By RAY WADDLE

Radio host Dawn Kirk's own personal global positioning system is not inside her car but inside her soul.

As she envisions it, it's the capacity to track one's spiritual position in turbulent times. It means staying alert to global philosophical shifts, and paying attention to what you can learn from the next person you meet.

It means waking up.

"That's the new background — people coming together and asking better questions instead of settling for canned answers," she says.

"We've never been globally so connected as today. It inspires hope, camaraderie with kindred spirits, and a deeper compassion — because now I can read more about the suffering of others, and that should call me to respond creatively."

This gospel according to Kirk infuses her weekly effort to connect Nashville to the drama of alternative ideas. She's host (with Mike Harkreader) of "Wake Up & Live" on Radio Free Nashville, a low-power station celebrating its third anniversary. It airs at 98.9 FM and radiofreenashville.org.

During an eclectic two-hour broadcast of interviews and music, "Wake Up & Live" (8-10 a.m. Saturdays) might cover World Water Day,
laughing yogas, Joseph Campbell's mythologies, Tennessee's scenic rivers or sacred sexuality.

On April 12, the show features the annual Shift Report, compiled by the Institute of the Noetic Sciences. It surveys the crises facing humanity, advocating the power of changing one's heart and mind to save the future.

"We've allowed media, politicians, TV preachers and other entities to define the culture — and define us," Kirk says.

"Yet under the radar, millions of people engage life at another level, doing amazing things."

"Wake Up & Live" is a volunteer gig (Kirk is a therapist and writer) on a 100-watt station, but she is not discouraged. Despite the fatalism of conventional political wisdom, Kirk finds renewal in everyday conversations and synchronicities. Her new essay collection on CD, Imagine the Shift, reflects a hopeful global shift from fear to love. Her upcoming site is imaginetheshift.com.

"I prefer to think of these as mythic times of breakthrough, where we've the opportunity to engage our heroic journey as a people and as individuals," she says.

She views her own journey with a sense of humor.

For decades, the idea of hosting radio was unthinkable to her. After an on-stage panic episode back in fifth grade, she vowed never to speak publicly again. Gradually destiny nudged her back into the public conversation.

"I think of God as this entity saying, 'People, work with me: there's something new and meaningful going on here that I want you to be part of. Wake up and live.' "

In this world of spiritual pessimists and optimists, it's clear where Dawn Kirk stands.

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