Wintering is the process of resting and withdrawing in dark, or fallow, periods, respecting the rhythm of the cycles of nature and the role of winter. A lost art in a summer-based culture. British author Katherine May writes: “There are gaps in the mesh of the everyday world, and sometimes they open up and you fall through them to somewhere else..into a sad and lonely and isolated place." These gaps may open from the loss of a loved one, difficult childbirth, illness, the loss of a job, failure in love and so on.In this chat, Katherine and I go deep and gentle, on creating space (as opposed to time) to reflect, “enjoying” sadness and how to carve out a meaningful life when you have a chronic illness (and autism). Katherine’s wild idea is that returning to a cyclical - rather than forever-reaching linear – view of the human experience is how we can bring about the healing and guidance we need in such dark and sad times. Learn more about Katherine here Buy her book WinteringKatherine's next book, Enchantment, will be published in 2023.Find out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can’t make sense of the world anymore, right? How can we when our leaders lie, the media publishes non-truths, conspiracies spread faster than facts and the algorithms favour bullshit? Recently, I’ve started following a “Sensemaking movement” of philosophers, renegades, sociologists and psychologists who are trying to return the world to truthfulness. And it excites me no end! Sensemaking is a very fun and dynamic set of theories and techniques for sorting truth from lies and also for ensuring we live truthfully ourselves. While I was in London, I sat down with BBC filmmaker David Fuller who founded Rebel Wisdom – THE international hub for this movement - to do something a little different. I got him to run us through a 101 on how to sense-make. We cover lies v bullshitting (and how bullshitting is more dangerous) the Boris/Scott/Donald travesty (all bullshitters), sovereignty and arguing with climate sceptics. Along the way he gives a brilliant overview of what really is the most exciting and wild “wisdom” movement to emerge in decades. I feel this is a really important episode for where I’ll be taking this Wild ride in the coming months.Join the Rebel Wisdom community and look out for their upcoming Sensemaking 101 courseFind out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He famously wrote the New York magazine essay that told us “it is worse, much worse than you think” and painted an apocalyptic picture of an “Uninhabitable Earth” by 2100.The essay, which became the #1 New York Times bestseller 'The Uninhabitable Earth', singlehandedly shook the world into “OK, we’re officially freaked out” mode.But five years on, is the climate emergency as bad as David Wallace-Wells initially portrayed? Will Manhattan be underwater? Will there be half as much food, twice as much war and hundreds of millions of climate refugees? David, now one of the most well-known climate voices in the world, joins me to adjust his initial prognosis. Strap in for this one…it’s an important and confronting (yet hopeful) ride.Read the original The Uninhabitable Earth essay hereOr get The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future on AmazonYou can sign up for David’s New York Times newsletter hereFind out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on InstagramSubscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter: https://sarahwilson.substack.com/Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious Life: https://amzn.to/3vs3tf2Connect on Instagram: www.instagram.com/_sarahwilson_  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She spent two years and three months in a brutal Iranian prison. In solitary confinement for half of it. For a crime that was entirely made up. The Melbourne University lecturer was attending a conference in Iran when she was randomly captured at the airport and charged with “espionage” based on zero evidence.How do you survive such horror? How do you cope with living in a cell with nothing but a scrap of carpet for a year? Not knowing if anyone knows your whereabouts, waiting to be hanged? What is the internal voice that gets you through?Kylie Moore-Gilbert has one of the most incredible stories I’ve heard.In this interview, she is generously open and raw about the mind techniques that can get a human through untold hardship, how she found joy and forgiveness amid it all, how she wrote her book in her head while in prison, and what is left when we lose it all.You can follow Kylie on InstagramFind out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on InstagramI highly recommend buying Kylie’s book The Uncaged SkyThe other book we mention in the chat is Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.Listen to Dr Jud Brewer’s chat about curiosity.Find out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I really love the wild theory we explore in this episode. About 1500 years ago some obscure Catholic pope declared we probably shouldn’t marry our cousin. And from here the “West” was born. A psychologically peculiar subset of humanity then rose to dominate the planet, namely western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic folk. You know, WEIRD people. You and I. Joseph Henrich is a Harvard professor in evolutionary biology who took 10 years to research this truly Zeitgeist-shifting theory. Today he explains how the arrogant assumption that we are the “normal” ones has led to some very bizarre stuff – whether we pay parking tickets, how much testosterone we have and whether we feel shame or guilt when we do wrong.Connect with Dr Henrich’s work here.Get hold of his fun book The Weirdest People In The World Find out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I have been wanting to talk blokedom for a very long time: How and why it defines so much about Australia; how it excludes and masks the existence of class inequalities; and how it holds us back as a nation. The myth of the larrikin bloke is something writer Lech Blaine has been studying for some time. Hailing from a very working class background in Toowoomba, Queensland, he went on to be the first person in his extended family to go to university. He wrote a Quarterly Essay in September last year titled Top Blokes: The larrikin Myth, Class and Power (which I highly recommend reading). And in this month’s Monthly magazine he has written an epic overview of the election, which assesses Scott Morrison's demise as a reflection of the need to move on from the "top bloke" trope. The wild idea on the table this episode: Might it be time to kill off this sexist, racist myth...and move forward to better and fairer and kinder?Find out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1992 Julia Cameron published a book that saw the whole world (it seemed) suddenly writing "morning pages", these free-from diary entries that unblocked creativity. The Artist's Way was the title and it became a global bestseller in 40 languages. Alicia Keys, John Cleese and Tim Ferris are fans; Elizabeth Gilbert wrote, “Without The Artist’s Way there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love.” Julia has had a wild life – she wrote for Rolling Stone magazine at the height of New Journalism. She was married to Martin Scorsese and collaborated with him on several films and also struggled with a cocaine and alcohol addiction. Now 74, she’s written her 41st book, Seeking Wisdom, which brings in the spiritual act of asking for guidance as another tool for unblocking creativity. Julia’s new book Seeking Wisdom is out now Purchase HereYou can check out her creative work via her websiteIn this ep I also mention my interview about curiosity with DR JUD BREWER and my chat with SETH GODIN about the artist process, if you want to go check them out.Find out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this brain-bending ep we explore this wild idea: are there good brains and can we find a way to use them to save the planet. My guest is Professor George Paxinos AO, the world’s leading brain expert. The 78-year-old Greek-Australian is the most famous scientist you’ve never heard of – he’s identified and named more parts of the brain than anyone in history. He’s also a climate activist (and cycling activist!) and spent 21 years writing his latest book, River Divided, a novel about (ready for it) a female scientist who clones Jesus. The resulting twin boys go on to wrestle the climate crisis via the moral compass of The Son of God. So wild! You can order River Divided and read a free chapter here.Find out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheena Iyengar’s The Art of Choosing – the book and the wildly popular TED talk – posits a profoundly paradoxical idea. Despite what we might think, we don’t like choice, or at least not too much of it. Which is why arranged marriages lead to more lasting love than “romantic” marriages and ALDI stocks one version of everything. To make the best decisions in our lives, there is a “magic number” of options we should aim for…and it’s less than you think. The Columbia University pscho-economist is famous for conducting the original “paradox of choice” studies as - and this bit blows my mind – a fully blind woman. She and I talk through all the fun paradoxes of our odd relationship to choice and how to navigate them to make the best, most joyful decisions. Get hold of The Art of ChoosingFollow SheenaFind out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 12, Last thoughts…with Betoota AdvocateIt's been a wild ride but here ends our journey together. Wendell Hussey from the awesome satirical news site and I answer last questions about the election, who to vote for if you care about climate, what to do if there are no indies in your electorate, what if one of the parties directs my preferences (hint: they can't) and what do we think will be the ideal outcome for Australia (I don't hold back). We return to the normal format next week with some awesome guests. Meantime, please do rate this pod. To keep things going here, I will need some 5 star love! Love you all!Find out more about Sarah Wilson Subscribe to Sarah's Substack newsletter Get your copy of Sarah's book, This One Wild and Precious LifeConnect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.