GENUINE, the podcast Sarah Lipton

Sarah Lipton and Dr. Carlton E. Green welcome you to another episode of GENUINE, the podcast!

We cannot be fully genuine unless there is some measure of trust. So the journey of remembering how to be genuine dovetails with us learning to trust ourselves. Today, Carlton and Sarah introduce a diverse group of people who all think about things deeply and are willing to be open and vulnerable in sharing their stories. They pull back the curtain on the topic of trust and dive into what it means to trust yourself.

The world feels tumultuous right now for many different reasons, and there has been a lot of uncertainty lately. Covid has been a common experience for everyone, and that environment has presented many new questions and provided many new and exciting opportunities. However, when new opportunities arise and we need to pivot, many of us don’t know what we are supposed to do. Some of us might look to others for help in understanding things more clearly or figuring out what the next step is going to be.

Sarah and Carlton encourage you to relax, feel into your body and vulnerabilities, and stay present with this moment. Pause and allow yourself to be. Know that you are safe wherever you are.

Show highlights:


Dr. David Rivera is our first guest for today. Many things have gone into his journey of learning to trust himself.
Aaron Lurin feels that trusting himself is the only thing he can do with 100% confidence.
Amy Lepage’s approach to helping people trust themselves involves deep listening and building awareness.
Dr. Corey Capers had some difficult family dynamics. He has had to navigate different worlds as a biracial person. Learning to trust himself was a complicated and primal challenge.
Yvonne Hawkins experienced sexual harassment and sexual abuse. It disrupted her sense of safety, and healing from it was the key to her learning to trust herself.
Sarah Galbraith and Sarah Lipton connected around a piece she wrote about caring for the earth. She talks about dealing with our stuff and living into our experience as a way to learn to trust ourselves.
Tiffany Thomas loves to serve people. The book, A Course in Miracles changed her life. It taught her to use love rather than pain to learn to trust herself.

About our guests:

Dr. David Rivera  is a friend Carlton met while at graduate school. He is an Associate Professor of Counselor Education at Queen’s College in New York. He is also a scholar, author, researcher, consultant, and leader in his field.

Aaron Lurin is Sarah’s eighteen-year-old cousin who is currently a student in Austen, Texas. Sarah and Aaron have always had a strong connection.

Amy Lepage is a friend of Sarah’s from Montpelier, Vermont. She is a prenatal yoga instructor and a somatic embodiment teacher.

Dr. Corey Capers is Carlton’s friend and fraternity brother. He is also a father and husband. He is a historian, he studied with Angela Davis, and he served as a professor at the university level. Corey is brilliant and thinks about the world in very complex ways.

Yvonne Hawkins is Carlton’s friend. She was an award-winning newspaper journalist and a media executive. She is currently in Chicago, at the Garrett Theological Seminary, studying how to foster healing for black folks living with racial trauma.

Sarah Galbraith is a mother, writer, and journalist. She and Sarah Lipton connected around a piece she wrote about caring for the earth.

Tiffany Thomas serves as a city councilperson in Houston, Texas. She is an Assistant Professor at Prairie View A&M University, where she serves as a program coordinator.

Dr. Carlton E. Green and Sarah Lipton welcome you to this latest episode of GENUINE, the podcast! If you are anything like them, you could be feeling a little drained and fatigued right now. Not only from surviving the pandemic but also from living day-to-day with everything that’s been going on in the news recently.

Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the murder of George Floyd last week. Sixteen-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant got shot and killed by police in Columbus, Ohio. And the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccines got put on hold due to the possibility of deadly side effects. Not to mention an increase in suicide mortality rates, mental health diagnoses related to Covid-19, and the mass shootings in the United States in the last month.

With all of that going on, Carlton and Sarah decided to check in with you, the listeners, today. In this episode, they offer their thoughts on how to be present amid the turmoil of the times. They reflect on how they are doing and share how they are trying to be.

Sarah and Carlton hope you will enjoy hearing their conversation today. They urge you to pause, take a breath, and be present in this moment. And remember that now more than ever is the time to listen, spark, and ignite.

Show highlights:


Allow yourself to tune into your body breathing. Still your mind, and let your heart stay open.
We need to give ourselves permission to check in with ourselves and with each other.
Carlton helps people to connect in community and carry the burdens that communities carry. All of that feels quite oppressive for him right now.
Sarah sees the opportunity for learning, understanding, and growth in all that has been going on recently.
Growth can feel tiring.
Sarah talks about living beyond hope.
Carlton defines hope.
Learning to reside and cope in this place, with all the burdens and pain. And learning to stay with all your experiences, regardless of how painful they are.
Sarah and Carlton talk about pain. And letting go.
Carlton shares a powerful quote from the book, Against Racism by Valerie Kaur.
Stress can be exhausting! Focusing on your breath can help you relax. 

Links and resources:

Rate, review & share GENUINE, the podcast: https://sarahlipton.com/blog/podcast/intro/

Thanks to Carlton’s Alfred Street Baptist Church Choir for the music: https://www.alfredstreet.org/

Book mentioned:

Against Racism by Valerie Kaur

Thank you for joining us for the latest episode of GENUINE, the podcast! This episode is all about being on the good green earth. Today, Sarah Lipton joins up with Dr. Carlton E. Green once again to share some interesting snippets with you, the listeners. We will be traveling to Israel to talk with Sarah’s cousin, Shira Danin, who works at a zoo. And we will also be visiting the Good Heart Farmstead in Worcester, Vermont, where we will be talking to farmers, Kate Spring, and Edge Fuentes.

Today, Sarah and Carlton offer you an opportunity to connect to the earth, tune in, and be present. You will hear Sarah’s interview with her cousin, Shira, where she shares the story of how she came out of a life-changing struggle into something unexpected, interesting, unique, and fun! After that, you will hear Sarah’s conversation with Kate and Edge, the two local Vermont farmers she visited at their gorgeous mountainside organic farm.

Wherever you are in the world, and whatever you are doing right now, Sarah and Carlton urge you to take some time out to sit back, relax, and enjoy taking in what they have to share with you on the podcast today.

Show highlights:


Shira talks about her journey.
Shira discusses the physical problem that started while she was hiking in Kathmandu.
Shira eventually got diagnosed with fibromyalgia a year after she was in the hospital.
Shira loves animals. She talks about a random encounter that resulted in her getting a part-time job working with animals.
From not being able to move, Shira went to working full-time. She talks about what she does in her job.
The fibromyalgia ended up getting Shira to where she needed to go in her life.
Learning to see the good in doing what you want to do.
Kate and Edge talk about what they focus on at the Good Heart Farmstead.
Kate shares the core mission of the Good Heart Farmstead.
Kate explains why they named their farm the Good Heart Farmstead and discusses their approach to farming.
Kate explains how she and Edge reinforce their direct connection with the soil.
Kate explains from where their inspiration for creating the Good Heart Farmstead came.
Kate and Edge talk about how their subsidies work.
How becoming more sustainable helps Kate and Edge to be more effective in serving others.
Edge talks about finding the beauty in farming.
Kate talks about where her spark comes from.

Join GENUINE, the community to enter the conversation: https://genuinenetwork.org/

Good Heart Farmstead websiteThe Good Heart Life on FacebookGood Heart Farmstead on Instagram
Jim’s Big Ego, the band: https://www.bigego.com/
Katie Trautz, musician: http://www.katietrautz.com/
Share, rate and review GENUINE, the podcast: https://sarahlipton.com/blog/podcast/intro/

Welcome to the latest episode of GENUINE, the podcast! Today, Dr. Carlton E. Green and Sarah Lipton are happy to have the author and teacher, Dr. Ron Siegel, as our guest. Dr. Siegel is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and Board of Directors Faculty Member at the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.

Dr. Siegel has a warm, humorous, down-to-earth approach to thinking about how we navigate relationships, which is why we invited him to be a guest on the podcast. His many years of work, study, teaching and writing in the field of psychology and meditation has led him to a clear understanding of how we, as humans, tend to get caught up in cycles of dominance and delusion, and what it takes for us to engage in a life that has wellness, balance, and truth.

In this episode, you will hear Dr. Siegel shares his thoughts on what the journey of being genuine entails and how to approach a relationship. We also offer a guided meditation for you to engage in empathy and to rouse compassion. Enjoy the exquisite cello piece composed and performed specially for the podcast by Paul and Melissa Perley. Stay to the end to hear the fabulous genuine definition by Crys Goure, who did the beautiful cover design for Sarah's book "The Harmony of Dissonance.”

Carlton and Sarah spent many hours working on this episode and encourage you to take time to soak it up and listen.

Show highlights:


Dr. Siegel shares from the perspective of his training what the journey of being who we are looks like.
The more we can embrace our messiness, the more compassionate we can become toward ourselves. And the more compassionate we are toward ourselves, the more compassionate we can become toward others.
There are benefits to rousing the necessary courage to lean into being gentle and vulnerable in our relationships.
Dr. Siegel discusses our social dilemma.
Dr. Siegel talks about meditating when we are feeling vulnerable or experiencing painful emotions.
Leaning into the balance between our vulnerability and executive function when we are in a position of helping someone else.
Dr. Siegel explains the fundamental ground of empathy. And empathic resonance.
We discuss engaging with compassion versus engaging with empathy.
Dr. Siegel talks about what the word 'genuine' means to him.
Dr. Siegel discusses our human preoccupation with social dominance.
There is value in risking being genuine.

Links and resources:

Dr. Ron Siegel: https://drronsiegel.com
Paul & Melissa Perley: http://www.paulperleycellos.com/
Crys Goure: http://www.crystalgoure.com/
Share, rate and review GENUINE, the podcast: https://sarahlipton.com/blog/podcast/intro/
Learn about GENUINE, the community:  https://genuinenetwork.org/

Welcome to another episode of GENUINE, the podcast. Spark is a word you might hear mentioned frequently in the GENUINE community. For Dr. Carlton E. Green, co-host of the podcast, spark reflects the energy related to an epiphany after he has been reflecting on something, or a shift he feels as a result of some deeper understanding he has gained. Sometimes, spark could even occur as we relate to others. For this episode, Carlton has invited three self-proclaimed "badass" Asian American women to a roundtable discussion, hoping that they might all experience that spark.

We live in a time with record levels of hatred and reported hate incidents leveled towards Asian and Asian American people. Many listeners may be aware of the anti-Asian hatred and violence that have come to the fore recently, in the conversations about and the movement for racial justice in the United States lately. According to a recent peer research center survey, three in ten Asian Americans have reported experiencing racist jokes or racial slurs since the pandemic began. In their latest national briefing, StopAAPIhate.org disclosed 3,795 anti-Asian hate incidents between March 2020 and February 2021. And then, in mid-March, a man murdered eight people in the area of Atlanta, Georgia. Six of them were Asian women working in Asian owned businesses.

At GENUINE, we are interested in experiences of genuineness. We wanted to talk to some people about how they manage to live through this time in our nation’s history. So we invited three Asian American psychologists to discuss the harm that is happening to people from the Asian diaspora. And to share their expertise because we wanted to hear about their experiences as Asian-American women living through this challenging and overwhelming time.

It is important to note that while all our guests identify as Asian American, they are ethnically diverse. Marcia identifies as Chinese American. Cirleen identifies as a multiracial Asian American. And Kim is a Korean American transnational transracial adoptee.

We invite you to take a deep breath and soak into this potent episode.

Show highlights:


Kim, Cirleen, and Marcia talk about how they experienced, in their bodies, the recent news and images about the violence perpetrated against Asian and Asian American folks.
Tapping into the heart pain is a significant aspect of the racially violent experience.
Marcia, Cirleen, and Kim discuss the effects that anti-Asian racism and violence have been having on communities of people. Particularly on the Asian and Asian American folks.
Kim talks about the visibility and the invisibility that Asian and Asian American folks face due to the current situation.
There are times when Asian and Asian American folks may not talk about race because the white supremacy culture has set them up not to have a voice. That has become very upsetting, hurtful, and possibly even dangerous to Asian and Asian American folks, particularly women. Our guests discuss what that has felt like for them.
Cirleen talks about Asian and Asian American people are being re-traumatized.
A fresh public voice is emerging out of this conversation. And that is another hard part of what is happening right now for Asian American women in particular.
Asian folks often get regarded as the model minority. Marcia, Cirleen, and Kim talk about what that means to them and how it affects people.
Some recent reports in the public sphere have highlighted schisms or violence between black and Asian people. Our guests give their take on the way that gets produced in the news media.
Our guests share some strengths that they are drawing on right now to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Welcome to another episode of GENUINE, the podcast!

Spring is finally taking wing here in Vermont, and because of the frantic pace of everything, we want to offer you this episode, to give you a chance to calm down and just be for a little bit. Today's episode is called "Living Truth" because when when we slow down to be present with our experience, we are, in fact, living truth.

We’re talking about being present and mindfulness today. My interview with John Bailes, an old friend and teacher of mine, gives us an introduction to mindfulness. John lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, (which he claims is the hipster capital of the world!) and John is a long-time practitioner of meditation. I have worked closely with him on my own journey, with meditation, mindfulness, awareness, presence, and the deeper elements of how to be human.

Now, we invite you to give yourself some time to sit back, relax, listen and just be.

Show highlights:


John talks about what he does in the world and what he teaches people to do.
John explains what it means to be a Zen priest.
A large part of John’s work entails helping people open to the vulnerability of being exactly where they are in the present moment.
John explains where the dedication of his community lies and what they practice.
John talks about the Zen vow to opening and explains how it affects people.
John describes what happens in a seven-day intensive session.
Empowering people to let go.
When we are fully who we are, it allows others to be fully who they are.
Most people allow fear to run their lives. And they don’t trust.
John explains what he means by saying that we are trapped by the grammar and syntax of our constructed world.
John defines the word ‘genuine’.
John urges you to follow your own path as it opens before you. It will not be a straight line, nor what you imagined it to be.
Being present is being fully alive.
Presence has become a buzz-word in the world of psychology today.
I lead you through a simple way to be mindful and explain what that will bring to you.
It is vital that you feel worthy as a leader.

Links and resources:


One Heart Zen, https://oneheartzen.org/
Steve Hartmann, musician https://stevehartmannmusic.com/
Jeffrey Lipton, pottery: https://jeffreyliptonpottery.com/

Join GENUINE, the community: https://genuinenetwork.org/