The Curious Introvert

When the Redditor known as Incrediblyshinyshart lost part of his leg in a motorcycle accident & had to have it amputated, he made an unusual choice – to eat it. He shares his thoughts on mourning, cannibalism & why eating part of his own body was life-changing.   This episode originally aired July 4, 2022.   If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 234: FELON TO MILLION DOLLAR B...

Can you retire early from a normal income? How do you buy back your time? Lauren & Steven Keys of Trip of a Lifestyle share what inspired them to retire at age 29, how they did it on average incomes, why they don’t track their monthly expenses & the concept of buying back your time. They also share the practical way they stay motivated in the FIRE (financial independence retire early) move...

Felipe Muñoz is the owner of Empathic Practice, a holistic stress management clinic. He combines his Masters in positive psychology, 20 years of marketing experience, & decade of business branding with hundreds of hours teaching meditation to coach professionals, train corporate teams & support individuals on living a more mindful and meaningful life. In this episode, we explore stress as...

Dr. David Tolin is the Founder & Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living, the author of over 200 scientific journal articles & even received the Award for Lifetime Contribution to Psychology from the CT Psychological Association, but you may recognize him from the reality TV series Hoarders, The OCD Project or My Shopping Addiction. In this episode he shares wha...

JonRobert Tartaglione, PhD, studies & teaches influence. He is a psychologist, behavioral scientist & the founder & CEO of a consulting practice called influence 51.   In this episode, we unpack persuasion, perception & arguing on the internet and explore what it really takes to change someone’s mind.   If you like this episode, you’ll also like episode 309: HOW DID THE MEDIA BECOM...

How do you stay connected with friends when everything revolves around drinking? Casey McGuire Davidson was an ambitious corporate achiever who always had a full schedule & anxious energy. She felt wine was the glue holding her life together until she realized it wasn’t. She later found serenity in sobriety, but it wasn’t without some social hiccups. In this episode, she uses her expertise as...

Are healthy boundaries lines in the sand? Going no contact?  KC Davis is licensed professional counselor, host of the podcast Struggle Care & author of Who Deserves your love: how to create boundaries to start, strengthen or end any relationship. In this episode, she unpacks the girl bossification of boundaries, the decision flowchart of no contact, how values make “hard calls” easier & ho...

How is AI influencing our decisions? Is opting IN to every AI offer causing us to opt OUT of our free will?   Jake Ward is a former NBC News correspondent & is currently the founding editor & host of The Rip Current newsletter & podcast, which looks at the hidden forces of modern life, like Big Tech, business, and politics. He’s also the author of The Loop: How AI is creating a world w...

Is this the answer to burnout? How are mini-retirements even possible?   Kira Schabram, PhD, is the Assistant Professor in management & organization at Pennsylvania State University & historian of work who has been studying the details & impacts of a phenomenon called micro-retirement – people treating breaks from work of three or more months. In this episode, you’ll hear how others ar...

Why is dating so hard in midlife? Are we all sending mixed signals?   Abe Morgentaler, MD & Marianne Brandon, PhD are the hosts of the Sex Doctors Podcast, where they deep dive into the science & psychology of sexual health & relationships.    Dr. Morgentaler is a Harvard trained MD who opened the first comprehensive men’s health center in the US, is the leading authority in testostero...

What’s it like living underground? How did he get out?   Paul Vautrinot shares his story of living in the Las Vegas tunnels, or as he states it, beneath the neon. He shares what life in the Vegas underground city was like with the tunnel people, how he left, got sober & became a co-founder of Shine a Light Foundation. He shares the organization’s unique approach to ending homelessness & ho...

Is it possible to maintain mental acuity well into your golden years? How do we assess ourselves (instead of waiting to see)?   Dr. Dale Bredesen earned his M.D. from Duke University Medical Center & served as Chief Resident in Neurology at the University of California. He's now a Neuroscience researcher & internationally recognized expert in the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseas...

What happens when attraction never shows up? Why does this label matter?   Tony Bogaert, PhD, is the professor of health sciences at Brock University in Ontario, Canada where he has taught & conducted research for the last 30 years, primarily in the area of human sexuality. He’s also the author of Understanding Asexuality.   In this episode, you’ll learn the difference between asexuality &...

What was it like to work on Project Stargate? Is Psi science being taken seriously? What if our mind is not our brain?   Dean Radin, PhD, has been researching the paranormal for 45 years & currently serves as Chief Scientist at the Inst of Noetic Sciences. His new book, The Science of Magic, is a straight-faced look behind the scenes of psi research & even shares how you can do your own ex...

Why do most of us work Mon-Fri?  What would happen if Thursday was the new Friday?   Joe Sanok is a former psychologist & current author of Thursday is the New Friday.  In this episode, he shares how the signs of a shorter work week (& longer weekends) have been popping up since the 1980’s.    In this episode he shares why a four-day work week is critical to society’s advancement, examples...

What do we have to show for the #metoo movement? Were men benefited or hurt by the movement? Carter Sherman is an Emmy nominated reproductive health & justice reporter at The Guardian & author of the book The Second Coming. Her comprehensive review of sex, culture & policy combined with over 100 conversations with people about their sex lives made her uniquely qualified to unpack the g...

Is there an uptick of people claiming to be actual witches? When in history were witches NOT seen as evil? Is this commercialism packaged as a spiritual practice?   Julie Walsh, PhD, is the Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought & Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her primary research focus is on metaphysics & the ethics of human freedom in...

When & why did circumcision begin (it’s not what you think)? What are the arguments for it & what are the experts saying? Sugar water instead of anesthetic??   Brendon Marotta is a filmmaker whose feature-length documentary, American Circumcision, won multiple awards & can be found on Amazon & YouTube. In this episode, we talk about the surprising history of circumcision, the pract...

Forget good news. How about just honest news? How did we get here? Guest Ken LaCorte unpacks the history of news production, behind the scenes of how it’s made, information vs entertainment & how human psychology ironically drives the train we’re all so desperate to get off.   Ken LaCorte left main stream media in 2016 after nearly 20 years of serving in senior management at Fox News. Today he...

Can we take psi seriously while maintaining critical thinking? Jeffrey Kripal, PhD, explores the YES AND of the ordinary & extraordinary. You’ll hear about precognition, poltergeists, Skinwalker Ranch, time travel, demons & X-Men.   Jeffrey Kripal, PhD is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is also the author or co-author...

Is psychedelic assisted therapy is BETTER than traditional talk therapy? You’ll hear how they’re different, how psychedelics may help not just the combat veteran or trauma survivor, but the functional griever (goes to work every day, acts like everything is fine, but having panic attacks out of nowhere). You’ll also hear about my own experience with psychedelics and different types of medicines fo...

In this episode, we discuss the difference between addiction & dependence, convenient diagnoses, compulsive sexual behavior within bipolar disorder & OCD, how to identify sex addiction & what recovery looks like. Dr. Joshua Grubbs is an addiction researcher who found his interest in sex addiction in college (not as exciting as it sounds). He’s since published over 100 papers on sexual...

Rachel Bernstein is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Cult Specialist & the Host of the IndoctriNation Podcast. She has spent the last 35 years helping former cult members & those who have had loved ones in cults, focusing on emotional abuse recovery, identity repair & moral injury. In this episode she explains the psychology of political allegiance, why religion & politics...

Michael Glawson is a PhD philosopher of science, technology, religion & ethics. As an ethicist, he has created corporate ethics training for government organizations & fortune 500 companies. In this episode, he puts into plain language the ever evolving world of AI.  We cover Anthropic’s recent report of their AI technology blackmailing two of their executives in a recent sandboxed experim...

Before Lauren Sisler was an Emmy award-winning ESPN sideline reporter, she was an 18-year-old in her dorm room when she found out that her parents had died just hours of each other due to a hidden battle with opioids. When her world came crashing down, the next decade became a wrestling match with the truth. In this episode, she’s going to share her story & unpack her thoughts on legacy, shame...