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In this episode I introduce the concept of bonus time: a hack for orienting ourselves to time in a way that makes our moments more precious and our actions more powerful — especially in times of ecological crisis. On the eve of an important birthday I ponder human mortality, the blessings of close calls, and the chance for each of us to make a difference while we still have time.

In this episode, I explore what it means to show up raw in body, mind, and spirit, and in the everyday moments of our lives. I reflect on the layers of conditioning, perfectionism, and “shoulds” that disconnect us from ourselves, and why waking up is less about becoming "better," and more about showing up more fully as who we already are. The episode explores: Why showing up raw is more powerful than showing up polishedWaking up as a process of deprogramming and reconnectionThe RAW acronym: Reconnected • Authentic • WildThe juicy goal of showing up as “the most human person in the room”Why authenticity may be one of the most radical practices of our timeThe conversation touches on themes of: authenticity • waking up • deprogramming • embodiment • sovereignty • reconnection • wildness • just being you Listen on Substack, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to Wake Up, Human on Substack for future writings, and reflections, and episodes. *

In this episode, I'm exploring the fundamental freedom of mind: a freedom we all share that does not require permission from any government or authority to be true. Let's learn to exercise our freedom of mind, so we can all become a bit more human.

In this episode my guest and I explore the fascinating skill of bending spoons with the mind—something that all of us humans are capable of!—as a portal to greater self-knowledge, inspiration, and connection with the world around us.

I explore the aftermath of the 2024 US election through a lens of rehumanization, focusing on how we can heal divisions by understanding others' needs—and thinking for ourselves. Some topics I touch upon... The dangers of falling into lockstep with political "teams" without questioning our beliefsThe importance of dialogue and curiosity instead of assumption and judgmentThe red/blue binary that's making us all look like sheepBuilding effective coalitions while maintaining personal values and boundariesCultivating resilience through self-care, rest, and joyThe story of the hummingbird: the power of doing what you can.If you'd like to learn more about me and Wake Up Human, visit my website, shannonwills.com. If you love the podcast, please take a minute to give me a review - it would mean so much to me and help the podcast reach more people. And if you know anyone who would appreciate this podcast, please share it with them. Thank you for listening.

Manifestation is not just about vision boards and wishful thinking—it's an intentional practice of aligning our energy with our desire, through the power of the mind. In this episode I talk with Irina Portnova about the practical side of manifestation: "We don't attract what we want, we attract who we are." Some of the topics we cover... Everything in our world is energy, including our thoughts, words, and emotionsWe are manifesting all the time, whether we know it or not—often unconsciously attracting what we fearA manifesting tool: creating a "to-be list" instead of just a "to-do list"How tapping into our emotions can accelerate manifestationWhat vision boards and the material objects we want to manifest really represent in our livesA practice for manifesting miracles instead of perpetuating problems.Join Irina's upcoming summit "Experience Love Again After Divorce" by clicking the registration link in the show notes. You'll get the link to my "Rewilding the Heart" meditation when you register.

Our modern world rushes past death and endings, urging us to "move on" before we've properly acknowledged what's been lost. But what if this cultural tendency keeps us subtly tethered to the past, preventing us from fully opening to what comes next? Inspired by the death of the hawk on a busy urban street (and the woman who stopped to collect her body), this episode examines how cultural barriers like commodification, clock-time orientation, and death aversion block our natural grieving processes, and how pushing back against these norms allows us to reclaim our basic humanness. By following our "sacred compass" rather than cultural pressures, we create space not just for proper grieving, but for the new life waiting to emerge. Honoring the death of things—whether relationships, dreams, hopes, or phases of our lives—is essential for genuine healing and growth. Rituals of acknowledgment, from earth altars to simple moments of prayer, can help us properly release what has ended. As we enter the harvest season, a time traditionally associated with both abundance and the beginning of nature's dying cycle, it's a potent moment to consider: What in your life needs proper acknowledgment? What might be waiting to enter if you open your hands heart, and release what has already gone?

The seeds of hatred can take root in any human heart—even those most committed to compassion and peace. In this episode, I share my journey through betrayal and rage alongside reflections on the genocide in Palestine, exploring parallels between personal and collective trauma. What happens when appropriate anger—that evolutionary response designed to protect us—has nowhere to go? Like an encounter with a bear in the wilderness, anger can serve us brilliantly in moments of danger. But when that same energy gets trapped, recycled, and amplified through experiences of victimhood and righteous indignation, it transforms into something far more destructive. "Resentment is like drinking poison and wishing someone else would die," goes the saying—yet that poison can taste surprisingly good. From social media rhetoric that dehumanizes "the other" to generational trauma passed down through bloodlines, hatred perpetuates itself with remarkable efficiency. The antidote to violence lies not in denying our anger, but in redirecting its energy toward healing solutions that connect us across even the deepest divides.  This isn't about ignoring structural violence or colonial oppression. Rather, it's about fighting the problem, not the person—recognizing that the real enemy isn't any group of humans but hatred itself. When we drop from our heads into our hearts, we discover a different kind of power—one that can stand firmly against injustice without perpetuating the very cycle we seek to break. Join me in this difficult but necessary conversation about what it means to wake up human in a world on fire.

The constant pressure to do everything immediately has become so normalized we barely notice it anymore – but this "tyranny of urgency" is destroying our wellbeing, relationships, and connection to life itself.  Urgency isn't just about feeling rushed; it's a colonial, capitalist programming that keeps us disconnected from our bodies and each other. When we're constantly in emergency mode, our nervous systems become dysregulated, our critical thinking shuts down, and we lose touch with what truly matters. As your host Shannon Willis shares from personal experience, this urgency paradigm can lead to physical injury, emotional burnout, and a profound sense of isolation. But there is another way. Drawing from wisdom teachers like Eknath Eswaran and Dr. Rocio Rosales Mesa, Shannon explores simple yet revolutionary practices that can break urgency's spell. The gentle phrase "take your time" – offered to others and ourselves – works like magic to diffuse pressure. Physically slowing down signals safety to our nervous systems. Reconnecting with natural rhythms reminds us that periods of rest are essential to life's cycles. Perhaps most powerfully, resisting urgency helps us reconnect with our shared humanity. In our hyper-individualistic society, we've forgotten that no one is meant to carry life's burdens alone. When we slow down enough to see each other – really see each other – we remember that relationships, not task completion, are what we'll value most at life's end. Ready to reclaim your birthright to move at a sacred pace? This episode offers both validation and practical tools for swimming upstream against urgency culture. As the Tao Te Ching reminds us, "Nature never hurries, yet everything gets done." Listen now to discover how slowing down might be the revolution your life is waiting for.

Have you ever had a moment where everything went sideways – literally? This storytelling episode takes you deep into the Guatemalan countryside where a borrowed red Toyota truck, a burning mountainside, and a muddy crevasse converge to deliver some fun insights about decision making and human connection. The story explores how both intuition and experience serve as powerful guides when we face uncertainty, and how stepping away from our need to be right can sometimes allow the most creative of solutions to unfold.

In this episode I explore the prophecy of the Eagle and Condor, which in its different iterations offers a powerful framework for understanding humanity's divisions between "north and south," and a possible path toward reconciliation and healing. This particular teaching of the prophecy originated with Quechua tribes of the Andes and speaks of a 500-year separation between two human paths of the eagle and the condor.It describes the eagle (North) as representing individualism, rationalism, and materialism, while the condor (South) embodies collectivism, intuition, and spirituality.The 500-year cycle (Pachakuti) of separation began around 1490 with Spanish colonization.Colonial exploitation continues today through extractive industries, destroying indigenous lands and traditional ways of lifeReconnecting with our own indigenous roots can prevent cultural appropriation while healing our disconnection.Supporting indigenous communities to stay connected with their lands preserves irreplaceable wisdom and cultural continuity.Creating balanced exchanges between "eagle" and "condor" cultures benefits both through mutual respect and reciprocity.• The fulfillment of this prophecy depends on our conscious choices to bring these separated aspects of humanity back togetherIf you'd like to learn more about me or Wake Up, Human, visit my website at shannonwills.com. Please share this podcast with someone who might benefit from the conversation.

What if the very pain you're running from contains the medicine you need? In this vulnerable and deeply personal episode, I dive into the wisdom behind the poet Rumi's profound insight: "The cure for the pain is in the pain." Pain isn't just something that hurts us—it's a messenger, a signal flare demanding our attention. Yet modern society has conditioned us to numb, avoid, and push through our pain rather than face it directly. This avoidance doesn't make pain disappear; instead, it pushes it into our shadow where it grows heavier and more burdensome, unconsciously driving our behaviors and sabotaging our wellbeing. Drawing from my own raw, recent experience with betrayal, I share how a devastating breakup forced me to confront not only the immediate wound but decades of unprocessed anger, grief, and fear. The journey through this pain reinforced to me that true healing doesn't come from circumventing pain, but from moving consciously through it. When we have the courage to walk into the fire of our hurt, we don't just burn through what's been weighing us down—we reclaim the parts of ourselves we've hidden away, becoming more integrated and whole along the way. Are you ready to stop running from what hurts? Me, too. Let's journey forth together, knowing that our deepest wounds might contain our most profound medicine.

In this episode I reflect on the passing of a dear friend, exploring what it means to live fully while we have the chance, and the ways in which our lives create meaningful ripples in the world, beyond the simple moments we live. When my friend Susan died of cancer just months after retiring, it invited me to confront some shadowy subjects, including the question, why do we postpone joy? Susan was a mentor and friend who helped spark the birth of Wake Up, Human, cheering me on to step into my voice and speak up. She was deeply kind, quietly strong, and secretly sparky. The speed of her illness—from diagnosis to hospice in mere weeks—underscores life's fragility, and the importance of living and loving while we have the chance.  Through Susan's story, I explore how we're all connected in a vast web of relationships. Every interaction ripples outward in ways we cannot fully comprehend. Who you meet, what you say and do, how you live your life—it all matters.  This retirement age milestone isn't natural or traditional—it's an industrial revolution invention that trains us to delay fulfillment for decades. The "industrial mindset" keeps us spinning on life's hamster wheel, too busy to make these vital connections. But stepping off that wheel is radical—and necessary. In Susan's honor, I'm changing how I approach this podcast and life itself. Don't wait until retirement to pursue what lights you up. Tell people you love them while you have the chance. And as Howard Thurman said, "Ask what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

What happens when we compare Barbie's journey out of Barbie Land with Neo's escape from the Matrix? In this exploration I dive into how these starkly different films both challenge us to question the manufactured realities we live within—and consider how me might transcend them. Both characters face a pivotal choice—Barbie between the high heel and the Birkenstock, Neo between the red pill and blue pill—representing the decision between comfortable illusion and uncomfortable truth. Their journeys mirror our own potential awakening to systems that may be designed to extract our energy, attention, and labor while keeping us distracted and compliant. Movies themselves present an interesting paradox - can these manufactured realities actually help us wake up from our own matrix? When Barbie first experiences anxiety and sadness in the real world, she's encountering emotions many of us take for granted. These human capacities - feeling deeply, empathizing, thinking critically, using intuition - are powers we often overlook but which connect us to our authentic selves. The most striking parallel between these films is their examination of human potential. Both suggest we have extraordinary capacities that remain largely untapped because we accept artificial limitations as natural laws. In our screen-dominated world, we've become so distracted that perhaps we need our distractions themselves to show us we're distracted - constantly choosing the blue pill without pausing long enough to consider the red one. Whether you're drawn to the philosophical depth of The Matrix or the surprisingly thoughtful commentary of Barbie, both films remind us that questioning what we accept as real is fundamental to waking up. Listen in and reconsider what veils might be covering your eyes - you might just find there's much more to reality than you've been led to believe.

Lorin Peters shares his 50-year journey as a physicist, teacher, and lifelong activist for nonviolence and peace, from his transformative experience in the Peace Corps to his work with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Palestine. How a death threat and a prophetic dream in Thailand launched Lorin's commitment to nonviolenceThe connection between Gospel nonviolence and Gandhian nonviolence through "the law of redemptive suffering"Why meditation became essential to Lorin's practice of nonviolence after 9/11The Beatitudes as a practical recipe for creating "heaven on earth" that many churches overlookHow unarmed civilian peacekeeping works to protect vulnerable populations in conflict zonesThe devastating reality of moral injury among veterans, with suicide rates double the national averagePractical approaches to nonviolent economics through socially responsible investingThe importance of questioning both external authority and our own internal narrativesTo connect with Lorin Peters or to share information about socially screened investments, email him at [email protected] and mention you heard him on the Wake Up, Human podcast.