Here Justine Toms and her dear friend, African American and circle sister, Ronita Johnson engage in a most candid and revealing conversation on racism. Johnson has been most gracious with her time and talent to lead several groups in the summer and fall of 2020 to facilitate circles of frank and open conversations about racism. Justine has been part of several of these groups as a participant on the subject systemic racism and culture. This is a forthright and deep sharing between Justine, a white woman born into upper-middle class, and Ronita, an African American who has lived in the deep south and is the daughter of a preacher and civil rights activist. Here the two of us converse about what we've learned, what continues to scare us, and our hope for the future. Ronita says, "We have to realize that there's different treatment for different people depending on what they look like, depending on race. We have to talk about this because it's not going to go away like magic. There's no magic act here. There's no pulling the rabbit out of the hat. We have to grapple with this and it's not easy. It's painful. You mentioned creating a safe environment but that doesn't mean that it's going to be comfortable." When asked how white people can become better allies to people of color, Ronita gives a sweeping list of things that people can do. First and foremost she says, "The first thing is become an antiracist, which means that you're not speaking from a place of neutrality when you say a nonracist, you have to say antiracist because that's an active word. It means you're not endorsing any kind of racial hierarchy or any kind of racial inequality. . . You need to understand your indoctrination, your socialization process. It is amazing to me how many white people don't know any black people, don't know any brown people, have never been around a black or brown people." She ends our conversation by calling on the admonition of the late Representative and activist, John R. Lewis, who spoke about "good trouble . . . and said 'if you see a wrong, be willing to speak up. Don't be silent. Don't be complacent.' I think if we all took that on as a personal vow, all of us believing that we want to create a just society, I believe we could do it. But there hasn't been the momentum. There hasn't been the tenacity to keep going." Hopefully this conversation will encourage many others to participate and seek out these kinds of deep dialogues. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Gandhi once said, "The most violent weapon on Earth is the table fork." Dr. Will Tuttle asks us to consider one of the primary driving forces behind a whole network of problems we face as human beings is the mentality of violence, exploitation, exclusion and privilege that is required for us to eat animal foods. He contends that our disconnectedness from the suffering of animals is at the very core of the loss of intelligence, freedom, and true happiness saying, "We have to understand that [we are] born into a society that's organized, at its living core, around animal agriculture and is organized around seeing beings as objects to be used. Cows and chickens are seen as objects that you buy and sell by the pound. So, when we do that for ten thousand years as we've been doing, we create an entire society that's probably the most materialistic ever in the history of the world where we even see ourselves as just matter: my body is all I am and when I die that's the end . . . the mind gets colonized. Our basic natural wisdom, awareness, compassion, and empathy get repressed by being raised in a society that's killing literally billions of animals every day for food." There are many arguments for eating a plant-based diet such as climate, soil, and health. However, Tuttle adds another view for favoring a vegan diet. He proposes that the violence in which we're participating, in itself, is something much larger than anything else. He says, "We don't want to look into the suffering of the animals. Dairy products and eggs I've discovered have enormous amounts of suffering. It's not just the flesh of animals but also there's a lot of slavery and sexual abuse of animals that goes on that we would rather not think about."(hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Shaw is our guide in examining our broken relationship with the world. He shares this advice about deep listening. "If myth is the way that the earth thinks, I needed to listen deeply to forests and to rivers and mountains and to gullies and to open more land, to see the stories that were trying to disclose themselves to me all the time." He uses ancient European myths that concern our own inner, wild twin. He speaks about the deepest need of humankind which concerns relatedness, relatedness with awareness. He helps us along this path by sharing story. He says, "Ancient stories rarely traffic in the day that was like the day before. They usually begin with the day that everything changes, whether that's something that happens in an individual's life or whether it happens in a culture, or a tribe, or a village. They are designed to take us deeper when circumstance starts to squeeze us. They don't indulge in arbitrary misery. They are always trying to dig into the mud of the encounter with the notion that possibly there's a little bit of gold in there. There's some information that, over time, could turn into wisdom." As our guide, Martin Shaw, helps us get acquainted with the kind of folktales and myths that can be helpful in navigating these turbulent times. He shares the story of "The Lindworm" as an example from his new book Courting the Wild Twin. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Throughout history Cannabis (also known as marijuana) has been used across the planet as medicine to cure many specific ailments, to treat everything from anxiety to epilepsy. It has been rediscovered by modern medicine after decades of being demonized in the "War On Drugs." At this time (summer 2020), 11 US states have legalized recreational cannabis for adult use and 33 states have legalized medical cannabis. More than four million people in the United States are healing illnesses with cannabis. Nonetheless, many physicians remain reluctant to discuss cannabis medicine. Through cannabis medicine, Bonni Goldstein, M.D. has helped thousands of suffering patients find relief from chronic, difficult-to-treat conditions. Here she explains the current state of scientific research and offers actionable advice in using various forms of medical cannabis. She includes information about the combination of TCB and CBD compounds and their effects. She points out, when talking about the medical benefits of two of the compounds in cannabis, THC and CBD, "Everybody has a unique response to these compounds. We all know there are some people who love THC -- They think it's the best thing ever. And, then other people say, "Oh no, I can't take that. It makes me feel weird." And then those in the middle. We have to remember that humans respond individually to things that we take into our body, even food" It's the same thing with these cannabinoids. But it's important to realize with regards to cannabinoids, THC and CBD, there isn't a good cannabinoid and a bad cannabinoid, they're both good cannabinoids when used properly for medicinal purposes" [T]hey may use different mechanisms in the brain and body but they can have very similar outcomes, decrease in nausea, decreased pain, relaxation, better sleep, all kinds of medicinal properties. But you have to remember they act differently. One of the most important things I tell people is it's your personal preference. You have to try it. You have to see how you feel on it. Then you can create your personalized or customized cannabis regimen." (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Nature is an assemblage of entanglements in which we are messily embedded. Humans are multi-species beings consisting of trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi that coordinate the task of living. In this deep dialogue we explore the fascinating world of the kingdom of fungi and its importance to all life on planet earth. They eat rock, make soil, digest pollutants, both nourish plants and cause plants to decompose, they can survive in space, induce visions, produce food, make medicine, manipulate animal behavior, and influence the composition of the Earth's atmosphere to list a few of their activities. They live their lives largely hidden from view and over 90% of their species remain undocumented. Sheldrake says that the fungal kingdom is more closely related to the animal kingdom. Here he takes us into his research on the ecological significance of fungi and its importance to all life on planet earth. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Dr. Prager's book, The Worst is Over, is hailed as the "Bible" for crisis communication. This deep dialogue explores the power of Verbal First Aid in helping someone who is in fear, shock, stress, or trauma. She illustrates, with many stories, how particular words and phrases and tone of voice can be extremely effective in assisting the healing process and even avoiding PTSD. She cautions us to not negate the concerns of the person in distress or try to fix them. Rather, she says it is important to say words such as, "I hear you," followed by "I'm right here." Or, "You are not alone." Or, "Help is on the way." This dialogue also delves into caring for ourselves and others as we shelter in place during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Humans are naturally hard-wired to want to be of help to others. Her many stories and practical examples of words that heal will give you the ability to be more effective in being of help to others in need. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

We all have aspirations and intentions for our best lives. Yet these often go by the wayside as we get lost in unconscious, mental, emotional reactivity, fear, and our own personal woundedness. We get caught up in self judgment, blaming others, living on autopilot, as the saying goes. This makes for a big gap between what's possible and how we're actually living our lives. The good news is there is a healing process available to us that opens us to our inner radiance. This process is called the RAIN Process and it reminds us to pause and reconnect with a wise and compassionate presence allowing us to align our lives with our hearts. She describes an analogy in our own lives to the story of the discovery of a golden buddha that, for centuries, was covered by cement, "We cover over our gold and suffering comes when we identify with the coverings. . . . We identify with our defensiveness, our judgments, or the ego that we're using to promote and defend ourselves. The freedom comes when we start seeing that and holding it with compassion. It's not our fault that we're judgmental and it's not our fault that we get angry or frustrated or defensive. We're just trying to make it on the planet. When we can see it and hold it with compassion, then that covering starts getting more transparent and we start trusting the gold that's always been and always will be our deepest nature." This process is grounded and practical and can be of true service in dealing with frustrations and our habitual habits of reaction. It also can serve our evolutionary growth. Brach says, "We can actually change the structure and function of our brain and wake up our hearts to care more . . . This is possible for people to begin to sense we are friends, we belong to each other and not just humans but non-human species too. We belong to this living web." (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

What is the dynamic nature of personality? Do each of us consist of distinct, autonomous, and inherently valuable selves? Are we an unruly republic of independent entities, a multiplicity of selves? In this dialogue we explore how we discover, honor, and work with each of these selves. Fadiman and Gruber describe the benefits of being in the right mind at the right time. “We like to say that you want to learn how to shift consciously and proactively into a better self rather than being triggered. An example is: If you're about to have the same argument you always have with your friend or partner…It's not going to work. You can feel yourself rising into the self that wants to grapple confrontationally but if you know that that's a real part of you but you don't have to give it sway right now, you can shift into a kinder self. Your life will be a lot better.” In this dialogue you’ll discover how awareness heals as we become aware of the reality of our own selves and the selves of others. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

In this time of global uncertainty good poems can soften the heart and help us face another day with curiosity, wonder and hope. A good poem gives us another lens with which to view the world and helps bring what is often unseen into view. It can be the observation of a single ant making its way across a laptop computer or turtles in moonlight. Poetry opens us to feel our connection to one another and nature. It gives us the opportunity to recalibrate our perspective on our place in the world. Hirschfield says of her new book of poetry, Ledger, "It's an attempt to find my way, navigating poem by poem over to some sense of the balance between the recognition of cataclysm and the appreciation of this still beautiful world with its abundance of treasures and gifts that I still open my eyes into every day . . . it's a ledger of perhaps despair and praise." (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Sullivan shares with us the deep practice of healing our ancestral roots by using the analogy of trees. We use the imagery of trees in so many ways such as mapping out our ancestral tree. She shares how trees can be a mirror of our own bodies pointing out that we have much to learn from them as they guide us in understanding ourselves as well as our ancestral roots. She tells us that when a certain tree calls to us we can befriend it and allow its branches, leaves, trunk, and roots to teach us. Sullivan also speaks about the power of communal chanting. Gathering with others to chant provides powerful healing energy as it taps into the morphogenetic field of millions of people who have chanted for thousands of years. She says, "These songs create a bridge between the past, those who sung it, into the present, you who are singing it." She reminds us that chanting with others moves us deeply on a soul level and connects us to Spirit and Mystery. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Mark Nepo speaks of being wholehearted as being present to our lives so that we become an open conduit to experience everything that's larger than our finite self. He says, "By one act of compassion, we experience all compassion." He goes on to talk about being present and being absent. He says, "When I'm present, I see differently, hear differently, know differently. And that gives me different choices, tools, and resources. . . . Often we're absent out of fear.. . . So often when we hide, we are empowering what we are afraid of so much that we cut off our direct connection . . . Only when we are clear on what we stand on can we see what's possible and what's available." Many gems of wisdom are revealed in this conversation such as, "Being spiritual is inhabiting our humanness so thoroughly that the part of the universe that lives in me comes out and connects with the part of the universe that lives in you and lives in the tree out there and lives in the water in this glass right here. It doesn't matter what we call it." (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

In these post-modern times, more and more we live indoors and this lifestyle has isolated us from the earth. This trend, along with the current pandemic with the advice to "shelter in place," has encouraged hanging out inside our homes. We're addicted to looking at our computer screens, smart phones, and TVs and when we do go outside, we are further shielded from direct contact with the earth by rubber sole shoes and rubber tires to name a few buffers that disconnect us from the pulsing field of energy that the Earth produces. Our guest today tells us that the earth is our docking station. It is a port we can plug into to receive support for our health and well-being from head to toe, inside and out. Dr. Laura Koniver suggests that standing outside on the ground is the most enjoyable healing modality she knows of. There is a great healing waiting for you through the practice of touching the earth directly. Koniver calls it an Earth Prescription. She says there is "No pain, no struggle, no costs, no side effects, no specialist appointment required. It can be as passive or active as you would like it to be." What Koniver offers is a formula for living that is as vital as food and water for our body and soul. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Some of us are asking the questions: Are spiritual practices a necessity or merely a luxury in these turbulent times? How do prayer, meditation, mindfulness and other practices help us in crazy times? Here we explore practices that will stabilize and anchor us when the winds of rancor and rage are swirling. Goldberg urges us to look into our spiritual pantry to find the ingredients that are most useful to us, ones that fit our personal needs, predilections and circumstances. He encourages us to create effective spiritual routines yet remain flexible. He also talks about becoming activists and says, "Spiritual practitioners are needed to also rise to the occasion and be good citizens, active citizens." He advocates bringing the best of ourselves to our life and work by combining our outer work in the world with our inner work of spiritual development and says, "It's not a luxury but it's incumbent upon us to bring the qualities we're developing in ourselves out into the world as our contribution, whether it's minor or small, whether it's a phone call to somebody to make them feel better, or you're out in the streets marching, or you're running for office. Whatever it is, the world needs deeply spiritual people who tend to be more loving, more compassionate, more wise." (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

The study of meditation has demonstrated that sustained, long-term practice can alter the brain markedly. These changes bring greater resilience and well-being. It's said that even brief meditative practices can change areas of your brain involved with attention, body awareness, emotional regulation, and a sense of self. This deep dialogue explores some practical practices of how the brain, mindfulness, and meditation are interconnected and how these practices can free us from needless suffering and conflict. Hanson reminds us to not "add-on" to the inevitable pain of life. "The end of suffering is to replace it with love, wisdom, and joy. As we cultivate these various inner strengths, virtues such as patience, respect for others, commitment to social justice, caring about non-human animals, gratitude, our own wellbeing, and mindfulness, we become much more resilient, we recover faster from loss and trauma, and we become much more able to overflow abundantly to help other people." He also points out that prior to the rise of agriculture and city-states, humans lived in small tribes of 20 to 40 people. He says, "Now we need to learn how to reestablish those objective conditions of healthy human politics, notably common truth, common welfare, and common justice. We can see how authoritarians attack truth as fast as they can whether it's in a family system, a bully in a school, or a President in the White House. That's why we have to vigorously stand up for truth." It's a false dichotomy to separate the person from the political. Hanson helps us to be clear, strong, centered, and stable no matter what's swirling around us (like a ninja warrior) with seven practices. He says our mind/brain is like a garden and is a very fertile soil for weeds. "That's its negativity bias. That's why it's important to cast seeds of flowers on your mental garden and then help them grow and use them to crowd out weeds over time. It isn't that weeds are bad but because we're interested in a life that's not afflicted with suffering and all kinds of neurotic reactions to others." He encourages us toward the upper reaches of our human potential, that's full of profound contentment and a radiant, spacious, lovingness toward other people and to be like a ninja in our own meditative practice: a soft, alert steadiness. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

As children we often used prayer to ask for something from an invisible and mysterious divine power. And, even as adults, we may still send our petitions to God or whomever we call on as the source of creative powers. This deep dialogue explores the best use of prayer and how prayer can be more effective, serving us in ways beyond making wishes to the Divine. Esteemed spiritual teacher, Guy Finley, says, "Prayer can help us discover that which is already living in us and is everything that we ever wanted, hoped, or actually imagined was possible." Finley offers advice on tapping into this powerful resource, reminding us that "By the grace of God, I'm a message catcher. I have this unbelievable, beautiful, blessed life where the more I am willing to live with the question and not answer it from the intellect or from past experience, the more I am gifted with a revelation of a realization that is already part of my consciousness but that I don't know it is yet." Also included are thoughts on the 5-prayers for self-transformation. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms).

Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, Doctor of the Church, and a premodern citizen in the 13th century. Here scholar, theologian, and teacher. Father Matthew Fox explores the writings and wisdom of this electrifying saint and speaks of Aquinas' timeless wisdom to a postmodern world. Fox encourages all spiritual warriors and activists to grow our vision and our courage. He speaks of some of the positive things that the coronavirus has brought to us as we shelter in place, "I think there are tremendous lessons to learn: we need a new economics, new politics, a new attitude to our religion and spirituality, to art, and media, if we're going to survive on this planet. I'm hoping that this crisis we're in now will wake us up to the fact that all of us are going to have to sacrifice and shift our lifestyles to be more in tune with what Mother Earth requires. It's that simple." Fox also shares the philosophy of Aquinas, who often wrote about the profound virtue of joy, "Why does the universe exist at all? [Aquinas'] answer is for the sake of joy, for the Divine and for our own. When we're joyful, we want to celebrate and share it with others. And that's his thesis, that divinity itself wanted to share the joy of divinity and that's why the rest of us exist, to share it with one another"¶ And in these difficult and hard times of the coronavirus we have to hang on to the goodness of creation, the joy of existence in order to see us through and not yield to despair or to self pity, neither of which helps" (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

In this dialogue we delve deeply into the narcissistic personality: What is it and what strategies we might employ to work with the narcissists who are close to us. Campbell describes a narcissist as one who creates a space around him or herself where they are not connecting to other people because their ego doesn't let them. They end up creating what is sometimes termed a narcissistic cocoon, a narcissistic bubble, or a narcissistic echo chamber. Campbell describes the three different aspects to narcissism, "Most commonly, we're talking about a personality trait, meaning we all have some level of it, some more than others. And it's a combination of this core of self-importance or a sense of entitlement . . . You think you're better than other people, you deserve special treatment. . . . [This is] what we call grandiose narcissism." He says that a lot of political leaders and celebrities exhibit that kind of narcissism. Many of us know, work with, or date someone like this and even though it might be fun in the beginning, it turns out to be a kind of disaster after a while. Another kind of narcissism is a combination of this selfishness but also with insecurity or vulnerability. This is a conflicted personality where there is a combination of somebody who thinks they're important and should be treated specially but are a little insecure and even a little shy. These are vulnerable narcissists. Often they are the ones who end up seeing clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, or therapists because they're suffering. People in the clinical field when they see narcissism are often seeing this more vulnerable form. The third way people use narcissism is the clinical disorder, narcissistic personality disorder. This causes someone's life to be impaired such as losing a marriage, money, work. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

As spiritual seekers most of us have asked ourselves such questions as: How can we live skillfully and prosper to fulfill our destiny? How may we be free from self-doubt, worry, or the opinions of others? How do we throw off the shackles of fear that bind us or that cause us to sink down under the weight of despair? What are the laws of abundance and true wealth? Here Yogacharya O'Brian shares in detail the four principles or goals of Yogic philosophy. Briefly she outlines them as: One, to live a life of higher purpose. Not just a purposeful life but a life of higher purpose which has to do with our spiritual nature and learning how to cooperate with the Infinite. Two is wealth, learn how to prosper. Surprising coming out of this ancient philosophical system. Together these two principles guide us to live with higher purpose, thrive and prosper. Three, maybe even more surprising, is pleasure or enjoy life. Be sure that when you live with higher purpose and you're thriving and prospering you don't lose your soul along the way and you enjoy your life. The last of those four aims of life is enlightenment." When describing the third aim as important to our soul she says, "It's funny isn't it that we have to give ourselves permission [to be joyful]. It was surprising to me to discover a guideline from thousands of years ago that says as you're going along your way in life, doing the things that are important for you to do, be sure to include your soul in the equation and one of the ways to do that is follow the joy and pay attention to whether or not you're in touch with your joy." In her comforting and gentle way, she shares many stories and describes several metaphors that help us to understand the true nature of spiritual enlightenment. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Folktales, fairytales, and myths are the way our ancestors tried to tell truth and actually have the earth speaking through them. Shaw says that they are more than just human intelligence at play. Here he takes us on a deep dive into the importance of inviting story into our lives, not as therapy, not as giving advice. He tells us that these timeless stories can be the tributaries that lead us to the bigger river of essential truths that nourish our lives. He challenges us to show "fidelity" to the myth that grabs us, "There is a prudence in absorbing and telling stories because you feed the story. If you are perennially in devouring mode: gimme, gimme, gimme - the stories tend to charge through us rather than negotiate with us" Myths generally ask more of us than we want to give so you have to say, 'Okay, what do you want from me?' " stories are demanding a kind of psychic and emotional sophistication from us." Shaw feels that myths, (in the plural) live us. Two or three of them can arrive within the course of a day wanting different things from us. He warns that we've become culturally dulled to the mythic now and we may be "fake news from our own psyche." As an antidote to that he advises, "Learn a poem by heart because it'll die of cold on the page. Learn a story by heart. Learn to use a word you just learned. Learn the bones of the thing. It doesn't need to be a recital; it needs to be a telling because then the story itself as a living being, is alive and the story is getting fed by your telling." Shaw will turn your heart over to see our lives through a fresh perspective. He talks of how the book The Night Wages is a conversation to his young daughter to, hopefully, read and understand when she is older. It tells the story of what her dad loved, what he defended, and what he cared about, lost, and gained. He says, "It's a love letter to the thing that I love most in the world, which is my daughter." And it translates to the human dilemma of love, sorrow, gain, and loss for us all and what it means to be human and still survive. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

The Bhagavad Gita is a 2500 year old sacred text of India and has been revered by such luminaries as Beethoven, Leonard Cohen, Carl Jung, Robert Oppenheimer, Mahatma Gandhi, and many others. It's a divine song and one of the most trusted guides for happiness, meditation, and spiritual inner growth. It is presented as a dialogue of Master and Disciple, a friendly chat between Prince Arjuna, a warrior and a highly evolved spiritual seeker, and God incarnate Lord Krishna. It unfolds poetically and serves as a reflection of our internal "battlefield of the soul." Bentwich shares his joy of the Gita, "When you're feeling 'my mind is out of control, I cannot control it,' here comes one of the most authoritative guides on earth, which says, 'Hey, you're in good shape. This is just the nature of the mind. Nothing personal. Just persevere.' That is a reminder to be joyful, never despair. It's like we're having a dialogue with the inner voice of our soul. When we feel we're not getting anywhere and our life is in shambles it is okay. You're doing great. Just be joyful and never despair. Time after time mind will be drawn away by our senses. That's the nature of the mind. Enjoy the world. Your senses are drawing the mind away and you need to control them as you control a pack of wolves. But this is something that requires patience. Be joyful and never despair." (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)