Loving the Imperfect

Author Brianne Turczynski
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Spirituality
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to Loving the Imperfect podcast, a show for spiritual seekers and skeptics.  I’m your imperfect host, Brianne Turczynski. For ten years I’ve studied offerings from holy teachers and holy texts. I’m a teacher and a journalist who has listened to the stories of many people throughout the years. So I thought it was time to share a story or two about my journey and my thoughts on scripture and holy work from different faith traditions and practices: mostly from Sufi teachers, Buddhists, and Christian mystics. So, join me as we imperfectly and clumsily make our way through each day mustering up compassion for the hours ahead. Thank you for stopping by Loving the Imperfect! New episodes are uploaded bi-weekly! For more information about me and my work please visit www.brianneturczynski.com

  1. 2d ago

    How to Cultivate Creativity and Newness: A life lesson from the Honeysuckle Climber

    Send us Fan Mail Hello and Welcome to episode 4 of my fourth season: Lessons from Vita Sackville-West.  How do we or our communities represent the old, established bush? What are the secret yearnings of our soul(s) that would promote creativity and newness in a community or in ourselves?  This week I'll share some insight from Vita on this and I hope you will take some time this week to think about it too.  Please consider sharing or subscribing to my new Substack Page!  Thank you for being here!! Brianne Turczynski is an award-winning author and educator in Michigan as well as the creator of Loving the Imperfect podcast. Her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry have appeared in various magazines and online news publications including Halcyone, 3288 Review, Sheepshead Review, Michigan Out-of-Doors, and Planet Detroit News. Her nonfiction, Detroit’s Lost Poletown: The Little Neighborhood that Touched a Nation was released with the History Press in 2021. Her forthcoming collection of poetry, Lake of Our Histories will be released with Finishing Line Press late in 2026. She attends Duke University’s Divinity School with plans to obtain her Master of Divinity degree. You can learn more about her by visiting her website, www.BrianneTurczynski.com  For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    How to Cultivate Creativity and Newness: A life lesson from the Honeysuckle Climber

  2. Jul 15

    What the Milkweed Helped Me Remember

    Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome!  This episode is about what we may call a weed, but if we look closer, we can come into a relationship with the plant or with our neighbor that looks beyond names and reputations.  Check out pictures and subscribe to my Substack.  Thank you for joining me.  Brianne Turczynski is an award-winning author and educator in Michigan as well as the creator of Loving the Imperfect podcast. Her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry have appeared in various magazines and online news publications including Halcyone, 3288 Review, Sheepshead Review, Michigan Out-of-Doors, and Planet Detroit News. Her nonfiction, Detroit's Lost Poletown: The Little Neighborhood that Touched a Nation was released with the History Press in 2021. Her forthcoming collection of poetry, Lake of Our Histories will be released with Finishing Line Press late in 2026. She attends Duke University’s Divinity School with plans to obtain her Master of Divinity degree. You can learn more about her by visiting her website, www.BrianneTurczynski.com  For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    What the Milkweed Helped Me Remember

  3. Jul 8

    Who was Vita Sackville-West: A teacher of transformation

    Send us Fan Mail Thank you for joining me. This is the second episode of my garden posts featuring the writings of Vita Sackville-West.  You can see pictures and follow me for more posts at Brianne Turczynski Brianne Turczynski is an award-winning author and educator in Michigan as well as the creator of Loving the Imperfect podcast. Her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry have appeared in various magazines and online news publications including Halcyone, 3288 Review, Sheepshead Review, Michigan Out-of-Doors, and Planet Detroit News. Her nonfiction, Detroit's Lost Poletown: The Little Neighborhood that Touched a Nation was released with the History Press in 2021. Her forthcoming collection of poetry, Lake of Our Histories will be released with Finishing Line Press late in 2026. She attends Duke University’s Divinity School with plans to obtain her Master of Divinity degree. You can learn more about her by visiting her website, www.BrianneTurczynski.com  For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    Who was Vita Sackville-West: A teacher of transformation

  4. Jul 1

    Something I Noticed About Hollyhocks: A Lesson in Thriving for the Lonely Ones

    Send us Fan Mail  Hello and welcome to Loving the Imperfect. Today I'm going to try something different. Years ago, I managed a blog called Miss Sissinghurst on WordPress, which is now my website www.brianneturczynski.com. It was a garden blog based on the writings of Vita Sackville-West.  I wanted to try to take all of my old articles, there's seventy-two of them and transfer them to my new Substack account. So, if you'd like, you can follow me there where you can see pictures and connect with me on a more personal level. You can find me at substack.com/@brianneturczynski. This is my way of recording my voice so that people can listen to my Substack posts as well as read them if they'd like. Thank you for your support!!  Brianne Turczynski is an award-winning author and educator in Michigan as well as the creator of Loving the Imperfect podcast. Her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry have appeared in various magazines and online news publications including Halcyone, 3288 Review, Sheepshead Review, Michigan Out-of-Doors, and Planet Detroit News. Her nonfiction, Detroit's Lost Poletown: The Little Neighborhood that Touched a Nation was released with the History Press in 2021. Her forthcoming collection of poetry, Lake of Our Histories will be released with Finishing Line Press late in 2026. She attends Duke University’s Divinity School to obtain her Master of Divinity degree. You can learn more about her by visiting her website, www.BrianneTurczynski.com  For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    Something I Noticed About Hollyhocks: A Lesson in Thriving for the Lonely Ones

  5. Mar 18

    A SPECIAL EPISODE FOR LENT AND GOOD FRIDAY: St. Therese of Lisieux and The Holy Face Devotion

    Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Loving The Imperfect. This is a special episode for Lent or Good Friday. We will begin by talking a little bit about St. Therese of Lisieux, the 19th century mystic. And afterward I will talk a little bit about what mysticism is because there's a lot of misconception about that. And then afterward, at the very end of this episode is a holy face meditation that I wrote myself, but I encourage you to add to it, using your own imagination, and thinking about what Jesus, through the senses might have experienced on the cross. I hope that you enjoy this episode and that it's fruitful for you and all these episodes will continue to be fruitful for you as you move forward in your spiritual life.  Thank you for listening.  For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    A SPECIAL EPISODE FOR LENT AND GOOD FRIDAY: St. Therese of Lisieux and The Holy Face Devotion

  6. Jan 28

    Writing Retreat: Healthy Rhetoric featuring the work of Lech Walesa

    Send us Fan Mail Hello and welcome! This is a virtual writing retreat featuring the work of Lech Walesa. Rhetoric is everywhere, from what we read to what we hear and see. In this retreat we will work with a few different meditations, from artwork, to the work of Cicero, to the Gospel of John, then we will follow the patterns of history in Poland from 1938-1989. The hope is that through these exercises we will begin to see how we process the information given to us on a daily basis, and by the end of this workshop participants will be able (I hope) to see what they are called to do in this moment in history. This is a recording of what I prepared for my church community, St. Philip's Episcopal church and the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan.  The questions were taken, with permission, from Rhetoric Professor Curry Kennedy of Texas A&M. And one is from the work of interspiritual author Mirabai Starr (Think of the people who have loved you into being), from her book Wild Mercy.  All quotes have been given sources within the slides shown. Slides 19 & 21 were quotes found on Wikipedia but fact-checked elsewhere: About Solidarity All quotes from Lech Walesa not given documentation on the slides were from an interview he did with the Red Cross (Volume 87 Number 857 March 2007, International Review of the Red Cross).  Red Cross Interview YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/3M_efhiPvLE   For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    Writing Retreat: Healthy Rhetoric featuring the work of Lech Walesa

  7. 12/03/2025

    What is the Divine Feminine? Featuring the work of Mirabai Starr

    Send us Fan Mail  Today we'll talk about the work of Mirabai Starr, an Inter-spiritual teacher, writer, and translator of the mystics. Mirabai is a well-known teacher of the divine feminine. She has written several books and her translations of St. John of the Cross's poetry as well as St. Teresa of Avila and St. Julian of Norwich's work won her critical acclaim. She is well-versed in the way of all things holy and feminine and wishes to empower women with the simple truth: that we are loved and holy just as we are.  St. Philip's Rochester YouTube Channel Mirabai Starr's Website  For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    What is the Divine Feminine? Featuring the work of Mirabai Starr

  8. 11/05/2025

    Modern-Day Prophets: Featuring Spoken Word Poet Kae Tempest with Brianne & Erin

    Send us Fan Mail Welcome to season 3 of Loving the Imperfect! Thank you for being patient with me over my long break. Join me this season along with my kindergarten classmate, Erin Grossi, as we introduce and discuss some modern-day prophets, people who, we believe, have at least one thing in common: the prophetic voice. The purpose of this season is to introduce listeners to some new artists and writers. We hope the selection we have for you will inspire you to read, write, and create to be a force of love in the world.  Links to cool stuff mentioned on the show: Hold Your Own: Poems by Kae Tempest Book of Traps and Lessons Album by Kae Tempest On Connection by Kae Tempest Olga Tokarczuk's Divine Cosmos interview with the Paris Review Kae Tempest Interview with Fe Ferraris: Musik Express The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot read aloud Richard Rohr's Everything Belongs Podcast Versed Community Membership Invitation   For more information about me and my work, please visit www.brianneturczynski.com or www.lovingtheimperfect.com

    Modern-Day Prophets: Featuring Spoken Word Poet Kae Tempest with Brianne & Erin
See All (43)

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Welcome to Loving the Imperfect podcast, a show for spiritual seekers and skeptics.  I’m your imperfect host, Brianne Turczynski. For ten years I’ve studied offerings from holy teachers and holy texts. I’m a teacher and a journalist who has listened to the stories of many people throughout the years. So I thought it was time to share a story or two about my journey and my thoughts on scripture and holy work from different faith traditions and practices: mostly from Sufi teachers, Buddhists, and Christian mystics. So, join me as we imperfectly and clumsily make our way through each day mustering up compassion for the hours ahead. Thank you for stopping by Loving the Imperfect! New episodes are uploaded bi-weekly! For more information about me and my work please visit www.brianneturczynski.com

Information

  • Creator
    Author Brianne Turczynski
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Loving the Imperfect
  • Show Website
    Loving the Imperfect