Jen Hatmaker — author and host of the For The Love podcast — is a charismatic, natural born leader. But growing up, Jen believes there are only certain roles women like her can be expected to perform. Roles that are always secondary to men in leadership. This week, Jen tells the story of embracing her inner lion and learning that we can be powerful in many ways, not just the ways we’ve been shown.

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Shea Hembrey is 5 years old, walking along the road to his farmhouse on the edge of the Mississippi River Delta, where the floodplains meet the Ozark Mountain foothills. The undulating hills surrounded by dense rows of oak, sassafras, sugarberry, and persimmon trees. He spots a pale, smooth-polished fleck: an egg! “This is a baby bird,” he tells his parents. “And I’m going to hatch it.” From that point forward, his willingness to be patient – to let what is already there reveal itself – opens up the world to show its goodness. We all possess this kind of wonderful intuition, but you must pay attention to that knowing feeling and start to trust it.

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As the youngest of 10 kids, Majora Carter is used to being a little bit invisible, shyly watching the world around her as she draws with her crayons. But her first-grade teacher, Ms. Transport, sees that she has a special talent for art. She encourages Majora to share her gifts – and (the real challenge) to accept praise. Her rallying cry: "You deserve to take your flowers!" Years later, as a grown woman, Majora realizes she can return the favor.

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Ecologist Nalini Nadkarni – known as the "Queen of the Forest Canopy” – has spent a career clambering around tree tops, studying the interdependence of plants and animals in an ecosystem. But when an accident in the canopy brings Nalini's work to an abrupt halt, she is forced to reckon with interdependence of a profoundly different nature.

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Jessamyn Stanley, author of Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance, realizes one day that her life has become filled with unwanted clutter. Suddenly, how she’s perceived on the outside no longer reflects what she feels on the inside. But in her efforts to minimize her footprint and live a minimalist life, Jessamyn learns something unexpected: She can choose to love who she is right now, messiness and all.

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Growing up in the suburbs of England, Felix Barrett — founder of immersive theater company Punchdrunk — considers himself a good kid. He’s a rule-follower with a deep respect for authority. But a few eye-opening evenings at the theater introduce him to the exciting, and sometimes dangerous, world of rule-breaking. Later, on an unplanned trip to Thailand, Felix learns to embrace a life without rules and finds the beauty that exists in the extreme.

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Alex Honnold, renowned rock climber and the subject of the documentary Free Solo, has always known how to do hard things. Yet he’s also had to learn that his drive to push himself will only take him so far. In today's episode, he tells the story of how he’s come to understand the importance of reading the conditions of the environment, and learning to adapt.

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When life is overwhelming, sometimes the smallest action — even one that seems insignificant in the moment — is what helps us move forward. Cristina Mittermeier is a nature photographer and adventurer who's used to navigating treacherous situations in the name of protecting the climate. But when her life takes an unexpected turn, she learns how to take small steps forward to begin unlocking her power.

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Through his long and storied career as a stuntman, Curtis Rivers has appeared in scores of films and television shows, ranging from James Bond movies to Captain America to Game of Thrones. He has won a Screen Actor Guilds Awards as well as membership in the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame. The Briton is also a two-time Guinness World Record Holder, in the longest-duration parachute jump (45 minutes) and the longest bungee cord jump (from a hot-air balloon just above 15,000 feet). In today’s Meditative Story, Curtis shares how his ability to visualize the path ahead became a key component to his success, and allowed him to forge a new future for himself along the way.

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When life pulls us in a million different directions, it’s easy to feel distracted. The harder it is to quiet our minds, the more difficult it can be to find the moments of peace that are so essential to our well–being. In today’s meditation, Rohan guides us through three tools that can help us build our practice of finding steadiness and stability. 

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As an author and poet, Mark Nepo has spent decades writing about spirituality and serenity. But his life wasn’t always as calm as it is now. Growing up, Mark feels challenged by the demands of his perfectionist father and struggles to feel seen. Years later, after surviving a battle with cancer, Mark looks back and realizes that watching his father refurbish a boat in their backyard provided one of the most important, surprising lessons of his life.

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