"Haiku is a refuge when the world seems chaotic, when you are lost, frightened, tangled, and nothing is clear." Natalie Goldberg, Three Simple Lines Natalie Goldberg is an author, teacher, and Zen Buddhist practitioner. She wrote the internationally renowned Writing Down the Bones , published in 1986, and has since published memoirs, essays, poetry, more writing books, a novel, and a notebook. This is the first of two parts, talking with Natalie about her brand-new book, called Three Simple Line...
Feb 09, 2021•26 min
Melanie shares reflections from a variety of experts, including Winnie the Pooh. “Well,” said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.” Fantasy travel trips, the psychology of hope, neuroscience, Blue Zones -- all of this, plus Winnie the Pooh! Come listen. Dr. Melanie Harth's new book is here...
Feb 01, 2021•26 min
"Millions of people have been traumatized by the political climate of the last few years. "Millions of people have been traumatized by brutal bureaucracies created to perpetuate systemic poverty, racism, misogyny, ableism, and so much more. "Millions have been traumatized as children in the families, schools, and/or cultures in which we've lived. "Millions have been traumatized by the out-of-control Covid-19 pandemic." - Dr. Melanie Harth Let's acknowledge the truth of the trauma. And then, let'...
Jan 26, 2021•26 min
"I’m asking you, my friends, if there’s a part of you that’s ready to stop participating in the insanity that’s become what we in this country believe is important. What is true for you at this point in your life? What matters to you? Who are you helping? Who’s helping you?" - Dr. Melanie Harth Melanie presents a potpourri of ideas from Jungian depth psychologists to political scientists, and from Geneen Roth to Melanie's thoughts on what a mess we're in, and how we can begin cleaning it up. Yep...
Jan 19, 2021•26 min
Jamie Lerner has a master’s degree in social work from Loyola University, has been in private practice as a psychotherapist for many years, and is a passionate amateur equestrian rider on the AA horse show circuit. Also a world traveler, Jamie has explored a wide variety of spiritual healing modalities. And she's the co-author of the book “The Ever-Loving Essence of You”. Melanie and Jamie take a deep dive down into wellbeing, happiness, inner guidance, and re-creating the greatest relationship ...
Jan 11, 2021•26 min
The artist, Stanford prof, and thought leader Jenny Odell's provocative book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy is the focus of this episode. Odell's book is a provocative take on taking ourselves back. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy , was named one of the best books of the year by Time, The New Yorker, NPR, Vulture, Fortune, Boing Boing, and was one of President Obama’s Favorite Books of 2019. Melanie shares writings from the book, along with her own observa...
Jan 04, 2021•26 min
Melanie focuses on thoughts and writings from such luminaries as Paula Allen Gunn, Simon Ortiz, Joy Harjo, and Barry Lopez in this episode. Some of the "bad" words touched on are considered unimportant and light-weight and New-Agey, and even worse, often used to minimize, criticize, and shame those who dare to align themselves with such ridiculous concepts as living a slow, contemplative life, or consciously choosing love as a touchstone for decision-making. This episode is really about reclaimi...
Dec 29, 2020•25 min
Katy Butler is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, and bestselling author. She’s a thought leader about end-of-life care in the national movement for medical reform. Her first book was Knocking on Heaven’s Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death and was named one of the 100 Most Notable Books of 2013 by the New York Times. It may seem a bit macabre to be talking about death, and yet … paradoxically, the more we learn about the softer technologies of the human heart, a phrase from Ms. Bu...
Dec 21, 2020•25 min
It seems ridiculous to celebrate anything these days. And yet, we know from all the neuroscience research that celebrating is quite important for our brains. Which means it’s important for our lives. Melanie's inspiration for this episode was a big-little thing that recently happened to her. Lots of good neuroscience, beautiful blessings from beloved Mirabai Starr, deep writings from The New York Times bestseller Learning to Walk in the Dark , by Barbara Brown Taylor. Plus! Poems from David Whyt...
Dec 14, 2020•26 min
Melanie shares ideas, thoughts, and how-tos for easing up on ourselves. The conflict between way too much to do and the desperate desire for rest that so many of us are struggling with makes for a toxic soup of stress and anxiety. She dives into a chapter from the book Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing as We Age written by the psychotherapist, anthropologist, and author Mary Pipher. The chapter is "Building A Good Day". (The advice, of course, applies no matter our g...
Dec 08, 2020•26 min
The Happiness in Dark Times series this week focuses on some of the ideas from Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear . Curiosity, creativity, joy, lightness, ease, and strength (as in internal fortitude) are all covered in this episode. Melanie includes thoughts from the Jungian psychoanalyst, author, storyteller and curandera Clarissa Pinkola Estes, as well. Elizabeth Gilbert's Facebook page here More about Melanie Harth's transformation psychology services here...
Nov 30, 2020•26 min
Continuing her solo Happiness During Dark Times series, Melanie presents a deep, thoughtful show based on writing by the visionary thought leader Charles Eisenstein. Here's a little bit of part of this episode: "A ceremony, then, is a special kind of ritual. It is a ritual done in the knowledge that one is in the presence of the sacred, that holy beings are watching you, or that God is your witness. Those whose worldview has no place for the sacred, or holy beings, or God will see ceremony as su...
Nov 24, 2020•26 min
Did you know that mindfulness, mindful awareness, and/or contemplative practices don't have to be formal, stick-in-the-mud things? In fact, the more we can bring mindfulness into our everyday lives, the happier, more content, satisfied, and peaceful we are. Listen in as Melanie shares a chapter of her book, called Happiness and Mindfulness: a Light-Hearted Guide . The chapter? "Mindfulness, Dorothy, and That Yellow-Brick Road." Here's a hint: "I first learned how to cultivate a sitting meditatio...
Nov 17, 2020•26 min
This is a quiet and intimate show, the first in a series of quiet, contemplative shows with Melanie. She shares some of her own writing, along with insights from thought leaders such as neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson; Vaclav Havel, the great Czechoslovakian playwright turned dissident activist who became president of his country; and poetry selections. All the readings were chosen to help soothe your soul. There are lots of resources and creative ideas about finding happiness, no matter what'...
Nov 11, 2020•25 min
Wowzer. This is a fasten-your-seatbelt show. Vince Kadlubek, the visionary co-founder of the internationally renowned interactive, experiential performance art space Meow Wolf, joins Melanie. He's stepped away from Meow Wolf's day-to-day operations into the role of Executive Advisor. Vince dives deep, talking about the role of imagination in starting from a sort-of starving artist local collective to running a multi-million dollar business with the backing of George R. R. Martin, no less. How to...
Nov 03, 2020•26 min
Linda Durham -- provocateur, a major force in the Santa Fe art gallery scene, world traveler, seeker, and author -- continues her in-depth conversation with Melanie in this episode. Creative thinking, a positive mindset, trust and faith, and the other side of fear are touched on as Linda continues to share just a few of her astonishing life experiences. "There is something comforting about the passage of time, about aging, about entering a phase of life known by various names that I’m learning t...
Oct 27, 2020•26 min
Linda Durham has been one of the most influential people in the Santa Fe art scene over the last three decades. And she's just published her first book, a memoir called Still Moving . In this wide-ranging conversation, Linda and Melanie talk about courage in the face of challenges, leading an artful life, creativity writ large, and living large no matter one's age. This episode is the first of two parts. "If my beloved business hadn’t failed, and if I hadn’t thrown all caution to the proverbial ...
Oct 20, 2020•26 min
Today's guests really are women who care! Jody Feagan and Katie Rountree are both smart, fun, and quiet community activists. Jody is the founder and former director of the San Miguel Writers Conference and Literary Festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she lived for ten years and raised her three children. In 2015, she moved full-time to Santa Fe and is currently the marketing director for Malouf on the Plaza. Katie is a former radio and TV personality. Currently, she does voice-over ...
Oct 13, 2020•25 min
JoAnne Tucker, Ph.D., and Regina Ress join Melanie, one from Santa Fe and the other all the way from Costa Rica! JoAnne was a dance major at Juilliard School, earned her Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin. She was the Artistic Director and Choreographer of the Avodah Dance Ensemble, a New York City-based modern dance company. Currently, she's the president of Healing Voices, and co-director of the new film Out of the Shadows: Shining Light on Domestic Violence. Regina is a storyte...
Oct 06, 2020•25 min
Listeners haven't heard from Katelyn Hilburn in a while. In this episode, we find out what's been going on with this popular guest. When we first met Katelyn back in 2016, she was the director of community initiatives for Creative SantaFe. One of her projects was as a team member working to secure a $300,000 NEA grant for artists' and creatives' affordable housing. Remarkably, that collaborative project was a big success, and ground was broken a few weeks ago. Katelyn moved on, completing an int...
Sep 22, 2020•26 min
We hear the word "gratitude" everywhere. Tossed around by all sorts of folks, in all sorts of casual ways. Today's guest, Heather Monroe, helps us understand how and why gratitude is actually a powerful force for healing and transformation. In this deep conversation, Heather and Melanie touch on resiliency, purpose in tragedy, relational trauma, and toxic positivity, among many other intriguing ideas. Heather Monroe is a licensed clinical social worker and an integrative psychotherapist who spec...
Sep 15, 2020•25 min
This show was recorded on the 75th anniversary of the U.S. dropping the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. GK Hunter shares a touching story detailing why he wanted to make a documentary about the meeting between Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb and American survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack ( Sakura and Pearls: Healing from World War 2 ). This episode expands on last week's show. It includes George describing his own healing in the making of the documentary. As George has written, there'...
Aug 25, 2020•25 min
George Kamana Hunter (GK Hunter) has a rich ancestral lineage, including Irish, northern European, and Mohawk. In this episode, George and Melanie talk a lot about ancestral or inherited trauma and how to begin healing. In the Forward to George's book, Healing Our Bloodlines: The 8 Realizations of Generational Liberation, Dr. Eduardo Duran writes “I have found that most, if not all of the symptoms that we treat in many of our healthcare settings have their genesis in trauma, also know as “Injury...
Aug 18, 2020•25 min
Dr. Brian Luke Seaward returns for another fun, fast-paced, captivating show, all about the consequences of our too-stressful lives and ideas about how to manage it all. Forgiveness and spontaneous remission, the fourth pillar of spirituality, and "cosmic bread crumbs" ... curious? Listen in. Luke is full of wonderful stories to help us understand how critically important it is to manage stress. It's a don't-miss-it conversation. Dr. Brian Luke Seaward works with the alchemy of humanity and divi...
Aug 11, 2020•25 min
"Stress management is the open door to walk through." So says Dr. Brian Luke Seaward, an international teacher, speaker, corporate trainer, and author of tons of books on the topic. Luke is not only educated, articulate, and wise, but he's also (very) entertaining. There are clearly many reasons he's been a sought-after corporate and conference presenter for so many years. Talk ranges from the connection between stress and spirituality to his mentor Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, and from the season...
Aug 10, 2020•26 min
Political activist, climate activist, and Santa Fe young poet laureate Artemisio Romero y Carver returns for another fast-paced show. In this episode, Arte shares facts and feelings about racial justice. It's a wide-ranging convo, including collective trauma, white guilt, and why it's necessary to challenge the status quo. Toward the end of the 2nd half, Arte gives one of the most heartfelt and heart-full descriptions of happiness in chaotic times that Melanie's ever heard. Walk the Talk Santa F...
Jul 28, 2020•26 min
Today's episode continues last week's conversation with Dr. Anita Johnston, eating psychology pioneer, storyteller, co-founder of the Anorexia & Bulimia Center of Hawaii, developer of Hawaii’s first in-patient eating disorders treatment program at Kahi Mohala Hospital, supervisor for the International Association of Eating Professionals … … and the author of Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationship With Food Through Myths, Metaphors, and Storytelling . She ...
Jul 21, 2020•25 min
Dr. Anita Johnston is an eating psychology pioneer, storyteller, the co-founder of the Anorexia & Bulimia Center of Hawaii, developer of Hawaii's first in-patient eating disorders treatment program at Kahi Mohala Hospital, supervisor for the International Association of Eating Professionals ... ... and the author of Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationship With Food Through Myths, Metaphors, and Storytelling . She's a powerful champion of women struggling w...
Jul 14, 2020•26 min
Psychologist, happiness and wellbeing expert, author, and international speaker Jonah Paquette returns for another fascinating show. His first two books, Real Happiness , and The Happiness Toolbox focus on positive psychology and strategies for enhancing well-being. In this episode, Jonah and Melanie talk about his brand-new book Awestruck: How Embracing Wonder Can Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Connected . Awe with a capital "A"; how feeling safe in the presence of something bigger than ...
Jul 07, 2020•26 min
Jonah Paquette is a psychologist, happiness and wellbeing expert, an author, and an international speaker. His first two books, Real Happiness , and The Happiness Toolbox focus on positive psychology and strategies for enhancing well-being. He really is a happiness expert, with a Psy.D. from Stanford University to back it up. This episode features a lively discussion about what happiness is, what well-being means, and why these things even matter. Jonah and Melanie also talk about the place of h...
Jun 22, 2020•25 min
