Best Podcasts!
Hello from Powell River BC!
Woo hoo! My list of favourite podcasts is here! Coming to you direct from our summer place by the sea where we are enjoying a relaxing family vacation.
Hello my friend, how did it come to be August?
What the what?
I know it has been awhile since I have put out a Full Flight update but its been a busy time. With my new consulting gig, coaching clients, kids out of school, and the fact that we are STILL living away from home due to our house renovations (it’s going on the 9th month now!) life has truly been a blur.
But as mentioned I have a GEM of a missive for you today, all about podcasts. It has taken a bit of time to put together but I know you will appreciate it and I am happy to share!
Maybe you are stuck in traffic or you have dinner prep to do and you just aren’t feelin’ it? These podcasts are for those moments when you need a little help to get from point A to point B, they are the best I’ve come across and chances are you will get lost in them just as I did!
On Relationships
Esther Perel ‘Where Should We Begin?’ https://www.estherperel.com/podcast
Every wondered what it would be like to be a fly on a wall during a couples counselling session? Well with Esther Perel’s captivating podcast series you can listen to it ALL.
In this series brave couples share their most intimate issues, everything from a lack of passion for their partner, to the buzzkill children can put on a relationship, to impotence and adultery. Listening to this podcast deepened my understanding and compassion of all that we humans struggle with and led me to consider aspects of my own relationship with my husband.
We do a lot of this when at the beach.
On Creating Your Best Life
Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/learnoutloud/id1264843400.
As a life long Oprah admirer for all the good work she does in the world, I would be remiss to leave this excellent podcast off my list. Clocking in at about 100 episodes (so far!) there is no shortage of quality listening material.
A couple of my favourites;
No. #9 – Dr. Shefali Tsbary, Clinical Psychologist: ‘Conscious Parenting Can Change The World’
No. #10 –Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhist Monk, Noble Peace Prize Nominee: ‘How To Listen With Compassion’
No. #94 – Glennon Doyle, Best Selling Author: ‘The Power of Embracing Your Beautiful Messy Life’
No. #98 & #99 Brene Brown, Professor of Social Work and Best Selling Author: ‘Daring Greatly’ (Part 1) and ‘Living With a Whole Heart’ (Part 2)
On Spirituality
Tapestry – Mary Hynes CBC Radio http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/tapestry
The website blurb for Tapestry – “Tapestry exists to go deep. We investigate the messy, complicated, and sometimes absurd nature of life, through the lenses of psychology, philosophy, religion and spirituality. Tapestry is your radio/audio home for all the big questions: Why are we here? What does it mean to live a good life? Will the Leafs make the playoffs in your lifetime?” (FYI* the Leafs are a Canadian hockey team for those of you outside of Canada)
Tapestry has been on for years, and there are hundreds and hundreds of quality podcasts that cover everything from forgiving the school shooter who killed your child (‘Hope and Mercy in Chicago and Newtown’) to a ‘Door Knob Meditation’ to ‘The Dharma of The Princess Bride’ (remember that movie?).
If you want to dig deep into the how’s and why’s of the human condition, and come away loving the complicated family you are part of (the human race), then this program is for you.
On Writing… & Food…& Art …& Life
If you love to write, love to read, are an author, or just love to hear writers discussing their craft then you will love Linda Sivertsen’s ‘The Beautiful Writers Podcast- Talking Shop With Creatives, Up Close and Personal With Your Favourite Writers’. http://www.beautifulwriterspodcast.com
One episode I really enjoyed was the one where Linda Sivertsen and her guest host Martha Beck (one of my coaching mentors) interviewed Geneen Roth about her new book ‘Messy and Magnificent’.
Geneen is known for her books about eating, like (‘Women, Food and God’ and ‘Feeding The Hungry Heart’) but this interview is really about EVERYTHING- food, money, heartbreak, etc. basically it’s about life.
She speaks about experiencing that low level panic / anxiety that causes one to turn to food for comfort, and how at the heart of it, it is not about the food. Geneen, Martha and Linda also talk about how to get out of that panic ‘trance’ and become conscious of our actions, what food we are putting in our mouths and what actions we are taking out in the world. Hint – To get out of that ‘low level anxious trance’ look at what’s NOT wrong in your life, aka practice gratitude.
FYI Geneen and her husband lost ALL the money she earned on her best selling books through a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, which she also talks about in ‘Messy & Magnificent’.
On Creativity
Elizabeth Gilbert – Magic Lessons https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/magic-lessons/
I have mentioned Magic Lessons before on the Full Flight blog, and there is good reason for this. With over 200 episodes from best selling writer Elizabeth Gilbert of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ fame, I have barely scratched the surface in terms of listening to all this goodness.
Elizabeth and her guests help artists (poets, writers, musicians, dancers…) move past their fears and find the courage to share their art / talent with the world. If you have been fearful about sharing your art with the world, whatever that art may be, and are looking for support and inspiration to do so, than plug in and enjoy!
Coffee or tea with a true crime podcast? Yes please!
On …The Dark Side
I’m an avid murder mystery reader. Nothing too gory, I prefer suspense. But over the past couple of years I have been gripped by variations on the ‘Who done it?’ theme, including true crime.
Serial Season 1, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Find it at https://serialpodcast.org
Maybe the best podcast in this genre is Serial hosted by Sarah Koenig. I recall making my Christmas gingerbread a few years back while mainlining Season One episodes. It was told week to week but I came to the party late so was able to download a bunch and listen to them back to back.
Talk about a Christmas treat!
Season One was about the investigation into the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee and it is gripping. This podcast won a Peabody Award in 2015 for its innovative story telling and Serial’s episodes were downloaded a total of 175 million times, establishing a world record. If you haven’t already listened to this it is a MUST.
A good podcast helps makes commuting or doing the dishes, or dinner prep better!
And For Something Darker…
Criminology Season 2, hosted by Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford – the Epicentre of Fear (Golden State Killer) Find it at: https://criminology.libsyn.com
I debated about whether to include this podcast because this is some rough subject matter. However, I am all about being transparent and it was a podcast I found gripping, so it made it on the list. I, like millions of others, have been strangely captivated by the case of the Golden State Killer. This was an elusive criminal of the worst kind, who terrorized California for over ten years.
If you have been following the story you will know that this was, for many years, an unsolved case. However in recent months the GSK has been captured and now awaits trial. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this guy is a monster and this podcast is disturbing but like any good murder mystery, the podcast gets its hooks into you and you want to learn more.
*Side Note – If you are looking for an excellent read about the GSK, (written before he was caught but still a page turner), I highly recommend ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer’ by Michelle McNamara. Michelle was the wife of the comedian Patton Oswalt and she obsessed over the capture of the GSK for years, and tragically died at the young age of 46, before she could see him captured.
Someone Knows Something hosted by David Ridgen. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/someone-knows-something
David is a Canadian award winning filmmaker and writer and when you listen to this series you will understand why he deserves the accolades. Each season is great, but to me the standout series was Season 3 about the Mississippi cold case about the 1964 deaths of two teenagers, Charles Moore and Henry Dee.
Season 2 covers the disappearance of Sheryl Sheppard in Hamilton, Ontario and it is also excellent.
Summer time and the livin’s easy.
On Beauty (Outward and Inward)
Because I can’t leave this post on such a dark note I’m bringing the light with this next recommendation.
The late Irishman John O’ Donohue, is one of my all time favourite sages. He is a beloved poet / philosopher and is best known for his book Anam Cara (Gaelic for ‘Soul Friend’). I have loved every interview I have heard with him – that voice!
In one of his last interviews before his sudden death in 2008 he spoke about his Celtic vision and how it is both the visible and invisible that merges to create the experience of being human. You will come away from this podcast seeing with different and kinder eyes.
John O’ Donohue The Inner Landscape of Beauty, interview with Krista Tippett –https://onbeing.org/programs/john-odonohue-the-inner-landscape-of-beauty/
So there you have it, all my faves so far.
I hope these podcasts speak to you as they have done for me and that you have an EXCELLENT August.
xo
Eliz
