The Next Chapter with Charlie

Show Notes  Today we’re about to go down deep and stay down long into the subject: Is it morally good to focus primarily on your own personal happiness? Author Peter Schwartz says… “From childhood, we’re taught that helping others is the essence of morality. And most people take this code of ethics for granted. They don’t challenge that premise.” Peter Schwartz does challenge that premise. In his...

Show Notes  When I began The Next Chapter with Charlie back in 2014, I came up with the descriptor which is,The Next Chapter: In Search of Meaning, Adventure, and Awe. Since that time, I have written and podcasted a boatload about the Meaning of Life, but not as much on Adventure, and even less on Awe. And yet, Awe is one of my personal favorite joys in life. I love art, architecture, nature, and...

Show Notes  Today is an unusually important show. My friend and CEO of Wells of Life, Nick Jordan, spent all of 2021 battling with Stage 4 colon and lung cancer. The odds of survival were not good. But let’s come to the end of the story right away. After 2 surgeries, 4 months of chemotherapy, 75 radiation treatments, 2 days of fasting before every chemo session, and a bout with Shingles he was dec...

 Show Notes  NOTE: It is with a bit of hesitancy that I publish this show. I get scary vulnerable. Oh well. I like the result… so, here you go. ***** I am what you might call an “ideological planner.” When I do personal annual planning, my purpose is about understanding and growing my inner life. I like to work more on who to be than what to do. That’s because what I do is dictated by my character...

Show Notes  Well, here we are. 2021 is done. And it was, shall we say, a challenging year. Today I have our dear friend Terry Hershey with me to discuss our end of year thoughts. But you know what… I am choosing not to focus on the endless conversations and issues concerning covid and our tiring national crisis of divisiveness. Today Terry and I plan to discuss 2021 through a much more personal le...

Show Notes  Today’s subject is not a light one. In fact, it may be one of the most troubling subjects I have discussed on the show after more than 130 episodes. Today is about very deep human pain and suffering, AND the potential learnings that can result, if one chooses to take that path. Although we may love learning about life and our deepest inner selves… the path there is often most unpleasan...

Show Notes  Well … here we are in the 2nd week of our Christmas/Advent series titled Has God Become Irrelevant? In just 20 years church attendance has declined by 23%, for 70% attendance in in the year 2000 down to 47% in 2020. Although the are indeed many sociological and religious reasons for this decline, I believe that we have a grand misunderstanding of the nature of the divine Godhead. The a...

Show Notes  In his brilliant book on managing your innermost self, our guest today, Shasheen Shah, speaks of recurring emotional triggers, ones that have haunted some of us for decades. In dealing with his own emotional triggers Shasheen writes, “… I discovered that although I was forty, I was reacting as my ten-year-old self.” And that is our critical topic for today: How to manage the needy and...

Show Notes  Church attendance has declined by 23% since 2000. In 2000 around 70% of Americans claimed to attend some kind of “house of worship.” In 2020 that number has declined to 47% Why? THIS Show is all about the “personness” of God, that God does have the same feelings as we. Suffering, mourning, joy, and exuberance—all are attributes of God… just rarely discussed Most people, Christians even...

Show Notes  Our guest today, Cara Raffele, comes to us with vastly diverse experience as a change agent and growth driver. Cara is sought after as a trusted adviser to CEOs, investors, and boards of directors. She has earned this authority and influence through the successful launch of more than 30 companies. Yes. 32 companies. Cara began her career at the Orange County Register as a staff writer...

Podcast Opening   We live in an unprecedented time of total disclosure of the personal lives of our politicians—male and female. But today we will discuss with Anne Michaud the stories of the wives of famous political men involved in serial sex scandals and deeply held personal agendas. The question frequently asked about these women Is “Why do they stay with such philanderers?” Common responses r...

Show Notes  As you already know, I absolutely love contrarian thinking. Anyone who challenges the so-called “norm” will almost automatically get my attention. And that is precisely what our show is all about today. Elizabeth (or Ellie) Gould makes a most compelling argument for the use of “feeling” our way into success in life. In our left-brained “thinking-oriented” world, our feelings are often...

Show Notes   Throughout my life I have learned that often, before I can learn something new, I have to first Unlearn something else, something that gets in the way of my personal development. And that can mean letting go of deeply held beliefs. Unfortunately, many people have a difficult time letting go of old beliefs because it is too risky. This is not the case with Adam Hall, today’s guest on T...

Show Notes   My very special guest today: Wendy Darling is the founder of the Miraculous Living Institute, a personal and professional growth organization. In our conversation today Wendy and I plan to talk about how to overcome the restrictive notions of thinking that “it’s too late for me create the life I want.” Surprisingly this limiting idea not only applies to those who are growing old. I kn...

Show Notes  Today my guest, Faith Elicia, and I talk largely about the secret life of those caught in an addictive trap, especially the trap of food and eating disorders. Although Faith’s book, Do You See What I See, is focused on eating disorders, Faith is keen to point out that eating disorder in but another in the long line of addictions facing millions of people in the USA today. Faith talks a...

Show Notes   On today’s show my guest is Leonard Perlmutter, philosopher and spiritual meditation instructor. Leonard’s latest book is titled Your Conscience. It is a most insightful book about the Four Functions of the mind and how The Conscience is the deciding mechanism for our Ego, our Unconscious, and our Senses. In this philosophical, yet very practical, discussion Leonard (also known as  Ra...

Show Notes  On our show with Lindsay Davis today we explore the very core of human existence. I think we can best sum it up with the words of psychologist Phil Sutherland, “As human beings, before we are anything else, we are a “burning ball of desire.” Lindsay and I probe the ROLE of burning desire in every single move we make. We ARE desire. We express desire. Without desire we are barely more t...

Show Notes   On today’s show, author and Life Coach Sherry Stirling Fernandez brings to us a delightful array of life-impacting insights concerning the vast topic of Life Mastery. And let me tell you, she pulls it off. In this episode, we discuss the details of her excellent book, Life Mastery: Personal Progression Toward an Infinite Potential. But first we talk about how to manage life in all its...

Show Notes  Our show today is a fun experiment. I have invited Nese Dolan, Director of Communications at Wells of Life and active law student to be on her very first podcast, not as a guest but as host! Yes. I couple months ago Nese interviewed me for an Onboarding Project for her new job. Her interview was outstanding. I told her she could be the host of a podcast, and then… well… then I offered...

Show Notes   Sometimes really good things occur totally un-planned and today’s show is one of those times. Serendipity!!! Truth is, only this morning I had a very last-minute cancelation with my guest today. So as I was planning a “solo-sode” on the Craft of Creativity, I happened to receive a text early this morning from Courtney Marchesani about an unrelated issue and lo and behold, here she is...

Show Notes  I believe we covered very fresh ground today on this entertaining and informative show with Labor law attorney Teresa McQueen. What Teresa learned early in life as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas she has used to transform her hugely successful law practice. Now she even spreads her intelligent and ever-so insightful wisdom as podcast host of Workplace Perspective. Our show begins with...

Show Notes  “You could be retired for decades — so you might as well get good at it!” Our guest today, Andy Robin, truly “loves what he writes.” In his recent book, The Tapas Life, Andy articulates fresh ideas about living a delicious life—one with all the tastiness of a Tapas meal. And for those of us not familiar with the Spanish idea of “Tapas” just think of a meal consisting only of several ap...

Show Notes  My guest today, Christine Naman, offered me unusually candid insights in matters of addiction in younger adults and how they are not as “uncommon” a many think. Drugs are so available, so commonly used by young adults and so especially soothing to the bullied and unaccepted child. Although not limited to the unpopular kids. What Christine brings to us is a brutally honest assessment of...

Show Notes  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I frequently say, “This show is especially good,” but you know what? This show IS especially good! Caitlin Cogan Doemner continues to impress me with wit and wisdom. Today, she brings a whole new dimension to the show: Adventure. Like real Adventure! Caitlin is 6 weeks into a 2½ year journey around the world with her husband, Michael, and 3 children—Cora, Jacks...

Show Notes  After a couple months of hiatus, I am so pleased to welcome back my friend and frequent podcast guest Terry Hershey. In today’s show Terry and I discuss the mostly American need for the overuse of superlatives in our daily speech. In this episode we talk about words like “great,” and “best” and “favorite.” Why is it when asked “how you doing” we commonly fall back to the phrase, “Great...