How Humans Work Podcast

Ms. Amy Armstrong teaches AP Psychology and Major Religions at a private Catholic High School in the San Francisco Bay Area. In Resting in the Ancient we hear how chance, activism, and wisdom powerfully blend together in the dedicated heart of one teacher. Deeply attuned to the global challenges in which her students are coming of age, Amy sheds light on how she seeks to impart wisdom and trust in...

Episode Summary Jennifer Berit Wilson is an author, writing coach and activist. In Episode #15 we journey with Jen into the difficult realities in parenting. Relaying the consuming blend of demands from sleep deprivation, work pressures, raising very young children in the absence of village and desire to commitment to be emotionally present, we can taste the bittersweet flavors that are part of mo...

Episode Summary In Episode #14 Jef Szi welcomes poet, memoirist, and writing coach Albert Flynn DeSilver to the podcast for an engaging conversation about the personal passages in his life as well as the passages that have come with being a writer. We begin by exploring Albert’s latest book project on consciousness and addiction. On the heels of that we are given a few of Albert’s secret sauce ing...

Episode Summary In Episode #13 Jef Szi welcomes Randy Fortes for a dynamic conversation about his passage into becoming a social-emotional facilitator. In it we hear how Randy began his journey first working with young children then teaching hip-hop culture at his local community center before an epic encounter with young people around the world as a Challenge Day facilitator for eight years. Alon...

Episode Summary In Episode #12 Popa (Kaiwann King) is our first and much welcomed guest for the new season. In this show, North Heaven , Popa and Jef talk about their recent times from first meeting in Watts to having a community weekend in the Sierra mountains. Gradually they find their way toward two great passages in Popa’s life that he wanted to share on the show. The first one happened after...

In this short, solo episode Jef Szi kicks-off season two by laying-out the intention and the shape of what's to come. He invites the listeners to expand his reach for guests beyond his social set. After a short musical break, Jef shares his new found passion for the language of astrology and how it is helping him rethink what's at play in human life. In paticular he compares and contrast the earth...

Episode Summary In Episode #10 , Jef Szi reflects on the personal impact Season One’s shows has had on him. He also opens up about about a few memories he carries of his own late father, Bill Szilagyi. Among them, Jef recounts how his dad tended to him when he was injured in minor household accident. Another is how his father directed his sense of injustice and anger over a murder of teenager into...

Episode Summary In Episode #09 Lakshmi DelSesto joins the show for beautiful conversation about music, fathering, and spirituality. In Lakshmi’s life we can gather much about the sacred and healing power of music, the challenge of coming-of-age without an invested father and the moving way a nomadic heart reconciles life’s adversities with creativity. Leading a self-described ‘unconventional’ path...

In Episode #08 , Jef Szi welcomes the high energy and creative Ned Schaut to the podcast. In Getting Beyond Good Ned reflects on his his adventuresome father Richard, whose long-leash and experience focused fathering style contrasted with his mother’s strong religious values and morality. Through his stories about growing up in a tiny Northern California town of Hidden Valley, spending massive amo...

Episode Summary In Episode #07 , Jeffrey welcomes Amir Ebrahimi to the podcast. We begin by learning about why Amir’s passions for the cutting edges of computer science has become a spiritual quest that provides a sense of home in and a connection to the greater nature of the universe. The show turns toward Amir’s sense of self and how it was influenced by his father Noujan. Growing-up mainly in A...

In Episode #06 , Jeffrey welcomes respected friend and dedicated father Alexie Dossa to the show. A man rich with stories, Alexie recounts the forceful life of his late father Ramzan Dossa and how he connected with his father’s heritage and legacy through an old leather suitecase filled with mementos. Alexie shares what it was like growing-up in the wake his father’s untimely passing at the young...

In Bonus Episode #01 , listen in as Jef Szi aims to make sense of the failed insurrection of January the 6th by connecting the dots between stress, convenience and deception. By tying the willingingness to buy into the Big Lie about the election results to the evolved benefits of deception and the need to do things cheaply, Jef lays out a way to understand the incentive behind the behaviors in the...

Episode Summary In Episode #05 , Jef Szi welcomes the always forthright and more than occasionally provocative Robert Trivers . Together they discuss one of Robert’s many seminal papers in the field of Evolutionary Biology: Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. Written in 1972, this paper lays bare how time and energy investment differences between the sexes of any species (maternal/paternal)...

In Episode #04 , Jeffrey welcomes Chris Brown from the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) for an in-depth look at why fathers matter and how Father Absence adversely impacts children, mothers, and society. As an expert in building-up men and transmitting fathering know-how, Chris generously walks us through not only the problematic outcomes that arise when dads aren’t actively and holistically i...

In Episode #03 , Jef welcomes yoga teacher, life coach, spirit warrior, and local treasure Araceli Santos Bieber . Looking at all facets of life bravely, Araceli offers us an honest look at the landscape inside her relationship with her father, her mother, husband and more. She also brings us along to the vital transformations she experienced as daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, and especially...

In Episode #02 , Jef Szi welcomes poet, novelist, community activist and admired friend Luis J. Rodriguez for a powerful look at fathers, society and one man’s gradual yet epic arrival into healing the difficult legacies in his family. Luis recounts his many migrations from gang affilated and homeless youth to the how social justice, activism, literature and black revolutionaries pulled him out of...

Jonah Larkin is a performance coach and habit expert who specializes in getting his clients aligned and empowered to achieve their goals. As a well-known early adopter, Jonah fittingly joins show host Jef Szi for the very first episode in the very first season of the How Humans Work Podcast. On the way to sharing an extended account of his early memories with his father and his upbringing in the s...