A politics worthy of the human spirit. Is it possible? Do we have the capacity to create it? These are questions that we as a country must grapple with now and in the years to come. It is the question Parker Palmer wrestled with in his seminal book: Healing the Heart of Democracy, first published over a decade ago. In the closing episode of this series, I sat down with Parker to discuss what this question calls us into in this political moment.

In this conversation, Parker and I discuss:

• The importance of community building and how getting to know each other as human beings reduces fear and makes politics less toxic.
• How being aware of our own inner dynamics can help us make a positive difference in our communities and country.
• Why change has to come from “we the people,” not politicians in Washington.
• The competing impulses of individualism and community and the contradictions that have shaped our past and continue to shape our present.
• The role of heartbreak in animating political change.
• Five habits of the heart that are needed to heal our democracy.
• Pre-political spaces: what they are and how we use them to develop our capacity to engage politically in healthier ways.
• How democracy puts faith in everyday people and enriches us as individuals.
• How oppression harms the collective and the work we all need to do to address it.
• The intergenerational project that is democracy and how the call for a “more perfect union” is an aspiration that both acknowledges our imperfections and calls us to work toward our ideals.
• Why we should not give up on our country or our fellow citizens.

Spiritual Resources from Parker include:

• The five habits of the heart, which can be found on our Spiritual Practices for Political Engagement Page
• Healing the Heart of Democracy book (Affiliate Link)
• The Healing the Heart of Democracy Hub which includes discussion guides, videos, and workbooks.

Connect with Parker through the Center for Courage and Renewal, on facebook @parkerjpalmer, and through the Growing Edge Podcast and Substack Newsletter.

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post A Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit with Parker Palmer appeared first on This Election.

What is prayer in the face of an election? In the face of polarization, division, and chaos? I explore this question with Cameron Bellm, a contemplative writer and activist who sees prayer as a deeply human response to suffering.

In this conversation, Cameron and I discuss:

• The intersection of mysticism and activism: how our inner life flows outward into how we treat those around us
• How prayers calls us into deeper relationship with each other
• How incorporating our senses into our prayer life connects us to our humanity and the humanity of our neighbors
• Drafting off the wisdom and experiences of saints and ancestors in our prayer life and in our activism
• How prayer calls us to be better and why this is so needed when we engage in politics
• Attention as generosity and the revolutionary idea of asking, “What are you going through?”
• The perils of dehumanization and the balancing act we must do in fighting against it without dehumanizing those who perpetuate systems of harm
• How prayer helps us look at the sources of hate and division within our own heart
• Writing out prayers as an embodied practice
• How prayer can help us find strength and hope amidst the realities of human suffering

Cameron ends the episode with a Prayer for This Election. Here are links to read, listen, and watch.

Cameron’s prayer and the offerings from all of our guests can be found on our Spiritual Practices for Political Engagement Page.

Connect with Cameron through her website, and on instagram and substack @cameronbellm.

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post Prayer, Politics, and Paying Attention with Cameron Bellm appeared first on This Election.

Whatever our politics are, the natural world is something that we have in common. The earth nourishes all of us, regardless of what party we belong to, what policies we advocate, or who we vote for. In this week’s episode with John Philip Newell we explore the mystery of how spending time in nature heals us and discuss how earth calls us into a different way of engaging, one marked by humility, love, and a deep awareness of our interconnectedness.

In this conversation, John Philip and I discuss:

• How to cultivate our ancient mother love of earth
• What nature teaches us about the interconnectedness of all things
• The tragic dualism of seeing our enemy as only evil and ourselves as only good
• How seeing the sacred in nature can help us see the sacred in others
• How nature awakens “body knowing” and why need this knowing in todays world
• The importance of humility in politics and how nature can help us cultivate it
• How lingering in nature can help us hope even in the most dire of circumstances
• How nature calls us to both the “yes” and “no” of love, in politics and in our lives
• The importance of staying in relationship with those who disagree with us

Spiritual practices and resources you can use this election:

• Walking Meditation with Music
• Walking Meditation without Music
• The Great Search (Affiliate Link)

The offerings from all of our guests can be found on our Spiritual Practices for Political Engagement Page.

Connect with John Philip through Earth & Soul and on instagram @sacredearthandsoul.

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post Nature, Interconnectedness, and Reimagining Politics with John Philip Newell appeared first on This Election.

To be good citizens, we must pay attention. We must notice what is happening in our world, in our country, and in our communities so that we can play a role in fixing what is broken. To be hopeful citizens we must also notice what is good and beautiful. In today’s episode, Laura Martin and I discuss poetry as a spiritual practice that can help us pay attention, so that we may “look at all that devastates, all that breaks, and proclaim the greatest of all is still Love.”

Laura shares poems from her new book, Breaking into Light, and we discuss:

• Voting for the world we hope for
• The intimacy of poetry and how that can move us to action
• How grief can invite us into community with others
• How poetry invites us to pay attention and other spiritual practices that can cultivate our capacity to notice
• The multigenerational task of pursuing justice and how poetry can help us be in the moment and connect us to the long arc of history
• The urgency of centering ourselves in the final weeks before the election
• How poetry redefines strength and calls us to action
• The importance of the small choices we make to love those around us
• How an expansive definition of the divine helps us heal individually and collectively
• Lectio Divina as a practice for holy reading

Poems from Laura that you can use as a spiritual resource this election:

• Let There Be: A Benediction for Right Now (A Poem)
• Breaking into Light (A book of Poetry)

The offerings from all of our guests, and the text of Laura’s poem, Little Benedictions, can be found on our Spiritual Practices for Political Engagement Page.

Connect with Laura through her website or on Facebook, and instagram @lauramartinpoetry.

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post Politics, Poetry, and Holy Reading with Laura Martin appeared first on This Election.

Politics is full of decisions: Should I vote? Who should I vote for? Should I align myself with a party? What policies should I support? Should I be a single issue voter? How can I contribute? What is my role as citizen? In today’s episode, I sit down with Emily P Freeman to discuss the spiritual practice of discernment in the context of these questions. We also talk about how to apply the wisdom in her new book, How to Walk Into A Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away, to the political spaces we inhabit.

In this episode, Emily and I discuss:

• Discernment as a muscle we can cultivate
• The role of grief in discernment and how we can help our hearts break open rather than apart
• The role of frustration in moving us toward hopeful action
• The importance of solitude and community in discernment
• The practice of “point and call” in political spaces
• How to navigate the hallways of our lives with patience and grace
• How to remain in imperfect (political) places with authenticity and integrity
• How to leave imperfect (political) places with courage and grace

Spiritual Practices you can use this Election to discern your next right thing:

• Blessings:
  • Be Here
  • Blessings for Hellos and Good Byes in the Quiet Collection
• Emily’s Free Decision Making Guide
• How to Walk Into a Room book (Affiliate link)

Connect with Emily through her website or on Facebook, X, and instagram @emilypfreeman . Also check out The Next Right Thing Podcast and her Soul Minimalist Newsletter on Substack.

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post Politics, Practice, and Discernment with Emily P Freeman appeared first on This Election.

Politics is exhausting for many of us. In this episode with Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, we explore the different ways in which politics can sap our energy and practices that can restore us when feel depleted.

In this episode, Dr. Saundra and I discuss:

• The difference between sleep and rest
• The seven types of rest and the way politics can deplete our rest in each area
• How rest creates space for us to process and move through pain
• People watching as a spiritual practice
• How rest gives us the freedom to be who we are and enables us to show up authentically in life (and politics)
• How rest connects us to our humanity and the humanity of other people
• How rest enables action
• What signals to look for so we know when to disengage (rest) from politics
• Practices for restoration in each of the 7 areas of rest.
• Sabbath as a way of connecting with those we love and as a way to lean into our longings for what lies ahead.

Spiritual Practices for this election from Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith:

• Rest Quiz
• Sacred Rest (Affiliate Link)
• Sacred Rest Challenge
• Resting Well Online Course
• Sabbath (Affiliate Link)
• Colorful Conversations (Affiliate Link)

These are available on our page on Spiritual Practices for Political Engagement page.

Connect with Dr. Saundra through her website or on LinkedIn and Instagram @drdaltonsmith .

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post Rest and Restoration in Politics with Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith appeared first on This Election.

Politics is a source of chronic stress in many of our lives. It often produces sustained negative emotions that harm our wellbeing. In this episode, Dr. Brett Q Ford shares her research on emotional regulation in political contexts. Her published research suggests that many of our coping strategies help us feel better but also reduce our motivation to engage politically, resulting in a tradeoff where individual wellbeing is enhanced at the cost of collective action or vice versa. However, new research suggests that acceptance and cultivating positive emotions may enable us to overcome this tradeoff so that we can promote wellbeing while remaining politically engaged.

In this episode, Brett and I discuss:

• Politics as a source of chronic stress
• Why politics generates negative emotions
• How people use avoidance, distraction, reappraisal and suppression to cope with negative emotions that arise from politics.
• How those strategies can promote wellbeing at the cost of reduced political engagement
• How new evidence suggests that acceptance and cultivating positive emotions avoid this tradeoff. They both promote wellbeing without reducing engagement, and cultivating positive, socially rooted, emotions actually increases engagement.
• The defensive mechanisms that we often rely on when politics threatens our sense of goodness.
• How acceptance and a growth mindset can enable us to maintain relationships and become better citizens in response to information about our goodness.

Many of the practices developed by our guests incorporate elements of the emotion regulation strategies that Brett recommends:

• Acceptance: See Sharon Salzburg’s election meditation and The Class (which is offering a free 30 day subscription for our listeners)
• Cultivating positive emotions: See Staci Haines on noticing small joys.
• Cultivating social rootedness: See David Gungor’s Mutual Flourishing Playlist and Sharon Salzburg’s loving-kindness meditation.
• Staci Haines’ somatic centering exercise opens us up to the full range of emotions so helps with both acceptance and cultivating positive emotions.
• Marvie Corbett’s workbook provides CBT exercises that you can use for reappraisal for both negative emotions and challenges to goodness.

These are available on our page on Spiritual Practices for Political Engagement page.

Connect with Brett on her website or through X @brettqford.

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post Politics and Emotional Regulation: How to Protect Wellbeing and Sustain Engagement with Brett Q Ford appeared first on This Election.

Meditation is often thought of as a solitary activity and yet it can lay the foundation for hopeful political engagement. In this episode, world renowned meditation teacher Sharon Salzburg explains how mediation promotes agency, skillfullness, and a deeper understanding of the conditions that form the landscape of our political lives.

In this episode, Sharon and I discuss:

• How meditation teaches us to return to our agency and start again when things feel helpless
• How meditation can foster compassion and awareness of our interconnectedness
• How meditation enables us to learn from strong emotions such as fear and anger without having them consume us
• How intersectionality can enable us to see ourselves in one another
• The importance of understanding underlying conditions as we seek to respond to the needs of the world
• The importance of voting and also art as a form of social action
• How equanimity can help us find balance between compassion and burnout so that we can sustain our engagement in the political sphere
• How we can look at political action through the lens of intention and skillfulness
• The Statue of Liberty as an ishta-devata

Spiritual Practices for this Election Season from Sharon:

• Lovingkindness Meditation (Video link)
• The Election Series (3 Part Series Starting September 25th)
• Kindness in a Fractured World (Online Course starts October 9th)
• Real Change (Affiliate Link)
• More election resources from Sharon at her website.

See our page on Spiritual Practices for Political Engagement for offerings from all our guests.

Connect with Sharon on her website or through the socials @sharonsalzburg (Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, Youtube, Medium, LinkedIn)

Connect with me at katie@thiselection.org or on instagram @katie.m.cochran.

The post How Meditation and Loving-kindness can bring Hope to Politics with Sharon Salzberg appeared first on This Election.