Kindness & Compassion Podcast

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Are you looking for a fresh perspective on healthcare and healing? In this episode, we delve into the historical shift in medicine's focus from healing as the primary goal to the modern emphasis on diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and billing. Dr. Cohen argues that true healing is a biological phenomenon inherent in all living organisms, emphasizing the importance of supporting individuals in enhancing their overall well-being.

The distinction between healing and curing is a central theme, highlighting the transformative power of embracing life's journey, scars, challenges, and all. Dr. Cohen challenges the traditional definition of healing and discusses the limitations of the current healthcare system, particularly regarding access to care and the financial burdens it imposes. Tune in and discover a new way of approaching your own well-being.

About Ed Cohen

At thirteen, Ed Cohen was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease—a chronic, incurable condition that nearly killed him in his early twenties. At his diagnosis, his doctors told him that the best he could hope for was periods of remission. Unfortunately, they did not mention healing as a possibility.

In his book, On Learning to Heal, Cohen draws on fifty years of living with Crohn’s to consider how Western medical practices turn from an “art of healing” toward a “science of medicine” deeply affects both medical practitioners and their patients. He demonstrates that although medical sciences provide many seemingly miraculous therapies, it is not solely the way to enhance healing. Exploring his own path to healing, he argues that learning to heal requires us to desire and value healing as a vital possibility.

As a therapeutic process, Ed's practice, Healing Counsel, encourages us to embrace the potential for healing embedded in even our most traumatic experiences. From his sessions, people can expect to gain clearer insights about the intelligence that illnesses often reveal and to develop strategies for cultivating more healing relations to their “self” and to the world. Healing Counsel seeks to reframe illnesses and other challenges that are thrown our way as invitations for healing, thereby broadening our repertoire for living unconstrained and with greater grace.

His practice emerges from the skills and resources that he has developed while living and thriving with Crohn’s disease. Over the last 40 years or so, this experience has challenged him not just to desire to heal, but also to recognize that healing is a value.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Kindness & Compassion
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• Kindness & Compassion on Instagram
• Ed’s Website
• Ed on Instagram
• Ed on LinkedIn
• Ed on Twitter

In this episode Gordon talks with The Rev. Jay Mills about his life journey of transformation and how he has changed his mind and values over the years. Jay shares how his life changed through his involvement in a 12-step program and his reconciliation with his past. Gordon has known Jay for close to 20 years. Jay was originally one of Gordon’s priests. Gordon is currently a clergy person in the Episcopal church and Jay is retired. As Jay tells his story you will find his life is an example of kindness and compassion. Read more...

The Rev. Jay Mills was raised in a middle-class home with parents that were reasonably good parents. And I ended up getting sexually assaulted when I was 12 years old, and my life very quickly unraveled. Jay started doing drugs and alcohol heavily. He ended up being addicted very young. He was also a really angry kid with a lot of violence. He lived that way until he was about 21, where he went through a conversion through the ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ. While he does not agree with their theology now, he says “I owe them my life cause as I’ve often said, if I waited for the Episcopal Church to evangelize me, I’ve died in a drug house.

He was a camp counselor not long after that. He had an experience that where he oversaw several kids. They were in the back of his car, and they flipped off a local guy. And the guy followed him into Burger King. He wanted to fight. “I just looked at him and I said, “I can fight you. I’m a Christian.” Jay says at that moment he understood exactly what Jesus was talking about. Bless your enemies. Jesus was calling me to be a person of peace.

Connect with Jay at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church

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In this episode, Gordon has a conversation with The Rev. Caroline Vogel and The Rev. Dr. Billy Daniel about how we can practice kindness and compassion by reaching out to those around us, offering a helping hand, and showing understanding and empathy. They also talk about ways to build bridges between different communities, cultures, and beliefs by listening to each other and trying to understand one another's perspectives. One of the most important practices to foster kindness and compassion is self-compassion. Self-compassion is the practice of being kind to oneself and recognizing that we all make mistakes and have flaws. It is important to recognize that we all have our own unique set of experiences and that we can learn from our mistakes. Read more...

The Rev. Dr. Billy Daniel is a priest, poet, theologian and the rector at Church of the Ascension and author of Christ in the Liturgy and Inhabited By Grace; The Incarnate Way of Love. Billy works with congregations and individuals to help deepen their spiritual lives. He has a podcast, Fr. Billy Daniel which features sermons, homilies and spiritual reflections.

The Rev. Caroline Vogel serves as The Director for Spiritus Knox a center for spiritual learning and practice in Knoxville, Tennessee. Spiritus Knox is a gathering place for anyone and everyone who is looking for some sacred space to find some ease and spiritual wellness and connect with others seeking to do the same. We offer weekly gatherings on Sunday Evenings in addition to retreats throughout the year. On occasion we have the good fortune to host authors to share about their books, passion and connect with us who seek to explore with them. You can learn more about Spiritus Knox at our website: www.spiritusknox.com. Caroline also has a podcast, Mindful Christians; living embodied faith.

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In this episode, Gordon talks with The Right Rev. Brian Cole, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, about reconciliation and how we can mend broken relationships. We explore what it takes to be able to use the act of reconciliation to create greater kindness and compassion through our interactions with each other in our world. Read more...

Meet Bishop Brian Cole

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