Solidarity Sister! is a gathering podcast for women. We empower listeners with practical tools for building powerful communities and leaning in through both joy and trauma. We weren't meant to do life alone.
I recorded the longest interview to date this week because the conversation was so good we struggled to end it. Barbara Heller is a teacher, songwriter, singer, actress, writer, podcaster, screenwriter, comic--a woman of many talents. But my favorite thing about Barbara is the way she inspires those around her with confidence to use their unique gifts for good. This little snippet will give you a taste of the goodness to come on April 17th when that episode drops.
If you're a woman who appreciates connecting with other women in community with vulnerability and compassion, please join us in the Solidarity Sister! Facebook group at:
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The Solidarity Sister! Book Club has begun and runs through the end of May. We're reading Brené Brown's Gifts of Imperfection over a period of 15 weeks, and connecting via Zoom and Marco Polo. Find more info in the FB group. Sign up at https://forms.gle/ZHpfhd8hwCpw6NL2A
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Kristin:
Hello and welcome to another minisode of Solidarity Sister with Kristin Wilson. This week I have a sneak peek treat for you. On Thursday, I had the opportunity to interview Barbara Heller, a woman that I very much admire but haven't gotten to spend a lot of face to face time with. I love her community building skills. She had such an impact in helping me get Solidarity Sister started. We had the longest interview that I have had to date because it was just so good. And I feel like we could probably film a whole bunch of podcasts together. I love Barbara's outlook on life. I love her ability to hold space for the people around her. such that they can have the ability to grow into their best selves. I love how thoughtful she is about the people around her and embracing our diversity, but also clinging to our common humanity. Confession time. Though I'm a podcaster, I really don't listen to a lot of podcasts. I listen to so many audiobooks. If you've been here for any length of time, you already know that. It's been harder for me to adjust to the podcasting space. But I love Barbara's podcast, See One Beautiful Soul. She started this podcast a lot in relation to cancel culture, the issues there, and this desire to really seek and give and magnify forgiveness and being able to mend broken relationships because we're willing to do the work And so I'm going to share with you just a little sneak peek of that episode where she's talking about that right here. I just know you're going to love it and stay tuned for April 17th when my episode with Barbara Heller is going to drop. You are not going to want to miss that one.
Outro Music
Barbara:
Just because you find that community doesn't mean that you might change it or try out a different one. And even when you're in the community, it's not perfect. There are things that are going to come up. Because people are human and we human a lot. And so just because like you finally find your relationship with God and you find your community doesn't mean like, Oh, it's going to be perfect from now on. And I'm going to be like, people will do the thing where they have such a euphoric experience. Like I did. And then because one thing goes really sour, they have one traumatic experience. They're like, and I'm done. And I'm going to go back to being alone. That's not good either. Like the world needs all of you. And instead of looking at it, like, you know, this is terrible that this happened, you see, now I can't trust God in my community. No, you go back and you say, let's clean this up. Let's learn from this. You know, I don't want to take this with me. Just like you would in a marriage or in a really good friend. You don't want to cancel them either. Just because one sour thing happens or you go through a really difficult time. I've had so many friendships that. You know, they got severed and there's this great rabbi Shlomo Carlbach, his name should be remembered for good and, and his soul should have an Aliyah. He used to say like when two friends, I'm going to butcher the comment, but like when you have a difficulty with a friend, it's like a broken bone cause it hurts so bad, but when it heals and you both come with a full open heart and say, I was wrong, here's where I was wrong. And I'm sorry, and here's. Here's where I felt like you might have been wrong, and you know, I hope you'll forgive me, and I want to forgive you too, and I love you, and I want to make things better. That's the Teshuvah process, like we return back to something even stronger than it was before. And I can say that with certainty that the friendships that I have rekindled And, and, you know, gone over the speed bump and then like done the Toshiba process with, oh my gosh, you can't compare it. So much deeper connection, more, way more so than someone who's just like, everything's great. No, no, no. Oh, you're fine. You know, like that superficial, like you go to my synagogue or church. Oh, God bless you. Bye. You know, like it's only when you've been in the thick of things with somebody or you've really been there for them or held space for them during a difficult time that I think. Relationship gets like stronger and that's what happens to a broken bone, right? When, when it comes back together, it's, it's a stronger bone than it was before. So don't wait, don't wait. If you're sitting on something and you're listening right now and you're like, Oh, I had such a bad experience with, you know, this person in my life. Back now, you know, if, if you learned anything from 2020 or October 7th or 9/11, or I could just say other dates that had traumatic things happen in the world, like, You know, there was a death in your family. Do it right now. It don't wait, don't put it off. We do not know what's happening in 10 minutes or tomorrow. You know, God willing, it'll all be great. And even better than it was before. Cause a lot of people are waking up to what cool stuff is really happening in the world. And you have a part to play in this tree. So, you know, you're going to sit there and watch the seeds, like Sit there, you know, water them or put them into the sun a little bit more. Stretch your branches, hug another leaf. Like we all need each other. And your voice is super important. Don't do the thing where you're like, ah, they want to know what to do anyway. And I had something come up recently with a community member. We got into a thing and I was waiting for him to call me. Cause I was like, we need to talk about something. And he finally did. And somebody said to me like, oh my gosh, you talked to him about that thing. And I was like, yeah, why wouldn't I? He goes, I mean, do you think he really, really heard you? And I'm like, yes, he did. And if he didn't. I'm going to say it again, you know, but I got to do my part. I'm not going to sit on something.
Outro Music
Kristin:
Thank you for listening. You got just the tip of the iceberg of the goodness that is that episode I recorded with Barbara Heller. In the meantime, while you're waiting for that to drop, feel free to go search out her podcast and listen to it. Listen to some of her words of wisdom there. She also brings on phenomenal guests, and there will be a link to that in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Solidarity Sister community. We needed you.
