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Kelly talks to Alex, an insightful and forthcoming 15 year old who is transitioning from a girl to a boy, as well as his mother about how you know you have to change and the series of decisions, losses and gains found along the way.

Both Congresswoman Barbara Lee and human rights attorney Jessica Jackson went through college as single mothers, relying on some form of public assistance. They've since gone on to make big changes in our country, from both inside and outside of government. Kelly talks to each of them to get a big old reminder about the power of our democracy and the promise of liberty and justice for all.

When you are a woman who is dead sure she wants to be a mother and the universe is not cooperating, how can you bend reality to your dreams? Lori Gottleib (author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) and Kelly's friend Tracy Defina reflect on finding their way into the job they always wanted: parenthood.

What to make of 2020? How to process the election and the pandemic, drastic changes in the the economy and the environment? Yeesh. Kelly combed through everything she's written down in 2020 and found ten things worth a second look--and maybe even worth celebrating.

Kelly's mom spends part of every day in a Catholic Church, as did her father his entire life. Kelly is wondering how a spiritual orientation changes a person in this conversation with scholar Eboo Patel. They cover how faith has evolved in the lives of everyday Americans, and how thinking of us as a "potluck nation" rather than a melting pot might help us to make better sense of our differences.

Climate Scientist and TED Talker Katharine Hayhoe is equally interested in the obvious ecological collapse as she is in how to talk so people will listen. She and Kelly break down the moves and messages that do and don't work when trying to change global attitudes and save our planet. Kelly's 17 year-old Claire jumps in to talk about the power of Planet Earth and protests and stories of extinction.

Love, Loss and Remembering - A special episode in memory of Liz Laats.

In the wake of losing her father and her friend, Kelly wonders what the end of life can teach us with BJ Miller, a triple amputee, bestselling author and palliative care doc. BJ offers his own personal stories as well as universal takeaways from the bedsides of hundreds whom he has helped usher out of this world.

Starting in college and not stopping until long after law school, Rich Roll regularly, deliberately, got black out drunk. He is now a widely respected wellness advocate and athlete. He and Kelly talk about the long road of tiny adjustments that have led to his transformation into an ultra marathoner, bestselling author and podcaster whose conversations are valued by millions.

On the heels of the series with Wanda Holland Greene about forgiveness, agency, self awareness and finding common ground, Kelly takes a list of lingering questions to world class psychologist, Dacher Keltner at UC Berkeley, and asks him everything she ever wanted to know about why we do the weird things we do. And the answers are fantastic.

Forgiveness may be the most advanced intellectual and emotional move we make as humans. It is a complete override of our innate nature to categorize friend and foe. Along with thought leader Wanda Holland Greene, Kelly brings to life three unforgettable stories of forgiveness from around the world.

Self awareness involves understanding how our behavior affects others. It is fundamental for any functioning society and relationship. Wanda Holland Greene and Kelly talk about body language, tone of voice, word choice, the terrible tendency to let ourselves off the hook and learning to listen to people who give us the straight truth.

Thanks to an election where many states came down to razor thin margins, we may have a renewed sense of our agency as voters. But what about agency over our emotions, our bodies, our relationships and careers? Educator and thought leader, Wanda Holland Greene, brings everything she's learned from her time at Columbia to her years leading The Hamlin School as she and Kelly work through what acts of agency are always available to us.

Annie Jean Baptiste in the Head of Product Inclusion at Google where she spends her time thinking about the products we use very day and how who's at the meeting determines what gets discussed, designed and built. Annie and Kelly wonder about confirmation bias, who we're drawn to, both at work and in our personal lives, and how our lizard brain keeps luring us into fight or flight responses that limit our growth and potential.

Dani Shapiro is the author of 9 books and the host of Family Secrets. She is curious about the things we hide from each other and the consequences of keeping secrets. Dani and Kelly consider the courage to know more about our DNA, our government and what's in our kids' texts, our air and our food.

Nadia Bolz Weber is known for calling a spade a spade in three bestselling memoirs and on her podcast, The Confessional. She is stand up comic turned Lutheran minister who refuses to oversimplify, engage in cheap positivity or humlebrag. Nadia and Kelly wonder together about the things we do in the name of consistency and how to make the call about what to let go of and what to never give up on.

Kelly and Kate Bowler dive into that phrase so often offered up to explain bad stuff: "everything happens for a reason." Kate is a divinity professor at Duke University and the bestselling author of three books.  She has a beloved podcast called Everything Happens.  At a time when so much feels unexplainable, Kate and Kelly wonder if this phrase offers actual comfort or does just the opposite. In this poignant and, strangely, also often hilarious, conversation, Kelly and Kate discuss the difference between finding meaning and making meaning, a life skill we'd all be well served to develop.

Welcome to Kelly Corrigan Wonders, a place for people who like to laugh while they think and find it useful to look closely at ourselves and our weird ways in the hopes that knowing more and feeling more will help us do more and be better.  A former newspaper columnist and four time bestselling author, Kelly wonders about loads of stuff: is knowing more always good? Can we trust our gut? How does change actually happen?  We only book nice people who have a sense of humor and know things worth knowing. Each episode ends with Kelly’s shortlist of takeaways, appropriate for refrigerator doors, bulletin boards and notes to your children.