On the 77th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Tom Hirons. Tom is a poet and storyteller based in Devon, UK. He is the director of Feral Angels Press and editor of Clarion poetry magazine. He teaches poetry writing, both online and in person, and runs poetry-focused wilderness fasts. Tom’s piece, Sometimes a Wild God , is a subcultural poetry classic. He has never won a poetry prize or been published in a poetry magazine, yet still makes his livin...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 77
On the 76th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Parker J. Palmer . Parker is a writer, speaker, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. He is the founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, fourteen honorary doctorates, two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educ...
Jun 25, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 76
On the 75th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Michael Bungay Stanier. Michael is best known for his book The Coaching Habit , which has sold over a million copies. His most recent book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone , shows how to create psychological safety by building the Best Possible Relationship with key people at work. He founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that has trained hundreds of thousands of managers to be m...
Jun 18, 2024•55 min•Ep. 75
On the 74th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Dee Mulrooney. Dee is a multi-disciplinary Irish artist. Inhabiting a female body, mythical imagination and story as medicine are the main preoccupations of her work. Exile, class, displacement, social history, longing, and belonging are some of the themes explored by Dee through painting, drawing, film, storytelling, and performance. Her art is fiercely authentic, and she leaves no stone of her own p...
Jun 11, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 74
On the 73rd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Sunil Malhotra. Sunil weaves together Vedic wisdom with the innovations of tomorrow. To unravel the mysteries of the human experience, he stands at the intersection of spirituality, technology, and design. Sunil's latest book, YOGAi: Interplays of Yoga and Artificial Intelligence , demystifies both 'technologies' in a bid to connect them in the context of the exponential times we are witnessing. He is...
Jun 04, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 73
On the 72nd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Reuben Christian. Reuben is an award-winning edutainer : a cocktail of event host, motivational speaker, facilitator, TV presenter and comedian. He's the founder and facilitator of Dream Rehab : a live show and curriculum that harnesses the power of community to help people achieve their personal goals. He co-hosts the award winning (GQ & Esquire) What Is This Behaviour podcast , and his work is a...
May 28, 2024•58 min•Ep. 72
On the 71st episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Mariana Louis M.A. Mariana is a professional tarot counsellor, scholar, and creator of Persephone's Sister , a platform for psycho-spiritual education and guidance. Following her academic study of analytical psychology and Western Intellectual Traditions, Mariana integrated her scholarship into her developing expertise in the tarot and formulated an approach she calls Archetypal Tarot . She teaches th...
May 21, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 71
On the 70th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Holly Penalver . Holly is the founder of Indigo Volunteers , a remarkable charity that has made a significant impact on the lives of tens of thousands of refugees. By placing thousands of volunteers with grassroots partners, Indigo provides essential aid, healthcare, education, skills workshops, and vital services to refugees along the European migratory route. Having spent years in the field, working...
May 14, 2024•58 min•Ep. 70
On the 69th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Dave Gray . Dave is the author of Gamestorming , Liminal Thinking: Create the Change You Want by Changing the Way You Think , and The Connected Company . He is also an artist, an entrepreneur, and a possibilitarian. After selling his company, XPlane, in 2022, Dave established The School of the Possible , an experimental learning community through which he helps people create work that is meaningful an...
May 07, 2024•56 min•Ep. 69
On the 68th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Amy Elizabeth Fox . Amy is one of the founders and CEO of Mobius Executive Leadership, a global transformational leadership firm. She has served as a leadership and culture change advisor to Fortune 500 companies. Amy is considered an expert in healing individual, family, and collective trauma and has been a pioneer in introducing trauma-informed development and psycho-spiritual principles into leader...
Apr 30, 2024•59 min•Ep. 68
On the 67th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, David Haskell . David is a writer and a biologist. His latest book, Sounds Wild and Broken , is a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction. His previous books, The Forest Unseen and The Songs of Trees are acclaimed for their integration of science, poetry, and rich attention to the living world. Among their honours include the National Academies’ Best Book Award, John Burroughs Medal, finali...
Apr 23, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 67
On the 66th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Thomas Moore . Thomas is the author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller, Care of the Soul . Since then, he has written thirty books on matters of soul and spirit. His most recent book is The Eloquence of Silence . He lectures in many parts of the world and is also a psychotherapist influenced mainly by C. G. Jung and James Hillman, his close friend for four decades. He has won many awards, including ...
Apr 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 66
On the 65th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guests, George and Linda Pransky . In 1976, George and Linda stumbled upon a new way of helping people that was radically different from the traditional counselling methods they had been using in their work. The new principles they were learning had a huge impact on their personal lives, their relationship, and the way they worked with their clients. Through teaching these principles to their clients, they b...
Apr 09, 2024•55 min•Ep. 65
On the 64th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Johnnie Moore . Johnnie is the Founder of Unhurried, a movement to support deeper conversations and connections in work and life, the author of the book Unhurried At Work , a visiting tutor at the Saïd Business School at Oxford University, and a guest columnist for Fast Company magazine. In this insightful conversation, we explore our desire to hold onto stories and perspectives that no longer serve u...
Apr 02, 2024•59 min•Ep. 64
On the 63rd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Adah Parris . Adah is a futurist, artist, keynote speaker, and a visionary in the fields of technology, ecology, innovation, and art. She chairs Mental Health First Aid England and is a Fellow at The Royal Society of the Arts. She is recognised as a TED Talks Global Emerging Innovator and celebrated by Forbes Brazil as one of the top futurists in the world. In this episode, Adah shares with us her jou...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 63
On the 62nd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Julia Duthie . Julia is a partner at PEPCO LLP, the bestselling author of The House on Dogbone St , and the former CEO of both the Academy of Contemporary Music and The True School of Music. Simply put, I find Julia’s life story incredibly inspiring. She left home and school at the age of 16 after a troubling and challenging childhood, as we discuss in this episode. She takes us on her journey from wo...
Mar 19, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 62
On the 61st episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Duncan Moss . Duncan is a Clinical Psychologist, and Honorary Research Fellow at Plymouth University, whose approach draws from long-standing psychological perspectives and also from the methods of meditation and the traditions of contemplation and awareness. He has been a student in the Tibetan Tradition for many years. Simply put, this was the exact type of conversation I was hoping to capture when ...
Mar 12, 2024•55 min•Ep. 61
On the 60th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Matthew Zoltan. Matthew is a former monk, an author, and co-founder of Undo App - an app that helps you rediscover what makes us human through natural meditation. In this conversation, Matthew takes us on his journey from being a monk for much of his 20s before realising his practice and methods weren’t supporting him to fully engage with the felt experience of his body. That for him, certain ideologi...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 60
On the 59th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Julie Zickefoose . Julie is a writer and artist who illustrates her own books (Saving Jemima, Baby Birds, The Bluebird Effect). She is an Advising Editor for BWD Magazine and a naturalist at home in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio, where every day she roams the 80-acre wildlife sanctuary she lives on—a wellspring for her writing and art. Her contribution to a beautiful movie I watched, In Pursuit of...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 59
On the 58th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guests, Dan Lawrence and Johann Botha . Dan is a Jungian Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and a Social Dreaming Consultant, a former derivatives trader, and a lifelong practitioner of Zen and contemplative traditions. Johann is managing director of GSA Mindworks, a company cultivating a personal, participatory and measured approach to human integrity. A former, filmmaker, storyteller with an enlivening interes...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 58
On the 57th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Dr. Bettina Palazzo . Bettina is a business ethics expert, a lecturer at the University of Geneva, and the creator of The Ethics Gym program, demonstrating how leaders can be credible ethical role models. In this conversation, we delve into the question Bettina is presently contemplating in life: how does one balance making an effort and letting go? Bettina shares the challenges this represents and al...
Feb 13, 2024•52 min•Ep. 57
On the 56th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Dr. Simon Western . Simon is the author of "Leadership: a Critical Text," Founder of both the Eco-Leadership Institute and Analytic-Network Coaching, and the host of the Edgy Ideas podcast. Simon brings a vast breadth of experience with him having previous roles as a general nurse, psychiatric nurse, family therapist, and psychotherapist. In this episode, Simon shares his journey with his lifelong que...
Feb 06, 2024•49 min•Ep. 56
On the 55th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Lauri Poldre . Lauri is an advisor, mentor, and artist, helping people regain clarity and inner peace through sound, meditation, and nature immersion. In 2015, he quit his job to travel for 2 years and study meditation, sound healing, and mindfulness. Since then, he has performed at events and released recordings that have been streamed over 1 million times. In this episode, Lauri shares with us his j...
Jan 30, 2024•53 min•Ep. 55
On the 54th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Gab Ciminelli . Gab is the Founder of the Silent Leadership Institute in Japan, author of Nothing Changes the World: Excerpts and Insights on the Art of Nothing , and speaker on The Art of Nothing . In this illuminating discussion, we explore our capacity not to learn from our mistakes and how we get swept away by our conditioning - be it our upbringing, education, culture, etc. We share our experienc...
Jan 23, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 54
On the 53rd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Yvonne Smyth . Yvonne calls herself a Conscious Parenting Adventure Guide, and she's on a mission to change the world by bringing intention to how we love our children. She's launching a course and community in February, This Is How We Change The World, that you can access through this instagram link . In this conversation, Yvonne takes us on her journey from her own frustrations with her experiences ...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 53
On the 52nd episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am thrilled to introduce our guest, Martin Ebeling . Martin is a philosopher and the co-director of The School of Life Berlin . He is also the co-founder of the Pura Vida Festival Retreat . You can also follow his journey toward and exploration of co-flourishing on The Co-flourishing Project , where he writes under his alias Ocean . In this deeply insightful conversation, we delve into Martin’s exploration of the meaning of life and his ...
Jan 09, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 52
On the 51st episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce Richard Merrick as our guest. Richard is a writer, who after decades of working inside the walls of convention, writes about the journey from working for others to finding our own path outside those walls, and supports small groups as they make theirs by walking with them. In this conversation, we explore the conditions that Richard incorporates into conversation groups to heighten connection, authenticity, an e...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 51
On the 50th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce Claire McQuillan as our guest. Claire is currently completing a master’s thesis in architecture, where she explores the dynamics of sex work in urban settings. Additionally, she shares her life insights and experiences through a newsletter I follow, alles claire . During our conversation, Claire reveals her recent realisation that she isn’t an architect despite a decade of studying and working in the field. We d...
Dec 28, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 50
On the 49th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce Dean Boland as our guest. Dean is a Co-Founder and CEO of PolkaStays, a property developer, investor, and serviced accommodation consultant. In this episode, Dean shares his experience of the toll that several of his corporate jobs were having on his well-being before stepping into something new. We discuss what kept him in the same loop of doing something he knew wasn’t good for him. We explore our desire to do...
Dec 19, 2023•59 min•Ep. 50
On the 48th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce Dr. Brennan Jacoby as our guest. Brennan is a Philosopher and the Founder of Philosophy At Work , a collective of philosophers and business psychologists teaching professionals the skills they need to think their best. In this episode, we explore making space for meaning in our lives without forcing it. We delve into various tensions, from wanting to make the most of life to vegging out, accepting ourselves with...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 48
