John R. Miles

What stayed with me most from this conversation is this truth.

Agency doesn't always look like bold action.

Sometimes it looks like choosing alignment over urgency.

Sarah's story reminds us that mattering isn't just about what we produce.

how visible we are, or how much we carry for others.

It's about whether we feel we have a say in our lives, even when the constraints are real, the stakes are high, and the timing feels unfair.

This episode is not asking us to agree on policy.

It's asking us to humanize the people behind it and to recognize how deeply personal experience shapes better leadership, better systems, and more humane outcomes.

If this conversation expanded how you think about agency leadership or mattering, please share it with someone who's navigating a hard choice of their own.

And if you want to go deeper with these themes, agency, identity, belonging, join me at theignitedlife.net, where each episode is paired with reflection tools to help you integrate what you're hearing and how you actually live.

Next up, we're starting a new series called The Meaning Makers, and we're going into an even deeper layer.

I'll be joined by Dr. Stephen Post, one of the world's leading researchers on compassion, altruism, and the science of giving.

In our conversation, we explore his life's work on what he calls pure unlimited love,

is a scientifically grounded, spiritually recognized force that shapes human flourishing and how expanding our concern beyond ourselves may be the missing piece in how we think about becoming.

Because becoming isn't just personal, it's relational, it's collective, and it's not sustained by pressure, but by care.

I'm John Miles.

You've been PassionStruck.

And until next time, keep choosing alignment over pressure, agency over autopilot, and live like you matter.

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Welcome to Passion Struck.