What's the value?

Bill is someone who was born in the 1950's and grew up in a culture where "men were men." His dad was a WW2 veteran and society told Bill that men were not supposed to be sensitive or emotional. From an early age though, Bill struggled with this and it wasn't until much later in life that he realized he actually had a highly sensitive personality trait (which about 20% of the entire population--me...

"Humans are not a 'thing', we are a process." This quote, which is representative of this conversation with Tara, was really fascinating for me. On the one hand Tara very much sees the world the way I do. She is intellectually curious, she is constantly searching for answers and ways to grow, she is very cautious about becoming too dogmatic, she is often in her own head spinning out thinking about...

My guest Dan is an author who recently wrote a book (A Heartbeat in Danger) discussing the difficult and complicated journey of a young girl contemplating having an abortion. Given that and Dan's value of "faith in Jesus" many people might think "great another person spewing out reasons why we should all go to church and ban abortions." I'd be lying if I didn't say I thought that might be the case...

Anna is a subconscious mind communications and re-coding specialist and the CEO of Quantum Mind Academy. She is also the author of an international bestseller:  Escape Your Matrix: How to Master the Game of Life . Anna states that in five steps, she teaches people how the subconscious mind works and why you need to understand and recode it. I often talk about philosophy on this show, but...

Nicole is a licensed Mental Health Counselor that helps people use ketogenic dietary therapy as a treatment for mental illness and neurological issues. She uses a variety of nutritional and functional methods of treatment in her work and provides evidence-based psychotherapy, which supplements the years she spent as a "traditional" counselor. In this context, "traditional" means a counselor who pr...

Jahanzeb (JZ) is one of my favorite people in the world and this conversation reminded me why. We met as classmates at Harvard Business School, coming from very different backgrounds and perspectives, but we were connected by a love for knowledge, philosophy, and meaningful conversations about life.  As way of quick background, JZ is from Pakistan and has spent much of his life trying to give...

Mike reminds me a little bit of the philosophers version of the "most interesting man in the world" (sorry if that old Dos Equis ad reference doesn't land). He has managed high-end restaurants, taught English, was the vice principal of a private language school, indexed books, published five novels, played in a professional rock band, visited all fifty states and more than 30 countries-- among man...

Rachel started the show with a really interesting value; "understanding we are all spirits having a human experience." This was interesting because I have heard phrases like this before, but rarely do we get to dig into what it means and its implications. Given Rachel's background as an author ("Celebrating Solitude: How to Develop and Honor Your Highest Self"), holistic psychotherapist, and trans...

Sam just finished his junior year of high school but has already dedicated a lot of his time to politics. He is the host of a conservative podcast, Northeast Director for High School Republican National Federation, and has worked on 7 political campaigns (Presidential, US Senate, State Senate, Governor x2, Board of Supervisors, Sheriff). What I found super impressive and interesting about Sam is t...

Elizabeth is a Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Nassau Community College. She is also Senior Strategist for Woodhull Freedom Foundation, the nation’s only human rights organization working full time to protect sexual freedom as a fundamental human right. This experience and background made for a really interesting discussion, as Eliz...

Doug is focused on serving fellow man and to do that he has focused on a concept known as the "Tall Poppy Syndrome." Doug wrote a book on the topic and has been studying it for over 10 years. Through that work he believes the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" is a human condition that has been present since the beginning of time and it explains why humans always seek fairness and justify our actions by cuttin...

Honestly, I have been sitting on this episode for a while. I even went back to my guest, Will, and did a part 2 recording because I wasn't sure how I felt about the first session we did. I'm not sure I can completely explain why I had reservations, but for some reason I did. I decided to err on the side of transparency and "showing my work" though, rather than editing or not sharing.  To step...

Mark is an attorney, social justice advocate, award-winning author of the Zachary Blake Legal Thriller Series, and co-host of the "Justice Counts" podcast. All of this centers around his passion for "social justice, safety, and fairness." Mark was also one of the first attorneys to sue the Catholic Church over sexual abuse by clergy, an experience that inspired his first book. His hope is that his...

Gwendolyn is a PhD and professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly Pomona, an author (Tips from The Professor A Guide to College Success), and has a super successful podcast, Good is in the Details , which directly ties to her commitment to the art of dialogue and passion for discovering ideas. Gwendolyn's knowledge of philosophy and her ability to use it to try and improve her life made her a really inte...

"Grace is giving people permission to be human...and it provides people the opportunity to have dignity, regardless of their circumstances." Insights like these make all the time I spend doing this podcast worthwhile. The opportunity to take a concept like "grace", that we all hear all the time, and to force ourselves to reflect on what it actually means. To challenge ourselves to understand why i...

Elayna is a bestselling author, international speaker, and entrepreneur (best known for her award-winning blog thePositiveMOM.com). Those accomplishments are all impressive but they don't begin to do justice in conveying the insights she has about life, pain, and love. Elayna calls herself a "student of pain" because of all the trauma she has been through (e.g., being raised in a slum in Dominican...

Dr. Lycka was a highly successful cosmetic dermatologist when he received a life changing diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and thought his life was over. Fortunately, Dr. Lycka kept searching for more answers and eventually realized he was misdiagnosed. Once he got a second chance on life, he started to view things from a very different perspective. He began to simplify his life and focus o...

Hillary is a cultural anthropologist, author, teacher and mixed-media storyteller with a focus on theater anthropology and cross-cultural perspectives on human consciousness. She has an undergraduate degree in journalism, an MA in philosophy of mind, and a PhD in existential psychology. That background is a jackpot if you are interested in having a conversation about human nature and values. Hilla...

Kaci has a really varied and interesting background. She is an Army Veteran, Author, Life Coach, Doctorate in Psychology, Ordained Minister, and a deep thinker about the spiritual aspects of the universe. This was fitting given the way our conversation went too, as we covered a lot of different areas. Kaci started with "purpose" as her most important value and it became evident really quickly how...

"Who told you that any of this was going to be easy?" That is the quote that stuck out most to me from this conversation. My guest Mark has an extremely popular TEDx Talk called "Why we choose suicide." If you haven't heard it, it is a really moving and profound description of what it is like to be in a mental health crisis and how Mark felt in the moments he contemplated taking his own life. Mark...

My favorite quote from this discussion was "the teacher hasn't taught until the student has learned." There is something about it that is so eloquent, simple, logical, and profound. It speaks to the importance of being humble, listening, and considering other people; rather than just being in our own head. So much of this conversation with Mac circled around these topics.  Mac is an author of...

As Simone puts it, she "leads an ordinary life filled with extraordinary moments." She is an author ("The Extraordinary UnOrdinary You"), mother of 6 (with 3 adopted children), entrepreneur, and speaker; with a goal to help others realize that the small choices matter and we all have the power to inspire others, just by being who we are. The whole idea of being an "ordinary person" who does specia...

Jason is someone who deeply values philosophy and has dedicated much of his life to searching for "wisdom." He has written 4 books, the most recent "Wisdom- A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought" where he combines psychological research, philosophical principles, and personal insights. He also has a website (valuesofthewise.com) where he tracks thousands of quotes from past thinkers and phi...

Being your truest, most colorful self is where we started this conversation as Kari's most important value. The "truest" part is something we've heard come up often on the show, but colorful was new. So we dove right into that to better understand what Kari meant by colorful, why she thought it was so important, and why so many of us are content to live in the "beige" rather than the color. I love...

I got connected with Paul through a mutual friend, who just told me that Paul has some really strong, interesting thoughts on life. That is enough for me to be intrigued right away. I love people who have strong opinions and are willing to put them out there for an open discussion, it fits in beautifully to the format/intent of this show. It allows us to learn and uncover deeper insights, in a way...