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"Synchronicity is not a spectator sport. It is an invitation to be in collaboration with the Universe. Synchronicity allows you to enter and collaborate in the miracle."  The first time I heard  Dr. Lisa Miller share this insight, I immediately paused, wrote it down, and sent it to my friends. It was a moment of satori on an ordinary weekday morning—synchronicity as a portal to the divine.  Inspir...

I often remind myself of Jon Kabat-Zinn's insight: "When we understand that life is the curriculum, life itself becomes the meditation."  Still, until recently, I only understood half the sentiment. Initially, I internalized it in a responsive manner. When life presented an opportunity to practice mindfulness, especially a challenge, I would respond in kind.  It wasn't until reading Dr. Richard J....

Take a moment to recall one of your most joyful memories.  Now, close your eyes and relive it. Where were you? Who were you with? How did you feel?  Focus on your senses. What did you see and hear? Smell and taste?  Spend a few minutes reliving this memory.  How did this mini-meditation make you feel?  This is a practice called Joy Conditioning, created by  Dr. Wendy Suzuki. Since learning it, I'v...

After Lindsay Dahl graduated from college, she was seeking a job in the environmental non-profit space. Despite being passionate about climate change, she landed a role in consumer safety. Soon after, she was invited to meet with one of the top environmental organizations in Minnesota. They hoped she'd support their advocacy efforts to remove toxic chemicals from baby products. Kids weren't on Lin...

When Sharon Salzberg was teaching at a meditation retreat, a student asked her: Has anyone ever died of restlessness in meditation? Sharon said: Not from one moment at a time of it.  "We have physical pain, disappointment, restlessness, and anxiety," Sharon shared. "Whatever it is, we tend to compound it, not only: This is what I'm feeling right now. But, this is what I'm going to feel like next y...

While preparing for my interview with Dr. Thema Bryant , I was struck by an exercise she shared. During a podcast, she invited listeners to fill out the prompt: "I miss me who…" I was surprised by how quickly a simple prompt awakened dormant longings; And, eager to learn how to rediscover the lost parts of ourselves.  In reflecting on her journey, she shared: "In healing, I return to the truth of...

The first time I read my favorite poem, On Prayer, this stanza stood out to me… For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?      And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.      And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again,...

Before my interview with Katherine May , a Mary Oliver quote resurfaced that felt representative of Katherine's work: "This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness."  Katherine's books, most recently Wintering and Enchantment , are testaments that the quality of our attention transforms the quality of our lives.  "I f...

Rabbi Sharon Brous was on her way to lead her community, IKAR —a Jewish community she founded 20 years ago with a new vision of how faith can center and connect us—in the sacred ceremony of Tashlikh, when she stopped to buy index cards and sharpies. It was an unexpected stop, given the day's holiness: Every year between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the two holiest days of the year, the Jewish com...

"When we are paying attention, we see how much love holds us invisibly." This is the line that stayed with me most from Anne Lamott's new, and 20th book, Somehow: Thoughts on Love. I read it during a stressful weekend and it illuminated the beauty of my family and friends' care. As Anne says, "humanity is another synonym for God." Anne's gift is her rare ability to combine spiritual wisdom and lau...

Quentin Tarantino once said "I want to risk hitting my head on the ceiling of my talent.   I want to really test it out and say, 'Okay, you're not that good.   You just reached the level here.'   I don't ever want to fail, but I want to risk failure every time out of the gate."   This bold and farsighted perspective is a key ingredient that Eric Potterat and Alan Eagle highlight in their work with...

'When we can combine our urge to be happy with wisdom instead of ignorance it becomes a homing instinct for freedom.' This is one of the insights I was most eager to explore with renowned Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg from her new book, Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life . I was curious why, despite devoting so much time to learning about happiness,...

Remembrance is the first step we take with renowned coach and Reboot CEO and Co-founder Jerry Colonna in his new book, Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong . At its heart, it's an invitation towards deeper connection to our ancestors, ourselves, and each other. Each reader's path unfolds uniquely—through recognition, reconnection, and reclaiming—bringing them to a sense of belonging withi...

When Parker Palmer was approaching his seventies, he turned to a group of trusted friends to help him understand "what it meant to grow older in this particular dimension of life." The process birthed one of my favorite questions he asks… What do I want to let go of? And, what do I want to give myself to? Despite articulating it in his seventies, Parker has devoted his life to it as an acclaimed a...

The soul's liberation of realizing "I am" was amongst my first learnings from Zainab Salbi . A world renowned humanitarian, Zainab founded Women for Women International when she was 23 and dedicated decades to offering both human connection and $146 million of aid to over 400,000 women survivors of war and conflict. Her inner journey is equally inspiring and I was most excited to hear her answer t...

"Be sincere; be brief; be seated"   These six words by Franklin D. Roosevelt, which I stumbled upon during my early days as a 22-year-old sales manager, have profoundly shaped my communication philosophy. I've always believed that one's ability to effectively communicate isn't just a skill to be honed, it's often the key that unlocks hidden potential; particularly in business and leadership.   Whe...

"It is a high-stakes engagement to not miss the beauty of life." This is the invitation and guidance Jon Kabat-Zinn gifts us in today's episode. A mindfulness pioneer, Jon has played a foundational role in bringing meditation to the forefront of our culture; Admirably dedicating six decades to teaching, creating Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and authoring over 15 books. I'm always inspired w...

"If the soul is not in the body, where is the soul?" I've always been intrigued by this question from Walt Whitman. So, it caught my attention when I heard Lauren Roxburgh say that our "fascia is transmitting our soul in our bodies." Lauren is a pioneer in body alignment, holistic health, and fascia (the connective tissue that wraps under our skin and around our organs like a spider web). Everythi...

"What choices will lead me to greater integration and wholeness?" renowned author, meditation pioneer, and teacher Sharon Salzberg asks in her latest book, Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom. "We're told so many stories about who we are and what we are capable of that are given to us. They're not born of our own clear seeing," she says. "Being able to step back from our...

What if you could design your own, custom playbook to guide the pursuit of greatness in every aspect of your life?     Not long ago, the notion of rewiring one's biology was more sci-fi than reality; still a decade ago, Drs. Leeroy Hood and Nathan Price had the foresight to envision a future where modern science would harness real-time data to make optimal well+being both predictable and accessibl...

When I read the first few pages of Tiny Beautiful Things — a compilation of letters from Cheryl Strayed's advice column, Dear Sugar — I immediately knew it was going to be healing. This wasn't a surprise. Everyone who reads Cheryl's writing knows she's poetic. Still, Tiny Beautiful Things is different. As I read the letters sharing people's deepest yearnings and sorrows, the book's lesson quickly...

Kevin Kelly is a renowned author, futurist, and technologist who has spent the past few decades exploring the intersection between technology, culture, and society. He is perhaps best known for his work as the founding executive editor of Wired magazine , which helped to shape the conversation around the internet and digital technology in the 1990s and 2000s. Over the years, Kelly has authored sev...

Few have a pulse on the science and genetics of aging as Dr. Nir Barzilai . As the director of the Institute of Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, he was the first to discover the "longevity gene" in humans; and in so doing began to hypothesize and demonstrate why centenarians with protective genes live longer, healthier lives and experience far fewer age-related disease. I...

"From wonder to wonder, existence begins." Lao Tzu's wisdom is the first invitation we receive in Dacher Keltner's new book: Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life. It foreshadows the journey and revelation he offers in it: Awe is a compass towards meaning. "If you listen to the feeling of awe, you're pointed towards the truth of your existence." Dacher has been...

The moment I read the title of Pico Iyer's new book — The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise — I was hooked. Yet, the more I read about people's pursuits, the more I began to question the notion of paradise. "The struggle of your life is your paradise." — Eido Roshi Pico's life offers him an intimate understanding of the nature of human longing; Both as a lifelong traveler and a writer who liv...