Suzanne McConnell is the author of “Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style”. Suzanne was a student and a friend of Kurt Vonnegut's, and she was asked to write this book by Kurt's Trust. Kurt is the author of Slaughterhouse-five and several other works of primary fiction, but also nonfiction. He shares many stories from his life in ways that were sometimes humorous, sometimes touching, but almost always entertaining. In this book, Suzanne includes Kurt Vonnegut’s instructions and advice about writing, work and family balance, and sharing our talents.
Adam Stern, M.D. Adam is the author of "Committed: Dispatches From a Psychiatrist in Training." It's a memoir Adam wrote about his time learning to become a psychiatrist, which involved overcoming imposter syndrome and learning the value of human connection. Adam is well studied in psychology, medicine, psychiatry, clinical neurosciences, all kinds of smart, academic scientific stuff. But he's a very approachable human being. He's currently an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard, and he has won several awards for psychiatry, for writing, and excellence in medical education, and he's also published more than two dozen scholarly publications.
Matt Alt is a Tokyo-based translator, writer, and speaker. He has written for or writes for The New Yorker, CNN, Wired, Slate, The Japan Times, Newsweek Japan, Vice, and more. Matt’s curiosity and love for Japanese culture and inventions have led him to find the creators of what he calls "Fantasy Delivery Devices"; gadgets that changed our lives, things like the karaoke machine, the Walkman, the Nintendo entertainment system, the Gameboy characters like Hello Kitty and the Pokémon. He’s also tracked the roots of strange new forms of digital expression like the Tamagotchi, Emoji, anonymous imageboards, and he discovered how...
Scott O’Neil is the author of "Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving". He is not only a successful person, but also very good at articulating the principles that he has used to achieve his success. Professionally, he's a best-selling author, an award-winning sports business executive and leader. He's the former CEO of Harris-Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, a 25-year tenured NBA, NFL, and NHL senior executive, and a Harvard Business School alum. He was a straight-A student, president of the student body, captain of three sports teams, and even president of the local...
Pamela Seelig is the author of “Threads of Yoga: Themes, Reflections, and Meditations to Weave into Your Practice.” It's a guide for students and teachers inspired by the yoga sutras. Pam is someone who began her yoga journey more than twenty-five years ago when an illness interrupted her Wall Street career. She began meditating as a complementary therapy with startling results. Along with speeding up her recovery, the impact of her meditation led to a lifelong pursuit of perceiving and sharing yoga wisdom. Pam eventually trained at Integral Yoga Institute in New York and began teaching to friends at a...
Dr. Dawson Church is the author of "Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy". Dawson decided to shift from his successful publishing career because of the great impact that meditation had on his ability to be happy despite some of the catastrophic events he has lived through. Dawson’s many scientific clinical trials have also helped him find many astonishing results in the techniques he uses. Dawson’s work comes from a place of first healing trauma, and then beyond that, achieving elevated states of consciousness, which, of course, is why he's named his book Bliss...
What does it mean to live a good life? Over the past few years, I have tried to answer that question by interviewing nearly 200 guests from all walks of life. Each week I invite an author with a unique perspective to share their thoughts on what it means to live a good life. Each guest shares a bit about themselves, the work they do and have done, and most importantly, their Keys to Good Living. These keys not only help us to live better lives, but also to understand ourselves better, to know what we really want, and to...
What does it mean to live a good life? Over the past few years I have tried to answer that question by interviewing nearly 200 guests from all walks of life. Each week I invite an author with a unique perspective to share their thoughts on what it means to live a good life, as well as their tips for getting books written and published! I also run each guest through my Enlightening Lightning Round, a series of 9 quick questions regarding all aspects of life, from travel and finances, to health and relationships.
Dr. Dennis Rebelo is the author of a book called "Story Like You Mean It: How to Build and Use Your Personal Narrative to Illustrate Who You Really Are". Dr. D is a professor, speaker, a career coach. He's the creator of the peak storytelling model, a research-based method for crafting the narrative of who you are, what drives you, and why. His method has been used by not only former professional athletes, guidance professionals, and advisors, but also nonprofit leaders, as well as entrepreneurs and CEOs around the world. This book and this approach provide structure to really identifying...
I’ve traveled many places around this globe and talked to many people, some of whom have very interesting views. Today’s guest is one of those people. Rachel Harris has written a book called "Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope for Depression, Addiction and Anxiety". Over her thirty-five years of experience as a psychologist and 10 years of scientific research, she's received multiple awards from the National Institutes of Health and published more than 40 scientific studies in peer reviewed journals.
Adii Pienaar is someone who uses his strengths, gifts, and talents in a variety of ways to solve real problems for others. He has been able to implement self-expression into his career of building successful companies. He’s a family man, a seeker, and a learner. He's also a founder of Cogsy, Conversio, and WooCommerce; which shows he knows a thing or two about building and growing a successful business from the ground up. One of the things that sets Adii apart is his ability to balance creating these successful businesses with the things he values most in life.
Sadhguru is a yogi, a mystic, and an author of many books. His most recent book, as mentioned in this interview, is A Yogi’s Guide to Creating Your Destiny. He is no stranger to public speaking, having been an invited guest to the United Nations, Harvard, MIT, World Economic Forum, and so many more. In his work, Sadhguru has devoted himself to the betterment of mankind and this planet as both a humanitarian and environmentalist.
Neal Allen describes himself as pink, fluffy, love. He's written a book called Shapes of Truth: Discover God Inside You, which is an interesting book to write for someone who declared himself an atheist at the age of 14. In this conversation and in the book, he lays out some interesting ideas about how we can really get in touch with what's truly inside us and what's not. Neal worked for many years as a journalist, and he entered the corporate world where he worked as an executive. Ultimately, he left that to explore a life of coaching and service....
Steven C. Hayes is an amazing thinker. He has written nearly 50 books, and hundreds of articles. He is an originator of ACT therapy and RFT (Relational Frame Therapy). Google scholar data ranks him among the top fifteen hundred most cited scholars in all areas of study, living and dead. His career has focused on human nature, language, cognition, and the application of this to an understanding and alleviation of human suffering. His latest book, and topic of our interview, is called "A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot Toward What Matters".
Todd Rose is an extraordinary man. Convinced we has a bad student, he performed poorly in school and even dropped out of college. Little did he know he would later gain a PHD and become a professor at Harvard University. Todd has since been fascinated with the idea of motivation, and has founded the nonprofit Populace to help transform how we learn, work, and live to help us live more fulfilling lives.
David McRaney has worked as an editor, a photographer, a voiceover artist, a television host, a public speaker, a TV producer, and a journalist. David, being a deeply intelligent and thoughtful man, has focused his work on revealing the self-delusions and cognitive biases by which we live our lives. He has written a book called You Are Not So Smart and also runs a blog and podcast by the same name to help provide the world with his findings.
Dr. Aaron Berkowitz is a leading voice in neurology, global health and medical education. He's also concerned and involved with issues of social justice. Aaron has written a book called One by One by One: Making a Small Difference Amid a Billion Problems, to inspire others to see the world differently and get involved in making a positive change.
Shirley Hager is an advocate and activist for social and racial equality. From a young age she has had an eye for spotting discrepancies in the way we treat each other. Recently, she joined a group of thirteen indigenous and non-indigenous people who banded together to gain a deeper understanding of each other’s lives and culture. This group recently co-authored a book, The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations.
Mike Finkel’s bio reads more like Indiana Jones than a Journalist. He has traveled the world in his work for various magazines including climbing volcanos, delving into caves, meeting with native tribes in Tanzania, ascending the mountains of Afghanistan, hunting for extremely rare mushrooms in Tibet, and even investigating the black market human organ trade. He has written various, nonfiction books across a wide range of topics and has another on the way.
Tony Bartelme is a Three-Time Pulitzer Prize nominee, narrative storyteller, and investigative journalist. He has recently spent five months in Tanzania in order to capture and tell the story of brilliant brain surgeon Dilan Ellegala, which began with a post-residency vacation and ended with a revolution of Tanzania’s medical training programs. Tony documented Dilan’s story in a book which he titled A Surgeon in the Village: An American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa.
Oren Jay Sofer is a long-time mindfulness teacher, coach, and author of Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach To Nonviolent Communication. Oren has spent many years studying and practicing Buddhism, Yoga, and Mindfulness. He has since used those skills to lead trainings in various companies on a wide range of mindfulness topics.
Don Miguel Ruiz Jr is the author of five books, including his latest publication The Seven Secrets To Healthy Happy Relationships. Don belongs to a family with a rich heritage in the Mexican Toltec tradition. Having learned the tradition from the teachings and preachings of his grandmother, Don now dedicates his life to helping others heal from the wounds that conditional love inflicted upon them.
Michael Moss is a Pulitzer prize winning reporter and author of Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions. Michael is known for his work as an investigative reporter and his time spent digging into the food industry and their questionable tactics. He has been a reporter for the Wall Street Journal before joining the New York Times in 2000. He has been a guest on various talk shows, including The Daily Show and CBS This Morning.
Boyd Varty is an experienced tracker, a skill he gained from a growing up on the Londolozi Wild Game Reserve in South Africa. He spent his early years exploring the terrain and learning the trade of a tracker, before taking over the reserve that his grandfather started. It was there that he met a particular woman who opened his eyes to the more important things in life. He has since ventured to do the same for others, striving to help them “track” their lives and discover their true purposes. He has written two books in this effort, The Lion Tracker’s...
Edward Creagan is a two-time author, and the Mayo Clinic’s first provider to be board certified in hospice and palliative medicine. He has written over 500 scientific papers and has spoken at more than 1000 presentations around the world. Doctor Ed began his interest and journey toward hospice care at the early age of eight years old. He has since grown in his passion for end-of-life care and is determined to help caregivers do their job without burning out.
Pam as worn many hats in her time, but above all she is a traveler and a writer. Pam has lived a very eventful life, starting with her senior year trip to Israel just as they entered a war. She has hiked across the Middle East, relying heavily on the help and kindness of strangers. She has survived abusive relationships and talks heavily to the value of being listened to. She shares all these lessons and more in her new book The Same River Twice.
Pam joins me today to discuss the various powerful experiences she has been through in...
Jim joins me this week to talk about his life-long interest in hiking, and his endless search for “awe”. We also discuss Jim’s fascinating view on time and how he uses it help maintain a healthy lifestyle. We talk about the physical and mental strain that affected his body as he hiked Everest, and the methods he used to combat both. Jim is especially good at goal setting, which we dig into a little bit as well. I hope you enjoy my interview with my new friend, Jim Davidson, and appreciate his unique views on what it means to live...
Avi joins me this week to discuss his latest book, Extraterrestrial, and the amazing interstellar discovery that formed the foundation for it’s climb to number one on the New York Times Bestseller list. We discuss the possibility of alien life, and the possible source of the remarkable space anomaly Avi and his team discovered in 2017. Avi shares with me his passion for the sciences and his disagreement with the current trend of the community. He hopes to reshape the future of science, and has been focusing his recent efforts on motivating youth to pursue an interest in the universe...
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