You Do Not Have to Be Good

2022-09-30

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In today’s episode, we're wrestling and dancing with Mary Oliver’s beloved poem “Wild Geese,” starting with its bold opening line: “You do not have to be good.” We consider questions like: What if being “good” has been a key part of our identity for years? What does it mean to not be good? Is it an excuse to be selfish? And what does it mean to “let the soft animal of your body love what it loves”? What might that have to do with self-trust and finding our own voice? ...And what if we are the wild geese? All this, and much more, i...

In today’s episode, we're wrestling and dancing with Mary Oliver’s beloved poem “Wild Geese,” starting with its bold opening line: “You do not have to be good.”

We consider questions like: What if being “good” has been a key part of our identity for years? What does it mean to not be good? Is it an excuse to be selfish?

And what does it mean to “let the soft animal of your body love what it loves”? What might that have to do with self-trust and finding our own voice?

...And what if we are the wild geese?

All this, and much more, in today's episode.

References:

“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

On Being episode with Mary Oliver: "I got saved by the beauty of the world"

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” --from “The Summer Day,” by Mary Oliver

How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question, by Michael Schur, creator of the TV show The Good Place

Dr. Becky Kennedy episodes of We Can Do Hard Things

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