How to Share A Return Home

Posted in howtoshareTagged , , , , ,

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

I lived in the Philippines until I was almost seven-years-old. When I went back to visit with my family 22 years later, I was surprised that I could navigate a few streets near where we used to live. It was like a pull that oriented me to where I spent the first years of my life.

So I related to Mario Cartaya’s phrase of letting the subconscious guide when he shared his emotional journey back to Cuba after 56 years on the How to Share podcast. Mario has written a touching and insightful memoir about that trip, Journey Back Into the Vault.

Mario tells us how his family’s rushed departure from Cuba as a nine-year-old left him with a vault of childhood memories that he couldn’t unlock. Mario shares stories from his 1-week journey back to Cuba that helped him unlock the memories in that vault. We talk about how so many magical moments unfolded as he visited the scenes of his childhood.

We talk about the close-knit sense of community in Cuba. Mario tells us about the Cuban diaspora and how the pain of separation affects families on both sides.

Mario tells us about his current project chronicling the historic friendship that the US and Cuba once shared.

Mario is a wonderful guest who delivers a strong sense of hope for whatever divides us and a reminder that we can all work to find our own inner peace and deliver it to this world. I know you’ll love this episode and his book, Journey Back Into the Vault!

Key Themes:

  • Mario’s traumatic departure from Cuba in 1960
  • The vault of childhood memories and their significance
  • Revisiting childhood homes and places in Cuba
  • The impact of family separation and diaspora
  • The historic friendship between the US and Cuba from 1860-1960
  • Mario’s current project on US-Cuba relations

Check out this short clip of Mario’s deep and insightful elevator pitch for Journey Back Into the Vault:

Here are some ways you can watch or listen to all of this fascinating and compelling episode:

Please listen, watch, provide feedback and subscribe.

46: The Quiet Transformation That Changes Everything – The Life of Try: Personal growth, one try at a time.

What if “trying” doesn’t have to mean pushing harder?In this episode, host Wynne Leon talks with author and New York Insight Meditation Center co-founder Joseph Schmidt about The Torchbearer—a collection of short stories born from an unexpectedly effortless creative process. Together they explore the mindset shift from effort to openness:how letting go of the agenda can create space for insight, transformation, and a deeper, more alive way of meeting each moment.Try smarter, not harder: why forcing outcomes can block creativity—and what changes when you partner with the process instead.Mindset shift to “empty hands”: Joseph’s Zen chaplaincy training and the practice of entering a room (or a moment) without an agenda.Personal growth through discovery: how his characters—and we as readers—find the next move by noticing what’s already here.Feeling alive at the edge of the unknown: mindfulness as the place where consciousness meets what happens next.Belonging as a practice: building a bond of belonging by showing up with curiosity, care, and presence.If you’ve been working hard but feeling flat, this conversation is an invitation to loosen your grip, step back into the present, and discover a more natural flow—one where growth comes from attention, not strain. Listen in for a gentler (and often more powerful) way to create, connect, and keep beginning again.Perfect for you if:you’re craving a mindset reset, rebuilding your creative confidence, deepening a mindfulness practice, or simply want to feel more awake and engaged in your everyday life.The Life of Try is a personal growth and self‑help podcast about getting unstuck, navigating uncertainty, and choosing to try—even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, or not your idea.Hosted by Wynne Leon, the show explores how realgrowth, reinvention, and discovery often begin not with confidence or clarity—but with a single attempt. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real‑world case studies, each episode examines what it lookslike to keep going when doubt shows up, plans fall apart, or life forces a change you didn’t ask for.This podcast is for anyone who:Feels stuck or uncertain about what's nextIs navigating change, burnout, or reinventionWants to live more intentionally without pretending that growth is easyBelieves (or wants to believe) progress starts by trying – again and againThe Life of Try isn’t about hustle or perfection.It’s about learning as you go, surfacing what matters, and sharing what you discover along the way.If you’re ready to surf the uncertainty, outlast the doubts, and step into your own try‑cycle, you’re in the right place.Links for this episode:Creating Without Elbow Grease transcriptThe Torchbearer: and other Stories of Borderline Redemption by Joseph Schmidt on AmazonJoseph Schmidt bio – New York Insight Meditation Center
  1. 46: The Quiet Transformation That Changes Everything
  2. 45: The Life of Try: Alex Honnold Case Study
  3. How to Share a Reimagined Sci-Fi Trilogy with Dr. Wayne Runde
  4. How to Share Advocacy with Sam Daley-Harris Part 2
  5. What Do You Know To Be True?

Links for this episode:

How to Share a Return Home Transcript

Journey Back Into the Vault on Barnes and Noble and Amazon

Mario Cartaya’s website

From the host:

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith

(featured photo from Pexels)

45 thoughts on “How to Share A Return Home”

  1. Really? You were here in the Philippines before? That’s interesting. This podcast surely bring back memories of your childhood, Wynne. His book sounds informative and intriguing.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Yes, I love the Philippines! My dad was pastor of a non-denominational church in Makati so we lived there for 6 years. What an amazing country with beautiful people! I’m still in touch with some of the wonderful people we knew from our time there!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Mario’s story is fantastic. But I cannot think at Cuba without looking into the current political context. I went to Cuba at the end of 2022 and what I saw was a super beautiful island with very kind and welcoming people who were hopeless as after Obama, both Biden and Trump administration’s embargo has become harder and triggered a severe humanitarian and economic crisis there. This is the impact of the U.S. economic politics toward Cuba that’s been in place since 1962. Trump is just waiting for the island to collapse. He calls Cuba “the failed nation”. We should not forget it. We are all human, as Mario said, and we all have the same needs. Cuban people are missing even the basic needs. Sorry for this long comment, but I love Cuba and Cubans so much that I couldn’t refrain from pointing this out.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. What a great comment, Cristiana. It makes me so sad what has happened. Mario was telling me about the amazing research he did for his next book and the close (and helpful) relationship Cuba and US had from 1860-1960. Tragic.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Mario’s story is deeply touching, reconnecting and finding his memories of his youth… Love his strong sense of hope.
    A few months ago, I talked with a young man who at the age of 13 came to the USA from Cuba with his grandfather. Once they arrived here, his grandfather moved them away from the Cuban community in the US, because he wanted them to excel at becoming American by being deeply immersed in the language and customs. I wish our country was more welcoming to people who want so very much to achieve the American dream, who just want to live a better life.
    It’s so interesting to learn that you spent your early childhood in the Philippines, Wynne. Most of the folks I know who are US citizens and lived in the Philippines were there because of the Peace Corps, on a Missions Trip, or in the Military.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. What an interesting story, Rose. I love how you have a gift for capturing other people’s stories!

      My dad was pastor of a non-denominational church in Manilla for 6 years so we moved there when I was 6 mos old. Amazing country!

      Like

  4. Thanks for sharing this Wynne.
    What a compelling story that Mario has to share and I so appreciate his bravery in going back to his unconscious and journeying back to his past memories to open and revisit his past to find his heart.. How beautiful! ❤️

    Liked by 1 person

  5. So empowering, Wynne – just listening to the short clip you’ve included here. Trauma, identity, discovery…such potent themes! And Mario’s insight – about working to repair the ‘torn tapestry of his life…’
    Can’t wait to tune into the whole episode. Thank you so much. 💝

    Liked by 1 person

  7. A beautifully expressed description of Mario’s trip into darkness, and then for him to find there is light. It takes a brave person to do this. Bravo, Mario!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Mario’s life story of ninety miles and a lifetime away is so interesting. And this so resonates with me, “… a reminder that we can all work to find our own inner peace and deliver it to this world.” 💕💕

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I can attest how emotional a return home is. My daughter and I returned to Montreal (our birthplace and home city) for Columbus Day weekend to bury my mother’s ashes. We left around 20 years ago under difficult circumstances. To go back to a place one feels still is home is emotional, especially when one visits places and restaurants that held significance. It was thoroughly enjoyable and very needed.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. It was a very special mother-daughter trip. We connected with family there, and even mended a bridge that had plagued all of us for years. It was very good for the soul!

        Like

    1. How fun to connect with someone who recently visited! It was fun to read Mario’s description of the places that held so much significance to him! I know you’ll enjoy the episode, Elizabeth!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you! I look forward to learning more about Cuba. I had a friend in Palm Springs who came from Cuba as an adult. He was a lifeguard at the city pool and he and I took masters together and shared a lane. We were two of the slowest! He also had fascinating stories about growing up in Cuba.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. So you can go home again. Ha, ha. Interesting story Wynne. I do find it interesting when I travel back to where I grew up, how I still know my way around – both emotionally and gps wise. I go back to a different time and place, but it still comes back to me. Interesting post.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I truly enjoyed how Mario presented his story, Wynne. I could close my eyes and literally see him going into the old home and picking up a memory still on the landing, or talking to a cousin and (almost physically) picking up another memory and adding it to his growing collection of old buried thoughts. And finally, he was able to remember the “totality of who I am.” He put himself back together. And just separately, the pain of his family and all families in Cuba who were forced to separate and still can’t see each other for so many years is unconscionable. I love how you pointed out that you suspect he shares his dad’s personality. He was beaming!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. What a lovely point, Melanie. He clearly adored his father! And I love how you put it – He put himself back together. I’m so grateful for the way you listen, my dear friend. It’s such a gift!

      Liked by 1 person

  16. I had no idea we shared a similar childhood background, growing up in the tropics! I’m glad you were able to return “home.” I went back to Hawaii once, on my honeymoon, but she wasn’t Tara and so that memory holds no special power for me.

    Oh, and great podcast too!

    Liked by 1 person

  19. What a beautiful and compelling conversation, Wynne. You can really go back home and what a wonderful homecoming 56 years in the making. What a life and all those rich connections, including with a Castro relative as a kindergarten teacher! I could picture him sitting on those steps and seeing his 8-year-old self come to life beside him.

    Listening to this tender conversation reminded me of my first grownup trip and first vacation with the hubby – to Cuba after graduating from university. The people were so warm and a highlight was visiting a local’s home while we rode a moped around Holguin. Will never forget it.

    It also reminded me of first visit back to the Philippines in 2008. I also left when I was 8, but didn’t have to wait 56 years, only 19. There is just something transformative about that journey back.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, that sounds like a perfect first grownup trip, Ab! How fun is that? I’m so glad Mario brought back that trip as well as returning to the Philippines! You are so right, there is something transformative about the journey back.

      And I love the way you listen – yes to those rich connections. So fun! I appreciate you tuning in, Ab!

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.