In this solo episode of The Discomfort Practice, Betsy explores a slightly amusing and powerful idea:

What if blasphemy is exactly what we need right now?

Drawing from the line "Every great idea starts out as a blasphemy," Betsy looks at the beliefs, systems, and assumptions we treat as sacred… and asks a simple but disruptive question:

Does this actually serve?

From workplace norms to wellness culture, politics to personal identity, many of the stories we defend most fiercely are simply habits we stopped questioning. When something becomes sacred, curiosity disappears… and systems can get stuck.

This episode is an invitation to bring curiosity back.

Not through rage or rebellion, but through a small, playful practice Betsy calls "writing blasphemy": noticing the things everyone treats as untouchable and daring to question them.

Blasphemy, in this sense, isn't about disrespect. It's about interrupting the spell of stories that no longer serve - whether that looks like questioning a belief, leaving a job, redefining a relationship, or simply pausing long enough to reconsider something you once took for granted.

In this episode, Betsy explores:

• Why sacred beliefs can quietly become barriers to change

• How certainty replaces curiosity in cultures, organisations, and identities

• The surprising power of writing "the sentence you're not supposed to write"

• Why questioning the sacred is often the first step in systemic or personal transformation

• A simple practice for spotting your own sacred cows

The experiment for this week is simple: Notice something you treat as sacred - a belief, habit, identity, or system - and pause long enough to ask:

Does this serve… or is it just sacred?

If the answer surprises you, you may have just written your first line of blasphemy.

And every great idea starts there.

The Discomfort Practice explores the uncomfortable edges where personal growth, leadership, culture, and systems change intersect.

If this episode landed for you, follow Betsy for more reflections on integrity, discomfort, and the quiet courage it takes to question what everyone else takes for granted:

• Follow Betsy on Instagram @thebetsyreed

• Subscribe to The Discomfort Practice wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a five-star review (it truly helps)

• Join her on Substack at The Betsy Reed for (Voice) Notes from the Edge - some public, some subscriber-only: substack.com/thebetsyreed

• Work with Betsy: coaching, consulting, speaking, embodied leadership sessions, upcoming community circles, and People Like Us dinners across Europe: www.betsy-reed.com

In this solo episode, Betsy explores a provocative idea for strange times:

Joy might be a form of anarchy.

We are living in an era saturated with catastrophe, outrage cycles, environmental grief, economic anxiety, and a constant sense that the world is tilting toward something darker. In that atmosphere, many of us quietly absorb an unspoken rule: if you care about the world, you should feel bad about it all the time.

But what if that equation is wrong?

What if joy is not denial or privilege or distraction, but a form of resistance?

In this episode, Betsy explores how fear-driven systems rely on exhausted, anxious populations, and why choosing joy in the midst of uncertainty can be a deeply rebellious act.

This conversation moves beyond superficial "positive thinking" to something much more embodied: joy as life force, sovereignty, and refusal.

Because being fully alive - cooking beautiful food, laughing with friends, falling in love, creating, resting, noticing beauty - is not frivolous.

It's a refusal to let the world shrink your life.

And in a culture that increasingly demands despair as proof of moral seriousness, enjoying your life might be one of the most subversive things you can do.

• Why modern culture subtly equates misery with moral seriousness

• The "purity culture" that has crept into activism and social awareness

• Why systems of control benefit from populations that are fearful and exhausted

• Joy as embodied life force rather than denial or avoidance

• The small, everyday acts that quietly reclaim sovereignty over your inner life

• Why you can feel anxiety about the world and still insist on joy

• The invitation to become what Betsy calls a "Joy Anarchist"

This episode is an invitation to protect your aliveness — even, and especially, in strange times.

Because joy is not naïveté. Sometimes it's defiance.

The Discomfort Practice explores the uncomfortable edges of being human - the places where growth, truth, and aliveness live.

You can find the book Pleasure Activism, by Adrienne Maree Brown here on her website. It's a highly recommended read / approach that might very well change your approach to life.

If this episode landed for you, consider sharing it with someone who might need the reminder.

Follow Betsy for more reflections on integrity, discomfort, and the quiet courage it takes to question what everyone else takes for granted:

• Betsy's on Instagram @thebetsyreed

• Subscribe to The Discomfort Practice wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a five-star review (it truly helps)
  
  

• Join her on Substack at The Betsy Reed for (Voice) Notes from the Edge - some public, some subscriber-only: substack.com/thebetsyreed

• Work with Betsy: coaching, consulting, speaking, embodied leadership sessions, upcoming community circles, and People Like Us dinners across Europe: www.betsy-reed.com

What do you do when the people you most need to work with are the ones you most fundamentally disagree with?

In this episode of The Discomfort Practice, Betsy sits down with renowned facilitator and systems thinker Adam Kahane, whose work has brought together politicians, activists, CEOs, guerrilla fighters and community leaders in some of the most polarized environments in the world.

From South Africa's transition out of apartheid to complex global conflicts today, Adam has spent decades working in the uncomfortable middle: helping people collaborate across profound differences without pretending those differences don't exist.

This conversation explores what it actually takes to move forward together when trust is low, stakes are high, and nobody is getting exactly what they want.

In this episode, Betsy and Adam explore:

• Why collaboration doesn't require agreement

• The difference between controlling systems and participating in them

• How conflict can become a generative force instead of a dead end

• What it means to act when outcomes are uncertain

• Why real change often emerges from experimentation rather than certainty

This is not a conversation about neat solutions. It's about learning how to work inside the mess, with curiosity, humility, and courage.

About Adam Kahane

Adam Kahane is a director of Reos Partners and a leading facilitator of complex change processes around the world. He has worked with leaders from business, government, and civil society to address some of the toughest systemic challenges - from democratic transitions to climate change and economic inequality.

He is the author of several influential books including Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems: The Catalytic Power of Radical Engagement and Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You Don't Agree with or Like or Trust).

Learn more about Adam's work:

• https://www.reospartners.com

• https://www.adamkahane.com

If this episode landed for you:

• Follow and message Betsy on Instagram @thebetsyreed

• Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a five-star review (it truly helps)

• Join her on Substack at The Betsy Reed for (Voice) Notes from the Edge — some public, some subscriber-only:
  https://substack.com/thebetsyreed

• Work with Betsy: coaching, consulting, speaking, embodied leadership sessions, upcoming community circles, and People Like Us dinners across Europe:
  https://www.betsy-reed.com