Welcome to The Contemplative Life!

Season 1

April 15, 2024

Ep 169 Grief Informed Spiritual Care

Send us a text Today we welcome Dr. Jan Lundy to the podcast who is talking with us about what it looks like to companion people through their grief. Though grief is something many people find difficult to talk about, it's likely that each of us is experiencing loss continually. Join in as Jan shar…
April 8, 2024

Ep 168 Mindfulness in Prisons

Send us a text On this week’s podcast we hear from Tom Buhler, a certified spiritual guide offering mindfulness to prisoners. Tom shares with us about the powerful transformations possible when using mindfulness, particularly in the midst of high-stress situations. Join us as Tom relays how formal …
April 1, 2024

Ep 167 Reverse Golden Rule

Send us a text Many of us have heard that we ought to do unto others as we would have done unto ourselves. But how many of us have heard that we ought to treat ourselves with the same kindness and respect we offer to others? Certainly, loving ourselves sounds good in theory, but the daily practice …
March 25, 2024

Ep 166 Stress vs Stressors

Send us a text Stress is a part of life and can happen in both big and small ways. On today’s podcast, we consider how the contemplative life can help us recognize what’s happening so that we can respond in more balanced ways more and more often. Do you find yourself sometimes feeling flush with em…
March 18, 2024

Ep 165 Emotional Labor

Send us a text On this week’s podcast, we’re talking about what it takes to be present to those things that are taking up mental real estate in our heads, buzzing in the background, ticker taping through our heads, and the like. Do you sometimes find yourself blowing up when you normally would have…
March 11, 2024

Ep 164 Recalibrating

Send us a text Do you ever find yourself feeling frustrated or confused about which way to go next? In this episode, we talk about the helpfulness of being able to take a pause as a way of getting our bearings again, whether those pauses are related to something in particular, a season of life, or …
March 4, 2024

Ep 163 Outdoor Companioning

Send us a text Join us as Dr. Jeanette Banashak shares with us about a new certification program being offered in Outdoor Companioning that has come about as a result of her own lifelong desire to connect with the more-than-human world. Are you a spiritual guide or working in some form of service p…
Feb. 26, 2024

Ep 162 Thoughts on AI

Send us a text Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay and is rapidly changing our world. For some, a tool like this can bring about equity in their lives. But in our individualistic society, where we are applauded for the ways in which we can stand out, will everyone be willing to applaud thi…
Feb. 19, 2024

Ep 161 Loneliness Epidemic

Send us a text Do you ever feel lonely, even if you’re in a room with other people? Do you sometimes feel like you’re missing that sense of meaningful connection in your life? If so, you’re not alone. For a variety of reasons, common social interactions have shifted over the years, leaving us with …
Feb. 12, 2024

Ep 160 Best Case Scenarios

Send us a text How many times have we heard someone say, “Let me just play devil’s advocate here for a moment.” For many of us, it’s a total mind shift to ask a question in the opposite spirit. What if instead of asking what could go wrong we spent even a little bit of time asking what could go rig…
Feb. 5, 2024

Ep 159 Community Care

Send us a text After several weeks of hearing from others about how they think about self-care given their particular experiences of life, we turn our attention today to thinking about the community. Who do we turn to when we need help? And fo that matter, do we believe that we can turn to others? …
Jan. 29, 2024

Ep 158 Self Care for…Businesses

Send us a text Join us as Ryan Bauers, Consultant and Organization Development Specialist, shares with us about why self-care is so important in the business environment and how it positively impacts those businesses. Hear about his own journey that led him to finding self-care so important: workin…
Jan. 22, 2024

Ep 157 Self Care for… Clergy/Spiritual Leaders

Send us a text For those who have a tendency towards helping others, feelings of guilt and shame can often lead to overworking. And what’s more, depending on our family or cultural contexts, we may not even feel permission to do what we need to do in order to keep ourselves feeling whole and health…
Jan. 15, 2024

Ep 156 Self Care for… Medical Professionals

Send us a text As we continue our series on self-care, Sarah Kiser joins us to share her experience of being a healthcare professional at a time when 87% of people in the field are reporting experiences of burnout. For many of us, our career experience changes as we age. Our lives become fuller, ou…
Jan. 8, 2024

Ep 155 Self Care for…Military Families

Send us a text Today we are joined by Mary Bouras who is sharing with us about what it has been like to be married to someone in the military. Mary comes to us with over 2 decades of experience, including nearly a dozen moves, motherhood, and a career. Join us as she shares candidly with us about w…
Jan. 1, 2024

Ep 154 Self Care for…Spiritual Directors

Send us a text As we begin a new year, we embark on a new series, talking to people from a variety of fields to discover: What do you do for self care? And is there anything you do for self care that might help me? Spiritual ...
Dec. 25, 2023

Ep 153 Being With in Everyday Life

Send us a text In our fourth and final week in this series, we talk about one very key but, perhaps, unexpected tool that can bring about restoration and connection in our lives. In a busy world, we’ve become accustomed to tu...
Dec. 18, 2023

Ep 152 Barriers to Being With

Send us a text Today we take time to talk about some of the barriers that can come into play when we’re looking to bring our doing side into friendship and balance with our being side. And in particular, we get down into root causes because, oftentimes, we may find ourselves using similar words to …
Dec. 11, 2023

Ep 151 The Many Ways of Being With

Send us a text As we continue our Being With series, we turn our attention to the lens of Body, Heart, and Mind, asking the question: How can we strengthen what is already innate within us while also exploring areas of ourselves we maybe don’t visit as often? Life is often so full that our lives ca…
Dec. 4, 2023

Ep 150 Being With

Send us a text Do you ever feel like your relationship with the Divine is more transactional than relational? Can you relate to that feeling of just wanting someone to be with you over and above wanting them to fix your problems? During the busy month of December, we’re offering a series that exten…
Nov. 27, 2023

Ep 149 What is…Pilgrimage

Send us a text We conclude our “What is” series with the topic of Pilgrimage. What is it and how is it done? What does pilgrimage share in common with exile and in what ways does it differ? Is pilgrimage always life changing or do some people return feeling as though not much has changed? Join us a…
Nov. 20, 2023

Ep 148 What is…Audio Divina

Send us a text As we continue our exploration of words we may hear in contemplative circles but not know what they mean, we turn our attention to the experience of Divine Listening, allowing sound to become a part of our meditation and prayer experiences. Many have found Audio Divina to be a helpfu…
Nov. 13, 2023

Ep 147 What is…Visio Divina

Send us a text This week’s podcast invites us to look around the world with wonder, curiosity, and an openness to Divine Presence. Visio Divina, a form of contemplative prayer, offers us the chance to pause, to notice, and to become aware of what is stirring within. And while some amount of controv…
Nov. 6, 2023

Ep 146 What is…Ecumenism

Send us a text As we talk about ways to practice and promote unity and cooperation between our communities of faith, we are joined by Rev. Kerri Parker, Executive Director for the Wisconsin Council of Churches. Join us as Kerri shares with us about why this is passionate and meaningful work for her…