85: Shannon Weber on Agility In Giving and Receiving + Growing Your Empathy Muscle
“We risk falling in love. We risk feeling deep connection. We risk changing our own mind. We risk returning from this empathy adventure as a different person.” ~Shannon Weber on Empathy Adventuring
Shannon Weber believes you can thrive at the intersection of empathy and resilience.
Shannon leads efforts to end HIV by day and hangs anonymous love notes in public spaces with her three teenagers by night. She is a serial social entrepreneur, having launched several HIV-informed sexual and reproductive health initiatives that have served thousands locally and impacted tens of thousands around the globe. Shannon has a Master’s of Social Work from Tulane University, New Orleans, received the 2018 UCSF Chancellor’s Award for Public Service, and has taught on stages from Durban to Hong Kong. She is the author of Show Up Hard: A Road Map For Helpers In Crisis.
In this episode: From missed connections to vulnerability and intimacy, the craving for meaning in life, moving from enmeshed or co-dependent relationships to compassion in between, how Shannon has cultivated healthy dialogue with her son, reimagining our own true script for life, noticing white fragility and saviourism in all of us with gentleness, lead instead of saving people, and how “boundary creates connection in other spaces.”
The icing on the cake: a Love Note for YOU, the Listener. <3
Links, Article, and Resources
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Show Notes
0:00 Intro
1:26 Sponsored by the Sound Sleep Album
2:26 Opening
4:47 How Did the Love Notes Happened?
13:34 Creating Art Out of Loving (Giving and Receiving)
14:18 Seeing Someone (Or a Horse) Having the Love Without Expectation
17:00 What Love Note Would Shanon Write Herself Today?
17:56 Shannon’s Book: What Does It Mean to Arrive?
19:17 Move From Missed Connection to Love
20:28 Quote From Shannon’s Book: When We Risk Falling in Love
20:28 Empathy Adventure More of Us
22:56 Not Having Empathy to Protect Self
24:44 How Do We Really Love Who We Are? Knowing Our Privileges
28:30 What Is White Fragility?
30:14 Mention Book: White Fragility by Robin Deangelo
30:36 Mention April Harter on Instagram
31:08 It Includes People of Color Too
32:22 Confusing Leading With Saving
36:31 Savior Complex and Where Is What I Am Doing Coming From?
41:54 What Topics Are Alive for Shannon?
43:47 How to Move From Over-Involved to a Balanced Relationship?
47:32 Shifting Relationships With Brutally Honest Communication
51:37 It Takes Time to Realize That Something Is Off.
56:26 Can I Speak Up Earlier? Check-Ins
1:00:28 Reimagining a Relationship Without a Script
1:02:50 A Love Note for You, the Listener
1:05:01 Where to Find the Love Notes Website
1:06:00 Shannon’s Book: Show Up Hard
1:06:39 Shannon’s HIV Work
1:07:36 Gratitude
1:08:14 Outro
1:10:47 Finding Shannons Book
1:11:09 The Embody Newsletter
1:11:31 Shoutout to Nick Warber
1:11:44 Shoutout to Chris Spiegl
1:12:20 Gratitude
