News - Page 43 of 52 - Passionist Earth & Spirit Center

Turning the Tables: Host Kyle Kramer Becomes the Guest

July 19, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

We’re trying something a little different for this episode. As the host of the Earth & spirit Podcast, I always get to ask the questions. But this time, we’re turning the mics around. Dan Galvin, who’s part of the Earth & Spirit Center team, agreed to be the host and to put me in the hot seat this time, to talk about some of my background and the work of the Earth & Spirit Center, including our new Institute for Applied Mindfulness. I hope you enjoy this conversation about contemplative spirituality and its connections to building healthy communities and cultivating a deep relationship with the rest of the living world.

RESOURCES AND NOTES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Institute for Applied Mindfulness homepage: http://www.instituteforappliedmindfulness.org/

More info on Kyle: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/about-us/our-team/kyle-kramer/

Kyle’s latest book: Making Room: Soul-Deep Satisfaction Through Simple Living.

Click for podcast transcript: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Kyle-Kramer-podcast-transcript-2023-7-19.docx.pdf

Therapist Lois Luckett on Connecting To Self and Nature for Mental Health

July 5, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Lois Luckett is a licensed clinical social worker who has been in private counseling practice since 1980. In this podcast conversation, Lois shares how mindfulness, body awareness, and connection to the natural world can help us feel safe, learn to trust, and become more healthy and whole, with a bachelorarbeit ghostwriter -style narrative flow.

RESOURCES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Hakomi Institute: https://hakomiinstitute.com/

Lois Luckett on Psychology Today site: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/lois-s-luckett-louisville-ky/835522

Previous Earth and Spirit Podcast Episode with Lois Luckett: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/the-wisdom-of-trees-lois-luckett-on-learning-from-our-sylvan-kin/

Gail Worcelo on the Vision and Legacy of Thomas Berry (from the archive)

June 21, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Sr. Gail Worcelo co-founded the Green Mountain Monastery in 1999, encouraged and supported by her friend and mentor, the late Thomas Berry. Berry, a cultural historian and Passionist priest, was a ground-breaking thinker who contemplated the new story science has given us of 13.8 billion-year history of our evolving Universe. He considered the implications of this new story for our religion, education, economy, and government. In this conversation, first aired in 2020, Sr. Gail reflects on how Thomas Berry’s vision has guided the Green Mountain Monastery community and offers wisdom for all of us, here at the choice point between an ecozoic or a technozoic future.

RESOURCES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Green Mountain Monastery: http://www.greenmountainmonastery.org/

Thomas Berry Resources: http://thomasberry.org/

The Journey of the Universe: https://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/

Dr. Hannah Bland on Mindfulness and Mental Health

May 24, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Dr. Hannah Bland is a licensed counselor, an assistant professor of mental health counseling, and the director of the mental health counseling education program at Spalding University. She has worked extensively in prisons, the foster care system, and rape crisis centers, among other difficult circumstances. In this conversation, Hannah shares the important synergy between mindfulness and mental health care, especially with those who face extraordinary life challenges.

RESOURCES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Earth & Spirit Center website: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Institute for Applied Mindfulness: http://www.instituteforappliedmindfulness.org/

Dr. Bland’s Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program: https://spalding.edu/master-of-arts-in-clinical-mental-health-counseling/

Jimmy Springston on Mindful Organizations

May 10, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Jimmy Springston is a former Air Force officer and chief operating officer of a multi-million-dollar commercial construction company, who now coaches other leaders. In this podcast conversation, Jimmy reflects on how to create organizational cultures that are more mindful, emotionally intelligent, effective, and sustainable.

RESOURCES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Connect with Jimmy Springston: https://jimmyspringston.com/

Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

The Center for Nonviolent Communication: https://www.cnvc.org/

More on Entrepreneurial Operating System: https://www.eosworldwide.com/

Joe Grant and the Duty of Delight

April 26, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Joe Grant is a Scotland-born modern-day mystic, spiritual guide, retreat leader at Holy Hills Hermitage in rural Kentucky. He is the author of numerous books and articles about scripture, justice and spirituality. Joe has worked with indigenous peoples of the U.S. and in Latin America. In this conversation, originally released on February 27, 2020, Joe reflects on his spiritual journey, which has led him to live with indigenous peoples deep in the Amazon rainforest, as well as making a home amid the pain and violence of inner-city Louisville. In all of this, Joe follows a vocation of heart-wide-open engagement with our beautiful, wounded world.

RESOURCES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Earth & Spirit Center website: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Joe’s latest book, Wandering and Welcome: Meditations for Finding Peace, published by Franciscan Media.

Joe’s retreat center in rural Marion County, Kentucky, Holy Hills Hermitage: https://holyhillshermitage.org/

The Sacred Depths of Nature: Dr. Ursula Goodenough on Science and Spirituality

April 15, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Dr. Ursula Goodenough is professor emerita of biology at Washington University, the president of the Religious Naturalist Association, and the author of The Sacred Depths of Nature: How Life Has Emerged and Evolved. This conversation explores the story of how science can inspire deep reverence and care for our shared, evolving world.

RESOURCES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Info about Ursula’s latest book, The Sacred Depths of Nature: How Life Has Emerged and Evolved: www.sacreddepthsofnature.com

Religious Naturalist Association: https://religious-naturalist-association.org/

Positively Happy

April 1, 2023 posted by PESC in Blog

A few weeks ago, the Earth and Spirit Podcast released an episode featuring a conversation I had with one of our faculty members, Dr. Tony Zipple. Tony is a positive psychologist who has run large behavioral health organizations, and he just finished teaching a course with us, “The Science of Changing Your Brain for the Better.” In both his course and our podcast conversation, Tony made the point that happiness is a skill you can develop and strengthen. Because of the wonders of neuroplasticity, we can literally rewire our brains, such that we get better at noticing and appreciating the positive things in our life.

This approach makes happiness an “inside job.” Happiness doesn’t have to wait until your money troubles, partner troubles, kid troubles, work troubles, health troubles, or any other troubles get resolved (if they ever do). You simply have to change your relationship to these challenges and make some conscious decisions about how you relate to them and where to place your attention. Which, I believe, is the heart of mindfulness practice.

Easier said than done, of course. The key word here is “practice.” There are some blessed souls on this planet who seem to have rich natural aptitude for gratitude. Alas, I’m not one of them. I have to practice every day to exercise my “happiness muscles.” Every day, I have to choose – consciously, intentionally – to give less power to all the things that outrage, depress, or stress me, and instead to cultivate appreciation, even for things that seem small and trivial, even for things whose gifts I can’t begin to fathom. Plenty of days, I fail, or do it grudgingly, or scrape the bottom of the barrel for any sort of thanksgiving. But having been at some sort of gratitude practice for many years, I can say that even though I still have plenty of dark days, I think those days are far fewer and less dark than they otherwise would have been. With practice, happiness gets easier.

It’s also easier with the support of other people. That’s why Tony and our amazing ESC volunteer Mariam Ballantine recently started our new monthly Happiness Discussion Group, also called “the happiness club.” I hope you’ll consider being part of it, or any of the many other communities that gather regularly at the Earth & Spirit Center. We’d be happy to see you!

Take care,

Kyle Kramer, CEO

Gretchen “Bunny” Nash on Stress, Trauma and Mindful Resilience

March 31, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Gretchen “Bunny” Nash has worked for decades with children and adults facing emotional and behavioral challenges as well as various forms of trauma. In this conversation, Bunny shares how mindfulness practices can rewire our brains to foster stress resilience, compassion, and greater well-being for individuals and communities.

RESOURCES:

Bunny’s “Practicing the Daily Pause” course at the Earth & Spirit Center, beginning April 4, 2023: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/class/continuing-meditation-practicing-the-daily-pause/

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Learn more about the Earth & Spirit Center: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Elaine Miller-Karas and the Community Resilience Model: https://www.traumaresourceinstitute.com/tri-staff

Amelia and Emily Nagoski, authors of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

Jill Bolte Taylor, author of Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey: https://www.drjilltaylor.com/

We Don’t Have to Do It Alone: Toni Temporiti on Empowering Women Through Trust and Community

March 15, 2023 posted by PESC in Podcast

Sr. Toni Temporiti, PhD is the founder of Microfinancing Partners in Africa, an organization that provides loans to empower women who struggle with poverty. In this episode, Sr. Toni reflects on the power of listening, community, and courage for creating a more beautiful and sustainable world – one person, one community, one small loan at a time.

RESOURCES:

Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/

Earth & Spirit Center: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/

Microfinancing Partners in Africa: https://microfinancingafrica.org/