Hold That Thought

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...

“I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention”.  -Mary Oliver In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca explore the power of paying attention. They admire artists and authors who bring the practice of noticing alive through their work and capture micro-moments themselves by sharing three mental snapshots from their own lives. They share the stories and fo...

At the intersection between outcome and agency is a hidden world of untold factors: Dating app algorithms. Sport betting odds. Consumer finance incentives. They impact our lived experience, but we often don’t know they exist at all.  In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca explore everyday situations where hidden mechanics and misaligned incentives are rigging the odds and chan...

The new Postmaster General said that the USPS is a beautiful ballet that nobody understands. It’s a machine that chugs behind the scenes to connect us from coast to coast, but the mechanics are a mystery.  In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca peek behind the curtain to understand how USPS works. They discuss the nostalgia of letter writing and the symbolism of USPS’ service...

We accept as reality (and even forget to recognize) the everyday ways our modern world has been built for men. But as soon as you peek under the hood,  the perniciousness of the male default emerges in plain sight.  In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca discuss the role of the gender data gap in creating this inequity. From healthcare practices and medication, to automobile d...

Airplanes, airports, air travel: it’s all anyone can talk about these days.  In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca chat through the rules, regulations and human idiosyncrasies that dictate flying. They discuss the history of the first air travel and consider how airplanes and travel expose fundamental elements of human behavior and social interaction. They dive into the roots...

What is codependency? Who experiences it? Where does it come from? And how do you make it better?  In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Taylor and Becca explore these questions and more, unpacking the origins, critiques, nuances and power of the psychological model of codependency. In the end, they discuss how doing your homework on codependency can help you not only understand your relation...

Vulnerability is the key to connection. But social media confuses the line between true connection and oversharing. In this episode of Hold That Thought, hosts Becca and Taylor unpack the power of vulnerability through the work of researcher Brené Brown. They consider how social media has changed our perception of vulnerability and created a tension between finding connection and seeking validatio...

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” “Jealous is a green-eyed monster.” We’re so often told, subliminally and overtly, that jealousy and envy are emotions that we should avoid. But if we get close to jealousy and envy (and yes they’re slightly different), these emotions just might be teaching us something valuable.  In this episode of Hold That Thought, hosts Becca and Taylor explore the origins of J...

How can we be free and live together? What binds humans into a society? In this episode of Hold That Thought hosts Becca and Taylor explore these central questions and other foundational principles of Social Contract Theory. They unpack how The Social Contract may or may not be the underpinning that dictates our implicit following of ever-day-rules. They take it back to the early Social Contract t...

In one of the most remarkable feats of the human brain we use language everyday to communicate, build relationships and craft realities using nothing but our own words. But have you ever stopped and wondered how language works? In this episode of Hold That Thought , hosts Taylor Lord and Becca Havian explore the principles of language and language learning. They start with a quick primer on the ne...

You know the voices inside your head – the one that tells you you’re not good enough, the one that makes you check your teeth for gunk before leaving the house, or maybe the one that has an outsized temper tantrum when slighted. The noise can be unrelenting. But what if you could befriend these chatter boxes, our roommates inside our minds? Enter Internal Family Systems (IFS).  In this episode of...

Compulsively checking your texts to see if your crush has responded? Always waiting for the other shoe to drop? Caught between relationship labels? Dying to DTR? Been there!!  In this episode, hosts Taylor Lord and Becca Havian explore the psychology of Attachment Styles, a model that characterizes types of interpersonal emotional bonding, trust and behavior. They chat through the modern dating sc...

The placebo effect isn’t fake—and it isn’t just “positive thinking.” In this episode of Hold That Thought , hosts Taylor and Becca explore the connection between belief, anticipation, and healing. They delve into studies around the placebo effect and the lesser known nocebo effect , unpacking research that points to the power of the body’s own healing mechanism and discussing the power of belief,...

Though we’re taught that freedom comes from limitless choice, research shows too many options often leave us feeling stuck, anxious, and disconnected from what we want and our own intuition. In this episode of Hold That Thought we unpack Freedom in a Box, the concept that structure and boundaries can actually unlock clarity and liberate us to make decisions. From adolescence to adulthood, from cre...