About Writing

On the Practice You Podcast, expect raw, real inquiries into relationship, lifestyle, healing, education, spirit, service, ancient practice, and modern wisdom. Expect explorations that uplift our understandings, stories to support our strengths, and lessons in compassion to amplify our love. Together we’ll elevate humanity to spark, share, and sustain wellbeing.

Practice You Podcast

Episode #11 of Rewrite Radio features Dani Shapiro interviewed by Catherine Wolff about spirituality and creative practice at the 2016 Festival of Faith & Writing. Dani Shapiro is the author of several books including STILL WRITING: THE PLEASURES AND PERILS OF THE CREATIVE LIFE. Her most recent memoir HOURGLASS: TIME, MEMORY, MARRIAGE was released on April 11 and the Boston Globe says it’s “A gorgeous, poetic stay against loss and confusion. Shapiro has never written anything as raw, dark, or brave as HOURGLASS.” Dani has also written for magazines including The New Yorker; O, The Oprah Magazine; Vogue; and Elle. 

Catherine Wolff is the author of NOT LESS THAN EVERYTHING: CATHOLIC WRITERS ON HEROES OF CONSCIENCE, FROM JOAN OF ARC TO OSCAR ROMERO and the former director of the Arrupe Center for Community-Based Learning at Santa Clara University. 

Journalist Barbara Mahany helps introduce the recording. A former pediatric oncology nurse, Mahany spent nearly three decades as a reporter and writer at the Chicago Tribune. Her two collections of essays include SLOWING TIME: SEEING THE SACRED OUTSIDE YOUR KITCHEN DOOR, and MOTHERPRAYER: LESSONS IN LOVING JUST RELEASED LAST WEEK.

Many thanks to Dani Shaprio and Catherine Wolff. You can learn more about Dani Shapiro’s work at danishapiro.com. Thanks also to Barbara Mahany, who can be followed at barbaramahany.com.

#11: Dani Shapiro & Catherine Wolff 2016

Oprah's agent, THE biggest literary agent in the world, is on today’s episode of the Beautiful Writers Podcast with one of her star clients! Jennifer Rudolph Walsh is the head of the Worldwide Literary Department at WME (William Morris Endeavor). Along with repping authors like Sheryl Sandberg, Arianna Huffington, and Brené Brown, she’s sold the books you’ve heard about here multiple times—HOURGLASS, DEVOTION, and STILL WRITING—by one of our favorite writers and guests, Dani Shapiro!  

Dani is back as today’s guest host with her rock star agent for an intimate look at the kind of relationship every writer dreams of. 

Jennifer and Dani’s “soulmate” connection started nearly two decades ago, which makes this episode so unique. It’s loving. Kind. Cozy. Fun. Not exactly the first words that come to mind when you think of high-powered lit agents. But Jennifer is far from jaded or standoffish, as you’ll see. “Everyone who has breath has a purpose,” Jennifer says, which is just the kind of feel-good encouragement you may need right now. In case you’ve forgotten to breathe or remember that you have a purpose. 

You’ll be reminded when you hear about where to access precious pockets of time for your dreams, and how caring passionately about your goals but giving zero f#cks about the nonsense and noise you can’t control makes all the difference. We hope you’ll be encouraged to hear about how agenting is a two-way street, and how we’re all doing our best to wrap our arms around the changing realities of social media and platform building when what we’re desperate for are both community and a revolution. 

Community. Revolution. Jennifer’s middle names. She’s currently building the ark before the flood, so to speak, with her creation of the TOGETHER LIVE tour, an annual speaking tour that's coming to ten cities this fall. Featuring heart-stopping stories from our Glennon Doyle Melton and Elizabeth Lesser, and so many other wonder women (Abby Wambach! Luvvie Ajayi! Sophia Bush!…), TOGETHER LIVE is affordable, accessible, raw, and ignited. It’s also curious, fierce, intersectional, and Zero Bulls#it. Or, as Glennon says, a ten-city, three-hour traveling Love Rally.

Kind of like what we hope you’ll find in this conversation with these love-bug wonder women. Welcome.

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Jennifer Rudolph Walsh on Together-ness

On the intelligence of risk, radical independence, and decoding the real conversation that happens in relationship.&nbsp;

Episode 4:  Collecting Difficult Moments in Relationship, with James Benard

Seeing difficult moments as evidence that it was always coming together. Length: 5:00 Timecodes: 2:00 Seeing that every difficult moment is a teaching. A Call For Revolution by His Holiness the Dalai Lama Seek evidence that it was always coming together Hold a state of peace within our hearts “...respond to terror with increased democracy, openness and tolerance” 4:15 May we be more gentle with our fear May we apply the tolerance, non-violence within our own homes May we look upon those closest to us (with whom we might be challenged) and continue to believe that there is a teaching in this challenge.

Episode 3:  It’s All a Teaching, with Elena

Seeing difficult moments as our treasures. Strategies and perspectives for releasing stories and tensions. 0:00-1:40 Vanda Scaravelli quote: Tension is a theft. To be in adherence with the present moment. On the stories we’ve repeated in our minds to create tension “Notice the stories you hold in your mind. Let go of the ones that cause tension.” -Yung Pueblo 1:45 On our being accustomed to - and recreating a baseline neutral of tension… On the contradictions we’ve adhered to - and seeing them as the treasures and the lessons On stopping the fight 2:30 Welcoming the child in us that we’ve shunned And collecting the presence, creating a sacred space for that part of us 3:30 How to be with those parts of ourselves that we’ve denied Making time for compassion Seeing your child bring forth all the parts of you that you’ve denied 4:10 On being with the sting of childhood, seeing how it’s still likely driving our choices Not dramatizing, nor glorifying, just giving it compassion and love 4:45 Rod Stryker SANCTUARY APP Rod Stryker on Glo Seeing what hasn’t received my full compassion and love 5:30 Feeling the lesson now; observing and choosing with more clarity 6:15 Our PRACTICE for this episode: Noting and writing what still hurts. What part of you needs your compassion How old were you when that happened / was happening Write it out 7:00 My example from 5th grade 8:15 If we wish to help and serve, to land in the source of lingering childhood pain is a viable endeavour - write it out… Then note: What’s a good response, from the perspective of the person that you are now? 10:00 Complaining less Serving more More transparency Recent conversation with my son There's no map for parenting; we don’t really know how we’re doing 11:15 Jonah's honest response to my burgeoning self-compassion 12:00 Your writing out the difficult moments will serve as your map. 13:00 - 16:45 As you observe the choices you’ve made as a result of the tension you’ve cultivated unconsciously, here are some possible practices. 17:00 Looking ahead to Episode Two with Ally Bogard. RESOURCES MENTIONED:  Sanctuary App Glo with Rod Stryker Ally Bogard

Episode 1: Collecting Difficult Moments, Intro with Elena

On the energetic and practical wisdom of gathering difficult moments; seeing them as food for your journey. Length: 54:07 Timecodes: 0:00 Eternal Two Step by Mark Nepo, p.33, Things That Join the Sea and Sky 02:40 Collecting difficult moments like little gems. Don't try to avoid them; gather them up like fuel, food, treasures. 04:18 When you're a child, the imagination still reigns; there isn’t the impression of meaning just yet… the meaning of what's occurring is entirely open to our interpretation. Meanings begin to be collected and change us. Collecting difficult moments puts us back into the world of imagination, allowing us to reclaim creativity. 06:13 That moment you started to feel like the adult with your parents. Collecting moments of trusting that everyone has their path. AB the pleaser; letting go of the need to control other people's experience. Collecting the difficult moments makes them sacred. Reclaiming lost bits of ourselves, our imagination. 07:45 Self Compassion practice; Rod Stryker- Sanctuary app What hasn’t been healed? Acknowledging what hasn’t been healed. Giving love and compassion to those aspects. What is it that hasn't been healed? 09:00 EB the fixer; growing the heart v. boundaries. Committing to self in the midst of relationship. 10:15 AB: Loving yourself is never somewhere we get, it's a never-ending journey. Knowing that you, yourself are your person and committing to that. “Her” film: the computer loving her 800 humans. What if my self-love can be so big, it doesn't get rid of my self-hate, it can simply expand to hold and encompass it? 12:45 Practicalities. Scheduling. What is on your calendar that map that self-love? AB: I tend to schedule things for someone else; having spare time means meeting myself in the blank spaces. Schedule the void diligently. The busyness is just my way of avoiding myself. I don't want to keep accumulating difficult moments without processing the wisdom / extracting the gold from them. I have to make mandatory space in the early morning. So I determine the energy I run in the day. And at least once during the day touching down with someone that nourishes me. 17:45 On distractions EB: Business is my favourite distraction; traveling is a good way for me to just stare into space and get great insights about how I want to show up. 19:15 EB: collecting difficult moments with kids; realizing that she doesn’t need to have Jonah be anything or anyone other than who he is. 21:00 EB: Taking space to take space in order to respond to a difficult moment as it’s happening. Moving from baseline overt volatility to softening. AB: Moving from silent treatment / avoidance / repression to learning how to fight. 24:00 EB: Learning from James’ experience with mens’ work how to listen, communicate. On truly listening. Accepting what the other person is telling you, and then also offering your side. AB: Can I suspend my first judgement of thinking this is “good” or “bad” - the wisdom of hindsight teaches me that all the tough moments were other than what I thought was being asked of me. I'm grateful that life or God always knew what was needed. Who do i want to become with what's happening, so that we aren’t passive bystanders? What current of energy are you running in your system? 27:00 In all difficult moments you were met by grace. Seth Godin - difficult moments will not be helped by brute force. How can we get creative with what’s happening or happened. We're not passive bystanders. Choosing what kind of energy you’re running in your system. 30:00 With what are you identifying in this particular moment? Flexible identities v. fixed identities. When we look at collecting difficult moments; it's not the identity about what happened, but what we chose to do with it. eg. I was abandoned, so I chose not to abandon. AB chooses her charity: Navajo Water Project fundraiser. 33:00 Help provide solar power and water where need is greatest in our land. EB...

Episode 2: Collecting Difficult Moments, with Ally Bogard

In this episode, on the occasion of Mary Oliver's passing, I took time to read my favourite passages and poems. Her work has informed mine since 1998, and reading her words brings me back to the earliest days in my teaching and learning to lead. Readings from: Thirst A Thousand Mornings Felicity Devotions A Poetry Handbook

Episode 5: Remembering Mary Oliver

On welcoming compassion for the string of selves you've ever been, quotes from Hourglass and Inheritance. On the corrosive power of family secrets, and the healing of the secret that Dani uncovered about her origins. On welcoming compassion for the string of selves you've ever been, quotes from Hourglass and Inheritance. On the corrosive power of family secrets, and the healing of the secret that Dani uncovered about her origins. About Dani Shapiro Dani Shapiro’s books include the memoirs, Hourglass, Still Writing, Devotion, and Slow Motion, and five novels including Black &amp; White and Family History. Her work spans diverse subjects from her tumultuous upbringing in an Orthodox Jewish community and the tragic death of her father to her explorations of spirituality and the nature of our deepest relationships. Dani’s New York Times best selling memoir, Inheritance, was recently published by Knopf. Dani's essays and journalistic pieces have appeared in numerous publications including The New Yorker, Salon, n+1, Tin House, and Vogue, and have been widely anthologized. She contributes regularly to The New York Times Book Review and has been broadcast on This American Life. Along with teaching writing workshops around the world, Dani has taught at Columbia and New York University, and is the cofounder of the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy. In February of 2019, Dani launched an original podcast “Family Secrets” in collaboration with iHeart Media. The podcast features stories from guests who—like Dani— have uncovered life-altering and long-hidden secrets from their families’ past. She lives with her family in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Show Notes danishapiro.com Hourglass Inheritance Family Secrets Podcast

Episode 11: Dani Shapiro

Bestselling Author, Artist, Poet, Podcast Host.

Episode 11: Dani Shapiro

Elena Brower