significance of language on the spiritual path, her work as a trauma specialist with combat veterans, at Standing Rock and Charlottesville. And lastly, something that I particularly thrilled about, Teresa shares with us about her latest endeavor, Mystic Soul Project and the buzz around the Mystic Soul Conference, a POC-Centered gathering of voices, practices and dialogue on contemplation, action and healing.

If you are a regular listener to the Contemplify podcast, you might be scratching your head and wondering why I am pairing a drink with this conversation. Let me explain. My pal Mark Longhurst runs the top-notch website OrdinaryMystic.net reached out to me some time ago inquiring if I’d ever consider being interviewed on Contemplify so my fellow contemplatives could get a better sense of who I am. I agreed on the condition that Mark be the one to take interviewer reins. So today I am in the hot seat. My guest today...is me and Mark Longhurst is behind the microphone. If you have ever wondered who is this fella that shovels the path to the Contemplify basecamp then this will be a good snapshot. Mark opens the space for me to share my own contemplative journey, answer my favorite interview questions, my fascination (which is the kind way of saying obsession) with a Norwegian author, and to land on my top 3 dream guests. Learn more about Mark Longhurst at OrdinaryMystic.net  and Paul Swanson here at Contemplify.com

"Written with charming simplicity and wry humor, Midlife is a philosophically rich source of what might be called 'the higher life hacks' – reflective ways of dissolving the sense of emptiness and regret that tends to hit each of us with the onset of middle age. A work of disarming wisdom."  - Jim Holt (author of Why Does the World Exist?) Have you ever asked yourself, what would my life have been like if I’d gone down another career path? Or wished you could release some past grudge that sits on your shoulder like a squaking parrot? The Contemplify conversation today revolves around questions of meaning, purpose and regret. My guest today is Kieran Setiya, professor of philosophy at MIT. Our conversation today revolves around his latest book, Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, which outlines a helpful framework for wrestling with existential questions. Kieran Setiya is a philosopher who enjoys witty banter as much as delving into the depths of foundational life questions. In our conversation we dive into the waters of the stereotypes of philosophers, the rules for midlife crisis prevention, what we can learn from John Stuart Mill’s nervous breakdown, and what superman can teach us about the afterlife. What makes Kieran’s book Midlife sing is his curiosity and succinct wordsmithing that gleefully ushers you along through the difficult internal terrain. Which you will get a taste of in this conversation. Midlife is for any of you in the early stages, the thrush, or retrospect of the midlife years. Midlife creates a framework for the dizzying existential questions that arrive from new angles as the years accumulate. Learn more about Kieran Setiya a ksetiya.net.

“Who touches this touches a man. Incredibly moving, risk-taking, original, and deep. I was in tears a number of times while reading it. Magnificent.” - Barry Spacks Teddy Macker is a guileless poet who incarnates the beauty and struggle of both the internal and external landscapes of this world we share. I would be lying if I didn’t say that one of my new life goals is buy Teddy a Lagunitas IPA and shoot the bull on all of life’s matter late into the evening. Macker is quick to laugh, invoke the wisdom of elders, and see the truth in and lurking behind boulders and cottonwood trees.  His book of poetry, This World, is masterful. Like Barry Spacks' words regarding (mentioned above) This World, tears will find you as you saunter through Macker’s poetry, and you will find yourself returning to it time and again. In this conversation, Teddy and I talk about Barry Spacks’ impact on him, how he holds the sacred and the sensual hand in hand, we bond over our mutual love for the music of Greg Brown, and of course, we are privileged with Teddy reading us some of his poems from This World. You can learn more about Teddy by reading This World. (Please excuse the number of links to purchase This World, I am just such a big admirer of this book and man that I think everyone should have a copy. Buy yours here.)

“Mark, reading the poetry of Teddy Macker who I will interview on Monday. His poetry stops time. Equal parts Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, St. Francis and yet completely his own man. I can't recommend enough him. His 'poem for my daughter' was my gateway, and the tears haven't stopped since. I've put a copy of his book, This World, in the mail for you. Best read in the still of night when the boys are in bed and a taste of whisky is not far from your lips.” What you just heard was a text I sent my brother before I interviewed the orchardist, college lecturer and poet, Teddy Macker. This mini-episode is just a taste of Teddy’s poetry. My full interview with Teddy Macker will be released tomorrow (and it includes more poems too). So for now, sit back, sip on something slowly and let Teddy’s words wash over you. Here is Teddy Macker reading ‘A Poem for My Daughter’ from his book, This World.

The winding road of life leads you to beautiful vistas and the shallows of hardship. Tracy Cochran shares her experiences of the vistas and the shallows in our conversation. We touch on the practices that enliven us, vulnerability as a superpower and how she got involved in her work at Parabola Magazine. One thing that particularly struck me about Tracy, was her incredible capacity for deep listening. After hearing our conversation, you will bear witness to the depth that she shares in her words, written or spoken.  Tracy Cochran is the editorial director of Parabola magazine, a magazine holds the sweet spot of being the meeting ground for all of the world’s great spiritual traditions, as they illuminate the central questions of human existence. Tracy’s articles have appeared in all of the best publications, she teaches mindfulness meditation and mindful writing classes. You can learn more about Tracy and her work at tracycochran.org and parabola.org.