Simple friends make life better.
We have all experienced that.
But could a very specific kind of friendship, radical friendship, lead to not only lasting bonds and love and joy and fun, but also potentially to systemic social change, liberation, and equality?
That's what we're talking about today, weaving in Buddhism, western spiritual culture, dance, and social justice with my guest, Kate Johnson.
So Kate teaches classes and retreats integrating buddhist meditation, somatics, social justice, and creativity at leading meditation centers, universities, and cultural institutions around the country.
She also works as a culture change consultant, partnering with organizations to really help them achieve greater diversity and sustainability.
And she's a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center's four year teacher training, and she has also earned a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School, Fordham University, and an MA in performance studies from NYU.
In her movie new book, Radical Friendship, it makes the case for friendship grounded in Buddha's teaching as a radical practice of love, courage, and trust, offering seven strategies that really paved the way for profound social change.
And she invites us to really consider how wise relationships make it possible to transform the barriers created by societal injustice.
So radical friendship offers a path of depth and hopefully, and shows us the importance of working toward a collective well being one relationship at a time.
Really excited to dive into this conversation with you.
And before we dive in, over these next three weeks, I'll be sharing short stories just two to three minutes from my new book, Sparked, which introduces you to the ten sparketypes or imprints for work that make you come alive.
I was so inspired by all of these amazing people, I wanted to share their spark stories as a kind of a short, fun hit of inspiration and insight as we all make the transition into a season of reimaginement, imagining, and, for many, reinvention.
Let's dive into today's short and sweet Sparta story.
Walk into Jenny Blake's essentialist maven living room, and the first thing you'll see is a wall of books.
First thought, wow, that's a lot of books.
Then it hits you.
There's something else going on.
Every book, on every shelf is ordered in a particular way, not by author or title, not by Dewey decimal, not by fiction or nonfiction or genre.
Every single one is arranged by the color of its cover in sequence of the rainbow.