ABOUT THIS EPISODE
There are conversations that do more than inform us, they recalibrate us. This episode with Sherri Mitchell (Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset) is that kind of conversation: a profound, clear-eyed, and ultimately hopeful exploration of how we stay grounded as leaders and community members in an often dehumanizing time. Sherri calls us to cultivatie connection, accountability, deep humanity, and integrity with ourselves, one another and the living Earth we call home.
Sherri— Indigenous attorney, activist, wisdom keeper, teacher, and author of Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change — joins host Leigh Morgan for a powerful conversation about what it means to move through this moment without hardening, numbing out, or giving up. Together, Sherri and Leigh examine the deeper spiritual and relational crises underneath today’s political division, climate anxiety, violence, social fragmentation, and institutional collapse — while centering a more optimistic path forward rooted in interdependence, mutual care, accountability, and reconnection.
At the heart of this conversation is a powerful invitation: to move from separation toward interdependence. Sherri names the illusion of separation as one of the great spiritual wounds of our time — the belief that we are somehow separate from one another, from the Earth, and from the consequences of our choices. In its place, she offers a vision rooted in Indigenous wisdom: right relationship, emotional maturity, accountability, and reconnection with the living world.
This episode is not about bypassing the pain of this moment. It is about learning how to move through it with greater courage, humility, and responsibility. Sherri helps us understand that we are living through a painful transition — hospicing an old paternalistic paradigm while trying to midwife something more life-giving, collaborative, and humane. That transition requires grief. It requires accountability. And it requires us to grow up — individually, collectively, spiritually, and as a species.
In this episode, we explore:
- The spiritual work of reconnection — how the illusion of separation fuels division, dehumanization, ecological harm, and the loss of right relationship.
- The shift from independence to interdependence — why mutual care, shared responsibility, cooperation, and accountability are essential for a healthier future.
- Grief as part of transformation — what it means to hospice an old paradigm while midwifing something more humane, life-giving, and spiritually mature.
- The sacred leadership we need now — how humility, emotional maturity, accountability, maternal wisdom, and grounded connection can help us lead without hardening or numbing out.
About Sherri Mitchell
Sherri is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Rogers College of Law, specializing in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program.. In addition to her book, Sacred Instructions, she is also a contributor to eleven anthologies, including the bestseller All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, and Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States. Sherri is also the founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Indigenous rights and the protection of the Indigenous way of life. She serves as a Trustee for the American Indian Institute, as an Advisory Council member for Nia Tero’s Indigenous Land Guardianship Program, and as a board member for the Post Carbon Institute. Check out her website and order her book: https://www.sacredinstructions.
Check out Sherri's substack: https://substack.com/@sherrimitchellwehnahamukwasset
Check out the full show notes at http://spaceinbetweenpodcast.com/sacred-instructions-sherri-mitchell/
