The Guest House: "Gem Tactics"
by Shawn Parell and David Keplinger
Latest episode
Narrated Essay: What the Circle Asks
Narrated Essay: What the Circle Asks
About this podcast
Welcome to The Guest House, a commonweal meditation on the complexities and creative potential of being human in an era of radical change. In Season Two, cohosts Shawn Parell and David Keplinger are exploring what Emily Dickinson called "Gem Tactics," the practices by which we polish our creative engagement with life.
These conversations and contemplative writings are offered freely. Please bless us algorithmically by rating, reviewing, and sharing these episodes with friends. Thank you!
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Episodes
The newest 20 of 60 episodes
- Narrated Essay: What the Circle Asks · 9 minIn Bailick Park in Midleton, County Cork, nine immense stainless-steel feathers rise from the earth and curve toward the sky, forming an empty bowl. From a distance, they look…
- Narrated Essay: When to Plant Clover · 5 minIn summer, each day invited us to expand. We followed the impulse to flower and yield; to stretch out, romp, and move; to say yes to every invitation. But in September, the…
- Narrated Essay: Pictures For The Future · 8 minRegistration will close this month for The Tender Harvest, a harvest yoga, meditation, and culinary retreat at world-class Ballymaloe House in County Cork, Ireland. Join this…
- Narrated Essay: Entering the Estuary · 8 minI’ll be teaching yoga & meditation this September 20-26 at Ballymaloe House in Ireland with Erin Doerwald. It’s a profoundly beautiful, nurturing setting for retreat. Join us for…
- Narrated Essay: The Finch's Song · 5 min“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.” —D. H. Lawrence The sky is a flawless blue above the high mountain desert of Northern New Mexico. Though the air is thick with dust…
- Narrated Essay: Deconstructing the Caterpillar · 7 minJust as there are darkened seasons in human history—times when the structures sustaining civilization collapse in on themselves and humanity finds itself stiff-fisted, grasping…
- Narrated Essay: The Baring Season · 6 minNearing the end of January, I’m only beginning to feel the sinew of this new year. Here in the United States, we’re reckoning with what seems like a sudden surge of…
- The Poet of Dawn is the Poet of Darkness: A Talk with Mary Oliver Biographer Lindsay Whalen · 1 h 0 minSeven years after Mary Oliver’s death, her work feels even more vital, showing us how to love the world with its myriad faces. In this episode, we have the sincere honor of…
- Narrated Essay: The Secret Title of Every Good Poem · 7 minYou’re invited next September 20-26, 2026, to The Tender Harvest, a week-long retreat amidst the golden hues and organic bounty of the world-class Ballymaloe House in County…
- Listening into Wholeness | Parker Palmer · 56 min · Episode 19In conversation with poet Parker Palmer, we trace the quiet art of listening for one’s true vocation, the solace of circles where no one is fixed or saved, and the long, harrowed…
- Narrated Essay: These Fleeting Temples We Make Together · 9 minYou’re invited next September 20-26, 2026, to The Tender Harvest, a week-long retreat amidst the golden hues and organic bounty of the world-class Ballymaloe House in County…
- Awareness That Blesses | Meditation Teacher Nolitha Tsengiwe · 51 min · Episode 18In this conversation with Meditation teacher Nolitha Tsengiwe, we explore how silence, presence, and practice can help us meet the joy and impermanence of life. Nolitha Tsengiwe…
- Narrated Essay: When the Forest Stirs · 9 minAdulthood has long been overlooked as a phase in human development. This is, in part, due to its implicit assumption of steadiness. Its shifting hues tend to be less dramatic…
- All We Get To Carry | Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer · 56 min · Episode 17In this episode, we talk with poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer about the grief that carries love through unimaginable loss—the death of a child—and of the daily practice of writing…
- Gem Tactics with Shawn Parell & David Keplinger · 43 min · Episode 16Welcome to The Guest House, a commonweal meditation on the complexities and creative potential of being human in an era of radical change. In Season Two, cohosts Shawn Parell and…
- Narrated Essay: Hold It Up Like a Telescope · 5 minLove tenderizes everything. I tell myself this upon waking, when darkness gives way to dew and even the desert becomes supple again. Love tenderizes everything. I repeat it at…
- Narrated Essay: In the Realm of the River · 10 minThe sound of flowing water soothes most nervous systems, but particularly those acclimatized to the desert, and particularly upon waking. I have struggled with sleep disturbances…
- Circle of Visions: a Special Conversation with Mark Jensen · 44 min · Episode 15A Special Bonus Episode I’m so grateful to share this bonus episode featuring a special conversation I had last year with my dear friend Mark Jensen. It’s a rare and beautiful…
- Narrated Essay: When the Maple Turns Again · 5 minSpringtime in North Carolina is gorgeous. It can’t help itself. Perhaps it’s oblivious to—or in radical disagreement with—the brokenness of our times. Either way, the azaleas…
- Narrated Essay: Knitting Undercover · 6 minToday is the Vernal Equinox. We’re promised incremental victories of light. But early spring is no darling — not here in the high desert. Here, she can be chafing and mercurial…
