Thought Leader

In this reflections episode, we examine two prosaic pieces from my new book Keeper of the Flame, a Message from Tomorrow (available on Amazon) These two pieces, under the titles, Letters to the Vigilant and Letters to the Sensitive , offer a strident critque of the current divisive far-left and far-right political signal and the state of dysfunction we are encountering in how those signals are boo...

Eyes Wide Open Life has just made a new friend in the form of the energetic and beautifully aligned Mike Murphy ! Mike is a human being that has known deep loss, self-destructiveness and disconnection, and his journey from there to here has yielded many great gifts which he shares as his life's purpose. Mike joins me in conversation to discuss a successful no-bullshit approach to manifesting...

My guest in none other than Daniele Bolelli , the host of the popular podcast " History on Fire " captured beautifully by its tagline: Whether you like history or not, if you care about bravery, wisdom, passion, larger than life characters and some of the most emotionally intense moments in human experience, Let's set History on Fire. In this episode we talk a bit about history but...

A recording from The Enter the Lionheart Podcast with Host Lawrence Dunning. The Enter the Lionheart Podcast is a passion project of entrepreneur, MMA fighter, marathon runner and author Lawrence Dunning, engaging with dynamic and interesting people who have a relationship with both success and adversity, in various fields of endeavour. In this Episode Rocco is interviewed by Lawrence, sharing som...

This is  Reflections Epsisode on the topic of Generational Trauma. Generational trauma can be understood so simply by the fact that every child is too busy waiting to hear "I'm sorry" to understand the power of gratitude and every parent too busy waiting to hear "thank-you" to understand the power of apology. To paraphrase Fred Rogers: "So many people have helped us b...

This Episode covers our human fascination and obsesession with Messiahs and Gurus, we talk about how the phonomenon comes about and Rocco gives a cutting critique on two of our popular celebrity figures Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson. The episode discusses at lenth the Messiah trope and the origin of the most famous one in the west namely Jesus Christ and some surprising facts about the origins of...

A Reflections Episode covering three spoken word pieces I have uploaded to the Eyes Wide Open Life YouTube channel recently: The Pilgrim We Bring Each Other Medicine They Might Have Told Us. Reflections episodes are designed to slow us down and bring us into the private secret of the present moment, a change for contemplation to connect with something which exists both deep within us and also far...

My guest this week is Andy Schmookler ,  prize winning author, speaker and former radio talk-show host and former Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia and the author of several books on his articulate and well elaborated theories on the Human Condition, how we ended up as a species in such a state of dis-ease and turmoil and how the forces that shape our current dysfunction were inevitable...

This week I am joined in conversation with Avigail Gimpel . Avigail is a mother of 6, college lecturer and author of Hyper Healing - a book dedicated to educating teachers, coaches and primarily parents of children with symptoms that would fall under the blanket diagnosis of ADHD .  My guest  is a voracious relentless researcher, who has a gifted husband and 6 gifted children all on the spectrum a...

This episode is an edit clip from The Walled Garden Podcast where I was a guest recently.  The interviewer is a collaborator and friend of mine, Australian Poet and Philosopher Simon Drew. As you'll hear from this interview Simon is a thoughtful host who is incredible at holding space for rich and meaningful conversation.  We discuss: The project of bringing Mysticism and Science togethe r in...

This episode is a direct and unfiltered window into a revision week of the Eyes Wide Open Life Alchemy Program . The audio for this episode one of the recent fortnightly group call with the participants and it is a summary of everything we have covered and been practicing to date, wrapped up in one clean lesson which provides clarity, context and inspiration for how to engineer a life of meaning a...

In this solo episode we cover two insights around the Depp Heard Trial that firstly would not have occurred to most people, but also which I believe have implications to us as society, especially given the mounting mental health crisis and the rapidly deteriorating forum of public discourse and specifically the farce of Social Justice movements and the sentiment supporting it.  We discuss from a p...

The renowned creator of the perennially popular cafeausoul.com , and always young at heart  Kari Hohne joins me for a discussion on Taoism, Poetry and the language of Jungian and mythical archetype.   We explore the paradox of Being and Becoming, of acceptance and above all the power of connecting with and living from a place of Authenticity.  We discuss what Kari has learned over a lifetime of ex...

I am joined in conversation with acclaimed mediator and peacemaker, and exceptional human being Doug Noll . Doug is the author of several books on the subjects of De-escalation and Emotional Competency.   He is the co-founder of the Prisons for Peace Project the recipient of countless awards from his 22 year legal practice and more recently with his work in Peacemaking and the Prisons for Peace in...

"What is this thing about? What is Life about? How does this work? What is this game we're playing?  How can I best play the game? How can I get what I want out of it? How can i make sure I am living the life I am supposed to live?" These are the questions that drive my guest. This episode is an inspiring conversation with Nic Gregoriades , author, entrepreneur, elite men's coa...

In conversation with Sarah Elkhaldy , someone with the rare and sincere blend of true understanding, authenticity, emotional intelligence and a mature and total lack of confusion about their own intentions, which are the essential pre-requisites for identifying true teachers. We draw attention to the esoteric depths which lie just below the surface of superficial understanding of the mainstream. ...

I am joined in conversation with Australia poet, philosopher, musician and Podcaster Simon Drew.  Simon and I began speaking in regards to the promotion of his new book The Poet and the Sage .  Simon shares two beautiful readings with us from the book. We cover some of Simon's work, I share some of my own and we discuss the experience and the calling that leads us through journeys of awakenin...

This is an episode which I have spent a long time biting my tongue about;  the sticky, polarising topic of the Pandemic.   In this episode I do not to tell you what to think.  I do not even want to tell you exactly what I think.  I tell you how I think, and try and persuade you through reason, not emotion, that this is the better way to think about all of this. It is a long episode, but honestly,...

In Conversation with Logo Designer Author and Professional Creative James Martin. James and I discuss the role adversity plays in growth, the power of 'failure' and how to enjoy the improvement process, in your work and in yourself. James is an easy-going conversationalist that knows his subject matter and himself, very well, he doesn't take himself or his work too seriously, but is...

A short bonus episode on my commentary of the brilliant, timely and disturbingly accurate movie Don't Look Up starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio. If you replace the apocalyptic disaster scenario in the movie, with any number of possible alternatives, (man-made or otherwise), but you keep the perfect-storm of compounding dysfunctional anti-synergy of terribly incentivised Science...

Discussing Crypto, Blockchain and Brokering Trust with my guest and dear personal friend Lawrence Dunning. Lawrence and I share a mutual concern about the mounting global crisis, a perfect storm, a coming together of a number of severely neglected issues around disparate wealth and equality, climate concerns, failing education, failing healthcare, failing political system and most importantly a fa...

An episode of virtual communion with a great soul, Oscar Perez, who is, as you will discover, a consummate communicator. One quote pinned to my Facebook page is: "You think you seek fire; you seek gravity - the fire is already within." Oscar is an exemplar of both fire and gravity.  He is undoubtedly a keeper of the sacred fire, with much to share, much to teach, and moreover, he has don...

I sit down with Roy Dean for a conversation covering Zen, Dharma, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the umbrella of 'allowing what is', accepting the seeming imperfection, of where we are now. Roy Dean is a 3rd Degree Black belt and highly regarded BJJ Instructor, and the creative mind behind several popular and utterly unique online repositories of articulate instructional content, subtly infus...

In this Reflections episode we visit the classic treatise on Stoicism by Rudyard Kipling, in his timeless Poem If This episode explores themes of self-initiation into Adulthood for Men (and Women),  self-leadership and actualisation the messages we wanted to hear from our Fathers,  the message we want to share with our Sons and Daughters, and  the way in which we need to make a stand regards gener...

What is Stable Mutual Actualisation and why does it matter? Why do I do this podcast?  Why does Eyes Wide Open Life exist at all? Why am I public-thinking, what is the art page for, why don't i just relax?  What's all the fuss about? Why did I not just become a Stoic, or a Buddhist, or a Taoist? Why is Love simply not the answer to it all? There is a very serious chance that things are g...