Giving birth to a wiser self, by Elizabeth Lesser
Meditative Story
WaitWhat
4.6 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One icy morning on a Vermont farm, Elizabeth Lesser is witness to a miraculous thing: the birth of a bleary, bleating baby lamb. Years later, as a midwife, she is still filled with this sense of awe and wonder at every birth. It’s through that process of coaching new life into the world, she learns how to sit through the difficult – even the painful – moments in her own: a divorce, a new career, even death. She begins to understand that we must all stay open to the wild pulse of life to give birth to our wiser selves.
Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, it's Rohan. |
| 0:02.5 | Many of you have told us that meditative story plays an important role in supporting |
| 0:06.7 | your mental health. |
| 0:08.1 | And honestly, I feel the same way. |
| 0:10.7 | There's something really nourishing about seeing our lives reflected back to us in other |
| 0:15.5 | people's stories. |
| 0:17.0 | And there are a lot of other excellent podcasts that might support your mental health in other |
| 0:21.3 | ways. |
| 0:22.3 | So, since May is mental health awareness month, I'll share a little bit more about each |
| 0:28.4 | of these shows every week of the month, starting with 10% happier. |
| 0:33.9 | The 10% happier podcast is hosted by award-winning journalist Dan Harris, who you might remember |
| 0:39.2 | from his own meditative story. |
| 0:41.9 | Each week on the show, Dan tackles topics on all ends of the mental health spectrum, |
| 0:46.9 | from the Dalai Lama's Guide to Happiness, to Brenny Brown's research on emotions. |
| 0:51.9 | I find something valuable in every episode, and I hope you will too. |
| 0:56.6 | So if you'd like to check it out, just search for 10% happier in your podcast player, and |
| 1:01.5 | follow the show. |
| 1:03.0 | OK, now onto today's episode. |
| 1:06.6 | All of the things we humans resist most, pain, unpredictability, lack of control, fear |
| 1:33.9 | of the unknown. |
| 1:36.1 | These are served up in labor, and not just literal labor. |
| 1:40.7 | Childbirth teaches me to stay open. |
... |
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