The Workplace Healer

Dear Friend, Over the course of 90 episodes divided into 5 seasons, I have shared the best of what I can offer on how to experience a humanistic worklife by embodying healing through everyday pursuits. In the very first episode we asked, "Why healing in the workplace?" Over these 5 seasons I trust we answered that question together many different  ways. In this concluding episode we now ask, "How can compassion flourish?" Although this is a new question, we arrive back at the beginning of our exploration. And the best way I know how to answer this question is to speak from my own experience. We are very much the same. I trust my conclusion on flourishing compassion will resonate for you. I invite you to go back through the full catalogue of the Workplace Healer. Although production of new episodes has concluded, the material is very much evergreen: Season 1: "Why Healing?" Season 2: "Spiritual Profits" Season 3: "Intentional Magic" Season 4: "More Than Mindful" Season 5: "Thrust in Thriving" You can now listen to the new follow-on podcast, A Healing Being, fearlessly lighting the way for modern westerners to re-connect with their innate capacity to be a healing presence for themselves and others. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology, my well-being practice of modern meditation. Here you'll find a variety of options for supporting you to be a more healing presence by remembering how to access your own inner wisdom.

For this episode we welcome Lara Gryffn, a small business owner just like so many more striving to create value for her customers and a good life for her team. Lara bravely models vulnerability as she shares her story, her struggles, and the strength and wisdom that she draws from these experiences. You will hear the insights bubbling to the surface from within. You will feel a connection to what she shares.  The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a well-being practice of modern meditation offering memberships and courses to people looking to be a more healing presence for themselves and those around them.

Leaders, we know, have many responsibilities. Among them is the responsibility to create an environment for their team that is conducive to doing good work. Yet in the course of responding to their many demands, leaders run the risk actually causing harm. Even when a leader is self-aware and filled with sound intentions, they sometimes fail. They sometimes cause harm. How does the leader show up as a healer? What are the pitfalls? Can they go too far? Do they focus first on their self or on others? Taryn Sydow, the founder of LightWalker Consulting, joins the conversation to lead us in sorting through the paradox of healing as a practice of leadership. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a well-being practice of modern meditation offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to be a more healing presence to themselves and others.

Why do so many invest so much in leadership training and coaching yet continue to struggle? Some might say that for all the research and for all the wonderful assessments and frameworks supporting effective leadership, matters seem to be getting worse! As a former leadership coach and consultant myself, I have seen many of my own former clients' struggle. As a leader myself, I am faced my own doubts and fears. Recently I read a book on leadership that really provoked me with its cynical views. But reading it helped me see the cynicism I myself had developed, and brought about the reflections shared here. There is one core truth about leadership once we strip away all the noise: it's all about self-possession. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a well-being practice of modern meditation offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to be a more healing presence to themselves and others.

Diversity, inclusion and equity efforts are being increasingly understood as far more than "special initiatives." Instead DE&I is understood as changing the very DNA of an organization, embedding new ways of thinking and behaving into every facet of organizational life. Yet we cannot achieve any systemic change without doing the work at the individual level. In this dialogue with anti-racist facilitator Valerie Spain, we talk about the humbling and necessary work white folks need to do, at the personal level, to help build anti-racist work environments. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a well-being practice of modern meditation offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to be a more healing presence to themselves and others.

Have we gone too far in making faith taboo in the work setting? We talk about inclusion and belonging, yet we expect colleagues to keep their spiritual beliefs to themselves. We are each guided by our values and our personal faith--or philosophy if you prefer--plays a major part in shaping those values. If we bring our "whole selves" to work, then how do we navigate the question of faith and spirituality? This emerged as the theme in this interview with leadership and diversity coach La'Wana Harris. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a well-being practice of modern meditation offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to be a more healing presence to themselves and others.

We live in a time and in an economy where many of us can be attracted to the idea of becoming a thought leader, an entrepreneur, an influencer. And there are many appealing voices in our ear encouraging us to pursue our sense of purpose and translate that calling into a career. For some folks, this may be great advice. But be careful. Be thoughtful. If what you are pursuing is as meaningful to you as "your soul's purpose," then we are encouraged to take a step back from the buzz of the marketplace. Before to plunge forward crafting a strategy to commoditize the outcomes of your soul's purpose, consider the various options to express that purpose. Here is my one story about this struggle. Shouts out to Lara Gryffn, Kasey Jones, and Christina Pratt. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a well-being practice of modern meditation offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to be a more healing presence to themselves and others.

You may immediately respond to this question with the answer, "Of course forgiveness belongs in the workplace!" You'll find the eleven guest voices here broadly agree, yet they each offer a different perspectives. Dave Hamilton, Karen Weeks, Vince Tuckwood, Mariana Cruz, Garrison Gibbons, Lara Gryffn, Eric Meade, Michelle Strasburger, Valerie Spain, Taryn Sydow, and Achebe Powell. This episode is intended as a contemplation on the place for Forgiveness in our worklife. As you listen, try to do so in a quiet space paying attention to the speakers and to your own responses--rationally, emotionally, physically, and energetically. My hope is that you may be inspired to being a more healing presence in your professional life by allowing for more forgiveness. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

Eric Meade is a nationally recognized futurist, facilitator, and consultant serving foundations, nonprofits, and governments. He is the principal at the Whole Mind Strategy Group and the award-winning author of Reframing Poverty: New Thinking and Feeling About Humanity’s Greatest Challenge and Whole Mind Facilitation: How to Lead Workshops That Change People, Organizations, and the World. In this episode, Eric shares his perspective on the emergence of a new paradigm for framing work-life and the workplace. Weaving together such diverse concepts as non-violent communication, adverse childhood experiences, approaches to poverty, marriage dynamics, and our sense of legacy Eric presents a call to action: to embrace the place for healing in our work-life. The Workplace Healer podcast is a complement to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

Mariana is a diversity, inclusion and wellness professional with 20+ years of experience in the educational and non-profit sectors. She holds an M.S. in Educational Program Planning from Cornell University as well as various professional certificates in the areas of organizational development /HR, Yoga, meditation, Mind-Body Medicine, mindful leadership, and intergroup relations. She is the founder of Heketi Consulting LLC and Inclusive MindBody and facilitates trainings and workshops throughout the US, Asia, and the Caribbean. In this episode, Mariana reviews the fundamentals of mindfulness and walks us through the benefits as applied to the work environment. She speaks from a place of authority having implemented mindfulness practice across an entire school system, both for faculty and students. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

Vince Tuckwood is a coach and consultant fascinated by two simple questions: 1) Why do people do what they do?; and 2) How do we help them do more of what we need them to do? Driven by these questions, he has experienced a two-decade trans-Atlantic career in Talent & Organization Development with Pfizer Inc and, since 2010, a life of independent coaching and consulting. In spirit and action, Vince is always a force for beneficial change and loves nothing more than the thrill of connecting the dots to identify what’s holding a person, team or organization back. In this episode Vince walks us methodically through his assessment of what we call a "toxic workplace." He holds up for us an awareness of history, of our tendency to seek an easy answer through blame, how we may contribute to the conditions we wish to change, and staying centered despite toxicity. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

Achebe Powell is an anti-racist, equity and inclusion organizational consultant. She has been a human rights and LGBTQ+ activist for over four decades. As a Black lesbian-feminist Achebe is noted as one of the vanguard activists of the 1970’s and 80’s who consistently shone light on the linkages between the Black Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Liberation Movement and the LGBTQ+ Liberation Movement. In this episode, Achebe speaks with me about how the work we are doing through this podcast and through Healeology is part of a bigger movement. Achebe speaks about her work anti-racist with organizations, forgiveness, and the birth of a new workplace paradigm -- a more compassionate, soulful, healing work culture. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

This is my personal experience on identifying as a non-binary person. I offer it here motivated by the hope to help nudge our collective understanding just a little bit further. Each story is different, and each story counts. You will note I don't even mention my pronouns except in passing: I am not my pronouns. Pronouns are a grammatical tool of convenience. I am not necessarily concerned about being convenient for anyone. My particular story is one of understanding my non-binary identity late in life. It is a story of ageism. It is a story of white male power. It is a story of spiritual discovery. I don't actually ask that you understand me. Only that you dignify me. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

When we prepare to confront the stresses and harms in worklife that require healing, we first seek to understand. And so we gather data. We analyze. We try to diagnose the root cause of the symptoms. This is all reasonable. Yet while analysis of data helps us determine the steps we may need in order to heal, before we act we need to move on and then listen to our wisdom. What is wisdom and how do we access wisdom? In this episode we remind ourselves to draw upon both data and wisdom, and take a meditative pause to listen actively to our inner knowing. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

Harm comes to people during their worklife in many different forms. At a time when we are fundamentally redefining the terms of work, we need to include a fresh approach to "duty of care." Beyond occupational safety, anti-harrassment, and other traditionally understood responsibilities, our times call for humanistic obligations as well. In this episode we re-evaluate the definition of "duty of care" using surprising findings in chapter 7 of the 2021 UN Happiness Report, "Work and Well-being." Find the UN report chapter here. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

So many of us experience that frustrating, sometimes harmful, experience of working for a difficult boss. One who's behavior pattern demeans, controls, intimidates. It's not unusual for the team to collectively shrug because, after all, this is a person on a position of authority and power. And we're living in a time when people in power seem to resist accountability. We can be forgiven for being discouraged. But we need to have some trust, to empower ourselves and our colleagues...including that boss. Here we reflect on this question: Is your boss irredeemable? And we end together with a four-minute guided meditation to find some insight to find a path forward. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop well-being skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

Welcome to Season 5 of the Workplace Healer podcast! This season we will engage in conversation and critiques on programs and practices in the workplace wellness and well-being space. How are they different? What works? How can we enhance these practices? In this introduction to season 5, we'll briefly review the themes of the first four season, reflect on the meaning that phrase: "trust in thriving," and look at one specific example of how we need to lay a solid foundation for wellness and well-being. There are no shortcuts. The Workplace Healer podcast is a compliment to Healeology (www.healeology.com) a workplace well-being business partner offering memberships to teams and individuals looking to develop skills of modern meditation, a compassionate workstyle, and rituals of belonging.

This final episode of season 4, More Than Mindful, is dedicated to my long-distance teacher (and companion in being a bit different) Kriket, the creator of Shaman's Way podcast. In February of 2020, I had the great pleasure of being joined by Kriket for episode #50 of this podcast, entitled "Medicine Wheel with Kriket." I find it fitting that I recorded this final season episode on the day of a New Moon, and that it is imbued with Kriket's memory and, perhaps, her Presence. "Essential Connection" is the third and final practice of the LightHeart Cycle, a systematic approach to self-care and self-empowerment using guided meditation and visualization. I like to describe Essential Connection as the ultimate destination of the LightHeart Cycle, but it is at the same time the foundation. I invite you to consider your relatedness to everyone and everything around you. You may think of this relatedness to the whole world, or your community, or your workplace. Consider the comfort to be found in that idea of being part of something more than just yourself. I then invite you to create for yourself habits -- dare I say "rituals" -- of reminding yourself of that relatedness, that connectedness, that essential connection. Just imagine how that sense of a larger whole can transform how you go about your everyday tasks and duties! The LightHeart Cycle is one of the primary components of workplace well-being practices now being introduced through Healeology. A workplace well-being partner, Healeology offers audio and video content in pursuit of its mission to embed healing as a strategy of team success for 21st century workplaces.

Here we share a guided meditation enabling ourself to connect more meaningfully with the essence of Empathy. Empathy is an innate capability unique to us humans, and can be a tool for productivity as we navigate our professional relationships. Some may challenge us, asking whether we can take this sensitivity too far. Isn't it more practical, they ask, to just carry on and get things done? Maybe the answer is somewhere in between. We're not about wallowing in others' feelings, but we are about understanding, openness and mutual support. So let's journey together to the heart of Empathy. NEWS: BraveShift is re-branding to Healeology. Launching officially in June 2021, Healeology is a workplace wellness business partner with a mission to embed healing as a strategy of team success. Healeology will focus primarily on weekly guided meditation practices and related content. Keep an eye out at www.healeology.com for updates!

As we turn to the third principle - Imagination - and the third practice - Essential Connection - of the LIGHTHEART CYCLE, let's first recognize the hard truth. People face serious challenges in both their personal and working life. Here we don't naively assume we shall will adversity and suffering away. It is important even as we apply these practices to recognize this, but also not to surrender over our sense of possibility and Hope. A deeper, harder truth to accept than the differences that divide us is the common humanity that binds us. Let's pause to reflect on that we we proceed. This podcast is offered by your workplace well-being partner HEALEOLOGY. Learn more about the practical strategies of modern meditation, a compassionate work-style, and rituals of belonging at Healeology.