Hold That Thought

We’ve all heard the adage, it’s the journey not the destination . Or in the words of Miley Cyrus “It’s all about the climb”.  But it is an almost universal truth that humans spot a summit in the distance and have an urge to see the view from the top. In this episode of Hold That Thought , we interrogate our hunger for perspective and the allure (and recent commodification) of the adventure to the...

In this episode of Hold That Thought , we try to see the forest for the trees. We’re in the middle of our mini-series, The Geographic Cure, our study of the places we go to become someone new. This week, we explore how the forest can be both defined as a frightening place— where Hansel and Gretal go missing, where wolves eat little girls—and the place where we find the most perspective and calm. F...

What do a Burner , Jesus Christ, and a Sedona hippie all have in common?  They go to the desert to find themselves, of course.  In this episode of Hold That Thought we continue our miniseries unpacking the promises of place and how we attach transformation to geography. This week, our focus is the desert, a landscape often imagined as empty and hostile. It’s a place where people go to test their s...

Let’s go to the beach. Let’s go get away.  In this episode of Hold That Thought we explore ‘The Beach’ as a place of escape, relaxation, freedom and reinvention. But this modern conception wasn’t always the case. Early societies feared the shore, the ocean and what they represented. Later, it was a prescribed place, literally the doctor’s orders. When you start to track the evolving meaning of thi...

Cowboy hats, boots and belt buckles at bachelorette parties; ranch prices rising through the roof; Dude ranch vacations; The Yellowstone Effect. Why are we all suddenly obsessed with the Western aesthetic? Where does it come from and what does it show?   In this episode of Hold That Thought we sit down and talk about the myth, the romance, the promise, and the reality of the American West and ranc...

Welcome back to Season 2 of Hold That Thought! We kick off the season reflecting on Taylor’s wedding week: the highlights, the moments of learnings, and the post-wedding blues.  We discuss the aftermath of such a temporal moment and explore joy as something ephemeral, important, poignant and sometimes painful in its fleetingness.  Join us weekly as we explore the ideas and invisible forces shaping...

A white dress; groomsmen and bridesmaids; an exchange of rings; cutting of the cake; a first dance. All the micromoments we have come to recognize as part of a typical Western wedding.  But where did these traditions come from? And what does it mean that so many of us follow the same steps to celebrate a wedding?  This is Hold That Thought , and we're in the middle of our mini-series Reality, By A...

The search for privacy, alone time, a space of one’s own, is a human instinct. But it hasn’t always been a human reality (or even necessarily a priority).  In this episode of Hold That Thought we trace the evolution of privacy, from a fleeting, unattainable idea, marked by averted eyes within crowded, shared spaces, to something solid, created by doors, locks and walls and protected by law.  We un...

Every human has one. A day of birth.  But the celebration of a birthday is a relatively recent custom.  In this episode of Hold That Thought, we continue our Reality, By Agreement mini-series where we take something that feels like a fact and find the moment we all decided it was so. Today, we discuss birthdays.  We explore the history of the birthday celebration as we know it today, the symbolic...

A tire company invented our understanding of global fine dining. One man changed the wine industry for good. But when you’re going to try a really nice new restaurant, who do you go to for a review? When you’re at the wine shop, do you know what’s behind the rating behind the bottle?  In this episode of “Hold That Thought” we talk about the world of ratings, rankings, the score, the star. We unpac...

You probably rarely think about money as an invention — it feels more like just a fact of the world. But money as we know it is only about 5,000 years old. This is episode 2 of our mini-series Reality, By Agreement, where we look at the rules, systems, and social arrangements that feel inevitable but exist only because enough of us agree to live by them. This episode of Hold That Thought traces th...

Why do we work five days a week? Why is Saturday our day of play or chores and Sunday our day of rest? The modern weekend isn’t natural or ancient — it’s a 20th-century invention shaped by religion, labor unions, factory owners, and federal laws.  In this episode of Hold That Thought we explore the construction of the weekend and how it came to be, from its roots in the Jewish and Christian Sabbat...

You probably hate the feeling of embarrassment: the flushed cheeks, the racing heart, the voice in your head berating you for whatever faux-paus you’ve done. But that feeling of embarrassment might just be what allows other people to trust you more and forgive you faster. In this episode of Hold that Thought , we explore the emotion of embarrassment, its evolutionary roots in trust and social harm...

SHHH. We’re spilling the beans. On gossip.  It’s hard not to feel excited when someone tells you they have something juicy to share. But in the next moment you may feel guilty. Isn’t gossiping bad to do? Well… perhaps not always. And perhaps it’s one of humanity’s oldest social tools. In this episode of Hold That Thought we explore the psychology of gossip, why humans evolved to gossip, and how it...

Anger can be corrosive, scary, something to control. But it’s also one of the most intelligent emotions we have.  This week on Hold That Thought we’re looking at anger, and challenging the assumption that it’s inherently bad. Anger is a signal, a form of information, and one of your body’s oldest survival tools. It tells you when a boundary needs protecting. When a need isn’t being met. It gives y...

Have you ever been told to “toughen up”? Have you ever wished for thicker skin? Have you ever asked yourself, “why am I so sensitive?”  Have you ever been told to "toughen up"? Have you ever asked yourself, “why am I so sensitive?” If you have ever found yourself wishing for thicker skin, you might be a highly sensitive person. But being highly sensitive can be a superpower not a weaknes...

Is doubt good or bad for decision making? Is doubt healthy or damaging? We tend to treat doubt like a warning sign: proof that we’re not ready, not capable, or headed in the wrong direction. Self-doubt is paralyzing and doubt in others is a weakness. But what if doubt of all kinds was actually a cognitive reflex working in our favor.  In this episode of Hold That Thought we explore the benefit of...

Boredom: a feeling we’re taught to avoid at all costs, and a state of mind that our brain actively seeks to escape. We often associate boredom with a state of “lacking”; a lack of stimulation,a lack of direction, a lack of purpose. But as soon as you dig into boredom, you quickly see it plays a propulsive, integral role in our self development, our creativity, and even human progress. Join hosts B...

Have you ever been transported back in time by a song and felt a mix of melancholy and happiness, gratitude and longing? Maybe you’ve experienced the compulsion while on an airplane to look back at all photos and reminisce on the past? That patchwork of emotions is called nostalgia and in this episode of Hold That Thought, hosts Taylor and Becca explore the role nostalgia plays in our human experi...

Have you ever just felt so connected to a piece of the natural world and loved it so much that it becomes a part of your sense of self? In this episode of “Hold That Thought” hosts Becca and Taylor explore what it means to love a place through the teachings of indigenous writer and thinker Robin Wall Kimmerer. They reflect on Kimmerer’s most recent reframing of our relationship to the natural worl...

Where do you go to socialize, learn and connect, outside of work and home? The third place.  In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca explore the concept of the “village innkeeper” and “village tavern keeper” — the archetype of place makers and creators of third spaces. They use these archetypes to explore elements of place making, and interrogate the fact that while third place...

The hardest truths are hardest to hear, but the ones most worth paying attention to. In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca explore how the ‘Town Fool’ or ‘Jester’ character throughout history has been the person who uses humor to tell the hardest truths. They explore everything from the science of humor, to the imperative of political satire in political freedom, to how accep...

Oyez, Oyez! In this episode of Hold That Thought, hosts Becca and Taylor continue their fourth mini-series “Archetypes of a Village,” this time following the infamous ‘Town Crier’. From his origins in ancient Greece, his heyday in medieval Europe and his presence in Colonial America they chat through the many (often sordid) hats this town-person has worn across time. Becca and Taylor end the episo...

What does it mean to be a caregiver, and what does it mean to receive care? In this episode of Hold That Thought, hosts Becca and Taylor continue their fourth mini-series “Archetypes of a Village.” This week’s episode focuses on the Healer/Caregiver and explores the patterns, character traits and origins of the archetype. It explores the concept of the Wounded Healer and shares stories of people w...

"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." — Aristotle In this episode of Hold That Thought, hosts Becca and Taylor kick off their fourth mini-series ‘Archetypes of a Village’, where they will be exploring and celebrating the different character motifs that make up our proverbial village. The first episode focuses on the archetype of the Sage, exploring teachings, perspectives and philosop...