There are conversations that do more than inform us, they recalibrate us. This episode with Sherri Mitchell (Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset) is that kind of conversation: a profound, clear-eyed, and ultimately hopeful exploration of how we stay grounded as leaders and community members in an often dehumanizing time. Sherri calls us to cultivatie connection, accountability, deep humanity, and integrity with ourselves, one another and the living Earth we call home.

Sherri— Indigenous attorney, activist, wisdom keeper, teacher, and author of Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change — joins host Leigh Morgan for a powerful conversation about what it means to move through this moment without hardening, numbing out, or giving up. Together, Sherri and Leigh examine the deeper spiritual and relational crises underneath today’s political division, climate anxiety, violence, social fragmentation, and institutional collapse — while centering a more optimistic path forward rooted in interdependence, mutual care, accountability, and reconnection.

At the heart of this conversation is a powerful invitation: to move from separation toward interdependence. Sherri names the illusion of separation as one of the great spiritual wounds of our time — the belief that we are somehow separate from one another, from the Earth, and from the consequences of our choices. In its place, she offers a vision rooted in Indigenous wisdom: right relationship, emotional maturity, accountability, and reconnection with the living world.

This episode is not about bypassing the pain of this moment. It is about learning how to move through it with greater courage, humility, and responsibility. Sherri helps us understand that we are living through a painful transition — hospicing an old paternalistic paradigm while trying to midwife something more life-giving, collaborative, and humane. That transition requires grief. It requires accountability. And it requires us to grow up — individually, collectively, spiritually, and as a species.

In this episode, we explore:

• The spiritual work of reconnection — how the illusion of separation fuels division, dehumanization, ecological harm, and the loss of right relationship.
• The shift from independence to interdependence — why mutual care, shared responsibility, cooperation, and accountability are essential for a healthier future.
• Grief as part of transformation — what it means to hospice an old paradigm while midwifing something more humane, life-giving, and spiritually mature.
• The sacred leadership we need now — how humility, emotional maturity, accountability, maternal wisdom, and grounded connection can help us lead without hardening or numbing out.

About Sherri Mitchell

Sherri is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Rogers College of Law, specializing in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program.. In addition to her book, Sacred Instructions, she is also a contributor to eleven anthologies, including the bestseller All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, and Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States. Sherri is also the founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Indigenous rights and the protection of the Indigenous way of life. She serves as a Trustee for the American Indian Institute, as an Advisory Council member for Nia Tero’s Indigenous Land Guardianship Program, and as a board member for the Post Carbon Institute. Check out her website and order her book: https://www.sacredinstructions.

Check out the full show notes at http://spaceinbetweenpodcast.com/sacred-instructions-sherri-mitchell/

In a polarized world, it’s become easy to assume that the other side is broken, deficient, dangerous, or beyond repair; and if we are honest, sometimes it really feels this way. But if this is our dominant mindset, creativity, trust, accountability, and connection can be eclipsed by pessimism about what 'could be'. In this episode, host Leigh Morgan explores a different starting place which she calls the Three R's—Remember, Reframe, Reclaim — a novel framework for staying grounded, high agency, and deeply human in times marked by division, distrust, and uncertainty.

Drawing from personal reflection, leadership experience, and lessons from systems change work, Leigh examines how many of us have been conditioned into a “fix-it” orientation — constantly diagnosing what’s wrong in ourselves, our teams, institutions, and society. While problem-solving remains essential, Leigh asks whether polarized times require something more relational, expansive, and generative alongside it.

Through stories from leading in some of the world's most innovative organizations, Leigh explores how the Three R’s can operate at multiple levels — personally, relationally, organizationally, and systemically. The Three R's:

Remember. Resist reducing ourselves or others to stereotypes, failures, or political identities.

Reframe. Move beyond “What’s broken?” toward “What’s already working and what’s possible?”

Reclaim. Stay intentional and high agency instead of being pulled into reactivity, fear, and outrage.

This episode is not about abandoning accountability, or jettisoning problem solving approaches to hard challenges. It’s about exploring how we remain thoughtful, connected, and effective without losing ourselves to polarization. Key take aways include:

• Why a constant “fix-it” mindset can unintentionally deepen fear and defensiveness in low-trust environments
• The relational cost of reducing people to sides, stereotypes, and moral categories
• How leadership changes when we begin from capability and possibility instead of deficiency
• What asset-based community development teaches us about strengths, latent capacity, and systems change
• How trust-based philanthropy at Nia Tero flipped the script on traditional, 'respond to us' working practices
• Why reclaiming agency may be one of the most important leadership practices in polarized times
• How to stay politically engaged and accountable -- without mirroring the same harmful rhetoric we oppose -- can be achieved

Remember

A shift away from immediately reducing ourselves or others to deficiency, failure, or political identity — and toward remembering our humanity, capability, and creative abilities.

Reframe

Moving beyond “What’s broken?” toward broader questions like:

• What’s already working?
• What strengths or capacities already exist?
• What possibilities become visible when fear and reactivity aren’t driving the frame?

Reclaim

Asserting, in moments where fear, outrage, or polarization tempts us to be reactive, our agency to make choices regardless of circumstance.

Reflection Questions

• Where am I operating primarily from deficiency or fear?
• What assumptions am I making about what — or who — is “broken”?
• What strengths, capacities, or possibilities might I be overlooking?
• What is actually mine to do in this moment?
• How do I stay engaged and accountable without losing my own center?

If this episode resonates with you, share it with someone you care about — someone you want to be in deeper conversation with.

And if you haven’t already, follow The Space In Between and leave a review.

Check out TSIB website at http://spaceinbetweenpodcast.com/remember-reframe-reclaim/

What does it look like to carry authority with humility? In this thoughtful and deeply human conversation, Leigh Morgan sits down with Bartow County, Georgia’s Chief Magistrate Judge Brandon Bryson — whose life and leadership have been shaped by family, faith, service, and a profound respect for the people who enter his courtroom. Presiding over cases that touch every corner of community life has given Judge Bryson a grounded understanding of how easily making assumptions (including about ideology) can mask nuanced realities. And, a how important it is to lead with both curiosity and humanity. Together, they explore how we can all hold people accountable without losing sight of their dignity, why listening can change what we think we know, and how everyday encounters can become opportunities for fairness, and connection. As Judge Bryson notes “compassion doesn’t remove accountability. It helps us make better decisions.”

In this episode, Leigh and Judge Bryson explore:

• How growing up in Cartersville shaped Brandon’s commitment to service
• The values his parents modeled through hard work, tenderness, and sacrifice
• Why magistrate court is often called “the people’s court”
• What eviction cases, warrants, and small claims reveal about everyday struggle
• The difference between judging a case and judging a person
• How compassion and accountability can exist in the same courtroom
• What he learned from the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program
• Why listening for someone’s “why” can open up a different kind of conversation

Why this conversation matters

So many people are moving through the world carrying fear, stress, shame, or uncertainty that others may never see.

Judge Bryson’s courtroom gives him a front-row seat to those realities. People come before him facing the possibility of losing housing, income, freedom, or stability — and he has learned that even a brief moment of respect can stay with someone for years.

Learn More About this Episode

Check out the full show notes at www.https://spaceinbetweenpodcast.com/justice-mercy-judge-bryson/

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