Everything Happens with Kate Bowler
Episodes
Third Annual Happy Crappy: Let’s Start with the Crappies
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the things you tried to fix turn out to be forever? In their third annual Happy Crappy, Kate and her dear friend Kelly Corrigan wade...
Advent: Love Comes Down
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
By this point in December, love has been merchandised within an inch of its life. It jingles in ads that say if you really love someone, you should bu...
Listen Again: Jenna Bush Hager - Get in the Game
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The TODAY Show’s Jenna Bush Hager sits down for a wide-ranging conversation with Kate Bowler. Together, they share about the importance of famil...
Advent: Blue Christmas
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every grocery store speaker is now officially blasting “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” And let’s be honest: someti...
Listen Again: Father Richard Rohr on Learning to Hold On, Learning to Let Go
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Life is painful. Period. But are there some aspects of our faith or our posture toward the world that can change how we experience it? Father Ri...
Advent: A Protest Song
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve all seen the Christmas pageants where Mary is very sweet and demure and she is wearing a tablecloth pulled from the church dining hall. So...
Listen Again: Nikki DeLoach on a Not-So Hallmark Christmas
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic introduced many to living with uncertainty. But for some, uncertainty has always been their norm. Actress Nikki Deloach has starred in se...
Advent: Begin Again
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Well, here we are. December has arrived (shudder). And with it, the great cultural sprint: decorations, office parties, and the annual anxiety dream a...
Listen Again: Anna Sale on Hard Topics, Softer Conversations
29 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this conversation, Kate and Anna discuss: How conversations might engender the intimacy we need to get by Fostering the right interpersonal and li...
Nikki Grimes on Complicated Childhoods, Forgiveness, and Extraordinary Grace
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when childhood teaches you more about survival than safety? Poet and author Nikki Grimes joins Kate to talk about growing up with profoun...
More Happier: Do Holidays Leave You Exhausted, Not Restored? Priya Parker, Francis Lam & Kate Bowler on Celebration
22 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re sharing a conversation from the More Happier podcast between Kate, Gretchen Rubin, Priya Parker, and Francis Lam. It’s ...
Through the Lens of Love with Tim Shriver
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Shriver—educator, author, and longtime Chairman of Special Olympics—joins Kate for a tender, funny, deeply practical conversation abou...
Small Talk Survivors with Sarah Wildman
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you live on a planet where grief rewrites the language of everyday life? Kate Bowler speaks with writer and New York Times editor Sa...
Relentless Tenderness: A Conversation on Healing with Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s tempting to be a very serious person in a very serious world. But what if staying soft was the most loving thing we could do? In this vulne...
So Much Love, So Much to Lose with Catherine Newman
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Loving people is a gift—and a liability. The more we love, the more there is to lose. In this hilariously honest and deeply tender conversation,...
Naming the Silences with Miriam Toews
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When someone you love is in pain—but can’t say the words out loud—what can you do? Kate speaks with beloved Canadian novelist Miriam...
Listen Again: Standing in the Gap with Parker Palmer
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we stay hopeful in the face of despair and disillusionment—especially when politics threaten to tear us in two? Kate speaks with Parker P...
Learning to Be Joyful, Anyway: A Big Announcement
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joy won't cure you, but it will carry you. After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Ble...
For Those Who Feel It All with Dr. Ellen Vora
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Everywhere you turn, there’s something to worry about. And sometimes that buzzing hum of anxiety is trying to tell us something important—...
America’s Caregiving Crisis: A Conversation with Ai-jen Poo
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when love isn’t enough to hold up a broken system? Ai-jen Poo—award-winning organizer and executive director of the National ...
Jen Hatmaker on Divorce, Deconstruction, and Rebuilding from Scratch
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the life you were supposed to have… disappears? Jen Hatmaker joins Kate Bowler for a conversation about faith, divorce, and t...
Am I Ruining My Kid? A Conversation with Dr. Becky Kennedy
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are no training manuals for this. Just a child staring up at you with cartoon eyes and an inner monologue that asks: Am I doing this right?...
When Caregiving Becomes Codependency: A Conversation with Elizabeth Gilbert
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When someone you love is in pain—whether they’re sick, addicted, or falling apart—you show up. Again and again and again. You make t...
What Makes Life Worth Living? Atul Gawande on Mortality, Medicine, and Meaning
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Kate speaks with surgeon, writer, and public health leader Dr. Atul Gawande about the deeply human questions that surface when medici...
How to Change (But Not Overnight)
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You were supposed to be a whole new person by now. Sun-kissed and emotionally regulated. Inbox at zero. But here we are—still tired, still tryin...
Listen Again: How to gather in meaningful ways with Priya Parker
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We are re-airing some of our favorite episodes during our summer break like this one with expert facilitator, Priya Parker. After the pandemic took ap...
Listen Again: How to fall in love with the world again with Margaret Renkl
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During our summer break, we are re-airing some of our favorite episodes! Margaret Renkl calls herself a backyard naturalist—but not because she ...
Listen Again: Why you don’t have to prove your worth by overworking with Shauna Niequist
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We are re-airing some of our favorite episodes during our summer break, and this one with Shauna Niequist is a gem. Our obligations never stop, do the...
Listen Again: How to keep creating when grief steals your hope with Lanecia Rouse
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During our summer break, we are re-airing some of our favorite episodes. What do you do when hope feels lost? Abstract artist Lanecia Rouse Tinsl...
The Summer of Too Much: Practicing Holy Underachievement
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ah, summer. The season of sticky popsicles and even stickier expectations. It’s supposed to be the time of rest and freedom, but more-often-than...
Listen Again: Why you don’t need a purpose to be creative with Elizabeth Gilbert
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During our summer break, we are re-airing some of our favorite episodes. In this live conversation recorded at Duke University, the indomitable Liz Gi...
Listen Again: Why you are not what you do with Maria Bowler
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During our summer break, we are re-airing some of our favorite episodes! In a world that constantly demands more—more work, more achievement, mo...
Suleika Jaouad: Survival Is a Creative Act
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, the bad thing happens—again. The kind of news that flattens your plans, your energy, your sense of who you are. And you think, surely...
Erin & Ben Napier: Everyone's From Somewhere
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Erin and Ben Napier didn’t plan on becoming household names. They were just trying to build a beautiful life in their beloved hometown of Laurel...
Stacey Heale: The Aftermath of the Aftermath
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Stacey Heale’s husband, Greg, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, life became a blur of caregiving, grief, and trying to hold a family toge...
Kimberly Williams-Paisley: Where The Light (Still) Gets In
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Kimberly Williams-Paisley’s mother was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia, life became a long stretch of uncertainty, grief, and surpri...
Amanda Doyle: When Fixing Isn’t Loving
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some people become the ones others depend on. They organize the plans, remember the details, carry the weight. They know how to fix things—quiet...
Lisa Damour: How to Talk to Teenagers
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We used to be afraid of teenagers. Now we’re afraid for them. Anxiety, depression, social media, school pressures, loneliness—it’s e...
Father Ron Rolheiser: The Ache That Makes Us Human
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an ache at the center of being human. The kind that doesn’t go away with a fresh to-do list or a good night’s sleep. It&rsqu...
Melinda Gates: That Clearing in Between
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are seasons when everything feels a bit undone. A marriage ends. A child grows up. A job shifts. And suddenly, we’re no longer who we were...
Sarah Bessey: Faith That Survives
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the faith that once held you starts to unravel? When the certainty you clung to turns to dust? Sarah Bessey knows what it’s li...
Simone Gorrindo: The Cost of Love and Duty
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the person you love is called to something that takes them away? Again and again and again. Journalist Simone Gorrindo never expecte...
Jeff Chu: Good Soil
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a journalist-turned-seminarian finds God in a pile of rotting vegetables? You get Jeff Chu—writer, pastor, and accidental theo...
Pádraig Ó Tuama: In the Name of Belonging
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to live alongside people you don’t agree with? And love them anyway? Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, and ...
Amy Griffin: Some Warriors Weep
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We all carry stories. Some smooth over the past, making things easier to bear. Others—the truer ones—break us open. Amy Griffin knows what...
Coach K: Love in Winning, Love in Losing
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when someone believes in you–before you’re even ready to believe in yourself? In this powerful conversation, Kate sits down w...
The Hardest Part: A Lent for Real Life
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lent is here—the season we stop pretending we’re fine and admit that life is…a lot. It’s forty days of naming what’s fr...
Vivek Murthy: We Are Good Medicine
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Loneliness is more than just a feeling—it shapes how we see ourselves and the world around us. It can make us withdraw, hesitate to reach out, o...
Listen Again: N.T. Wright
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Scripture can become a weapon in the hands of the ultra-certain. As if every pain or suffering is part of “God’s divine plan.” So ho...
Listen Again: Adam Grant
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Everything is in flux. Nothing is the same anymore. How do we live amid all of this uncertainty? Well, psychologist and bestselling author Adam Grant ...
Listen Again: Morgan Harper Nichols
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We have thick cultural scripts for what is deemed inspirational and it usually goes like this: You can do it. Never give up. Everything you need is in...
Maria Bowler: "For No Reason" Season
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a world that constantly demands more—more work, more achievement, more hustle—how do we learn to pause? Kate sits down with her sister ...
Listen Again: Christie Watson
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the core of nursing is the ability to love a stranger, to care indiscriminately. Christie Watson was a nurse in the UK for 20 years before she bega...
Oliver Burkeman: New Year, Same Me
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Does life ever feel like an endless to-do list? Like if you could just wake up tomorrow with a little more discipline, you’d finally master your...
Feeling Happy? Navigating the Highs and Lows with Kelly Corrigan
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kate and Kelly Corrigan (Kelly Corrigan Wonders) wrap up the year with a heart-to-heart about the ups, downs, and everything in between. From the thri...
Feeling Crappy? Navigating the Highs and Lows with Kelly Corrigan
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's that time of year—reflection season, where the "happy" and "crappy" moments rise to the surface. Kate and Kelly Corrigan (Kelly Corrigan Wo...
Safiya Sinclair: Rewriting Roots
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Writer and poet Safiya Sinclair describes her childhood growing up in a Rasta family in Montego Bay, Jamaica. In this live conversation, Kate and Safi...
You Are a Wonder: An Advent Reflection
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the most wonderful time of the year here at Everything Happens. And you're invited to join along. Advent is a season that leads us up to Ch...
Dolly Alderton: The Unwritten Vow of Friendship
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s conversation is dedicated to the many loves that make up our lives—especially that of our friends. Dolly Alderton is a Sunday Times and Ne...
Sam Wells: Being With
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you stay close to someone whose pain you can’t fix, whose questions you can’t answer? In this episode, Kate sits down with her dear...
Wilma Derksen: Living with What You Cannot Change
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are some realities we can never get over. And yet, we keep living. How do we do that well? Wilma Derksen writes and speaks on the topics of...
Does Everything Happen for a Reason? From A Slight Change of Plans
09 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're introducing you to a show we love called A Slight Change of Plans with Dr. Maya Shankar. Kate was actually a guest on the show, where ...
Parker Palmer: Standing in the Gap
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do we stay hopeful in the face of despair and disillusionment—especially when politics threaten to tear us in two? Kate speaks with Parker P...
Charles Spencer: Confronting the Past
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We need more room to be honest about what it costs when people or institutions fail us. Today's conversation is with Lord Charles Spencer, the 9th Ear...
Tembi Locke: Grief of the Almosts
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In every deep relationship, there comes a point where we are asked to give up something of ourselves or change in ways we never anticipated. Who will ...
Kathryn Mannix: Living with the End in Mind
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What if you started thinking really concretely about small, hard choices? That’s exactly what palliative care physicians do every day. They help us ...
Father Greg Boyle: Unshakable Goodness
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes you really need someone to believe that you are good. Unshakably good. Over 30 years ago, Father Greg Boyle started working with gang member...
Christie Watson: The Absurdity (and Joy) of Midlife
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nurse and writer Christie Watson found herself in a grocery store fish-finger freezer and realized something was very, very wrong. Why was she so desp...
Listen Now: Kate Bowler on Soul Boom
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have something special for you. Kate Bowler joins Rainn Wilson to explore the complexities of American Christian traditions and the natur...
Sharon McMahon: Drops Make an Ocean
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It is a hard time to be a person in the world given the volatile political climate or state of our world or the realities we’re facing in our fa...
Francis Collins: Foolish Hopes
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all experience seasons where all we can do is scratch our heads and say, “WHAT EVEN HAPPENED?!” Dr. Francis Collins led the National Institut...
Richard Hays: Change at Any Age
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible for anyone to change—change their mind, change their theology, change their priorities? What does it mean to hope when we live in suc...
Nicholas Kristof: Hope is a Muscle
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof understands how to hope—especially in the face of despair or disappointment. He has spent his lif...
Introducing Season 13 of Everything Happens
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you living your best life now? Not always? GREAT, ME NEITHER. My name is Kate Bowler. I’m a Duke professor, bestselling author, and your frien...
Listen Again: Rob Delaney—A Heart that Works is a Heart that Hurts
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Comedians have the ability to be unsparingly honest in ways that buck all cultural norms. It’s a truth-telling that so many of us crave. Cue Rob D...
Beautiful and Terrible: A Bonus Episode
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There is this quote by writer and theologian Frederick Buechner. He writes, “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be ...
Listen Again: Rabbi Steve Leder—Don’t Come Out Empty Handed
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How should you show up for people in grief? What do you say? What should you do? Why is it that beauty can exist alongside deep suffering? What can be...
David Fajgenbaum: Hope Wears Sneakers
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of one young doctor’s race against the clock as he searches for a cure for his own rare disease. In this conversation, Kate and Da...
Listen Again: Lisa Damour—Understanding Today’s Teenagers
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How hard is it to be a parent today? After a pandemic? With social media breathing down our necks? It’s so hard! Navigating the delicate balance bet...
Thomas Lynch: Good Grief
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do you learn standing so close to the edge with so many people? Listen for wisdom on mortality and hope—like how the habits of love are hard to...
Listen Again: Kwame Alexander—To Be Loved Like That
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our most precious relationships are often our most complicated, aren’t they? Poet and bestselling author Kwame Alexander wrote an honest book of poe...
Suleika Jaouad: You Are Not The Bad Thing
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There is a strange tension when we want so badly for the people we love to support us, but want to shield them from the pain at the same time. This is...
Abigail Marsh: Extraordinary Empathy
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are some people more empathetic than others? By studying those on the opposite end of the compassion spectrum–those with psychopathy–researcher Dr...
Heather Lanier: Whole and Holy
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What if your life hasn’t turned out like you thought it would? When writer Heather Lanier’s daughter, Fiona, was born with a rare genetic syndrome...
Sunita Puri: The Uncertainty Specialist
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pain is like a geography—one that isn’t foreign to palliative care physician, Dr. Sunita Puri. Kate and Sunita speak about needing new language fo...
Justin Yopp and Don Rosenstein: The Magic of “We”
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When a group of young moms died around the same time, clinicians Dr. Justin Yopp and Dr. Don Rosenstein wanted to refer their widowed spouses to a gri...
Judy Woodruff: How Will We Live Our Beautiful, Terrible Days?
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do we navigate life within these beautiful, terrible days? In this special live episode of the Everything Happens podcast, Kate sits down with Ame...
Samantha Bee: This is Going to Be(e) a Great Story
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We become the sum of so many people throughout our lives. Kate speaks with one of the funniest people on the entire planet, comedian Samantha Bee, abo...
Pamela Morris-Perez: Suicide Prevention and Hope
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Here on the Everything Happens Podcast we don’t shy away from difficult subjects, and today’s episode tackles a topic we’ve been wanting to disc...
Chantal Kreviazuk: Finding the Melody
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chantal Kreviazuk is a Canadian singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist—her voice is the soundtrack of all Kate’s Canadian’s teenage ang...
Rainn Wilson: Brave, Beautiful, and Good Things
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes we can fix our lives and sometimes can’t. So when self-help and self-care fall short, what do we need to turn instead? Rainn Wilson (Dwi...
Nicky Gumbel: Questions of Meaning
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our lives are rarely predictable or at all in our control. Sometimes what happens to us or around us can reshape our entire trajectory. Nicky Gumbel i...
Emma Gannon: The Butterfly Era
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
So much of modern culture emphasizes success, hard work, and ambition. But what if we don’t conquer every problem or reach every mountaintop? How do...
Maggie Jackson: The Wisdom of Uncertainty
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
These are uncertain times for so many of us. But, according to writer Maggie Jackson, perhaps there is deep wisdom to be uncovered too—surprising ...
Alan Alda: Stay Curious
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We don’t usually have repeat guests on this podcast… except we’re making an exception for the wonderful and wise Alan Alda. Alan Alda, of course...
Richard Grant: Finding a Pocket of Happiness
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When we are in deep grief, we can anticipate some of the horrible parts—the sleeplessness, the denial, the loneliness. But what about the moments of...
Savannah Guthrie: Mostly What God Does
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you have faith that can hold all of reality—the beautiful, the terrible, and everything in-between? The TODAY Show’s Sava...
Sarah Polley: Run Toward the Danger
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever look back at your childhood and go… certainly that didn’t happen like that? Where were the adults? Academy Award-winning director and ...
Stephanie Wittels Wachs: When Life Gives You Lemons
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re talking about tragicomedy. And isn’t that all of life? The absurdity. The horror. The laughter that somehow cuts through the most dif...
Made for Connection: A Bonus Heart-to-Heart with Dr. Vivek Murthy
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we have a little bonus episode to kick off your weekend. Vivek Murthy, the current U.S. Surgeon General, had so much wisdom to offer us in this...