I can remember it was July, and can visualize exactly where I was (outside at a Starbucks in Venice FL – I kept moving with the shade but still got odd looks as to why I was loitering outdoors…

), it was maybe a week before I left Florida to return to Denver by way of Savannah GA, Knoxville TN, Bloomington IN, Barrington IL, Lawrence KS. And yes, that is the chronological order.

For anyone who is familiar with my interest in roadtrips, summer 2025 did include several (to SW FL and back). I shared only one book and captured one stay at a Graduate Hotel in Bloomington, IN. I did record it and here’s to hoping I’ll turn it into a reel for today’s blog commercial

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For anyone who is familiar with my interest in Graduate Hotels (now owned by Hilton, whom also own Spark hotels which are much more road trip budget friendly), the fun Bloomington bartender shared a podcast link with me between Guy Raz (how I built this) and Ben Weprin. Here it is on Apple podcasts.

As it relates to the title and the July post below, just a few days ago I had the opportunity to attend a full day conference lead by Emily Kircher-Morris LPC who hosts her own Neurodiversity podcast and has authored several books. Those of us in attendance (which included most of my coworkers) on Friday received a copy of Emily’s latest book: Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools: Transforming Practices So All Students Feel Accepted and Supported.

On the way to the workshop, I listened to The Telepathy Tapes. Specifically, I listened to a recording of a live interview held at South by Southwest in April 2025. Ky interviewed Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, artist and author Jezz Chung, and parent advocate Libby Ingram. The title of the roundtable is: exploring how love, dating, and connection unfold in a neurodiverse world. I ugly cried in my car in response to Bumble founder’s concept to create an inclusive dating app and focus on ‘friends first’, and to include a focus on one’s relationship with oneself.

I feel as if Emily’s workshop was specific to left brain hemisphere input; and Telepathy Tapes is specific to right brain hemisphere. (I am heavily influenced by Martha Beck’s book Beyond Anxiety which is influencing my comment on hemispheres…).

Is Humanity’s new emerging inclusive paradigm one of the whole brain?

Love.

Jean-Paul style.

(or john paul…I thought I saw it on tshirt with his quote somewhere within the realm of @thetelepathytapes as jean-paul)

In her 2024 book, The Neurodiversity Edge, Maureen Dunne defines Neurodiversity as an ‘umbrella’ term that represents all the unique ways each brain processes information and…cognitive typologies that fall under neurodivergence are just as valuable as neurotypical.

**at Friday’s workshop, Emily used the term ‘neuro normative’ to replace neurotypical (for obvious reasons – yes?)**

Pause.

Read it again and just allow it to settle.

Doesn’t it just make sense?

What if there were no labels, and differences are commonly accepted as the organic normalcy of a human experience?

If that were so, one can listen to the telepathy tapes in a way that validates what they already knew (ie felt) had to be true.

Dr Dunne defines Neuroinclusion as the authentic inclusion of all cognitive typologies, including neurodivergent people, where people find a sense of genuine belonging without being forced to be like someone else.

You can get a summary of the book by listening to this episode of Armchair Expert as Dax and Monica interview Maureen Dunne. I listen on spotify.

Here are some quotes I pulled from the book to capture a new inclusive paradigm: Double Empathy. **it was a term used in Friday’s workshop as well**

In short, neurotypicals can empathize with other neurotypicals. Autistic individuals can empathize with other autistic individuals. But neither group is great at empathizing with the other. What was once thought to be a fundamental deficiency peculiar to autism can be recast as something akin to the hurdle experienced by people from different cultures tryping to find common group.

Maureen Dunne, The Neurodiversity Edge p249 introducing the ‘Double Empathy Problem’

…this perspective (the double empathy problem)…explains two-way empathy barriers between neurotypicals and autistic individuals by invoking their lack of shared mental experiences, it may be fair to speculate that other neurodivergent groups (such as ADHDers and dyslexics) likely also have an easier time syncing up with others in their respective cognitive tribes.

The double empathy problem centers on the premise that people with widely diverging life experiences will struggle to empathize with each other when interacting. This is likely to be exacerbated by differences in language use and comprehension as well as by what contextual elements are perceived with greatest priority in the flow of experience. also on page 249

The double-empathy problem asserts that these issues…are due to a breakdown in reciprocity and mutual understanding that can happen between any two people with very different ways of experiencing the world. p 254

Empathy…is contingent on the realization…that we are all very much alike in terms of needs, motivations, and the desire to be heard, understood, and accepted for who we are as unique individuals. p 259

Authentic self expression. Humanizing. Shared Humanity. Normalizing.

The emerging new paradigm…

(I’m not sure about the ‘we’…)

The 2024 blog year was a book club style. On Thursdays I shared from Something More, and Sundays I shared from abetterway.

I got through August, then the Yoga Teacher Training I also began in August took up my free time.

Week 35 would technically have been last week. We’ll catch up.

Speaking of catching up, if you’d like to read the first post from 2024 you may do so here. It’s quite thorough, to say the least.

Three general ideas to use during Quiet Time:

1. Is noticing your dominant thoughts helpful information? (being curious about the ‘why’ they are are so persistent)

2. Can you experience the different energy of what I am referring to as ‘pushing against’, as compared to the energy of being ‘pulled toward’? is it helpful to notice? what feels better? can orientating to what one is pulled toward feel more aligned to one’s personal experience of meaning and purpose? (or living aligned with one’s values?)

3. What does ‘holding the space of possibility’ mean to you? Could it be beneficial to self and other for one to access this space as often as possible? why?

Resources:

checkIN tool – energy in motion p 5

2025 checkIN – workbook w notes (1)Download

Circle of Control (I do not know the origins of Circle of Control…to me, it’s a general concept, yet I’m sure someone would like to be referenced – when I come across a reliable source I will share!)

Circle of ControlDownload

Tips p 6

storyitell workbook June 2025Download

I love sensuality.  To me, sensuality is a clear desk. As I type, to only have what’s necessary on the desk. It’s also knowing that the rest of the space is cleaned up with things put away (‘everything has its place’ – or get rid of it, is a general ‘rule’ for me). At this time I have a book, two piles, my notebook with a book on top and another book next to it. But, it’s also early morning on a Sunday and I just sat in my other space for an hour in the quiet. I have a candle lit (yesterday was the first time it was cold enough to light a candle in my otherwise quite warm-in-the-summer apartment). I have the lights dimmed the way I like it. And I have a full mug of ‘coffee’ (mudwtr cacao). This is my experience of what I refer to as sensuality. The environment is intentionally cued to support what my physical senses seem to enjoy most. If I can create enjoyable space most of the day, that contributes to a good ‘day’. ‘Good’ days have a way of growing momentum. 

It wasn’t always like this. And, it’s not often ‘all put away’. I have made great growth in simplifying my life to set me up for success as it relates to the environments I spend the most time in. My digital environment is my next thing to tackle. It’s a mess.  

In my book, abetterway. using inner resources to create your own algorithm, I talk about my personal experience in understanding what my executive functions are, and how to use them intentionally to plan desired outcomes in day. One phrase I used often when I worked with younger students, but one that resonates with all ages, is a version of: how to get out ahead of potential obstacles. 

It’s the intentional undoing of unhelpful patterns and a belief that it’s the ‘obstacles’ fault. 

It’s the noticing of the daily narrative that is on repeat, and choosing to stop the nonsense and disrupt its cyclical nature to overcast ‘same’.

The book that I have yet to read in its entirety, but think I understand by title, seemingly verified by several listens to podcast interviews of the author, seems to describe this absurdity of the unhelpful ‘hamster wheel’ effect: Atomic Habits by James Clear. 

When one notices the unhelpful pattern, one can disrupt the pattern and begin to move (oftentimes incrementally) toward desired outcomes in a sustainable, lasting way.

What I have seemed to uncover in my own experience, it’s the most simple things that make the biggest difference and contribute to enjoying one’s experience ‘most’ of the time. 

The sensual. Asking: Where am I in space and time? What am I looking at? What do I prefer to look at? What are the sounds I hear? What are preferred sounds? How much control do I have in moving toward what I prefer? Can I improve it? What are preferred tastes? Why? Can I control this aspect of day? Some of the time? What am I wearing? Where am I sitting/standing/laying – am I comfortable? Smells? What do I notice? What do I prefer? What control do I have? What story am I telling about what I am experiencing? Is the story helpful? Can I change it? Why?

If day is a constant exchange of energy and information that is best organized in a meaningful way, the experience of the physical senses and one’s story told about their experience is interacting with one’s intelligent nervous system. If the dominant story is one of fear, the response is safety and protection; if the story is one of possibility, now life feels a bit more playful and intentional – as if there’s a co-creating aspect to it.

I’m personally working on pitching my own content and figuring out my next book titled: Quiet Time. 8 steps to more creativity, possibility, and inspiration. It’s a narrative of the checkIN tool – my first ‘thing’.

2025 checkIN – workbook w notes (1)Download

The Story I Tell. How to Make the Age of Disruption work for you. is also available on Amazon Books, as well as Something More. Connecting to the pulse of a Shared Humanity.

The checkIN tool includes skills, tools, strategies from part III storyitell.

Today I’ll post one that appears to have been drafted on 7/22/25.

I love podcasts.

I have mentioned that a time or two.

I love people’s stories.

‘everyone has context’ (loosely quoting my own storyitell)

I remember watching the show 60 minutes on Sunday nights in my early adult life (20’s, 30’s) feeling as if I were doing my due diligence as a citizen (I felt as though it was was my version of the ‘news’ – it was different then, I suppose…different, but still growing the seeds of what it is now).

What I recall about the show, is that it would present a story and give information, then break for commercial, and come back with ‘the rest of the story’. I recall being fully on board with the initial message, and then completely changing my point of view once I heard ‘the rest of the story’.

Story.

I have missed writing over the months of June and July, and truly in the months prior. I really enjoyed the blog and content creation I had momentum with in 2020 and 2021. I had a muse. It produced something that mattered and still does. Those blog years created three self published books: storyitell, somethingmore, and abetterway.

What I love is authenticity. Back in those same early years (mostly my 20’s), I fell into the megachurch. I enjoyed the teaching and the energy the music and drama created. I felt something. I saw the inauthenticity – through my lens. I also knew the thing I felt didn’t need to be a secret, it was everyone’s. It was good. It existed. I prayed for authenticity. What I received was leaving that system of worship.

This summer I have fallen for Martha Beck. I had heard of her as (sort of a) household name through those early years as well. I thought she was a mainstream journalist. I do recall always being interested in her articles when I would read O magazine. I didn’t give her value, she was surface. I didn’t know her story.

Thank you Andrew Huberman for the introduction. Thank you podcasts.

There is so much to say because there are so many connections that have come to be over the summer.

I think the last post I shared included an introduction to Martha through my lens (assuming the reader may have had the same unknowing as I did), and includes Boyd Varty (I think). Wow, what a treat.

There’s more to say about Martha. I strongly recommend her book Beyond Anxiety.

And that’s what I had in the draft.

If you asked me which podcast to listen to first I would say Tim and Martha because they introduce Boyd Varty. Boyd is a must listen for sure. If you, like me, are unfamiliar with Martha, use Andrew’s interview as an introduction.

If you feel as if you don’t have time to listen to podcasts, I’d suggest finding something to clean and put airpods in, or…go for a road trip! It could even be a day trip. It’s a win win because you may find yourself exploring a place near you that you assume you will visit because it’s relatively close, but never do.

I left June 5 on a drive to Port Charlotte, Fl to spend the rest of June and July with two special people. On July 30 I left Florida and spent less than 24 hours in Savannah, GA to learn more about Savannah College of Art and Design. Savannah feels magical to me, as if ‘anything can happen’ in Savannah.

It appears as though I began this blog post (below) two months ago. It wasn’t titled, I happened to uncover it as I began searching for a post about Paula Wallace and the Savannah College of Art and Design that I wrote several summers ago. I intended to write about the recent trip to SCAD, and use my previous post as a reference.

It’s interesting, the first words I typed (earlier this morning) were “you are a part of me I have yet to know”, followed by: the sage guides the warrior. Both have been repeated mantras for me in these summer months since I listened to Sage Warrior by Valarie Kaur on Audible. It’s beautiful. It’s one I need to purchase, read again…and hold on to.

And then, just like that…I stumble back to the first blog I attempted in June that also began with Valarie.

There is so much to share.

I’m not sure where to begin.

Valarie Kaur is awe inspiring. For me, she evokes a sense of awe in her work, and on so many additional levels. Listen to Brene introduce her in this reshare of a podcast interview based on Valarie’s book Sage Warrior: Wake to Oneness, Practice Pleasure, Choose Courage, Become Victory.

I’m listening to the book and awe-struck. I cry at some point during each listen. It’s beautiful. The podcast is awe inspiring as well.

It shouldn’t surprise me how the various ‘mediums’ I ‘channel’ (I’m referencing information/media in its various forms – books, podcasts, posts, videos, etc) tend to connect in either quite obvious or quite subtle ways. It’s the algorithm. It still amazes me – again, makes me ‘awe-struck’. It’s not magic, it’s just the way it is.

I have only recently been introduced to Martha Beck. Both Martha and Valarie reference ‘parts’ of us. Martha is very specific in her integration of Richard Schwartz‘s Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy.

I guess that as far as I got in that June effort.

My summer continued to breadcrumb it’s way to next most interesting thing. Next up will include: The Neurodivergent Edge by Maureen Dunne, Tim Ferriss and Boyd Varty, Beyond Anxiety by Martha Beck, The Telepathy Tapes by Ky Dickens, and more SCADspiration. Although listed in a way that may appear separate, all interconnected and elevated in the power of creativity and possibility.

Subscribe now

I continue to use time segmenting in my typical day-to-day living. Here’s a visual I created in an attempt to share with others what it can look like:

Time SegmentingDownload

I am beginning my summer segment on June 4. I wrote a post dated journal entry (using my workbook as a reset when school ended) dated August 4. The three habits I chose to focus on and reinforce are based on suggestions I received from our school Wellness Coach. I’m focusing on areas of wellness that I typically stay away from: financial and organization (digital specifically). My third habit is based on my personal Yoga practice. Example: For four days a week over eight weeks – 20 minutes of reading/watching/listening to a financial resource, 20 minutes organizing my google drive, and 20 minutes practicing Yoga alone ‘organically’. I keep a notebook and I love stickers on a visual calendar.

Here is one more resource taken from James Clear that I have shared on my Facebook Page often in January.

You can purchase storyitell form Amazon by clicking on the title link. I also shared the digital version in the link to begin today’s post. Below is the workbook that complements part III of the book. I continue to use it as a reset – either during Quiet Time from beginning to end, or in parts.

storyitell workbook June 2025Download

If you have read to here, I encourage you to stop fucking around and get your life together. Skills, tools, strategies are freely given – they’re everywhere. No excuses. Just do the next thing and trust in better outcomes. It only needs to be a little better. And then a little better. It gets better.

Begin with Quiet Time.

Set aside time to just be with yourself.

From the quiet place, ask the questions.

From the quiet place, consider the response.

The following in italics was written last weekend…

It is through the lens of public education where I began to be curious about generalizing big ideas. Wondering how the big idea could be shared in a way that makes the most sense to the most people. 

Separation never made sense to me. In a broad sense, suggesting there were good people and bad people did not make sense in my soul, even though it appeared evident in an external way.  

To generalize a big idea in a way to make the most sense to the most people would be the opposite of separation. It would be of the mindset to include the most people.

Language can be used in a way that separates, or it can be used in a way to include. 

Living in a fearful existence would create more of a sense of separation, whereas living in an existence of possibility would create more of a sense of inclusivity. 

Fear and possibility are energetic feeling states. One may use language to convey possibility, but it is unauthentic if that language doesn’t come from the feeling state of possibility. 

Anxiety is fear.  (Actually, in the first section of Beyond Anxiety, Martha defines the feeling states of anxiety and fear separately – saying specifically that anxiety is not fear. If we can be present with what’s happening inside our body we can separate the two and recognize how useful each one is – how intelligent and intentional our bodies messaging is).

My latest obsession is Martha Beck.

It all started with a four hour podcast listen (while cleaning) to Steven Bartlett interview Andrew Huberman. I thought that Martha Beck was essentially a brand. I knew her from Oprah’s magazine and I recall reading and thinking it was interesting what she shared, but I think I had her ‘categorized’ as an old school advice columnist who certainly must not be relevant in this new age of identifying and disrupting false narratives. The conversation was so heartfelt and authentic and Andrew spoke of Martha Beck to be the one who inspired him through her books to get past unhelpful patterns in his life. This breadcrumb led to me listening to Andrew’s interview with Martha Beck, and then to Steven’s interview. Both are amazing, Steven’s gets into Martha’s personal story in the second half and it’s astounding what she experienced and how she got to the other side of what was a quite horrific life story. 

Martha has a new book out called Beyond Anxiety. I plan on heading to Target to buy it later this morning, and then spend the day reading it. (I saw it pop up on Spotify and listened to the first section while cleaning. I will listen and relisten. I will also buy the book. If you are in a position where you lead others, the strategies she shares in this first section support emotional regulation and focus).

She thought that her prior book would be the last book she needed to write, The Way of Integrity. The way Martha defines integrity is to be intact. Which is what it means. To be integrated and whole: mind, body, heart, and spirit. 

Martha said she had clients coming to her that said that they had mastered their integrity but were still anxious. 

When Martha took to understand anxiety she recognized that anxiety (fear) and creativity (possibility) can’t operate at the same time. She exacted that anxiety is mostly living in the left brain hemisphere, and creativity is mostly living in the right brain hemisphere. She shares tools to notice anxiety (as a part, referencing Richard Schwartz and Internal Family Systems), empathize with the fear and desire to protect, and then shift into right brain to create new ways of thinking and being to move toward outcomes that are ultimately aligned with one’s authentic self.  (Fear and possibility are the two words I use to identify one’s feeling state – that’s me generalizing as mentioned in the first few paragraphs).

Earlier this morning I was thinking about patterns of human behavior and how powerless it feels to be stuck in a pattern; and then to be young with less life experience, less ability to see more clearly what is happening in a broader sense. 

I was thinking what advice I would give if a young person came to me feeling stuck. 

What came to me was a simple strategy Phil Stutz has. Phil has a three part pyramid he uses with his clients. The bottom rung is physical, to get into your body. This could be going for a long walk. The second rung is to connect with others or to do something for others, he says this undoubtedly creates shifts in energy and opens one up to consider broader context, the last rung is to focus on the self. This could be the alone time with a book or workbook, a journal, to truly reflect in a way to see yourself clearly and access a deeper sense of possibility. It could also include listening to podcasts – or parts of podcasts. There are many. And when you are in an authentic state, it’s easier to consider what to listen to – noticing what resonates.

Wow. I just embedded the podcasts. When I found Steven Bartlett’s YouTube video with Martha there was a short post underneath about health misinformation. It’s always so surprising when you love something and get so much ‘energy’ from someone’s ‘work’, and ultimately feel a deep sense of appreciation for what someone does, and they get BLASTED by a different source. I have come to understand this as the laws of polarity. There is ‘always’ an equal and opposite reaction (fact check that one, but I think what I’m trying to say is that to exist there has to be opposing, or tangential, forces).

Interestingly enough, the four hour podcast interview I listened to between Andrew and Steven that produced the Martha Beck breadcrumb includes Andrew talking about a situation where he was targeted in the media for misinformation.

It makes me curious if there is a public audience that want one definitive answer and look outside of themself for THEE answer. One is never taken out of the equation, it’s largely ‘always’ going to be one’s self as the ultimate examiner of information shared and recognizing how the information is being interpreted by oneself. This is where the somatic response is so necessary and appears to be the hallmark of Martha’s work, to ‘know thyself’ (and the name of Andre Duqum’s podcast).

Since I began this post, I have listened to several more interesting conversations that I am eager to share. I will pause on expanding for now, but here are the links:

Tim Ferriss interviews Martha Beck and they talk about their mutual friend Boyd Varty.

Andre Duqum recently connects with Zach Bush for a much shorter conversation than usual. It’s powerful. I’ll share more in another post.

Lastly, I decided to backtrack and read Martha’s book The Power of Integrity. It comes with a journal.

I love podcasts. 

Just like other things a general group of people can agree they ‘love’, there are many different reasons as to the ‘why’.

As for podcasts, it’s my understanding, mostly based on several somewhat lengthy drives with my 23 year old niece, that they can have completely different…approaches? layouts? Her interests were highly entertaining and followed someone’s experience in real time.

Onbeing with Krista Tippett was probably the first podcast I listened to, I don’t think it was called a podcast (?) If it was, I didn’t refer to it as such, it was just listening to an interview with someone I was interested in. In this case, it was me google searching non Buddhist mindfulness. An interview with Krista and Ellen Langer popped up and it was exactly what I needed. I think I was in an online course creation mode and wanted resources to share for context to the practices. 

Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us (best name) was probably when I began listening with regularity. It was ‘breadcrumbs’ from then on, one listen would introduce me to other interesting people that included other podcast hosts. 

The last book I self published I named: abetterway. using inner resources to create your own algorithm. 

The inner resources are referring to Executive Functions. The algorithm, to my mind, simply means to attract the things to you that align with your authentic self, or what is meaningful to you. It’s using the very obvious pattern that appears in digital technology that includes any sort of data collection: what one ‘likes’, searches for, shares, comments on, spends time interacting with, etc., one continually gets more of.

abetterway (written as such to mimic the hashtag I used during 2020), takes on one executive function each month in 2021. The book has twelve chapters that include the blog posts for that month. The general concept is to consider the executive function as a focus for one’s self care – orienting to one’s own desired outcomes in a typical day. In my life, these desired outcomes ultimately get narrowed down to lifestyle habits:  having gas in a clean car, making the bed before I leave, having the right food in the refrigerator and preparing the right meals ahead of time, things put away, having organized and clean environment – everything is essentially getting out ahead of the potential obstacles that get in the way of me having good energy (clear mind, open heart, stable belly, alert relaxed muscles, calm safe comfortable skin). The ultimate desired outcome is to ‘feel good’ most of the day. I use normalized distribution as a tool to monitor my feeling state (clear and connected to what’s happening 65% of the time in 65% of opportunities). 

In the book, I am using my school job and the tools I have learned over the years as a school mental health provider as a reference and toolkit for my own wellbeing. Asking myself: am I implementing the strategies that I am suggesting for others? am I getting results? are they helpful? 

When I am regulated I attract to that which resonates with what I find valuable. What shows up in my social feeds and digital life in general are relevant to my interests. For me, even though it’s relevant, what shows up is WAY TOO MUCH. I think this is indicative of how things are right now in this global transition into a sustainable way to live with one another in a digital world. Brene Brown put a name to it in her 2024 podcast series as ‘living beyond human scale’. I don’t want to spend the rest of my years deleting three inboxes and organizing screenshots/photos/videos. I do want to use what is available to me to clean up my digital life, much like the habits I have implemented to pave some general steadiness in a typical day in my physical life.

I believe I have what I need. When I am regulated and create a space of stillness in my environment and within me, I know I have the resources available to meet my needs. When I am regulated and in a space of intential stillness (Quiet Time), it’s evident that what shows up aligns with what is relevant to my needs. This is my algorithm. It works for us, but it is indifferent – it will attract to the energy we create. This energy can be unintentionally drawing our awareness to what we don’t want, rather than pulling us toward what we do want.

There are many ways to say the same thing. One stablilizing energy source of possibility (this is said in so many ways: abundance, intuition, creativity, guidance, unconditional love and acceptance, etc) exists. When we calibrate to it we align with what is true for us, when one is aligned to one’s truth they do not need to control conditions, rather they can set themselves up for a potential path of least resistance. When one is calibrated to source, there is a sense of interrelatedness, an ongoing cosmic dance that intuits all are meant to be as they are in a greater pull toward somethingmore, and abetterway.

The storyitell about what is possible is same but different to anothers, yet all connected to one source of pure potential.

PS…To bookend this post, I am suggesting that the podcasts you listen to will support your algorithm. And the information you receive from the listens will support your desired outcomes. Obviously, it’s all resources, not just podcasts. My guess is you already recognize this pattern. It could be helpful to draw attention to it as there are SO MANY podcast options. I find the right ones pop into my feed MOST of the time.

One of the offerings was a 45 minute yoga class. Minutes prior to the start of the class, I was apologizing to the facilitator (a coworker and friend) as I had left the room messy. They had already transformed the room into a yoga space. It smelled and looked so inviting I couldn’t wait to start the class. I needed to use the restroom. While away, I had a sense of urgency to return. There were only eight spots. I was thinking I had reserved a space a few weeks prior when the class offerings were announced. I was imagining how I would use that information if necessary to make sure I had a mat. I ran back up the stairs expecting some loitering around the room. It was just the facilitator. Two others joined several minutes later. 

This occurs often in my day to day life: The thing that I am so enamored with not having the same response from others.

I notice that some of my favorite podcast interviews are generally least liked by comparison to other interviews. 

For example, the two shares I have for today have wide margins in views based on what I can see onYouTube.

Specific to Rich Roll’s podcast (who has 1.7 million subscribers), the videos popping up that were based on my algorithm had less that 40K views; the popular videos had up to 17 million.

One of the reasons I am posting so infrequently is not because of my low engagement (I’ve always had low engagement overall, I post because I enjoy it), is that my interests in my free time have turned to yoga practice.

Allow me to fill in the blanks.

One year ago, I finally got curious about menopause. As far as I think I know, my interest in learning about menopause (and how nutrition and other lifestyle choices affect symptoms) is separate from this seemingly spontaneous choice to take Jordan Smiley’s 200hr RYT (registered yoga teacher) training in the fall of 2024. The choice was made late fall of 2023.

In May/June 2024, in preparation for the teacher training I somehow stumbled onto the Commune App. At this time, I had never heard of Schulyer Grant or Jeff Krasno. I think I stumbled onto the app out of my interest and curiosity in menopause. Actually, I followed a Gabor Mate Instagram post to the app and initially felt manipulated as I often do in the digital marketing world. Yep, that was it. I took a free section of the Gabor class and that was my introduction to Commune which led me to Dr Sarah Gottfried and eventually to Schulyer Grant.

Whew.

In effort to not write this post all day (it is Sunday), I’m going to wind things up.

I have most recently been spending time in a Form and Flow 5 week class to build off of what I learned in Jordan’s 200hr RYT.

The 5 week class included 5 Saturday live calls. The first live call I was so surprised to be with so few attendees. It was as if we all had personal access to Schulyer. This was another experience much like the story I began this post with.

The Schulyer experience was great because she is so connected to the many I find so inspiring including Zach Bush and Wim Hof.

In general, it validates what I believe about creating an authentic algorithm.

I’m noticing that the masculine (in this case, male podcast hosts I listen to) are paired with feminine (in this case, female) partners whom I am quite like-minded. I learn about their partners over time as I listen.

There is a masculine focus as to whom I tend to share as podcast hosts as well as those interviewed, a ‘hollywood’ ish focus as well. This seemed peculiar until an interview between Andre Duqum and Azrya Bequer opened my thinking to ‘hollywood’ being the storytellers. It makes sense to scale the story of healing and possibility beginning in the epicenter of where stories tend to be shared globally.

Phil Stutz is a psychiatrist to many powerful elite in Hollywood. Early on, he believed in disrupting what seemed typical to psychiatric methodology to give practical tools to get improved outcomes. I was introduced to him initially from a long ago Brian Johnson platform I followed.

More recently, Jonah Hill created a Netflix documentary that gives insight to Phil’s ideas of healing and living.

Phil says there are three unavoidables: pain, uncertainty, and constant work. He also believes in faith being something you can’t measure, it’s something one ‘takes’. For one to be able to hold both allows for a creative life to live, rather than a constant fight against an external enemy that doesn’t exist (outside of one’s psyche).

Congratulations if you read to here. I wove several themes throughout. Hopefully it landed. As mentioned, it’s Sunday. I now must engage with the beautiful day.

As for me, I am sensitive to a tone implied inside these words that suggests I am not good enough as I am.

What I’m noticing in my own evolution as a human in this day-to-day life experience, is there tends to be a constant subtlety between what I believe to be right and what I believe to be wrong. The space between two opposing forces: what think I want and what I think I don’t want.

I suppose in this instance, it’s the persistent ‘both, and’: I am enough as I am, AND there will only and always be growth. I can flow with the inevitable change that growth asks for and allows space for, or I can push against the discomfort that comes alongside change, numbing and separating me from a new way of relating to and being in the day-to-day life experience that is constant growth.

In the first of two (but really of so many more) podcast listens I’d love to share this week, my recent exposure and resulting obsession with IFS (internal family systems) is an embodiment of ‘you have to do the work’.

Rich Roll has also interviewed Richard Schwartz, I only listened to the beginning of their interview and heard IFS referred to by Rich as Mindfulness Plus.

Mindfulness Plus makes so much sense to me because the IFS practice takes the noticing of feelings and sensations and makes the experience intimate and personal. No ‘bad guys’, no enemies…just parts. If you read my post a healing journey, it was the my overall takeaway.

Andrew Huberman interviews and experiences Dick Schwartz’s IFS in this recent podcast listen on March 3, 2025. Andrew is so cool, Richard is so chill, both are so knowledgable and experienced in academia and medical speak, and both so vulnerable and human.

At 42 minutes remaining, Dick takes you through a session. It’s simple and powerful.

This next podcast listen is supercharged. Joe Dispenza is supercharged awesomeness. Listening to him talk is like eating all my favorite foods at one sitting without any guilt or negative outcomes.

Several weeks back I published a post titled a healing journey. The first thing I wrote was ‘I believe in healing’. What Joe Dispenza disrupts is the order of two experiences: change and healing. Joe says (and backs with so much science and research study) that when one changes (thoughts, feelings, behaviors) THEN one heals.

There are many more resources to more IFS, more DOAC – Steven has a previous interview with Joe in 2023, more Joe Dispenza, and more Andrew Huberman. I have linked what I could within this post – just tap their name.

If you’re interested in a Cliff Notes versions of IFS, listen to Andre Duqum interview Gabbie Bernstein on Know Thyself.

If you want one more podcast listen, check out Tim Ferriss‘s interview with Dick Schwartz here.

I have listened to all the above thoroughly at least once, and most twice…even Gabby maybe three times. I listen and relisten to podcasts. It’s difficult to grasp the context to the information with just one listen (for me).