Episodes

Home-grown philosopher Mary lets it rip as she and Erin explore some definitions and clarity regarding the distinctions between spirituality and religion. Enjoy taking some time for new thoughts and increasing your intention to grow this winter in steady spiritual practice. Build a space inside you for calm positivity. This episode is from our first season when the podcast was called Life Gets Better Now.

You are if you can get a glimpse of the Divine in ordinary things. Mary sees God in onions, and Erin sees it in light glinting in the landscape. Despite the challenge, conflict, and gloom of our pandemic times, and despite the fact that church attendance is decreasing, non-affiliated spirituality continues on the rise in our culture, as more and more people cultivate the sense of peace, gratitude, and a sense of wonder about the Universe. And people who are in churches say their faith is stronge...

You love your family but they drive you crazy sometimes? Before the next family gathering, do some “pre-emptive forgiveness.” Our families are ours for a lifetime, to learn from, to accept and appreciate, or to avoid and set limits with, as the case may be. If you already are aware of what some of your uncomfortable family dynamics are likely to be, take some time now to hang out with Mary and Erin, and get ready to show up in a new way. It’ll be better this year! This show is from the first se...

Welcome to winter, a time of year that offers a prime opportunity to deepen our spiritual connection, and go to a new level of peace and purpose. Mary and Erin inaugurate the season with enthusiasm for the “life inside,” and bring forward some of their richest, juiciest shows from the first incarnation of the podcast, “Life Gets Better Now.” Enjoy!

As Thanksgiving approaches, we take a minute to notice if gratitude is in our attitude, and make an effort to bump it up a notch. Mary shares a story of a powerful breakthrough out of a deep depression she was in once, with the help of her wise teacher and the persistent practice of gratitude over nothing and everything. We conclude with a guided meditation designed to help you take this concept beyond mere talk to the energetic experience of gratitude, inside your body, and an amplified connect...

“I’m not lost … I’m … spaciously open-minded about what’s next?!?” Erin and Mary check in again with a conversation about how important our mental framework is. When we are in times of emptiness and unknowns: it matters how we talk to ourselves about our current state. Also savor with them some golden nuggets from Eckart Tolle’s book The New Earth, where he boils down the idea of higher consciousness to terms we can recognize each day – acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm!

As pandemic winter #2 closes in, Mary and Erin talk about the mental health issues that abound, among community and strangers alike, and how to be with that. What do you do when someone nearby you explodes with unexplainable rage? Or do you yourself feel a flash of rage in the middle of a meeting? How does a master meet that moment?

Mary and Erin go into serious fandom in discussing the merits of the hit television show, Ted Lasso. Why? Because Ted is a master in action – tho he appears The Fool he brings the strong medicine of love and kindness to every challenge and difficult human scenario. Hey, let’s be like Ted.

Erin and Mary return after a little break with some new serenity, and some renewed “bubbly” in the attitude. Here’s some fun about the importance of our groups, and the new views that traveling – however brief – brings to us.

(Hint: Are you feeling stuck or full of rage?) Mary and Erin explore the signs and signals that you may be ripe and ready for some forgiveness. Are you feeling clogged up and cut off from your spirit? Do find yourself full easily enraged? Listen and find out whether now is the right time to knock down that old, stale, story that is holding you back and keeping you from your joy.

Good, clean, anger is so important. What is the difference between healthy anger and toxic anger? With the revelations coming out in The Facebook Files, Erin and Mary jam today on the dangerous commercial uses of toxic anger in social media. We say, “Opt out of the culture of contempt, and the commercial industry that is feeding off of it! Opt in to a movement for support and good will for all.”

Erin and Mary reflect on the discoveries in their shared journey of living the techniques and principles of Unconditional Love and Forgiveness. Get inspired to begin your own gentle adventure exploring this soul-lit path. Mary’s Forgiveness Training website.

“What??!!” we exclaim when an unforeseen crisis erupts into our daily life. How do we meet it, when something that feels so upsetting and so wrong is suddenly here? Mary and Erin explore how a masterful person meets those moments when we’ve fallen through a hole in the map.

Erin and Mary discuss their reticence for being active on social media because of its current toxic state. And they share how ordinary daily activities – can become an active spiritual practice. Plus, Mary explains the simple but powerful practice of “seeing the good”.

Inspired by recent talks and interviews with Monica Lewinsky, Erin and Mary take their conversation about shame further down the road. Enjoy this thoughtful conversation with two friends in a podcast that strives to be very honest, while keeping it clean, and keeping it kind.

Mary and Erin respond to the new documentary film “15 Minutes of Shame” from Executive Producer Monica Lewinsky and Director Max Joseph. We watched this excellent new 90-minute film (now streaming on HBO Max) and discuss some of the issues brought to light including public shaming, how shame affects people, call-out vs calling-in with love, and how to heal shame through… forgiveness. Here’s the poem Mary shares: “He drew a circle that shut me out – Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love...

We continue our friendly supportive discussions of Self-Mastery practices with the topic of boundaries. Learning how to recognize and reinforce your boundaries is the key to daily life with less stress and more fulfillment. Check out Mary Hayes Grieco’s website here: https://www.forgivenesstraining.com/

Erin and Mary get together again to explore and support each other in conversation as Erin recognizes that she has been living under the weight of a backlog of grief. Like so many of us in the pandemic times, we have barely been able to deal with one loss before there’s another one. But grief is patient and bides its time, and so when you finally have the space to grieve, there it is, asking for your attention. How do we walk with grief like a master? How do we take time for it and yet tend to ...

It’s the fall season of 2021 and the pandemic continues to hold entire cultures hostage, and for a lot of us, it paints each day with a fog of uncertainty and anxiety about the unknown. Erin and Mary reach out to each other again, as companions on their soulful journeys. Mary’s underemployed and trying not to feel “lost” and Erin is walking with a backlog of grief and feeling irritable about the ignorance of a person at the gym. Once again these friends ask the question together, “Am I a victim ...

Circles, cycles, the wheel of the year, the wisdom of the woods, a cave that calls out to you, and a tricksy Brigid’s cross …This St. Patrick’s Day, go deeper, beyond the painted green faces and silly hats (and the cultural invite to drink too much!) and explore the spirit of Ireland that can nourish your spirit today, whether your ancestry includes the Irish or not. Enjoy a 2-hour podcast session that will offer you new spiritual practices from this ancient source, and also delight you with Mar...

In this podcast, Mary Hayes Grieco talks about her upcoming class “My Beautiful Life – Self Mastery and Life Purpose,” a weekly online workshop that kicks off on Saturday, January 16, from 10 am to 12:30 pm CST. This winter, enjoy a delightful mentor, a lovely group, and a rich and interesting class that will teach you new tools for confidence and joy … Psychosynthesis theory, Intuition, Intention, Forgiveness, Boundaries, Self-love, and more! Join us in community as you forge ahead through wi...

Once again, Mary Hayes Grieco jams optimistically with a community of spirited women who want to invoke the best for 2021, despite the epic losses of 2020. In the deep wintertime, with the pandemic toll rising, how do we dare to sparkle? Mary talks about ways to boost your light with the active practices of Compassionate Attention, Radical Mercy for All, Radiant Faith, and a vigorously declared commitment to Your Beautiful Life and Joy, Anyway. Forgive the disappointments of 2020 and open up to...

On this Christmas Day, we revisit a podcast that aired in our first season of podcasts, Life Gets Better Now, at Christmas time in 2015. Today the Christian world celebrates the birth of Jesus, but beyond the historical and religious Jesus, there is a Universal Spirit that he fully embodied; each of us can tap into that spiritual consciousness to some degree, no matter what our level of church affiliation or non- affiliation is. Let’s call it “Christ Consciousness.” It’s when you discover a spac...

Join Mary Hayes Grieco and friends for an afternoon of uplift and encouragement as we enter 2021 together. It’s on zoom this year, and it’s free! When: Sunday, January 3rd, from 2-4 PM How to join in: Send Mary Hayes Grieco an email that says, “I’m in!” — mary@maryhayesgrieco.com You’ll receive a zoom link the day before, on Saturday January 2nd. See you there! (You’re welcome to invite your friends)