How People Grow: Finding Wisdom in Every Season
by David Achata
We often see the world not as it is, but as we are. So if we’re to view the world differently, we need to learn to see ourselves differently. Join David Achata, PCC, on ”How People Grow,” a podcast dedicated to shifting your perspective. Through insightful conversations with guests, co-hosts, and friends from his life, David explores the diverse ways we evolve in work, relationships, and spirituality. Discover how your unique lens shapes your experiences and learn to navigate life’s complexities with greater clarity. Dive deeper at https://www.patreon.com/HowPeopleGrow and learn more about David at davidachata.com To learn more about David’s corporate work, see achatacoaching.com
Episodes
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Janet Hagberg - Shedding What No Longer Serves & Trusting
In this 20-minute episode of How People Grow, David explores The Wall, a pivotal moment in spiritual and personal development, drawing on the work of Janet Hagberg, author of The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith. David reflects on what happens when the identities, beliefs, and ways…
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Steve Urquhart - When Your Story Breaks Open
What happens when the story you’ve built your life around suddenly breaks open? I sit down with Steve Urquhart, a former Republican Utah State Senator and attorney whose profound psychedelic experiences challenged his long-held beliefs and transformed his spiritual life. After leaving the Mormon...
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Dr. Vladimir Miskovic - Beyond the Mind We Know
What can neuroscience and mystical traditions teach us about who we are and who we might become? I sit down with Dr. Vladimir Miskovic, a neuroscientist, former monk, and former assistant professor of psychology and integrative neuroscience at Binghamton University, to explore the mysteries of...
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Ben Sullivan - A Private Investigator's Reflection on Becoming Whole
What happens when your life doesn’t fit neatly into one story? Ben Sullivan is a private investigator, music teacher, and church pianist whose unexpected path challenges the idea that we have to choose just one identity. In this conversation, we explore the art of embracing our different sides,...
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Mákete Roesch - Crossing Worlds
Makete Roesch is a wildlife researcher, backcountry wilderness guide, musician, and world traveler with a gift for storytelling. In this conversation, he shares unforgettable encounters with grizzly bears, a lone lion in Zambia, and mysterious experiences in unexpected places. Through these...
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Thomas Moore - Learning Your Soul's Language
What does it mean to learn the language of the soul? David sits down with bestselling author Thomas Moore, whose work has helped generations of people explore spirituality, mythology, depth psychology, imagination, and the arts. They talk about dreams, desire, nature, enchantment, and the...
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Joe Steinke - Tending the Soul
What happens when we slow down long enough to hear what’s really happening within us? David sits down with spiritual director and longtime ministry leader Joe Steinke to explore the practice of tending the soul. They talk about spiritual direction, leadership, prayer, and the importance of…
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David Achata - Crossing the Threshold
What happens when the life we expected suddenly changes? After not being accepted into a PhD program, David entered a two-day silent retreat—and in that liminal space, and had a dream of his grandfather in the Amazon of Peru. In this episode, David tells that story and how nine months later, he…
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Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas - Listening to Your Desire
What happens when we begin paying attention to the desires that keep calling us toward something deeper? David sits down with Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas to explore desire, spirituality, contemplation, and the mysterious process of becoming who we are. Together they ask what our deepest longings...
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Dr. Elizabeth Santiago - Answering the Call to Adventure
In this interview, David Achata speaks Dr. Elizabeth Santiago. She is a writer, educator, and mentor who teaches at Emerson College in Boston, where she works in literature, storytelling, and narrative. Through her work with The Untold Narratives, she has mentored emerging writers from diverse...
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Stanley Pomianowski - How Stories Work
David sits down with filmmaker and storyteller Stanley Pomianowski, founder of Duck Duck Productions, to explore why the Hero’s Journey continues to show up across cultures, religions, films, and human lives. Stanley helps us see how stories mirror our own journeys of transformation—and what...
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Season 7 Introduction - How We Become Who We Are With David Achata
David Achata introduces the new season of How People Grow, Becoming Who We Are—an exploration of the inner journey of transformation. Drawing from the Hero’s Journey, Brian McLaren’s stages of faith, Richard Rohr’s Order → Disorder → Reorder, and the wisdom of writers like James Hollis and Rumi,...
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John Perkins - Change Your Dreams & Choose Life Over a Death Economy
In the late 1960's John Perkins nearly died in the Amazonian Jungle of Ecuador... he was saved by a traditional healer and it changed his life. In this season finale episode, he shares his story. John Perkins is a New York Times bestselling author, international speaker, and activist best known…
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Francisca Santibanez - Listening to Plants & The Spirit of the Earth
Can plants really teach? In this episode, I speak with Francisca Santibáñez, founder of Plant Spirit Talk, about plant communication, and her own journey of healing that reshaped her life. Raised across Brazil, Chile, and California, Francisca traces her lineage to the Tupi-Guarani people of…
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Casey Church - Understanding the Power of Ceremony
Leonard “Casey” Church is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, of the Bear and Crane clans. A former U.S. Marine, he is a cultural practitioner, teacher, and spiritual leader who has spent decades working to restore Indigenous ceremony and identity in contemporary life. He’s the...
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Lorena Saavedra Smith - Reweaving the Broken Soul
Lorena Saavedra Smith is the author of the new book, Awaken Your Roots: Reclaim Your Ancestry and Sovereignty by Heeding the Jaguar’s Call. Lorena is a Pacha Philosopher, an Eco-Psychologist, and a wellness consultant dedicated to helping individuals heal through ancestral wisdom, nature...
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Damian Costello - The Role of Visions & The Life of Black Elk
Dr. Damian Costello joins us this week to talk about the role of visions in an indigenous worldview. Dr. Costello is an international expert on Nicholas Black Elk, a Lakota Medicine Man. Damian is the author of Black Elk: Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism, and holds a Ph.D. in theological…
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Stephanie Goins - Walking in a Good Way
Dr. Stephanie Goins joins the show this week to share what it means to "Walk in a Good Way." Stephanie calls on her research working with former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, her work as a Psychologist, teacher, and more. Dr. Goins helps us understand in this episode some of the factors that…
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Randy Woodley - The Harmony Way of Being & Governing
Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley, Ph. D., is a farmer, activist/scholar, distinguished speaker, teacher and wisdom keeper who addresses a variety of issues concerning American culture, faith/spirituality, justice, race/diversity, regenerative farming, our relationship with the earth and Indigenous…
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Danny Zacharias & Chris Hoklotubbe - Decolonizing the Way We See
In this episode, David Achata interviews Danny Zacharias & Chris Hoklotubbe's about their new book, Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Indigenous Interpretation. Their book explores the historical and systemic dismissal of Indigenous worldviews within Western...
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Season 6 Introduction - What Indigenous Wisdom Can Teach Us Today With David Achata
Welcome back to Season 6 of the How People Grow Podcast. This season focuses on what indigenous wisdom could teach us today. In this introductory episode, David Achata overviews for us why this conversation is important and what the word "indigenous" means. David takes us on his own journey of...
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ANOTHER BONUS - Father Len Cowan: Discovering a Rooted Faith from the Irish
Father Len Cowan is a retired priest in the Anglican and Episcopal Churches. Today he runs the Abbey of the Way, a retreat center in Worcester, MA. Learn more about the Abbey here: https://www.abbeyoftheway.us/ In this season five bonus episode, Len shares with us his fascination with the Irish…
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BONUS - David Achata: Was Bethlehem Strategic? Recovering the "Religion of Jesus" in an Age of Empire
In this bonus episode, David Achata challenges us to look at the Holiday Season as a time to remember "The Religion of Jesus" vs. "The Religion about Jesus." Who were the Magi that came from a distance of 1600 miles? Why did they go to Jerusalem? What do their beliefs about power, wisdom and...
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Choosing a Deep Life: Parker Palmer on Finding Faithfulness Over Effectiveness
In our season finale, David Achata sits down with legendary author Parker Palmer to explore what it means to live a rooted life. Discover the wisdom of prioritizing faithfulness to your true values over the pressure of external effectiveness, and how integrity deepens as we grow old. In this...
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Jeff Vanderstelt - Coming Home to Yourself
Jeff Vanderstelt is the Executive Director of http://saturatetheworld.com/ an organization committed to equipping the church to live out of its identity in every space and place. He also helped found the Soma Family of Churches and lives near Seattle, Washington with his wife Jayne, and their...
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Tim Ross - Becoming a "Sticker," Investing in a Community
Tim Ross is a Cherokee teacher, retired pastor, missionary and current seminary teacher. In this episode Tim shares with us native ways of praying, as well as the concept of becoming a "Sticker" - meaning, someone who stays and invests in a community. Tim's teaching work can be found at NAIITS…
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Lisa Sharon Harper - Cultivating a Very Good World
Lisa Sharon Harper is an author, theologan, teacher, and consultant. She is the founder of https://freedomroad.us/ and gives her life to helping others learn to do justice in just ways. This is Lisa's second appearance on this podcast. To listen to her first interview, go back to Season 2 and…
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Donna Burske - Though My Fathers and Mothers Left Me
Dr. Donna Burske serves as a Hospital Chaplain Manager in Orlando, Florida. She is a mother, teacher, contemplative, and a cancer survivor. In this episode Donna shares what it was like growing up adopted and eventually finding her biological family. She shares what it means to her to live a…
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Joe Steinke - Finding a Greater Grace From a Deeper Well
Joe Steinke is a Spiritual Director, a former pastor, lifelong musician and co-founder of 24/7 Prayer USA. In this interview he shares what it was like to grow up in community in the midst of the Jesus Movement of the 1970's. He also shares practices people can engage in to find their rooting.…
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Ron Pickell - The Kingdom Among Us
Ron Pickell is a retired pastor and chaplain. His most recent position was serving on the University Campus of UC Berkeley, California for 25 years. In this episode Ron talks with us about how being rooted means knowing what you’re about, where you’re going, and what’s most important. For Ron…
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Season 5 Introduction - Living a Rooted Life With David Achata
What does it mean to be a rooted person in a world that leaves so many of us feeling lost? To be rooted is to be connected — to God, to others, and to the larger story we’re part of. This season, David Achata, author, leadership consultant, coach, and former pastor, takes listeners on a journey…
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Andrew Holley - The House Fire That Led to Rock n' Roll (UPDATED)
Andrew Holley was once a pastor and church planter. But then his house burned down. After picking up the pieces, he and his wife tried to keep going the way they always had, but something had changed. Some time later, at the urging of his friends, he entered a singer/songwriter contest. From…
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Tommy Rutledge - How Church Planting Changed Me
Tommy Rutledge began his career as an Engineer, but later in life felt the call to serve in pastoral work as a Church Planter. Tommy shares how it changed him and helped birth the most unusual kind of work. To learn more about Tommy check out http://somaasheville.com/ and...
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Daniel Kasambira - From Pizza Delivery Driver to CEO
Daniel Kasambira is the CEO of the United Way in Madison County, Alabama. After a successful career in non-profit work Daniel moved to the for-profit sector. But after being laid off, he faced the question: how do I navigate this season of unknowns? Finding himself delivering pizzas, he got an...
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Ashi Alison - Embracing the Fertile Void
Ashi Alison is a Yoga and Breathwork teacher currently living near Chattanooga, Tennessee. In this special interview, she talks with us from a courtyard in Ireland. Ashi describes why she left a successful career at the North Face, selling all her possessions, and moving to a shack in Costa Rica...
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Brooke Lark - What Happens on a Healing Journey
Brooke Lark is the founder of Lark & Co. She is the world's most downloaded food photographer and one of the world's most interesting women. After leaving the Mormon faith, she embarked on a journey she could never have predicted. To listen to her first interview on this show, click here. What...
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Tim Ross - "Show Me, Teach Me, I'm Open"
Tim Ross is a lifelong pastor, missionary and teacher. He's also a Native Cherokee related to Chief John Ross. In this episode Tim shares his story, his life with the Maasai People for ten years and most recently, his work with NAIITS, the North American Indigenous Institute for Theological...
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Season 4 Introduction: What is a Transition? With David Achata
Transitions are marked by endings, then a murky middle zone, and then a new beginning. In this episode David Achata discusses why we're focusing on transtions for season 4. To learn about David's work see http://achatacoaching.com To support this podcast go to the new Substack page at:...
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Amy Achata: From Chronic Pain to Embodied Living
Join us as Amy Achata recounts her deeply personal story of overcoming chronic illness and migraines. Amy shares how she discovered the surprising reason for a lifetime of pain lay hidden in her own story. From there, she was able to explore the untapped intelligence of her body. Amy delves into...
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How Your Gut Impacts (What You Think Is) Your Intuition
Ever wonder where those "gut feelings" really come from? In this episode, David shares a personal story about stalking a deer that led him to a surprising understanding of the gut's influence on what we think. He and Dr. Tyler McCurry, D.O., unpack the fascinating gut-brain connection and how...
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The Mind-Body-Spirit Connection --Your Story's Impact on Your Soul
Discover the powerful connection between your mind, body, and spirit with us. David shares his personal journey of overcoming a decade of chest pain by understanding the link between his emotions, breathing, and physical health. Dr. McCurry explores how spiritual practices like prayer and...
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Movement as Medicine
Join David Achata and Dr. Tyler McCurry as they discuss the vital role movement plays in both our physical and emotional well-being. Explore the benefits of mindful practices to connect with your body and release tension. Dr. McCurry explains how regular exercise helps calm the nervous system and...
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The Body's Memory & Releasing Trauma (updated)
*Updated - Note: The previous version of this episode was partial. This new version contains the entire interview. Join David Achata and Dr. Tyler McCurry as they explore how past hurts and ongoing stress can get trapped in the body, affecting us physically and emotionally. Dr. McCurry explains…
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Understanding Your Body's Signals
Join David Achata and Dr. Tyler McCurry as they explore how our bodies communicate. Dr. McCurry shares his story of the damage done to his body as a football player and how that was the first step that led him toward osteopathic medicine. In this episode, we'll look at the core principles of the...
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Season 3 Introduction: Embodied Wisdom For Life's Journey
Join hosts David Achata & Dr. Tyler McCurry as we launch "The Wisdom of the Body," exploring the powerful mind-body connection, and learning the shift from "doing" to "being." In this season introduction, David shares how our stories are embodied, influencing our feelings and actions, drawing on...
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BONUS - Learn to Invest In Yourself. An interview with the Leadership Renewal Collective
Life is chaotic, but you don't have to be. In this special bonus episode, David interviews Kyle & Brigitte, two leaders who participated in the Leadership Renewal Collective to gain stability in their lives and in their leadership. Kyle & Brigitte are both people leaders who wanted to invest in...
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Lisa Sharon Harper - Knowing Your Story & The Medicine We All Need
Lisa Sharon Harper is an author, activist, and professor. She's written multiple books including The Very Good Gospel and Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World and How to Repair it all. In this episode, Lisa shares how she didn't set out to write the book, Fortune, but to learn who she...
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Justin Uhler - Overcoming PTSD & Turning Struggle to Strength
Justin Uhler is a former Army Ranger & Iraq War combat veteran. In this interview, Justin describes overcoming PTSD and finding purpose after the military. Today he works as a business consultant, is married, and a father of four living in Tacoma, Washington. Learn more about Justin's work at...
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Amy Buckingham - From the Reservation to Health Care Executive & Leading With Vulnerability
Amy Buckingham describes her upbringing on the Round Valley Indian Reservation, surviving attempted murder, single parenthood, learning how to live life in broader society, and the unlikely path she walked that landed her as a healthcare executive. She embodies the resilience principle of…
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Vince Chamberlain - Finding Servanthood After the Coast Guard
Captain Vince Chamberlain describes his rocky journey after The United States Coast Guard, how he overcame a hard divorce, navigated finding a new career (from driving tugboats to private yachts), and became a barber. Vince describes finding purpose in his new endeavor, "The FOB" project (Forward...
About this show
We often see the world not as it is, but as we are. So if we’re to view the world differently, we need to learn to see ourselves differently. Join David Achata, PCC, on ”How People Grow,” a podcast dedicated to shifting your perspective. Through insightful conversations with guests, co-hosts, and friends from his life, David explores the diverse ways we evolve in work, relationships, and spirituality. Discover how your unique lens shapes your experiences and learn to navigate life’s complexities with greater clarity. Dive deeper at https://www.patreon.com/HowPeopleGrow and learn more about David at davidachata.com To learn more about David’s corporate work, see achatacoaching.com
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David Achata
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