Reboot Podcast Episode #184 – The End of Suffering Pt.2: Connection, Courage, and Collective Responsibility – Sharon Salzberg & Parker J. Palmer

Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is among the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture over fifty years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. Sharon is co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and the author of fourteen books, including the New York Times bestseller Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindness. Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl: A Little Crocodile with Big Feelings, written with Jason Gruhl, was released in 2025 from Shambhala Publications. Sharon’s podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed eight million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond. www.sharonsalzberg.com

Parker J. Palmer is a writer, speaker, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. He is founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal.

He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as fourteen honorary doctorates, two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educational Press Association, and an Award of Excellence from the Associated Church Press.

Palmer is the author of ten books—including several award-winning titles—that have sold over 2.5 million copies and been translated into ten languages: On the Brink of Everything, Healing the Heart of Democracy, The Heart of Higher Education (with Arthur Zajonc), The Courage to Teach, A Hidden Wholeness, Let Your Life Speak, The Active Life, To Know As We Are Known, The Company of Strangers, and The Promise of Paradox.

In 1998, the Leadership Project, a national survey of 10,000 educators, named Dr. Palmer one of the thirty “most influential senior leaders” in higher education and one of the ten key “agenda-setters” of the past decade.

Since 2002, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has given annual Parker J. Palmer “Courage to Teach” and “Courage to Lead” Awards to graduate medical education program directors and designated institutional officials.

In 2005, Living the Questions: Essays Inspired by the Work and Life of Parker J. Palmer, was published.

In 2010, Palmer was given the William Rainey Harper Award whose previous recipients include Margaret Mead, Elie Wiesel, Marshall McLuhan, and Paulo Freire.

In 2011, the Utne Reader named him one of 25 Visionaries on its annual list of “People Who are Changing the World.”

In 2017, the Shalem Institute in Washington, D.C., gave Palmer its annual Contemplative Voices Award, “created to honor those individuals who have made significant contributions to contemplative understanding, living and leadership and whose witness helps others live from the divine wellspring of compassion, strength, and authentic vision.”

In 2021, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Freedom of Spirit Fund, which “honors exemplary individuals and institutions embodying that inner freedom that is the energizing source of human courage, creativity, and love in the world.”

A member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker), Parker Palmer and his wife, Sharon Palmer, live in Madison, Wisconsin.