Thought Leader

The second Ask Me Anything episode. "The answers we come to are tied to the questions we dare ask." We cover some really great philosophical questions like:  If you had the entire world’s undivided attention for 30 seconds… what would you say? How would you define progress Objectively for the whole Human Race? If you could have any one superpower, which would you pick and why? How much c...

We often get confused about when to Be, when to try and Become.  When to choose, when to Surrender.  When to apply equanimity, when to apply defiance.  Both which take a different kind of courage. The courage to let go, the preparedness to sometimes be small, and not have the answers, to not be up to task, to allow ourselves to be undone is the source of real power and real becoming!  The place of...

It is becoming impossibly difficult  to stay informed about what is happening in the world. and determining whether to pay more or less attention to everything that is screaming for our attention at the present moment. This episode covers Wokeness, Social justice, Cancel culture and Identity politics.   We also discuss the idea of actualisation, equality of opportunity, our basic needs and our app...

The working title of this Episode was:  The Unruly Committee of Many Unheard Selves  This episode is about how we end up locked in behaviours, or recursive thinking, which make us generally unhappy, locked in repeating patterns, in our habits, our relationships, specifically patterns which result in regret.  This pattern manifests internally as an unruly committee of inner voices all trying to spe...

In this Reflections episode we cover a handful of related pieces on  Justice and Injustice,  Fairness and Indifference,  Passing Judgement; and most importantly  Redemption. We explore what the concepts of Justice and Injustice mean to us at a deep psychological level, as individuals, in our social groups and in our societies, what defines injury and culpability and what a path of redemption back...

In the end, so much of our lives, are our Relationships. So many of us want our relationships to complete us. We outsource the validation and acceptance we need to others. We want to have the full sacred connection to another special person who will never break our hearts and will never trigger our pain, never scratch our wounds. We want them to be emotionally available, open hearted, and share ou...

A reflection on Defeat and the value of not just seeking the Invincible Summer within that Albert Camus wrote of, but equally the profound understanding of the winters we need to face within ourselves and the stillness we need to come to ground in, in our own journeys of healing and growth.  Our grief, we learn, is the greatest teacher, on Love. The piece I cover is called Defeat by Kahlil Gibran,...

In this episode I discuss Actualization , unpacking what I mean by this, and the Power of Permission , which we need to give ourselves, to pursue our intents, to take mastery of our life and our choices, to enter courageously into a conversation with the Universe and with the reality of our lives, where it becomes okay to 'fail', so that we can learn, grow and develop. Indirectly I also...

A reflection on the nature and merits of reflection and quiet contemplation itself. The piece I cover is called of Museums & Memes from my collection The Ratchet & The Pendulum . Reflections episodes, are an invitation to stop for a moment, to allow ourselves to become still, and to hear, with an open heart, a message or an idea, that can open small windows in our minds, or hold mirrors to...

The Fundamentals of Stable Mutual Actualization. In conversation with Nic Gregoriades, host of The Liberation Mentor Podcast . Nic is and an entrepreneur, martial artist and transformational coach from Cape Town, South Africa, now living in Los Angeles, California. Nic is the founder the international martial arts community, The Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood and  co-creator the famous online show, London...

In conversation with meditation practitioner and mindfulness meditation coach, Luis Kreimerman.   Luis has affected the lives of over 10,000 people with his patient encouraging style and the selfless contribution of hundreds of hours of his time sharing with a growing community the value and utility of an examined life and how one might practice this via meditation. We discuss ideas and thoughts o...

In this Episode I talk with Jeff Shub, founder of The Urban Barefoot . Jeff  is a holistic sustainability advisor, a student of his own method, a travelling speaker, a retreat facilitator, consultant and coach. We discuss the importance of Self Ownership, our individual convictions of how to begin and proceed on such a path, and we wrestle in a collegiate fashion with language and each others idea...

2020 was only the dress rehearsal for 2021. We are going to be pushed to deal with more crazy than ever before, and this world is not simple, it and the issues we face, are complex.  My work is dense, my courses are dense, and we cannot really get at the relevant meaning if we try and dumb this down.   We have an unhelpful addiction to simplicity, and a shared evolved laziness in pursuing nuance o...

In this first Ask Me Anything episode we cover Rocco's philosophy and insights on: Choice, Surrender and Reluctance Dealing with unrelenting emotional pain The pillars of a conscious diet The merits and challenges of Stoicism Any questions to info@eyeswideopenlife.org. https://eyeswideopenlife.org Support the show Sign up to my Substack: eyeswideopenlife.substack.com email info@eyeswideopenli...

We each have a shared need to find inner peace, to know we could make some lasting progress in our lives, to develop a better and healthier relationship with ourselves, so that we can live a life less derailed by our obsession with our past traumas, avoiding pain, facing anxiety. When we look within, and are able to drop the judgement, the self-criticisms, the pressure to be, to do, to change - we...

"War does not ensue due to conflict. War is what happens when good people, forget the value of Peace." The problem is not simply our media, or our leaders, or racism, or sexism, or corruption, or intolerance, nor one of pure greed or scarcity.  It is, old and limited ways of thinking, both inherited through evolution and reinforced by social media, failing to meet with the demands of a c...

An introduction to the Eyes Wide Open Life Podcast, About the format of the podcast, about the host, and other helpful information to get a sense of what we will be covering in the upcoming episodes. Support the show Sign up to my Substack: eyeswideopenlife.substack.com email info@eyeswideopenlife.com