Happy When Curious

Dr William House is physician and owner of Eventide Health in Friday Harbor Washington .  He is also one of the more thoughtful people I've had the privilege of speaking to and is working hard to help move healthcare forward in patient centric ways.  Join us as we discuss how he navigates his patients embarrassment and fear, how he has transformed his primary care practice away from the insur...

What is the most life giving way to deal with the timeless feeling of missing out? 

What role does curiosity play in a restaurant? What is the connection between mountain climbing and cuisine? How do you maintain a throughline of values during a major career change later in life? Join me as I ask these questions and more of the amazing Maria Hines! Maria Hines was a Seattle restaurateur and Award-winning chef for many years, being recognized with the 2009 James Beard Award Best C...

Amber Edwards is a Platinum Results Coach and Business Results Trainer and I personally have had the privilege of working with her as my life coach for a year and a half now. Join me as we explore how she approaches coaching and how she integrates it into the meaning of her life!

Some questions/dichotomies I'm thinking through around my news fast... Am I burying my head in the sand or aiming my attention where my agency lies? Is it privileged selfishness to ignore the news or is it wise self care? Is news anxiety producing only because we don’t act on it and through organizing and action we reduce our anxiety, or is the fundamental business model of the news industry...

Jesse Visciglia is the Head Brewer and part owner at San Juan Island Brewery in Friday Harbor Washington.  Join me as we discuss all things beer and brewing like... -How to taste a new beer -The role curiosity plays in brewing -How a former middle school science teacher found his way into commercial brewing -The relationship between inebriation and the art of fermentation -Are expensive beers bett...

My guess is no. 

Nathan Kessler-Jeffrey  is Executive Artistic Director of the San Juan Community Theatre and has been teaching, directing, and acting in theatres, colleges, and high schools for over two decades. He holds an MFA in Directing from Rutgers University, and his teaching specialties include directing, acting, stage combat, and rehearsal techniques. He is the former Education and Outreach Director for T...

Maria Michaelson is the co- founder and co Director of Alchemy Art Center in NW Washington. She received her BA degree in Ceramics from the California College of Art in 2009. Maria spent many years in West Africa learning the craft of bronze casting. In 2016 she was an Artist in Residence at 69 Rue de Rivoli in Paris, and for 8 seasons she has participated in the San Juan Island Artist’s Studio To...

Is the courage it takes to create connections with new people zero sum?

Clayton Banry is a community educator at the Joyce L Sobel Family resource center, a morale officer at San Juan Island EMS and has been a huge part of the Friday Harbor community for many years, and I was excited to have a chance to talk to him! The Joyce Sobel Family Resource Center: https://sjifrc.org/ YAAS https://www.sanjuanjournal.com/opinion/disability-awareness/ San Juan Community Theatre h...

How should we go about connecting the dots of our past into a narrative of who we are? Which types of narrative are "true" and maybe more importantly, which types are useful?

After a childhood spent in the jungles of Ecuador, Roger Johnson was educated in the United States, and holds a degree in Engineering and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Minnesota. From 1988 to 2010, Roger was Founder and President of Radiant Optics, Inc -- a successful commercial enterprise that marketed a radiant heat system based on a biomimicry patent in optics. The system can be...

Is alcohol a sacrilege or a sacrament? Does it matter how we answer this?

Keep your curiosity candles lit my friends!

What do you reckon? 

Russel Barsh is the director of Kwiaht-Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea. He studied at Harvard, taught at the University of Washington, and worked for many years at the United Nations on indigenous peoples and their ecosystems before returning to the Northwest and organizing Kwiaht. With a background in human ecology he is especially interested in cultural and economic factors i...

What elevated feeling do you find yourself craving, but maybe having a hard time articulating exactly what it is, let alone how to get there? For me it's the sensation of not being in the center of the universe-in other words I crave the feeling when the optical illusion that is "I'm at the center of the universe" drops away. Join me as I try to put my craving into words.

Mark Bitterman is an American entrepreneur, food writer and world traveller. He is the author of the James Beard award winning book "Salted: A Manifesto on the world's most essential mineral" along with 4 other books on salt and bitters. He is the owner of The Meadow, a boutique that specializes in a huge array of artisan salts, bean-to-bar chocolates, cocktail bitters, and other pr...

Have you had the experience of passing someone in a car and waving to them and them just completely being in their own world and not seeing you? That experience has always stuck with me and I think it's got something to do with curiosity. 

What makes for great conversation? Conversation that leaves you feeling enriched, that taps into your best self as opposed to your worst and in which you genuinely learn something? Listen in as I'm joined by my brother Tyler to try to elucidate some principles of high level conversation and then take a stab at practicing them!

Parenting is full of interesting philosophical questions. Join me as I think on a few of them that have been bopping around in my brain.  As always what I am aiming for is not answers but rather useful rumination.  I am seeking to be an intellectual ruminant. 

Is the human brain more wired towards story than a set of rules to follow? Can religion prescribe behavior without trying to describe reality? What is the most successful example of religious violence? What is the difference between a cult and a religion? These questions and more I discussed with Rebecca Moore.  Rebecca Moore is Emerita Professor of Religious Studies at San Diego State University....