Krista Tippett doesn’t see herself as a preacher, but if she does have a ministry she would call it a “ministry of listening.”
For two decades, Tippett, a journalist who later went to divinity school, has been in our ears as the host of the “On Being” podcast. Tippett is a guest on the third installment of Globe Opinion’s “Say More” podcast series, Beating Burnout. She talks to host Shirley Leung about the connections between our struggles cultivating inner life and widespread feelings of depression and burnout.
Listen at globe.com/saymore and wherever you find your podcasts.
Here are key takeaways from the conversation.
Burnout is a spiritual issue.
Burnout is a spiritual issue, says Tippett, who is also a best-selling author with a focus on modern spirituality She says our nervous systems are fried, and you’re not alone if you have deep feelings about stress and despair.
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COVID-19 turned our society upside down. We’re staring down a future of global warming and seemingly endless political turmoil. The future has never felt so unknowable.
“Our bodies internalize uncertainty itself as a threat,” said Tippett, who struggled with burnout during the pandemic. “I don’t think we have even begun to fully metabolize what we’ve been through.”
For Tippett, this time of uncertainty was a call to action and a time to look inward.
“I wanted to befriend what was happening inside me,” said Tippett. She defines spiritual life as “befriending reality, in all its glory and messiness.”
We inhabit a noisy world.
We inhabit a very noisy, distracting world. Finding inner peace is sometimes as simple as quieting down. No small task, says Tippett.
“This work of getting quiet inside, it is work, right?” she said. “It’s not something that automatically comes to us.”
Tippett directs listeners to her On Being interview with acoustic audiologist Gordon Hempton, who says, “silence is the jukebox of the soul.”
In a world of endless smartphone notifications, earbuds, podcasts and reels, we have to go out of our way to seek quiet moments.
“Silence is something that we need,” said Tippett. “We need it like we need food. It’s an elemental thing we’re lacking.”
It takes work to cultivate silence.
Tippett offers tips on achieving quiet.
- Have a morning practice. Even two minutes of sitting quietly in the morning can help start your day in a better frame of mind.
- Get help. There are apps that can give you short guided meditations, like Headspace or Plum Village from the community of Thich Nhat Hanh in France.
- Contemplative reading. Find some poetry or another thoughtful book you want to read. Choose a poem or page or paragraph, and give yourself 5 to 10 minutes to read it. Maybe take some paper an copy some lines that are beautiful to you. “Get into conversation with yourself,” said Tippett.
‘Not a ministry of preaching, but of listening.’
While Tippett doesn’t identify herself as a spiritual leader (although her listeners may disagree), she said if her work is a ministry, “it’s not a ministry of preaching, but of listening.”
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Just because society is less religious than it used to be, doesn’t mean the probing questions religions seek to answer fall away, said Tippett. Our sense of mystery or mortality is no less urgent or defining.
We may live in uncertain times, but there is incredible opportunity for social creativity too.
“We have to focus on what is beautiful and what is restorative and what is hopeful,” said Tippett. “We’re so instinctively wired to orient to what is threatening. We also need to take in the seriousness of what is beautiful and redemptive and hopeful.
Tippett believes the cure for burnout lies partly in love. If we can identify what we love in the world, we can fight for it.
“We have to muster our ability to see and honor what we love,” said Tippett. “The parts of us that fight not just against what we want to go away, but for the world we want to pass on to new generations.”
“Love is real and serious,” she added. “It’s the hardest thing we do.”
Anna Kusmer is an audio producer at the Globe. Email her at anna.kusmer@globe.com. Find the Say More podcast on Apple, Spotify, and globe.com/saymore.
Anna Kusmer can be reached at anna.kusmer@globe.com.