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Hi Everyone, I’m Sarah and this is “How to be Good” – the podcast that explores what it means to be a good person in today’s world
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This first episode is a brief introduction to the How to Be Good podcast – to share the motivation behind it, and also to introduce the first series which has a specific focus.
The inspiration for making this happen really came from the covid-19 pandemic. During this time, we’ve really seen the “goodness” of so many people; doctors, nurses, caregivers, generous neighbours and friends stepping up to help those around them.
This time has made many of us question our role in the world – when it comes to a crisis, how do we respond? Who do we care about? Have we helped our family, friends and neighbours? Overall, have we shown up as “good” people?
And now, as we hopefully see some sense of normality on the horizon, we have a chance to choose how we want to show up in the world, and for me this has meant exploring what it means to be a good person
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Now, a quick google search for “How to be a Good Person” will give you over 7.5 billion results – so, that’s almost enough entries for each human on this planet.
With such an overwhelming amount of information, and morality experts that have been looking at these questions for so many years, it’s really hard to know where to start.
So, I decided to just get out there and start talking with people about they felt “being good” meant… and honestly, my hope was that I could just collect tons of different perspectives and learn from them.
And where better to start – with my first group of conversations - than with people of faith? - the very individuals who are seen by so many people around the world as a guiding path for how to live a life of goodness. So, from Jewish Rabbis and Buddhist Abbots to Christian Bishops and Hindu Priests – I’m exploring as many different belief-systems as possible with this first series.
The next series will then move on to other members of the community; teachers, doctors, children, the elderly, those people who work day-to-day at our frontlines.
But, for now, this first series is a collection of short interviews with different religious leaders, asking them very light-hearted questions around what it means to be a good person within each faith. It’s not too serious, and I’ve deliberately searched for faith leaders who describe themselves, for example, as rebels and trouble-makers – and they’re all really down-to-earth individuals who are just working through life like the rest of us.
Now, this podcast isn’t trying to offer any answers. We all know “how to be good?” is not a simple question with a magic answer.
How to Be Good is just something I decided to explore for fun and for a bit of soul-searching – and probably because, even though I know it’s not clear-cut, I really want to be a “good person” and I feel like other people (especially the people I’ve interviewed) all have a better handle on that than I do.
Some of the guests may resonate with you, some may not. It’s a series of conversations about how we as humans understand “good” and “bad”. I hope you find their stories interesting.
If there’s anyone you think I should interview, or you have any comments or feedback, then please get in touch and let me know. You can email me anytime at sarah@howtobegood.co.uk
Thank you so much for joining me – and I hope you enjoy!
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