There’s a difference between keeping quiet and being quiet. In this episode, Dr. Tom reads his article published on August 16, 2026, exploring what butterflies, Benedictine monks, and a week of silence taught him about going deeper.

View the full article here: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/post/sousousiance

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 11/8 SMC Event featuring special guest Javier Mendoza: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: https://gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations support the costs of bringing SMC events to more people, more often.

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tomwagner3042

At this Sunday Morning Café gathering, Dr. Tom Wagner welcomes St. Louis pianist, composer, and Swagtime creator Royce Martin for a live concert and conversation about resilience and the creative force within us. Royce traces his journey from teaching himself to play on his sister’s keyboard to winning the Fox Teen Talent Competition, studying at Berklee College of Music, and developing a genre that brings ragtime, jazz, classical music, rap, and electronic music into conversation. Along the way, he explores St. Louis’s rich musical history, the spiritual and rhythmic roots of his work, and his desire to help young people believe they can become fully themselves. The conversation invites us to consider: What is the Creative Source within your soul trying to bring into the world through you?

Key Takeaways

• Pay attention to what wants to come through you: Creativity is not limited to artists. Notice the ideas, interests, or forms of expression that keep pulling at you.
• Find a way to express what words cannot: Music became a language for things Royce did not yet know how to say. Creativity can help us process and communicate what is happening within us.
• Let obstacles redirect you, not define you: A school change, a broken keyboard, limited resources, and self-doubt all became part of Royce’s path rather than the end of it.
• Learn from tradition, then make it your own: Royce honors the history of ragtime and Black American music while allowing those influences to evolve into something new.
• Use your gifts to help others become themselves: Creativity can do more than express who we are. It can help other people feel seen, imagine new possibilities, and believe in what they might become.

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 11/8 SMC Event with special guest Javier Mendoza: www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations are dedicated to the costs associated with bringing SMC events to more people, more often.
• Royce Martin’s website & links: www.roycemartinmusic.com/

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner
• YouTube: youtube.com/@tomwagner3042

Research is showing that human beings are built for “awe.” Awe can’t be scheduled or grasped, but you can cultivate a discipline of noticing beauty. In this episode, Dr. Tom reads his article published on June 28, 2026, inviting listeners to pay attention, slow down, take in beauty, and practice wonder.

View the full article here: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/post/awe-article

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 8/2 SMC Event — Resilience & Creativity: A Concert & Interview with Royce Martin: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: https://gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations support the costs of bringing SMC events to more people, more often.

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tomwagner3042

What if a soul mate isn’t just “the one,” but one of the many people who help you feel at home in your own life? In this episode, Dr. Tom reads his article published on June 21, 2026, exploring the sacred gift of the soul-mate pod.

View the full article here: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/post/soul-mates

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 8/2 SMC Event — Resilience & Creativity: A Concert & Interview with Royce Martin: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: https://gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations support the costs of bringing SMC events to more people, more often.

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tomwagner3042

A well-written song takes you deeply into the experience of its author while awakening something familiar in your own. In this week’s podcast, Dr. Tom reads his article published on June 14, 2026. His tender and deeply human reflection on his mother’s life invites us to remember the people whose love, laughter, and presence have shaped us.

View the full article here: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/post/look-harder

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 8/2 SMC Event — Resilience & Creativity: A Concert & Interview with Royce Martin: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: https://gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations support the costs of bringing SMC events to more people, more often.

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tomwagner3042

Could years of small surrender prepare you for the hardest letting go? In this episode, Dr. Tom reads his article published on May 31, 2026, continuing Mary’s story of illness, recovery, contemplative prayer, and the kind of peace that does not arrive by accident.

View the full article + epilogue here:

https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/post/i-shall-die-but-that-is-all-i-shall-do-for-death-the-sequel

(Title quote from Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1934)

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 8/2 SMC Event — Resilience & Creativity: A Concert & Interview with Royce Martin: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: https://gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations support the costs of bringing SMC events to more people, more often.

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tomwagner3042

What allows a person to face the possibility of disability or death and still say, “I am at peace”?

In this episode, Dr. Tom reads his article published on May 24, 2026, a reflection on mortality, courage, acceptance, spiritual grounding, and what resilience looks like when life becomes most fragile. This begins the story of Mary and her diagnosis with a rare neurological illness.

View the article + discussion questions here: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/post/i-shall-die-but-that-is-all-i-shall-do-for-death-part-one

(Title quote from Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1934)

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 8/2 SMC Event — Resilience & Creativity: A Concert & Interview with Royce Martin: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: https://gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations support the costs of bringing SMC events to more people, more often.

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tomwagner3042

“Even If It Kills Me, I’m Not Going Back!”

How does someone heal after experiencing profound trauma? There is a deeper, resilient, and even sacred part of the human spirit that suffering cannot destroy. In this episode, Dr. Tom reads his article published on May 3, 2026, exploring Larry’s pilgrimage to freedom.

View the article + discussion questions here: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/post/unbroken-part-three

Resources & Links

• Join us live for the 8/2 SMC Event with special guest Royce Martin: https://www.tomwagnerspeaker.com/events
• SMC events honor that what is deepest within us is most universal between us. Your gift helps create space for reflection, connection, and belonging — donate here: https://gofund.me/d63f2a6a9 100% of donations support the costs of bringing SMC events to more people, more often.

Stay Connected with Dr. Tom Wagner & the SMC Community

• Sign up for Dr. Tom’s newsletter: tomwagnerspeaker.com/contact
• Website: tomwagnerspeaker.com
• Blog: tomwagnerspeaker.com/blog
• Facebook: facebook.com/DrTomWagner
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtomwagner
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-tom-wagner
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tomwagner3042