Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Everything Happens Studios

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.  Find her online at @katecbowler.

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Our Editor's Take

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler is about navigating life when bad things happen. On the podcast, guests join the hosts to discuss times in their life they had to deal with misfortune. Stories on the show center on loss, pain, recovery, and changing priorities. From losing a loved one to receiving a serious health diagnosis, invitees share stories of trials and triumphs. Discussions center on moments that cause people to reset priorities and embrace bravery.

Host Kate Bowler is a prolific nonfiction author and Canadian academic. When the married mother-of-one received a cancer diagnosis in 2015, it was devastating. Her bestselling book Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I've Loved) details her experience. The host also has her own TED Talk, which has over 8 million views and counting. Kate started Everything Happens in 2018, three years after her cancer diagnosis.

On Everything Happens with Kate Bowler, listeners can expect personal stories of perseverance. Kate has conversations with experts and everyday people who dealt with unexpected circumstances. Guests on the show have included actor Alan Alda. The M*A*S*H star and Kate discuss the power of effective communication. Alan shares an unpleasant experience he had at a dentist's visit. His story highlights the importance of clear communication. Alan also shares many insights on communicating with empathy in his interview.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy appears in another episode. She and Kate discuss loneliness and its far-reaching effects. The host shares how she felt lonely after her diagnosis and sought answers. They talk about Vivek's work around loneliness and well-being. Other guests include Ray Hinton, a former death row inmate. His story is about living under a flawed sentence and his life after. Another heartfelt conversation centers on a man who went from partner to caregiver.

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler is about resetting priorities and embracing bravery. New episodes arrive twice monthly.

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Society & CultureSociety & Culture
Religion & SpiritualityReligion & Spirituality
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Episodes

Parker Palmer: Standing in the Gap
Nov 5 2024
Parker Palmer: Standing in the Gap
How do we stay hopeful in the face of despair and disillusionment—especially when politics threaten to tear us in two? Kate speaks with Parker Palmer, a writer, teacher, and activist. As you’ll hear, he has gone through seasons of deep clinical depression, and has hard-won wisdom to share with us on how to survive, how to regain a sense of agency, how to remain hopeful despite it all.  In this episode, Kate and Parker discuss: finding agency in the midst of depression and despair (including his trick of redefining achievement) why it is important to recalibrate our sense of reality—especially in the face of 24-hour news cycles and social media algorithms how a broken heart can either shatter or break open into a larger, more compassionate way of being So on a day like today when we all might be thinking about the state of our nation or the state of our world or the realities at stake for our families and friends (....or perhaps, more tempted to keep our head in the sand to just make it through Thanksgiving), might we pull up close and listen to what Parker has to teach us about how to keep our hearts soft and remain hopeful, still.  If you liked this episode, you’ll also love:  Sharon McMahon on the small differences we can make Will Willimon on aging into a new vocation   Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kathryn Mannix: Living with the End in Mind
Oct 15 2024
Kathryn Mannix: Living with the End in Mind
What if you started thinking really concretely about small, hard choices? That’s exactly what palliative care physicians do every day. They help us think about what we really want—knowing that we have limited time and limited resources. You’re going to love our guest today, Dr. Kathryn Mannix, palliative care physician and cognitive behavioral therapist. She offers practical steps to help people and their loved ones make sense of what limited choices they have, navigate any pain and fear they may experience, and gives the most comforting speech on what the end of a life looks like that we’ve ever heard. (I promise this is not scary at all. It is perfect.) In this conversation, Kate and Kathryn discuss: Why we want to keep a lid on the scary things of life  What even is palliative care How palliative care-type thinking can help us live better  What happens to hope when facing end of life This is a masterclass in walking right up to the edge with people, in the most gentle, compassionate way.  If you liked this episode, you’ll also love:  Sunita Puri on living in uncertainty Rev. Tom Long on the importance of the rituals for death and dying   Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Francis Collins: Foolish Hopes
Sep 17 2024
Francis Collins: Foolish Hopes
We all experience seasons where all we can do is scratch our heads and say, “WHAT EVEN HAPPENED?!”  Dr. Francis Collins led the National Institutes of Health during 2020—our season of collective “WHAT EVEN HAPPENED!?” He is still picking up the pieces of heartbreak from how people responded to one another and to science at the time. Yet he hasn’t lost his faith in humanity.  In this conversation, Kate and Francis discuss:  Why faith and science seem at odds (and why they shouldn’t be) The importance of doubt and asking questions What happens when institutions (or their leaders) let us down and you’ll hear quite the case on practicing interdependence. How we might all have enough foolishness to imagine we can be part of bridging the great divides we see.  If you liked this episode, you might also love:  Angela Williams on the importance of community care Maggie Jackson on what staying open-minded offers us David Brooks on asking better questions To hear more conversations on science and faith with top scientists and Christian leaders, check out BioLogos’s Language of God podcast.   Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Richard Hays: Change at Any Age
Sep 10 2024
Richard Hays: Change at Any Age
Is it possible for anyone to change—change their mind, change their theology, change their priorities? What does it mean to hope when we live in such uncertainty? Richard B. Hays is a world-renowned scholar of the New Testament. He is also a dear friend and colleague of Kate Bowler. Richard and Kate were both unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer at the same time, which meant they spent many hours discussing the heart of what it means to hope. Their hard won wisdom adds such depth and heart to today’s episode. In this conversation, Richard and Kate discuss:   What it means to be hopefulA rich theological perspective of suffering in light of the resurrectionHow to pray when you are living in uncertainty Why it's never too late to change your mind as you grow older This is a soulful conversation that embodies the humility it takes to change anything. Your mind. How your time is spent. Your certainties. We can’t wait to hear what you think.  If you liked this episode, you might also love:  Will Willimon on vocation (especially as we age)Tom Long on learning to number our daysStanley Hauerwas on needing fewer explanationsJeff Chu on discovering grace for people who think unlike you   Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.