What is a Good Life?

In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Laura Beckingham - a modern mystic for turbulent times. It's a conversation that remains as grounded in the bread and butter of life as it ascends into the spiritual.We move from asking what existence is all about through radical inclusion, Family Constellations, ancestral wisdom, the right size in relationships, grief and death, the energy of birth - and why a good life for Laura is about staying in contact with the pulse of life.It will leave you with plenty to sit with.Laura works one-to-one with senior execs who are dismantling the system from the inside, and with people practitioners and creatives who are doing something of the same in their own way. You can also join her in community online, for ritual and reflective practice in The Sanctum, and at The Loom.For more from Laura Beckingham:Website: https://spacewith-in.com/ The Sanctum: https://spacewith-in.com/category/the-sanctum/The Loom: https://spacewith-in.com/the-loom-2026/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-beckingham-109bb625/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  00:00  What Is All of This?02:15  Born Curious07:10  Knowing and Not Knowing10:25  Old Wisdom, New Ways14:50  Radical Inclusion18:30  Do No Harm20:45  The Right Size25:10  Life as Attunement28:30  Opening and Closing34:00  In Motion and Still40:40  The Witch and the Field55:35  Grief, death, birth1:01:00 What Is a Good Life?

In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Dave Snowden - Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of The Cynefin Co., creator of the Cynefin Framework, and one of the most original thinkers working at the intersection of complexity science, organisational design, and human decision-making.The conversation moves through substrate theory, complexity science, psychological safety, the dangers of homogenisation, coherent heterogeneity, Celtic identity, indigenous rights, conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, and what a good life really comes down to.It is a beautiful mixture of thought provoking ideas and powerful lived experiences. For more from Dave Snowden:Website: https://thecynefin.co/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-snowden-2a93b/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  00:00  Substrate and What Emerges02:37  Fed Up With Management Fads05:54  When Ideas Come Together07:25  Celtic Presence and Attention10:20  The Reformation's Long Shadow13:28  The Problem With Safety16:38  Phase Shifts and Flipping21:17  Changing the Granularity24:48  Witnessing Violence29:12  Identity as Flow37:43  Metaphor as Intelligence51:57  What Is a Good Life?

What if it were easy? What would you do if you weren't afraid?This week I am joined by Dr Myriam Hadnes who shares with us two questions that have really influenced her life. We explore how passion can grow through doing rather than preceding it, why conflict in relationships can be a form of intimacy rather than a threat to it, and what it really means to act in integrity even when the cost is potentially high. It is a beautiful conversation about communication, courage, and what it means to feel truly accepted.Dr Myriam Hadnes is a behavioural economist, facilitator, and host of the Unprofessionalism podcast, exploring what gets lost when professionalism becomes performance. Her agency workshops.work partners with global organisations to build the conditions where people think together, speak up, and do honest work.For more from Dr Myriam Hadnes:Website: workshops.work LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myriam-hadnes/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife00:00 Two Life-Changing Questions04:09 What If It Were Easy?07:08 When Easy Gets Scary09:31 Finding Meaning in Work13:24 Teaching What You Live19:00 Conflict Doesn't Mean Unlove23:01 Sisyphus and the Paradox25:30 The Radical Honesty Moment30:35 Lessons From A Client Conflict 38:31 Walking Away With Integrity44:55 Easy Love, Redefined52:30 What Makes a Good Life

Robert J. Anderson joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation about purpose, intuition, shadow work, and the question that has guided his life. He talks beautifully about doubt and fear alongside grace and synchronicity, and what it takes to keep saying yes when you can't see where it's going.Robert J. Anderson has been a pace setter in the field of Leadership Development for over 30 years. He is the Founder and Chief Knowledge Officer of Leadership Circle, and the co-author of Scaling Leadership and Mastering Leadership. Bob created the Leadership Circle Profile, a 360° assessment used by organisations worldwide to measure the effectiveness of their leaders (individually and collectively), chart a pathway for their development, and assess their progress as they develop. In 2005, the Stayer Center for Executive Education at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business awarded Bob the Partner in Innovation Award. The MEECO Leadership Institute awarded him the International Thought Leader of Distinction in 2018.If you sense you are still not fully committing to the path you are already on, this will offer plenty of inspiration.For more of Robert J. Anderson's work:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-j-anderson/Company Website: https://leadershipcircle.com/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00  The Guiding Question03:30  Becoming Who I Am07:00  Writing the Musts11:30  Learning to Trust Intuition16:00  Around the World Experiment22:00  The Brennan School Years28:00  Leadership Circle is Born34:00  What Is Wanted Now40:00  Unity as Foundation47:00  The Soldier and the White Light54:00  The Divine Elephant1:03:00  Joy at the Bottom1:10:00  What is a good life for Robert?Podcast Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

What does a truly good life look like - and how do we find our way back to it?In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney speaks with Ally Kingston about recovering the capacity for "right relationship": with ourselves, with nature, with community, and with something greater.Ally is a creative strategist and facilitator, and strategy lead at non-profit Purpose Disruptors and Agency for Nature. She designs interventions to galvanise public imagination and redirect our creative skills to work in harmony with the natural world. Also passionate about holding space for grief and loss in our changing times, she has also trained as a death doula and rites of passage holder. Once an advertising and sustainability leader, and one of Forbes’ 43 People Changing Advertising for the Climate, she writes & lectures on storytelling, imagination and new conceptions of the good life.    They explore:- What "right relationship" actually means — and why we've lost it- Sobriety as a gateway to a fuller life- The Artist's Way and morning pages as a daily return to self- What four days alone in a forest teaches you about civilisation- The imagination crisis - why our vision of the future is shrinking- Death, grief, and why learning to let things end well matters now more than everIf you're searching for meaning beyond consumption, or asking what it means to live well in uncertain times, this conversation is for you.🎙️ What is a Good Life? - conversations that go to the heart of what matters.Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday.Leave a review if this episode resonated with you.For more from Ally's work:Purpose Disruptors: https://www.purposedisruptors.org/ally-kingstonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ally-kingston-75922025/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney00:00  How to be in right relationship?03:45  Two Tomatoes and an Epiphany08:25  The Word Recovery09:45  Sobriety and the Paradigm Shift17:02  Threads Pulling Together21:24  Morning Pages and the Artist's Way25:29  Four Days in the Forest33:24  How Do I Help Things Die?38:12  Accompanying Her Grandmother48:30  The Shrinking Imagination53:04  What is a Good Life?Tags: good life, meaning, right relationship, sobriety, nature connection, death doula, climate, imagination, morning pages, the artist's way, wilderness, grief, belonging, mindfulness, purposePodcast Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​