The Kevin Miller Podcast

On September 9, 2024 we published a show titled, Your Nervous System Is Controlling You & How To Master It. My guests were Jennifer Mann and Karden Rabin and my muse was their new book, The Secret Language of The Body. In our long conversation, Karden brought up his “Emotional Cold Plunge” exercise and I was incredibly intrigued. He gave me access to his community at somiainternational.com/ which...

Every Monday I bring you an author with a new book. But in my personal studies, I’m just as equally reading and rereading books from years past. Classics, in my opinion. In 2010, Greg McKeown published his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, and it quickly became a classic. He became an instant guru on looking at our lives and our work and asking, “What is really essential?” I sat...

I’m wrapping up this series that started with Julia Baird australian journalist, broadcaster, author and host of the Not Stupid podcast. About the message in her brand new book: bright shining: how grace changes everything, and I got to thinking about when I've actually learned something. When I’ve been influenced to make a change. Has it come from war or peace? From everything that is not grace,...

I grew up with a mom who said, “Major on the majors, not on the minors.” Meaning to not make a big deal about small things. I ended up being a profound minimizer who was very conflict averse and didn’t make a big deal about anything. Not outwardly at least. But it was a big deal internally and I took myself to burnout and bitterness. It brings into question our personal boundaries, and what is and...

In the last episode we talked about grace. I want to give focus to judgment, and I mean towards people. The word in today’s culture has a negative connotation. “Who are you to judge!” is often thrown out. And yet I experience our culture as more judgmental than ever. I know I have been for much of my life, and I don’t see that it improved my life or anyone else’s. What interests me is, what drives...

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You hit me, I hit you back. You disrespect me, I disrespect you. That would be the opposite of grace. Grace is generally considered offering a kindness, anyways. When it’s undeserved. I don’t feel the culture gives much value to the idea anymore. We are afraid that letting a wrong go unpunished will enable others. But as our mental health continues to declin...

As a guy, the concept of compassion has little place in my life. Especially as an athlete, there was no value in compassion. You ignore any pain and keep going. It reminds me of the depiction of the army sergeant yelling at the soldier to suck it up and march on. As a culture, I think we still put more value on sucking it up and keeping going and being indifferent to ourselves, than having compass...

Imaging waking tomorrow for Thanksgiving. You are in a jail cell. You look out the one, small window of your cell where you can see a perfect, Norman Rockwell scene of the holidays. Kids outside sledding, people ice skating. People cooking. Eating. Laughing. And loving. A voice comes over an intercom and tells you to give thanks for all you see outside. You reply and say, OK, but can I please just...

My recent show with Upworthy VP Lucia Knell and head of content and innovation Gabriel Reilich about the book they put together called, GOOD PEOPLE: Stories From the Best of Humanity, has me continually thinking about how much good programming I put in my head. In reading the book which is a compilation of great stories of humanity, I got to considering how much I fill my mind with uplifting messa...

What is a worldview? AI defines it as a person's or society's fundamental way of thinking about the world, and it's made up of their values, beliefs, and expectations. I take this one step further to say your worldview ends up being your experience of life. People by far and large think reality makes up their life experience. A reality would be the latest presidential election, but as we all know,...

You may well have heard of Upworthy. Upworthy is a media brand that focuses on positive storytelling. They have millions of followers on social media and email subscribers, who tune in to hear good news. Upworthy recently came out with a book, that focused on key areas of human goodness, and it is just stories. Just incredible stories of the best of humanity that people share with them each and ev...

The topic of expectations continues to come up as I talk with people in the human potential movement. As an aspiring person who would be listening to a podcast like this, of course you have some positive expectations for yourself. And yet I’d say the enemy of expectations is disappointment. So how do we have high expectations but not set ourselves up for disappointment? I’m bringing back a podcast...

Wrapping up this series on productivity that started with my conversation with Israa Nasir about the message in her book, Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More, I’m looking at un-productive activities. But it’s not just idle time and entertainment. Think of it more like play, which may be a foreign term for you at this point in life. I want...

I continue to ponder the message from Israa Nasir in her book, Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More. And I’m thinking about the people in and around my life and what attracts me to some and not others. And I’m realizing that the really busy people, even if they might seem important, don’t inspire me to pursue them. And the people that are m...

In my previous episode with Israa Nasir we talked about the message in her book, Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More. Looking at being addicted to productivity and busyness, I want to look at our motives. To a degree, I feel we are often trying to prove ourselves. Prove our worth. Why? Well, our self-worth must be in question. And who are...

I think we’re all well aware that our culture has fallen into the idea of being busy is being important. But I’ll admit that even in trying to shed this, I still find myself busy. I just agree to things without counting the cost. But then I find myself struggling mentally with bitterness and burnout and I just want to escape. So when this book, Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional E...

I pay attention to shows people refer to, and often in talking about spending money on our personal growth, people will ask me, “What was it your Dad used to say? What percent should you spend on your personal growth?” The answer is 3-5%. My Dad was Dan Miller, famed author of 48 Days To The Work & Life You Love. In 2017 he published a blog at 48days.com titled, ““Your Success is Guaranteed – If Y...

Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, or uneasiness that can be a normal reaction to stress. So, what is stress? Stress is a natural response to a perceived threat or challenge that can cause mental or physical tension. The only reason we would feel stress and anxiety is because we feel a threat. Threat is when we feel an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action. I’ve been...

I believe this world and this life is at the core, truly beautiful and glorious. And, we have some very concerning trends to address. Health care is the number one GNP in America. We spend more money, not on our health, but our unhealth, than on anything else. Why? Lifestyle. Just do the research. It’s not happening to it, we are doing it to ourselves. A very unpopular perspective, but in truth, i...

Let’s take a quick look at foods in regards to anxiety. And I’ll admit up front, I don’t like the messages that put the food and drink I like in their cross hairs. Food is just about my favorite drug. I love loving it. And I don’t abstain from the foods I like. But I might moderate the amounts or the timing. Let’s take a quick look at some food and drink issues I’ve experienced causing issues with...

Anxiety is the new norm, and conventional medicine tends to view anxiety as a “neck-up” problem - that is, one of brain chemistry and psychology. So all the treatments are focused there. At the mind. At calming our minds. Getting calm. I agree with those, as part of the treatment. But what about our overall health? How does it factor in? My guest cites that the origins of anxiety are rooted in the...

We begin life with built in accountability. We have our caregivers, maybe siblings, then we go to school and have teachers. Hopefully we have close friends. Eventually we have bosses. We may have a spouse or significant other. Even our children can be a source of accountability to how we behave and how we live our lives. But at the core, the greatest source of accountability is from ourselves. If...

When I wrote my book, What Drives You, I initially impressed myself with the width and depth of my knowledge, drawing on the messages and resources of the 250 leaders in human development I’d had on this show. This is my 1500th episode. I’d gotten exposed to more incredible information that most will in 5 lifetimes. Then it also dawned on me that with so many of the great messages and insights…I h...

Every Friday I meet with three guys at a coffee shop to talk about life. Our lives. Last week we were talking about our values. I asked, “If you were videotaped for a week, would it show you were supporting what you say you value?" A couple of the guys were really impacted by the concept. I've heard aspects of this idea before and you normally follow it with questioning if your values are really w...

In the last show I talked with licensed therapist and renowned relationship expert, Nedra Glover Tawwab. Her new book is called, Consider This: Reflections For Finding Peace. As I chew on the message, I’m wondering if “finding peace” is honestly attractive to people. Before my mid forties, if you’d tried to entice me with the hope of finding peace, I’m not sure I would have given you much attentio...