The Mark Groves Podcast

In this episode we’re going to talk about betrayal, and not just the kind that someone else does to you. Because here is what I have come to understand: almost every external betrayal is preceded by a betrayal of yourself. The moment you said yes when you meant no. The moment you agreed to a dynamic you did not actually want because the need to belong was louder than the need to be honest. We expl...

In this episode, I want to talk about sobriety, and not the kind that starts with a rock bottom. The kind that starts with a whisper. A quiet voice inside you that says, what if life was better without this? We explore why the truths we know but refuse to live actually block us from receiving the next level of guidance we need, why quitting drinking is so often less about the alcohol and more abou...

In this episode, I sit down with my favorite human optimization master, Drew Canole, to talk about something that is getting a lot of attention right now: is optimizing your life actually stealing your joy, or is it the path to more of it? We dig into why your vices are not just bad habits but doorways to the parts of yourself you have been avoiding, how your purpose is actually the reverse of you...

 In this episode, I talk about something that most of us will never admit out loud: that we can become addicted to our own suffering. That the wound we carry, as painful as it is, can become the most familiar thing about us, slowing life down to a pace we can control and keeping us locked in the same relational cycles wondering why nothing ever changes. We talk about why forgiveness is not about t...

In this episode, I want to talk about emotional fluency and why I believe it is the most important skill you can develop in a world that is becoming more digital and more disconnected by the day. Because here is the truth: AI can mirror your emotions but it cannot regulate your nervous system, and that is something only another human being can do. We talk about why your feelings are not problems t...

Are you wondering if you should stay or go? Because here is the thing, it is never really just about the relationship. It is about you, your patterns, your upper limits, and the stories you have been telling yourself about what love is supposed to look like. We talk about why staying for the kids might not be the noble choice you think it is, why both people have to be all in or the healing is jus...

In this episode, I share the story of quitting Instagram and what that period of separation taught me about endings, growth, and what it actually means to return to something. What started as a personal reckoning became a much bigger conversation about what these platforms are actually doing to us - how they're designed to hijack your nervous system through shock, rage, and dopamine hits, and why...

In this episode, I want to encourage you to think about one thing - are you actually living your life, or are you living next to it? We explore what it means to stop being adjacent to yourself, why the things we use to numb the gap like alcohol, screens, and other people's opinions are actually keeping us from the most important relationship we will ever have, and why the journey to find yourself...

In this episode, I explore inner authority and why so many of us have been conditioned to fawn, shrink, and give our power away in the face of authority, whether that's a parent, a boss, a partner, or a system. True devotion to yourself means having your own back, and that requires accessing the part of you that can say no, draw a boundary, and meet injustice with the full force of who you are. We...

In this episode, I explore how our relationship with technology, and specifically our smartphones, has quietly become one of the greatest threats to our most sacred relationship: the one we have with ourselves. Devotion isn't just a spiritual concept, it's a choice we make every single day, and every time we reach for our phone we are either honoring or abandoning that relationship. We dig into th...

In this episode, I explore the profound difference between commitment and devotion and why that distinction might be the thing standing between you and the life you're actually meant to live. Commitment lives in the mind; it's strategic, rigid, and safe, but devotion is sacred. It's the full surrender to your mission, your dharma, the great work of your life. We dive into why so many of us stay st...

Here's what nobody wants to hear: the relationship you keep ending up in isn't bad luck - it's a pattern, and patterns have origins. In this episode, I'm unpacking the "problem and fixer" dynamic, how your childhood attachment wounds quietly write the script for who you're attracted to, and why being needed can feel so much like being loved when really, it's a wound in disguise. We get into how de...

In this episode I drop the structure and speak directly to the part of you that knows you’ve forgotten who you are. I reflect on the grief that comes with waking up to the ways you’ve abandoned yourself, shaped your life around survival patterns, and lost touch with your truth just to belong. I talk about why suffering isn’t something to escape but something that’s asking you to pay attention, and...

In this episode I challenge you to take radical responsibility for what you consume and recognize how it’s shaping your thoughts, your emotions, and ultimately your entire life. I unpack how constant exposure to fear, division, and negativity is dysregulating your nervous system and pulling you further away from truth, connection, and hope, and why protecting your peace is no longer optional, it’s...

In this episode I break down why you keep going back to the same person, pattern, or behavior and why it’s not failure, it’s unfinished healing. I unpack how shame keeps you stuck, how unresolved grief is driving your choices, and why you’re not going backwards, you’re being shown what still needs to be healed. This is a call to stop avoiding the deeper work, start choosing yourself, and finally b...

In this episode I sit down with Arthur Brooks to unpack why so many people feel lost, disconnected, and unsure of their purpose despite living in an age of endless opportunity. We explore what meaning actually is, how love, purpose, and belonging are built in real life not on screens, and why the path forward requires getting honest, getting off the dopamine treadmill, embracing boredom, and recon...

In this episode I dive into how the beliefs you hold about the world quietly shape your entire life. I explore the idea that if you don’t consciously choose how you see the world, you’ll end up living inside limits someone else programmed into you. I talk about what it means to believe life is working for you rather than against you, how even painful experiences become curriculum when you choose g...

In this episode Mark sits down with Andy Mant, founder of Bon Charge, to explore how the modern world is quietly hijacking our biology through light. We talk about how artificial lighting, screens, and constant stimulation are disrupting our circadian rhythms, driving stress, poor sleep, and metabolic dysfunction and why something as simple as getting morning sunlight and managing blue light at ni...

In this episode I dismantle the prison of regret, resentment, and anger and show you how those very emotions can become the fuel for your greatest transformation. I unpack the paradox of regret, why your past can educate you without defining you, and how to channel heartbreak, betrayal, and disappointment into a comeback that is personal, powerful, and aligned. Resources: —Get My Breakup 5 Day Aud...

In this episode I mark 500 conversations by pulling back the curtain on the most important lessons I’ve learned about integrity, humility, codependency, leadership, and evolving out loud. I share how studying the masters taught me to become one in my own life, how people pleasing quietly leaked into my business and lowered my standards, and why restoring integrity—again and again—is the foundation...

In this episode I go straight at the truth most of us avoid: if you don’t decide who you are, someone else will decide for you. I unpack how people pleasing, codependency, and the fear of saying no quietly steal your dreams, your health, and your self respect, and how every external betrayal usually starts with an internal one. I challenge you to audit where you’re abandoning yourself, where you’r...

In this episode I speak directly to anyone stuck in a manipulative or emotionally abusive relationship and wondering why leaving feels so impossible. I unpack how empathy, hope, and old attachment wounds can keep you bonded to chaos, and why compassion without boundaries turns into self-abandonment. This episode offers a clear, empowering truth: the moment you recognize where you’re still consenti...

In this episode I share a deeply personal reflection on how a recent therapeutic psychedelic experience helped me untangle inner conflict, release resentment, and reconnect with a clearer sense of purpose. I unpack the realization that I was pouring energy into the wrong battles and how parts work revealed a more life giving path forward focused on presence, integration, and truth rather than reac...

In this episode Mark sits down with acclaimed therapist and author of It Didn’t Start With You, Mark Wolynn, to unpack the shocking science and lived reality of inherited trauma. They dive into research showing how war and partner violence can leave epigenetic “fingerprints” across generations, and why so many high-functioning people still wake up with panic, loneliness, or a sense of not being sa...

In this episode I deliver a no-BS reminder that you’re not stuck, you’re actually choosing, and the moment you stop owning your choices is the moment you hand your life over to resentment, helplessness, and disconnection. I break down why radical responsibility is the gateway to real freedom (without denying grief, pain, or the ways you’ve been hurt), and why “pretending you don’t know” is one of...