The Wisdom & Action Podcast

Robyn Davidson is best known as ‘the camel lady’—a reference to her journey as a young woman crossing the Australian desert with four camels and her dog in 1977. Today, Robyn feels like a different person, yet there’s one quality that has remained a constant in her life: her ability to adapt to change.In 2017, Robyn sat down in front of a live audience with our publisher, Berry Liberman, to talk about adaptability—and how to embrace the flux that is ever present in our lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spiritual teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee reads one of his writings for Dumbo Feather, titled, “A Letter to My Granddaughter.” Llewellyn is a writer and teacher based in Northern California whose work focuses on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we get to know Pat McCabe, a Navaho mother, grandmother, artist and ceremonial leader who has been deeply immersed in indigenous, land-based ways of living. Having grown up in a multicultural neighbourhood in California, she is also accustomed to the realities of the industrialised world. It makes her an invaluable bridge-builder and cross-cultural communicator, and a powerful voice for the transformation needed to deal with our ecological and social crises. In this conversation for Issue 63 of Dumbo Feather magazine, Pat speaks with our friend and founder of Local Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey there! In this episode we share an interview we did back in 2017 with Tim Winton, one of Australia’s most beloved and prolific writers. At the time, Tim was on a publicity tour for his collection of non-fiction essays, The Boy Behind the Curtain, which, among many things, explores class. In this chat with Dumbo Feather interviewer Myke Bartlett, Tim shares some of his insights on Australia’s changing socio-economic landscape, and how he has confronted snobbery to open himself up to many different kinds of perspectives and ways of living. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the podcast we have Dr Tim Dean – author of "How We Became Human, and Why We Need to Change," a book about how our evolved moral minds are out of step with the modern world. Tim has a Doctorate in philosophy from the University of New South Wales on the evolution of morality and has expertise in ethics, philosophy of biology and critical thinking. This chat with Berry spans some of the big ideas and questions around his most recent inquiry into human morality.If you’d like to spend three hours with Tim Dean exploring the philosophy of human morality, join him and the Small Giants Academy for the upcoming masterclass The Future of Morality. Find out more: smallgiants.com.au/the-art-of-arguing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have just launched issue 68 of Dumbo Feather magazine – themed “Treasured Spaces,” and one of the conversations we had for that was with author and TV presenter Holly Ringland. We came to know Holly through the ABC series, Back to Nature, in which she and actor Aaron Pedersen travel through vast, awe-inspiring Australian landscapes hearing the stories of the land. In this chat, Holly speaks with Dumbo Feather editor Nathan Scolaro about her experiences making the show, and the importance of treating our selves as treasured spaces. Holly’s first novel is The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, about a young girl with an abusive farther who is taught the language of Australian flowers by her grandmother to say the things that are too hard to speak. The book has become an international bestseller, and is currently being adapted into a television series produced by and starring Sigourney Weaver. Tune into the ABC’s stunning six-part series Back to Nature on ABC iView.For more stories and conversations like this one, get yourself a copy of our Treasured Spaces issue from your local bookshop or retailer, or over at our website dumbofeather.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our third and final instalment of the Dumbo Feather music mini-series. Our guest is a very good friend, someone we’ve had in the mag before and worked a lot with over the years, Dr Catherine Crock. Catherine’s a paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, and 20 years ago, she founded a remarkable foundation and program called Hush – which brings musicians into hospital environments to compose music that will reduce anxiety and stress for patients and their family and friends.Catherine’s work has evolved to look at and transform the culture of healthcare to one that is centred around kindness and empathy. In this conversation, she talk with Dumbo Feather editor Nathan Scolaro about the Hush legacy, and shares some of her favourite pieces from an extraordinary 19 albums.You can learn more about Hush and shop for some of the albums over at hugh.org.au, and sign up for Gathering of Kindness at gatheringofkindness.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we’re bringing back an old favourite, a conversation we recorded in 2018 with psychotherapist Esther Perel who has changed the way we think about love, connection and sex. Her books, Ted Talks and podcast “Where Should We Begin” have all become international sensations as she focuses on relational intelligence, and often brings us inside the therapy room to explore intimacy and eroticism and where those parts of ourselves become stuck. In this chat with Berry, Esther explores why modern relationships are more complex and nuanced than ever. It was recorded for our Love issue of Dumbo Feather magazine, which you can kind find over at our website, dumbofeather.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's chat is led by our good friend Helena Norberg-Hodge, champion of all things localising. She is joined by none other than Johann Hari, the Swiss-British journalist behind the smash hit book Lost Connections, which uncovers the real causes behind depression and the unexpected solutions, some of which land right in Helena’s work – connecting with community.This episode is brought to you by our friends at Patagonia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much-loved Dumbo Feather friend Hugh Mackay joins us on the podcast this week, sharing the insights, research and thinking behind his latest book "The Kindness Revolution." Hugh spoke with us as part of an interactive Small Giants Academy conversation event in July, hosted by our head of programming, Eleanor Gammell. Thanks to Australian Ethical for partnering with us on this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.