The Imperfect Advocate Podcast

Season 8, Episode 2: Plastic Free July: It Starts with Noticing

In this episode of The Imperfect Advocate Podcast, Karen Auld invites listeners to kick off Plastic Free July with curiosity instead of perfection. Australian educator Rebecca Prince-Ruiz grew a global movement from just forty participants, Karen explores why meaningful environmental change begins with something much simpler than most people realize: noticing. On the pod, Karen also asks for a moment of silence for Recyclops. Don’t know who Recyclops is? Tune in to find out and be inspired by his mastermind daddy, Rainn Wilson. Karen also shares her own Plastic Free July experiment, including one simple swap that will eliminate dozens of single-use plastic bottles each year without sacrificing her favorite afternoon iced tea. Thanks Firebelly Tea! Whether you're a lifelong environmentalist or simply curious about reducing waste, this episode offers practical ideas, hope, and a gentle reminder that advocacy isn't about being perfect. It's about noticing, making one small change, and trusting that those small actions can inspire something much bigger.

Season 8, Episode 1: Weeding, Watering & Wonder

Summer has always been Karen Auld's favorite season. The warm air, longer days, birdsong, and blooming flowers serve as a reminder to slow down and pay attention. In the Season 8 premiere of The Imperfect Advocate, Karen explores what it means to tend not only our gardens, but our lives. Using the garden as a metaphor, she reflects on the "weeds" that quietly steal our energy, the relationships and habits that nourish us, and the importance of trusting that growth can't be rushed. Just as a garden needs healthy soil, sunshine, water, and time, our dreams require encouragement, rest, community, and consistent care. This episode invites listeners to pause, take inventory of what they're cultivating, and embrace the simple practice of tending what they want to grow. Welcome to a season of tending, growing, and blooming together.

Season 7, Episode 2: Messy, Muddy, and Blooming

Spring may bring flowers, but it also brings mud. In Episode 2 of the Imperfect Advocate Podcast spring season, Karen explores the messy beauty of living systems through the work of author and systems thinker Margaret Wheatley. From Vermont’s famous “mud season” to ecosystem diagrams that mysteriously leave humans out of the picture, this episode examines how modern life has conditioned us to see ourselves as separate from nature, from each other, and even from our own humanity. Karen reflects on why we crave certainty, why disorder often signals growth rather than failure, and how systems thinking can help us reconnect with the living world around us.

Season 7, Episode 1: Emerging From a Long Winter

After a longer-than-expected winter break, Karen returns for Season 7 of The Imperfect Advocate Podcast with reflections on growth, happiness, and what it means to move through life seasonally rather than linearly. In this episode, Karen shares what she’s been learning while pursuing her Master’s degree in Happiness and Overall Wellbeing at Centenary University, including the SPIRE model for whole-being happiness: Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Relational, and Emotional wellbeing. Through stories about graduate school, surgery recovery, spring planting, and messy personal growth, Karen explores why happiness is not about perfection or constant positivity, but about creating the conditions that support a meaningful life. Karen also previews the next episode’s exploration of Margaret Wheatley’s work on messy systems, community, and “sane leadership on behalf of the human spirit.” If you’ve been in a quiet season, this episode is your reminder that growth rarely arrives all at once — and that sometimes we all just need a winter.ou can be.

Season 6, Episode 2: Fumbling Forward as a Helper: Using Your Strengths When the World Feels Heavy

When the world feels heavy, many of us feel the pull to help — and the paralysis of not knowing how. In this episode of The Imperfect Advocate Podcast, Karen Auld speaks honestly about feeling powerless, naming the emotional weight many are carrying right now, and reframing what it means to “be a helper.” Drawing on positive psychology research from Martin Seligman, Karen explores how action — even small, imperfect action — restores agency and reduces helplessness when it’s aligned with our values and strengths. She shares a personal story about her husband and father-in-law designing dozens of homes for Habitat for Humanity, not by becoming different people, but by offering what they already do best. The episode also weaves in insights from Ben Zander and The Art of Possibility, including the idea of contribution as expression (not sacrifice) and the power of “shining eyes” — a sign you’re working in alignment. If you’ve ever thought “I want to help, but I don’t know what to do,” this episode offers clarity, compassion, and a practical next step — including a free character strengths assessment to help you fumble forward as the helper only you can be.