What is a Good Life‪?‬ Mark McCartney

On the 76th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Parker J. Palmer. Parker is a writer, speaker, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. He is the founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, fourteen honorary doctorates, two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educational Press Association, and an Award of Excellence from the Associated Church Press. He is the author of ten books—including several award-winning titles—that have sold over two million copies and been translated into twelve languages. Among them is Let Your Life Speak, which is comfortably the best book I’ve read about vocation and purpose.
In this glorious conversation, Parker shares his journey of conversing with and listening to life, revealing more of his natural self in the process, his gifts and limitations, choosing the less conventional path, and ultimately guiding him to a life of vocation. He shares his experiences of depression, the significance of coming down to the ground, prioritising being real over being noble, and the need for silence and settling our minds for listening to life and for clarity.
This episode offers much wisdom to contemplate and is filled with experiences, anecdotes, and realisations that will present you with many invitations to explore life differently. Parker has a really unique take on finding vocation and purpose and practical ways to track and follow life.
Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for clips and shorts.
For further content and information check out the following:
Center for Courage & Renewal: https://couragerenewal.org/
Parker's books: https://couragerenewal.org/resource-types/book/Parker's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parkerjpalmer/
- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life if you'd like to further explore your own lines of self-inquiry or create experiences that lead to more connecting and genuine conversations amongst groups of people.
02:45 Interview beings03:15 Listening to your life 
09:15 Acknowledging who you are at different times
12:15 The refuge of writing
15:45 The conversation with life can change daily
19:29 The role of silence and listening in a good life
23:45 The significance of getting real over being noble
32:55 Living in a quaker community and radical equality
38:15 Following his vocation and living a good life
44:35 Helping each other down to the ground
47:45 Getting real with ourselves
53:45 Using our limitations as a guide
1:00:45 Experiences of depression 
1:05:15 What is a good life for Parker?

On the 75th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Michael Bungay Stanier. Michael is best known for his book The Coaching Habit, which has sold over a million copies. His most recent book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, shows how to create psychological safety by building the Best Possible Relationship with key people at work. He founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that has trained hundreds of thousands of managers to be more coach-like. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and recently won the coaching award from Thinkers50.
In this insightful conversation, Michael shares the origin and meaning of his big goal of infecting a billion people with the possibility virus and the significance of feeling deeply defeated by ever greater things. He notes the importance of sharing the spotlight with others, maintaining humility while knowing what we are good at, and amplifying that. Throughout this conversation, he highlights the inherent value and worth of us all as human beings and his desire to embolden people by making them more aware of this truth.
If you sense you are playing it too safe or are fearful of what potential failure may say about you or your value as a person, this conversation will offer perspectives, experiences, and anecdotes that may liberate you to live more of the life you are yearning for and that is much more possible than you think.
Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for clips and shorts.
For further content and information check out the following:
Michael's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbungaystanier/
Michael's website: https://www.mbs.works/The Coaching Habit: https://www.mbs.works/coaching-habit-book/#buyHow to Work with (almost) Anyone: https://www.mbs.works/how-to-work-with-almost-anyone-book/
- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life if you'd like to further explore your own lines of self-inquiry or create experiences that lead to more connecting and genuine conversations amongst groups of people.
Running Order:
03:02 Wrestling with angels
08:41 Infecting a billion people with the possibility virus
12:07 Allowing others to take the spot light
15:42 Humility in success and our strengths
18:45 You’re awesome and you’re doing great
23:17 An awareness of the bigger picture and paradox
31:22 Engaging with emotions and men’s work
34:37 Having a healthy relationship with failure
38:07 Reflections on authenticity and amplifying your difference
47:37 The gift of feeling worthy
51:37 What is a good life for Michael?

On the 74th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Dee Mulrooney. Dee is a multi-disciplinary Irish artist. Inhabiting a female body, mythical imagination and story as medicine are the main preoccupations of her work. Exile, class, displacement, social history, longing, and belonging are some of the themes explored by Dee through painting, drawing, film, storytelling, and performance. Her art is fiercely authentic, and she leaves no stone of her own personal healing journey unturned. Dee works with the alchemical aspect of transmutation in her art, using this process to deal with difficult topics including abuse, death, and loss.
In this glorious conversation, Dee shares with us her journey towards greater purpose, self-acceptance, and more wholeness in her being. A path that included joining and leaving a cult, moving her family from Dublin to Berlin, giving birth to herself once more through her experience of menopause, accepting her own nature, and the process of transmuting her pain and torment into art and expression. Throughout this conversation, she never looks away from the pain humans create nor lets go of hope or appreciation for life.
Dee is someone who I see as fiercely engaged with both the great joys and depths of sorrow in life. If you are too attached to the light, perhaps this conversation invites you more into the shadow, and vice versa, ultimately giving you a sense of a greater wholeness that is possible within us.
Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for clips and shorts.
For further content and information check out the following:
Dee's Website: https://deirdre-mulrooney.com/
Socials, FB, Insta, TikTok: @deemulrooney
- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life if you'd like to further explore your own lines of self-inquiry or create experiences that lead to more connecting and genuine conversations amongst groups of people.
Running Order:
03:30 It’s about purpose
07:50 The realisation of being in a cult
10:00 The sense of seeking and God
13:30 Giving birth to myself
17:45 The changes with empathy and compassion
22:00 Exploring shadow
28:10 Our ability to transmute 
32:30 The denial of the feminine archetype 
41:30 The power of art to transmute torment
48:00 Making art for herself and sharing it
50:20 Coming into acceptance of her anxious nature
56:50 What is a good life for Dee?

On the 73rd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Sunil Malhotra. Sunil weaves together Vedic wisdom with the innovations of tomorrow. To unravel the mysteries of the human experience, he stands at the intersection of spirituality, technology, and design. Sunil's latest book, YOGAi: Interplays of Yoga and Artificial Intelligence, demystifies both 'technologies' in a bid to connect them in the context of the exponential times we are witnessing. He is also the founder of Ideafarms, a Design-in-Tech advisory and consulting firm.
In this illuminating conversation, Sunil shares his experience of letting go of questions and answers in his life, and feeling and experiencing a much wider sense of life, a letting go of control and consequently a flow to it has emerged he had not previously known existed. He explains how through his latest book he forged profound connections with some of the most esteemed minds in spirituality and science, including luminaries such as Dr. Karan Singh, Ervin Laszlo, and Satish Kumar. While we also discuss the capacity to look at life with fresh eyes, think for ourselves, and recognise how everything around us is communicating with us.
If you are overthinking life and sense that you’re holding on too tightly, this conversation will offer you plenty of suggestions, anecdotes, and clues on how life can flow more effortlessly.
Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for clips and shorts.
For further content and information check out the following:
Sunil's company website: http://www.ideafarms.comSunil's latest book: https://www.amazon.com/YOGAi-Interplays-Yoga-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/B0D1FQ9K2H
- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life to book a free consultation (30 minutes) for one-on-one coaching programs, executive team coaching programs to build trust and connection amongst executive teams or silent retreats for executive teams.
Running Order:03:20 The ceasing of questions
09:55 Looking at life with fresh eyes
14:45 We don’t often think for ourselves
19:10 Realising that everything is communicating with us
24:50 The desire to explore Yoga more fully 
30:20 The relationship between science and yoga
35:30 The difference between knowledge and knowing
42:20 Forging bonds with esteemed minds
48:10 The loosening of thinking and a growing awareness
58:20 The intention behind the book
1:02:50 What is a good life for Sunil?

On the 72nd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Reuben Christian. Reuben is an award-winning edutainer: a cocktail of event host, motivational speaker, facilitator, TV presenter and comedian. He's the founder and facilitator of Dream Rehab: a live show and curriculum that harnesses the power of community to help people achieve their personal goals. He co-hosts the award winning (GQ & Esquire) What Is This Behaviour podcast, and his work is all about inspiring new possibilities by creating uplifting spaces for people to connect, collaborate, and grow. 
In this beautiful episode, Reuben shares his journey of feeling true to himself. Whether it’s paying attention to what brings fun to his life, embracing responsibility, exploring and excavating through therapy, or following what makes him feel alive and aligned in his work, Reuben highlights several important areas for us to consider in feeling true to ourselves. We also explore our experiences with engaging more with our emotions and feeling more of life.
If your life has lost a sense of feeling, engagement with emotion, fun and experimentation, or a sense that it truly is your life, this conversation will provide many themes and areas to explore further. While Reuben’s openness and willingness to explore and experiment will offer much inspiration on your own path.
Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for clips and shorts.
For further content and information check out the following:
Dream Rehab Website: https://www.dreamrehab.co.uk/Reuben's Podcast: https://whatisthisbehaviourpodcast.com/Reuben's website: https://www.reubenchristian.com/Contact Reuben: reubenchristian@gmail.com
- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life to book a free consultation (30 minutes) for one-on-one coaching programs, executive team coaching programs to build trust and connection amongst executive teams or silent retreats for executive teams.
Running Order:04:12 Does this feel true to who I am now?08:32 The value of knowing who you are13:57 Following the fun16:26 What brings Reuben hope?19:51 Holding a wider lens25:24 Allowing yourself to feel it all33:51 Emotional healing isn’t linear38:02 Our relationship with the unknown44:50 Helping other people realise their own possibilities54:51 What is a good life for Reuben?

On the 71st episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Mariana Louis M.A. Mariana is a professional tarot counsellor, scholar, and creator of Persephone's Sister, a platform for psycho-spiritual education and guidance. Following her academic study of analytical psychology and Western Intellectual Traditions, Mariana integrated her scholarship into her developing expertise in the tarot and formulated an approach she calls Archetypal Tarot. She teaches this approach, which marries Jungian concepts with the symbolic depth of the tarot, in a host of courses for tarot students of all levels.
This glorious conversation touches on many vital themes that contribute to a good life: Mariana’s journey of individuation, the interplay between the sacred and the mundane, the tensions of the human experience between zooming in and out, the balance of masculine and feminine energies within us, and the dynamics of order and chaos, growth and structure. Mariana also shares the significant influence that the Tarot and Carl Jung have had on her sense of experiencing more wholeness in her life.
If you are seeking more movement in your life, if you feel stuck and are lacking the faith or trust to take a necessary next step, this conversation will provide you with much to contemplate, insight, and inspiration for taking that next step along your own authentic path and embracing uncertainty.
Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for clips and shorts.
For further content and information check out the following:
Mariana's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/persephonessister/Mariana's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzNvYREM8s3gLEsYD2DY_3gMariana's website: https://persephonessister.com/
- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life to book a free consultation (30 minutes) for one-on-one coaching programs, executive team coaching programs to build trust and connection amongst executive teams or silent retreats for executive teams.
Running Order:00:01 Introduction03:11 How does one live side by side with God07:06 The interplay of the sacred and the mundane11:56 A reengagement with the feminine archetype19:21 Embracing love, nature, and the unknown24:06 The exploration and relationship with Tarot31:48 The capacity to see the bigger picture36:09 Finding the right question and faith39:22 Holding the tensions of the opposites45:36 Mystical experiences52:06 Embracing the human experience55:36 Not resisting our nature1:00:46 Letting go of perfection and idols1:07:46 What is a good life for Mariana?