SELLEST OSAST
The Recognize Movement, Closing Episode
Episodes Six through Eight named the vow, told its origin, and honored the Loyal Soldier who carried it. In this episode, Winston tells the story of the day it all finally came into focus — a coaching retreat, a reading assignment he almost skipped, and one page of Richard Rohr's Falling Upward that gave him permission to hold two things at once: gratitude for a pattern that had carried him for decades, and readiness to finally let it go.
In This Episode
• The story behind page forty-three of Falling Upward — Rohr's ‘Discharging the Loyal Soldier,’ and the post-WWII Japanese ritual (via Bill Plotkin) that gave Winston language for his own recognition moment.
• Why recognition isn't a single insight but closer to a ritual — honoring what a pattern built, then deliberately releasing it.
• The Balcony — an image from Teresa McCloy, a future guest on the show — for why you can't see your own life clearly from inside it.
• Two very different kinds of forced slowing in Winston's life: a retreat he didn't choose, and a consulting practice that went quiet in 2019.
• Romans 12:2 and the idea of a mind being renewed — not through more effort, but through release.
• The question Winston is carrying out of the Recognize movement and into Release: what would it look like to formally thank what has carried you this far, and then let it go?
Featured Poems
Read the full poems in My Reflections: https://myreuniontour.com/my-reflections
• Tour Day 993: “The Wall” (opening)
• Tour Day 994: “Higher” (closing)
Both poems were composed this week, in the course of writing this episode — and ‘Higher’ independently landed on the exact dance-floor and balcony images the episode is built around.
Books Mentioned in This Episode
• Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, by Richard Rohr
• The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith, by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich
Resources & Links
• My Reunion Tour program → https://myreuniontour.com/the-journey
• Schedule a conversation with Winston → https://chatwithwinston.com
• My Reflections (poems + photos) → https://myreuniontour.com/my-reflections
• Subscribe → Audible • Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Amazon Music
• Search for “Begin Again with Winston Faircloth” in your favorite podcast streaming app
If This Episode Resonated
If today’s conversation stirred something in you — visit https://chatwithwinston.com. Schedule a conversation with Winston. An honest conversation about where you are right now. And if today’s episode resonated — share this episode with them. You’re right where you’re supposed to be.
About Begin Again
Begin Again is a companion to the My Reunion Tour program — a faith-based journey for people in the second half of life who sense that the identity they’ve been carrying no longer fits. Each episode moves through one of four movements of the soul: Remember. Recognize. Release. Reunite. Season One’s sixty stories of perseverance and starting over remain in the feed. There is no wrong place to start.
