Find the Good News with Brother Oran Parker findthegoodnews

You’re listening to Find the Good News, Episode 122, “The Shifters,” A Beacon Series conversation featuring Steve Taylor, author of  "Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation" published by New World Library.

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"Just like a blind man that has discovered a jewel in a heap of rubbish, likewise, by some coincidence, an awakening mind has been born within me." With this simple, powerful turn of phrase, the Indian mystic Shantideva laid claim on my heart and framed my personal awakening experience over 25 years ago.
 
It was a profound moment of illumination in the midst of deep personal pain and set in motion years of curious seeking, discovery, experience, and practice that has offered shelter over my life to this very day. Perhaps this was the reason I so enjoyed the new book by Steve Taylor, "Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation," and why I was so eager to have him visit me on "Find the Good News."
 
Steve's new book is a collection of potent awakening stories spanning across a wide spectrum of traumatic human experiences such as imprisonment, war, addiction, depression, tragedy, and grief. He presents the common markers exhibited by the awakened—"shifters"—on the other side of a trauma experience.
 
No stranger to these uncommon causes of awakening, Steve offers a view of minds-and-hearts dawning in plain view, in the shadowy-yet-lovely circumstances of human existence, and in the beautiful, bumpy, ordinary enlightened beings blooming around us in this "heap of rubbish."
 
Now, I invite you to move beyond fundamentalism, past religious framing, and open yourself to the idea of your own potential for extraordinary awakening, then tune your attention to this Good News Beacon, and press play on a little good news.


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LEARN MORE ABOUT STEVE TAYLOR — https://www.stevenmtaylor.com/about-steve-taylor/ 
BUY A COPY OF "EXTRAORDINARY AWAKENINGS" — https://www.stevenmtaylor.com/books/extraordinary-awakenings/ 
SEE MORE BOOKS FROM NEW WORLD LIBRARY — https://www.newworldlibrary.com/ 
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FIND THE GOOD NEWS IS PRODUCED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES — www.ParkerBrandUp.com  
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You’re listening to Find the Good News, Episode 121, “The Raw Honey,” A Beacon Series conversation featuring Kori Hahn, author of  "Rituals of the Soul: Using the 8 Principles of Yoga to Create a Modern & Meaningful Life" published by New World Library.

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Have you ever had to reinvent yourself, to start again? Did you find that there was a process of letting go, of unlearning, as you started to embrace the changes that came with your rebirth?
 
Sometimes, it's difficult to use the pieces of our existing life as the compost for new growth, and it can often seem haphazard and clumsy, but with a fair amount of right effort and right attention, plus some helpful advice and guidance along the way, it is possible to build something new, whole, and more familiar and comfortable than we'd likely imagined possible.
 
In the episode of Find the Good News, I visit with Kori Hahn, author of the new book "Rituals of the Soul: Using the 8 Principles of Yoga to Create a Modern & Meaningful Life," published by New World Library.
 
In her book and through our conversation, Kori shares the textured and rich accounts of her own journey while imparting important Yogic wisdom in a digestible and engaging format I'd not yet experienced.
 
What I found in Kori was someone who has searched for meaning and found it—even in the face of great personal loss—reborn with a passionate personal calling to help others find, cultivate, and embrace the sacred rituals evident in their own lives. Where they do not seem to exist, she shows how to create them, then lovingly encourages us to do so.
 
Now, take a look at your life just as it, with all its twists and bends, all of its ordinary colors and tones, and prepare to discover anew the raw and extraordinary sacred hiding in plain sight, then tune your attention to this Good News Beacon, and press play on a little good news.


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SUPPORT FIND THE GOOD NEWS — https://www.findthegood.news/donate/ 
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LEARN MORE ABOUT KORI HAHN — https://santoshasociety.com/kori-hahn/ 
BUY A COPY OF "RITUALS OF THE SOUL" — https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781608687527 
SEE MORE BOOKS FROM NEW WORLD LIBRARY — https://www.newworldlibrary.com/ 
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FIND THE GOOD NEWS IS PRODUCED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES — www.ParkerBrandUp.com  
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You’re listening to Find the Good News, Episode 120, “The Permission Slip,” A Beacon Series conversation featuring Regina Louise, author of  Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self-Love published by New World Library.

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Is there something in your life that you feel you should have done, but you just couldn't find it in yourself to get started? Maybe you had an internal and unspoken checklist of reasons that you believed were valid enough to keep your personal passions and dreams in check. You might have thought that you weren't old enough, young enough, wealthy enough, educated enough, attractive enough, supported enough, nurtured enough,... normal enough (whatever that means).
 
I can absolutely recall the times that my inner critic has clubbed me into submission, even as I sit down to share these words with you. What would happen if you and I stopped casting internal stones and stopped believing the negative stories we tell ourselves, and instead started a plan of self-encouragement that pushed us through the gravel of self-doubt?
 
In this episode, I visit with Regina Louise, author of the new book "Permission Granted: Kick-Ass Strategies to Bootstrap Your Way to Unconditional Self-Love."
 
Regina is an energetic light with an attractive vibe that makes you want to latch on to her message. It would be easy to say that she's overcome a lot in her life to get to this plateau where she can help others rise and thrive, but that simply doesn't do her story justice. She instead encourages us to wrap our arms around all the broken and damaged bits that weigh people down (that nasty checklist I mentioned earlier) and instead learn to grow through what we go through.
 
In a world obsessed with celebrities, Regina uses her very real (and sometimes painful) story to advocate for the voiceless without the clout and fame that so many celebrities enjoy and squander.
 
She wasn't groomed for success. Instead, Regina found a kind of truth in the bumpiness of her own edges. This allowed her to lay down false images of perfection that so many in our society cling to. In allowing her authentic self to blossom, unplugged from the dream of the mainstream, she now leans into and develops her natural gifts to help others realize the same self-love and personal freedom.
 
Now, I encourage you to think about those fears and jeers you lay upon yourself, all those unnecessary fictions and frictions you've shackled yourself to, and find out what would happen if you loved yourself just as you are, then tune your attention to this Good News Beacon, and press play on a little good news.


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SUPPORT FIND THE GOOD NEWS — https://www.findthegood.news/donate/ 
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LEARN MORE ABOUT REGINA LOUISE — https://www.iamreginalouise.com/ 
BUY A COPY OF "PERMISSION GRANTED" — https://www.amazon.com/Permission-Granted-Strategies-Bootstrap-Unconditional/dp/1608687260/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 
SEE MORE BOOKS FROM NEW WORLD LIBRARY — https://www.newworldlibrary.com/ 
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FIND THE GOOD NEWS IS PRODUCED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES — www.ParkerBrandUp.com  
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You’re listening to Find the Good News, Episode 119, “The Trembling Trees,” A Beacon Series conversation featuring Jonathon Stalls, artist, writer, activist, and founder of Intrinsic Paths.

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Have you ever had a transformative personal experience so profound, so mysterious, that escaped your ability to frame it with words? If you've listened to this program for any length of time then you likely know that I have had such an experience, a moment in this lifetime that seemed to change every other day after it or at least my perception of those moments.
 
Many of my guests have intimately shared their experiences, and I am fascinated how across language barriers, geography, and varied circumstantial occurrences, so many walk through the transformative door and end up in similar places, motivated and invigorated to use their lives in the service of goodness, justice, mercy, and love.
 
In this episode, I visit with a being who has shown up in the world with a genuineness that I deeply appreciate. My guest, Jonathon Stalls, is the founder of Intrinsic Paths, and his feet have carried him on a mission to inspire the people he encounters.
 
Jonathon encourages us to embrace an unhurried, meditative way of being that has the potential to heal on a very deep and personal level, in turn offering the tools required to repair the desperate fissures in this world we all share.
 
He did not come to this place without going through the Bardo of personal pain, which I feel largely influenced his visceral understanding of the aching his human brothers and sisters experience. By acknowledging this deep creaking in the world, he is able to fully embrace the joyous cacophony that we so often disregard in the hustle to "be someone."
 
This is clear in Jonathon's deep love and connection to the unabashedly beautiful and simple things to be found in nature, which take on new and profound visual meaning through his artwork and nature-craft.
 
Through his Pedestrian Dignity signal, he adopts a role as an advocate for our fellow beings that find themselves at the mercy of congested, poorly planned roadways and cities designed primarily for those of us with vehicles, cities, and communities that largely forget those that use their feet to carry them to school and work.
 
It is my reflection that Jonathon Stalls, through his life and work, is holding up a living mirror to the world. What we find in him is a shimmering beauty firmly attached to a murky pain. In that, I find a type of truth that escapes words or full understanding, but in this conversation, Jonathon and I try to put prose to this mystery.
 
Now, for just a little while, allow yourself to show up just as you are, with all your hopes and happiness, your failures and fears. Make a point to look right into the lovely mess, then tune your attention to this Good News Beacon, and press play on a little good news.


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SUPPORT FIND THE GOOD NEWS — https://www.findthegood.news/donate/ 
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LEARN MORE ABOUT JONATHAN STALLS — https://www.intrinsicpaths.com/ 
SUPPORT JONATHAN'S WORD — https://www.patreon.com/intrinsicpaths 
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FIND THE GOOD NEWS IS PRODUCED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES — www.ParkerBrandUp.com  
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You’re listening to Find the Good News, Episode 118, “The Honored Struggle,” A Beacon Series conversation featuring Wendy De Rosa, author of "Becoming An Empowered Empath: How To Clear Energy, Set Boundaries, & Embody Your Intuition" by New World Library.

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Many longtime Find the Good News listeners would likely recall the number of times that I've brought the subject of empathy into these conversations in a very serious way. There have been times over the past two years where I've felt that I'd exhausted the topic, or rather exhausted myself in an attempt to express what being an empath has been like for me. As with most things, I've been exploring the boundary of my own experiences in an attempt to learn through the stories and experiences of others.
 
Being an empath has offered the gift of deep listening and understanding on a level akin to actually feeling what others themselves have experienced. This is a great blessing to others when one is attempting to step into the role of consoler and healer, but it can also feel like a deep ache or heaviness when the wings of an empathetic heart are stretched and burdened beyond their capacity to carry the hurt of others.
 
I, like many who go through life with naturally empathetic hearts, have likely felt a great moaning rise over the past decade, or longer. With so much pain and suffering, so much discord, dishevelment, and division, it is often hard to discern one's own feelings from the soup of signals we have moved through.
 
In this conversation with Wendy De Rosa, author of the new book "Becoming An Empowered Empath: How To Clear Energy, Set Boundaries & Embody Your Intuition," I for the very first time, have a guest that clearly and openly speaks about the reality of being an empath.
 
Wendy offers helpful perspectives and strong guidance on how to enhance day-to-day living through empathetic gifts, while not being consumed by the onslaught of feelings that are often not our own. Through her school of Intuitive Studies, Wendy assists students on their path of self-discovery through guided meditation, breathwork, and energy clearing.
Wendy offers insights that bring comfort and healing to the soul. For me, it was an opportunity to open my empathetic heart in a space of safety with an individual that didn't require an explanation of who I am or who I behave. Wendy offered the gift that I so often wish I could give, the gift of a listening ear, an understanding mind, and a loving heart.
 
Now, it's time to enter a space of safety and freedom, freedom to lay your burdens down for a short time, to let go of anything that's causing you grief, especially the pains that most can't see. Take a break from the entanglements of arrangements, habits, and identity, and allow yourself to just feel what you feel. Be with it, and know that it's okay. Then, dear listener, to tune your attention to this Good News Beacon, and press play on a little good news.


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SUPPORT FIND THE GOOD NEWS — https://www.findthegood.news/donate/ 
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LEARN MORE ABOUT WENDY DE ROSA — https://schoolofintuitivestudies.com/ 
BUY "BECOMING AN EMPOWERED EMPATH" — https://bookshop.org/books/becoming-an-empowered-empath-how-to-clear-energy-set-boundaries-embody-your-intuition/9781608687190 
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FIND THE GOOD NEWS IS PRODUCED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES — www.ParkerBrandUp.com  
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You’re listening to Find the Good News, Episode 117, “The Weeping Sunset,” A Beacon Series conversation featuring Rev. Dr. Kenneth Patrick, author of "Journeying to the End of Life: Discovering the Ancient Hospice Way of Companioning the Dying."
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Often, it's in revisiting a conversation during editing that its value truly sinks in. As you may know, it could be several weeks, or even months, after I've had a visit with a guest before their episode is published. On many occasions, going back to listen to the conversation reveals little details I missed, or perhaps didn't key in on, while in the natural flow with a guest. Or, as I had happened with this particular episode, the world around me changes in ways that affect my interior landscape,  giving new meaning to my guests' words. When considered in this light, editing becomes less a necessary task and more of a gift.
 
My guest in this episode, Reverend Doctor Kenneth Patrick, an ordained Methodist Minister, gave me the great gift of his time, and it has acted as a prescription for what ails me as we face, yet again, another surge of the Covid 19 virus in the United States of America.
 
The truth is, I've been circling the drain and have felt myself losing hope in my fellow beings' capacity to do the right thing, resolved to simply bear witness and weep privately for all the dismay and despair on full display. How am I to produce a show about finding the good when I clearly hold a tarnished view of those I would call human brothers and sisters? I need these episodes as much as anyone, I need to hear these good people doing good works in the world, people like Kenneth Patrick, who have dedicated their lives to the service of others, even though they too bear witness to the same calamities as I.
 
Kenneth is the author of the book "Journeying to the End of Life," and in it he presents what he calls the "Ancient Hospice Way" of being a true companion and servant to the dying.
 
In our conversation, Kenneth reveals that at a young age he made a type of pact with himself, that he would serve where people were suffering the most. You will discover, as I did, that he has spent his whole life doing that very thing.
 
Kenneth advocates moving outside our comfort bubbles and into situations that require work, work that effectively changes the world in a real and tangible way so that it can truly meet and help others where they are.
 
As an Army Chaplain, Kenneth brought solace and comfort to soldiers. As a compassionate social activist, he has hiked the Appalachian Trail solo—that's over 2,100 miles—to raise enough money to help the RAM house, a day shelter for the homeless in Virginia, an endeavor that has helped over 5,000 people, serving over 41,000 meals.
 
All the experiences of his life have lead to his current passion, providing compassionate companionship and care to those facing the end of their lives, considering this to be the most vital social issue of our age. The hospice method that he presents brings patients, families, healthcare professionals, and faith communities together in unison to reduce the layers of suffering that occur during the sunset of life, outlining training and resources so human beings can die at home, with dignity, well cared for, surrounded by those they love.
 
Now, if you are like me, if you are feeling the burden of a world in pain, weary from too much bad news, I invite you to listen to this conversation with a man that does not deny or turn away from the reality of the difficult age we find ourselves in, a man that encourages us to lean into our weeping during this time of sunset, and in the tears find a divine love. It is an encouragement to work and to hope. I invite you, dear listener, to tune your attention to this Good News Beacon, and press play on a little good news.


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