Writer Elise Loehnen explores life’s big questions with today’s leading thinkers, experts, and luminaries: Why do we do what we do? How can we understand and love ourselves better? What would it look like to come together and build a more meaningful world?
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In November’s solo episode: A major reframe I had. What you might learn from the Trickster archetype. Little ways I’m finding meaning in the universe. Other ways of thinking about the process of evolution and change. How we might hold inspiration and discernment at once—and why this is crucial. Thoughts on the guru-ification of our culture and other things happening in our upside-down world. The (perhaps surprising) book I’m obsessed with right now. And more. For the show notes, head to my Subst...
James Kimmel, Jr., PhD, is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and the author of The Science of Revenge . He’s known in part for identifying compulsive revenge seeking as an addiction. He explains how perceived wrongs, grievances, and revenge desires—and how we deal with them, or not—affect us all. Actually trying to get revenge is pretty much always a lost cause—it simply makes us feel worse—but often, blanket forgiveness feels impossible. Which is why K...
Renowned psychic medium Laura Lynne Jackson shares how each of us can use our own intuition and respond to messages from our teams of light, as she calls them, to live a more meaningful, connected, and fun life. She also shares the download she received from the other side that prompted her to write her new book Guided, which follows her New York Times bestsellers Signs and The Light Between Us. For the show notes, head to my Substack . Get 50% off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool at www.m...
“We’re in a time of masking and masks, whether we know it or not,” says psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock. “And my hope is that us talking about it draws that into greater consciousness for people to make decisions about when to put them on and when to take them off.” Today, we’re talking about persona, in the sense of the masks we wear for various reasons (some beneficial, some nefarious). And, how, in becoming attached to the idea of authenticity and being in a rush to identify someone else or...
“I believe basically what I’ve seen in the laboratory,” says scientist Dean Radin, PhD. “I'm driven by experience just like anybody else, except my experience is experiment.” Radin studies things like telepathy, consciousness, quantum physics, and more parapsychology. He shares some of the most fascinating discoveries from his lab, broader research, and new book The Science of Magic . Such as, how the present can be influenced by the future. For the show notes and links (including that Jeffrey K...
In my one episode sans guest this month, I’m reflecting on: how we might enjoy solitude more (and fear loneliness less), the manifestation program I just finished (called the Money Challenge), how I’m feeling about attention and power these days, and a couple of other micro and macro realizations that are surfacing right now. For the show notes, head over to my Substack . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
“There are so many blessings in the in-between,” says Jessica Gill, chief content officer at To Be Magnetic and cohost of the Expanded podcast with Lacy Phillips. “You can manifest amazing mini manifestations or just kismet opportunities or these things that you wouldn't even believe would transpire in the midst of doing this work.” Today, Gill breaks down the deeply intuitive—and simple, but not easy—manifestation process that is the core of To Be Magnetic and the new book How to Manifest . Thi...
Social psychologist Carol Tavris, PhD, breaks down cognitive dissonance, why it’s so hard for us to see our own blind spots, the power and danger of self-justification, and the pyramid of choice that can lead us to some unexpected places. She also shares some fascinating findings about anger and catharsis that turn a few assumptions on their head. In doing so, she helps us understand our own behaviors and motives better—and she helps us to see others more clearly. For the show notes, head over t...
Longtime sex-advice columnist and author Dan Savage shares how he thinks about monogamy, marriage, infidelity, and repair. We explore how sex and relationships get conflated. We get into identities, orientations, preferences, language, and how we’re raising kids today. Also, Savage’s take on heteropessimism, what makes a man an attractive partner, and a word he introduced me to: tolyamory, meaning tolerating your lover’s BS. There’s so much to unpack in here, and to keep thinking about. For the ...
“We have to let go of our own patriarchy,” says Elinor Dickson. “And we’re afraid to because it represents control for us.” Dickson spent more than 35 years as a Jungian therapist, and she cowrote the seminal Dancing in the Flames with her good friend Marion Woodman. She’s one of the wise elders of our time. We explore the new universal mythos our culture so badly needs, Dickson’s fascinating historical perspective (including how our modern world is largely shaped by the Great Plague), and why n...
In this month’s solo episode, I’m exploring the parts of our culture and our collective that we can own—and impact. And I’m sharing more on the power of triangulation, and how you can use certain systems and tools to better understand yourself, your roles, and what you might be trying to do in work and in life. For ALL the show notes, head over to my Substack . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
The hilarious Jen Hatmaker ( New York Times –bestselling author and host of the podcast For the Love) joins me to chat, in part, about her new memoir Awake . We talk about the moment in her life when everything seemingly dissolved (including her marriage of 26 years and her relationship to the church) and the much deeper awakening that she entered from there, when she truly started to rely on herself. For the show notes, head to my Substack . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Katie Hendricks, PhD, is known for helping people use their body’s innate intelligence. She shares some of her most powerful tools and teachings, including: Her fear-melters for when we get caught in fight, flee, freeze, or faint mode. How to play with your pace so that you’re able to get present, instead of just feeling at the effect of everything coming at you. The loop of awareness, which is a tool for shifting your attention and getting the nourishment of somebody else’s aliveness. Why she s...
“I don't think anybody manages to go through their experience incarnated in human form and not have chapters of your life that are like, what literally just happened?” says Elizabeth Gilbert. “How did I end up here and who am I? And where did the ground go beneath my feet?” Today, Gilbert shares the story behind her new memoir, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation . She rightly describes it as the most excavating and the most searching thing she’s ever written. The book, and this...
“This waiting for approval from daddy—all of that is so antithetical to actually living your own existence,” says psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock. Today, Byock returns for a conversation about the ego, why it gets a bad rap, and why we need a strong sense of self to be in relationship with anyone. Also: our culture’s ascension myth, and why we have a tendency to misinterpret Jungian psychology and overemphasize the importance of individuation and the drive to transcend. Then, Byock shares some...
“What does it mean to make change in my life—not from a place that there was something wrong with me?” asks my coauthor Courtney Smith. “But I made choices that have gotten me here. I respect and value those choices. I understand I wouldn’t be here without them. And I'm also choosing to do something a little bit different going forward.” Courtney is a coach, group facilitator, and Enneagram expert. Today, we’re taking you through the seven tools that form the core process of our new workbook Cho...
Today it’s just me, sharing a few revelations I’ve had this summer around: The set ages we seemingly get stuck at. Emotions I’m connecting to for the first time in my life (and how certain codes of anger have helped me). How busyness impacts our physical patterns and the way we hold our bodies, or clench our weight. And practicing rejection and building our capacity to hear no, while simultaneously building our capacity to say no. (In this month’s solo episode, I also get into some life-altering...
Psychotherapist Francis Weller, author of 'In the Absence of Ordinary,' shares profound insights on transforming grief from a paralyzing force into a source of wisdom and vitality. He emphasizes the critical need for communal grief rituals to counteract modern individualism and the collective 'grief panic,' advocating for warmth, movement, and imagination in processing sorrow. The conversation explores traditional initiation versus modern 'rough initiations,' highlighting how collective support and a renewed sense of relational identity are essential for healing and navigating societal challenges.
“If we stop transforming, and we try to hold ourselves back, we’re effectively stagnating and killing the life that’s ahead,” says psychologist and author Sharon Blackie, PhD. Today, we talk about what Blackie has learned from studying myths and fairy tales, and working to reimagine the stories that currently define women’s lives. She shares a much-needed, wise, and beautiful perspective on the rebirth that can happen around menopause—when the layers that once defined us are peeled back, to reve...
“We can’t change what’s happened, but we can change what it looks like inside of our mind-brain-body network,” says neuroscientist Caroline Leaf, PhD. Here, Leaf shares what she’s learned about how our minds work, and how we can change a thought, a habit, a pattern. And we get into the compelling 63-second intervention from her new book, Help in a Hurry: Simple Tips for Finding Peace When You're Overwhelmed, Anxious, or Stressed . For the show notes, head over to my Substack . See omnystudio.c...
Thomas Hübl (a frequent guest here) is a renowned teacher whose work has focused on resilience and healing trauma. In this conversation, we explore: Some of our biggest fractured interpretations of the world, and how we can gain more clarity and connection. The impulse to become very certain about something very quickly, and our tendency to see other people in 2D—and the consequences of doing so. Using our own energy to temper, or shift, a larger energy that feels overwhelming. Different ways to...
In this month’s solo episode, I’m sharing some thoughts on why everyone seems to want a book under their belt, why that may or may not be the right move for you, as well as concrete tips and takeaways about what to think through before you begin putting words on paper. Most importantly, I share some tips and frameworks for getting you through the creative process once you begin. For the show notes (and so many links if you want to go deeper), head over to my Substack . See omnystudio.com/listene...
Today, I’m talking to Meggan Watterson—theologian and author of The Girl Who Baptized Herself —about the importance of being embodied, the search for self, where we derive power, and the way that culture is edited and passed down to us. Watterson tells the incredible stories behind the Gospel of Mary (and what happened to Mary Magdalene), and the Acts of Paul and Thecla (and what happened to Thecla). We also explore where my work meets hers, and the birth of the seven powers, which become the se...
Rutger Bregman is the New York Times –bestselling author of Moral Ambition . Today, he shares his model for living a more meaningful life. It’s not about being an idealist, or following your “passions.” It is, in many ways, about effectively solving the problems in our lives using the talents we already have. For Rutger Bregman’s work (including that amazing viral Davos clip, in case you missed it), head over to my Substack . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
“What matters is: Are you free?” asks Elizabeth Ralph. “Do you feel free?” Ralph is a former finance trader, and the founder of the Spiritual Investor, where she now helps people reach financial freedom in less traditional ways. Together, we explore some of my own (self-limiting) stories around money, and how our ego and identity gets wrapped up in our relationship to money. Ralph coaches us through moving toward a place of money neutrality, where it feels like money doesn’t have such a tight gr...
“The midlife crisis is not a dark night of the soul,” says Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy. “It’s a dark night of the ego.” Conley, who is also the author of Learning to Love Midlife , outlines the main myths that we’re led to believe about midlife—and some optimistic data about what actually happens during this chapter of our lives. He shares different frameworks for navigating the transitions that come in midlife. We talk about how in the early parts of our lives, we’re often ...
In this month’s solo episode, I’m sharing: The tools and people helping me to manage my fear right now. Thoughts on growing up versus waking up. The most important things I’ve learned from the Spiral Dynamics theory of human development, and Ken Wilbur’s concept of holarchies. What makes me believe there is a way for many of us to expand our worldviews and push up the spiral now. And more. For the show notes (and so many links if you want to go deeper), head over to my Substack . See omnystudio....
In her new book, The Genius Myth , journalist Helen Lewis explores how and why we label certain people geniuses; and the impact this has on said geniuses, us, and culture at large. Today, we talk about our perception of the exceptional, and some of our more pernicious and dark misperceptions. For the show notes, head over to my Substack . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
“Living on fire is really a metaphor for figuring out two things,” says Shannon Watts. “What is limiting you. And what is calling you.” Watts spent 11 years as the full-time volunteer lead of Moms Demand Action, which she founded. Now, as she puts it, Watts continues to summon the audacity of other women. Today, she shares so many useful life nuggets from her new book, Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark Into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age. For the show notes, head over to my Substack . See omny...
“You're going to find a lot of people doing their best, revealing how beautiful and strange we are, and how remarkable we can be,” says Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and founder of On Being Krista Tippett. In this conversation, Tippett shares where we might turn for more hope and pleasure, and how she thinks about what shapes our presence in the world. For the show notes, head over to my Substack . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listen...
