RockneCAST

To be a "simple gift", it must be free, abundant, available to everyone, and transformational to all. For this episode, we cover Goldilocks Stress.  What makes stress good?  What makes it bad?  This probably my greatest revelation in the last couple of years.  Stress is absolutely essential to health, productivity and tapping into your own power, but without proper focus and ap...

Early mornings.  Simple. Free. Abundant.  Perpetual.  And if tapped into as part of routine, transformative.  I'm obviously not the first nor the last that will discuss the virtues of tapping into power of early mornings.  But, for me, it's a truth that I ignored for far too long, but never late than never.  Waking to the dawn and possibilities each new day is one of...

This is my first episode on Simple Gifts, simple free things that will transform your life.  The first is on expressing gratitude: why it works, why we don't do it, and a song that completely embodies it.  I also recommend a book on gratitude. Our next several episodes will be on Simple Gifts, things that I have learned that have really helped me.  I hope you'll find them as transfo...

Friends, what an honor to interview, Joe Blair, HVAC repairman, UI Non-Fiction Writer's Workshop grad, husband, dad, and author of the one of the best books that I have read, " By the Iowa Sea ".  The term "memoir" doesn't do this book justice.  It a meditation on hopes, dreams, marriage, being a dad, suffering, and renewal.  This is a book that you will want to read four or five ti...

In this episode, we'll explore the work of my two of heroes: James Clear author of Atomic Habits and Jay Shetty, Author of Think Like a Monk. I would love to see these two guys on same podcast!!  Maybe, someday they will be guests on my podcast, but for now, we'll just explore their work as it applies to habits. To make Atomic Habits actually work, Clear explains that you must find your purpo...

In this episode, I share one of the key applications of James Clear's book Atomic Habits and how it helped me lose 70 pounds.  In my past episode, I described what I cut: my morning  breakfast. In this episode, I describe what I added - a daily exercise habit.  Duh, we all know we need to exercise more, but why don't we?  Clear explains why and I share why I didn't exercise mor...

This episode is about submariner and World War II war hero, Robert Hunt, otherwise known as "Bob" Hunt by those of us who grew up in Decorah, Iowa.  Bob served as a torpedoman in on the USS Tambor, one of the leading attack submarines of the Pacific War.  Bob served as a torpedoman on a nearly unheard of 12 submarine missions during the Pacific War.  My guest is Dr. Robert Schultz,...

This is a short episode on Marcus Aurelius' comments on death and its relationship to living in the present moment.  The Stoics teach that acknowledgement and recognition of death is part of our nature, our fate, our destiny.  Nothing to fear, but recombining elements and returning the dust. Whoa, acknowledgment of our own demise brings joy in the present moment if we are not dead yet. W...

In this episode, I share one atomic habit that I applied to lose 70 pounds, skipping breakfast.  Yep, mom, and Judy, that dietician gives you sugary juice, cornflakes, and a muffin at the hospital are wrong.  You don't need breakfast, at least just 6 hours after you gorged yourself while watching your latest Netflix binge series.  Move it back 16 hours after your 6:00 dinner the nig...

In this episode, we explore the work of James Clear's excellent book, Atomic Habits - Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.  This book has had a huge impact on me in multiple domains. We explore Clear's view on identity and habit change that reinforce that identity.  I think you'll find this episode very useful.  Clear is a whole bowl of mega-awesomeness!!  He is wise, smart, and C...

My sister, Susie, introduced me to the work of Dr. Henry Cloud, the most awesome and wise Christian psychologist.  He consults, writes, teaches, and has his own podcast.  In his book "Necessary Endings", he quoted the following proverb, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12.  This podcast is a meditation on that proverb. &nbs...

Just went to Free Guy, the the sci-fi comedy starring Ryan Reynolds.   Loved it!  This is my review of the movie and why should go!

In this episode, we explore Shetty's take on separating our emotions from ourselves, or what monks call detachment.  The simple shift from being an emotion to describing how you experience can have a powerful impact on your day to day life. Using this chapter as a springboard, I also discuss the Stoics and how practice of focus of focusing on what you control and practicing detachment on thin...

In this second to last episode on Jay Shetty's book "Think Like a Monk", we consider the tiny seeds and weeds that we create in our life through our day to day acts and choices.  Seeds create happiness, abundance, and fulfillment.  Weeds create anger, resentment, and sadness.   We'll explore Shetty's concept of seeds and weeds and what makes something a weed.  I'll also share m...

In this episode, through the lens of Jay Shetty's book, "Think Like a Monk", we'll explore the beautiful things that can emerge from muddy waters of life's challenges.  

In this episode, we cover Jay Shetty's approach to mornings as a monk: T.I.M.E.  Thankfulness.  Insight.  Meditation.  Exercise.  I also cover my morning routine and discuss the relationship of regular time or more importantly, the lack of it as it relates to our day to day well being and stress. Mornings are absolutely key to finding more time so that you can engage in T....

Whoa, this one was a fun one to do.  Jay Shetty's book, Think Like a Monk, is so full of insight.  This episode covers his chapter on Fear and its unhealthy companions, stress and anxiety.   We'll cover the zen of Kelly Clarkson, and her views on hormesis, why Iowa wine sucks and why trees kept on falling over in greenhouses. Yep, it all has to do with stress.   I also sha...

In this episode, we cover ceto darpana marjanam, the impure mirror of the mind.   Do you really know you are, or are you living out someone else's version of you?   This a topic that seems so obvious on its face.  Of course, we know who we are, but so many live in a haze of emotional, financial and time clutter.  Here we channel, Marcus Aurelius and Marie Kondo to help us asses...

For the next several podcasts, I am going to do a series of short casts on the book "Think Like a Monk" by Jay Shetty.  This an awesome book by a former Hindu monk, Jay Shetty, who spent three years as a monk at an ashram in India.  Shetty covers the ancient wisdom that he learned as a monk and offers a series of easy to use methods to apply to your own life.   This cast focuses on...

In this episode, I discuss the work of Dr. Mark Mattson and Rafael De Cobo, who published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in December 26, 2019.  Dr. Mattson works at John Hopkins University and The New England Journal of Medicine is one the most prestigious journals in the world.  They cover the benefits in terms of intermittent fasting including cognitive performance,...

I was recently in Rochester, Minnesota hanging out with my dad, Richard G. Cole.  My mom was getting her eyes checked at the Mayo Clinic, and while we were waiting at the Soldier's Field Hotel (which is mega-awesome by the way), I thought it would be a good opportunity to interview my dad about his experiences as a professor at Luther College from 1964-2005.  This will be of interest to...

In this episode, I talk about the habits that made Weston Noble such an awesome choir director and inspiration to so many people.   Weston served as Nordic Choir director for over 50 years at Luther College.  In the mid-90's, I was in Nordic Choir for two years and got to observe first hand the incredible habits that made him create such abundance, beauty, and joy that resonates to...

We recently celebrated the 77th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion, paving the way for the defeat of Facism and liberating Germany for subsequent Euro Hipsters.   I recently watched a documentary called "Normandy: Surviving D-Day".   It is free on YouTube.  Great documentary!  Very polished and substantive, but that's not the reason I liked it so much.  While not the f...

As many of you know, I have been fasting for about a year.  I've lost 60 pounds, feel great, off high blood pressure pills, and the Type II diabetes track, but there are some side effects and critiques.  I'll go over ones that I've experienced and ones that I think are completely bs critiques by people that I have never done fasting.   Yeah, yeah, I get it.  Everyone's differen...

Coming up on my one year anniversary of making the decision to leave the 300 pound club, a club that took nearly 20 years to get into and one year to get out of.  I'm now down to 245 and feel great! Proud of it and love to celebrate that with you the listeners. In this episode, I outline obvious mistakes that I made to arrive at 300 pounds and simple steps that I took to get out of the 300 cl...