Today I’m chatting with someone I profoundly admire and whose ethics and social awareness are very much aligned with my own. Dr. Devon Price is a social psychologist, writer, and professor at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of the book "Laziness Does Not Exist," which challenges common assumptions about motivation and productivity. Price as wrote “Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity” which I was honored to be interviewed for. You can find my interview on pages 164-167. Dr. Price's research focuses on social inequality, mental health, and the impact of social media on well-being. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and Scientific American. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Price is also a public speaker and advocate for disability justice, mental health, and LGBTQ+ rights.

52 Lists with Moorea Seal is a bi-weekly podcast and newsletter available through substack. Please consider joining my newsletter and becoming a paid subscriber for just $5 a month to support my work in seeking to empower others, one list at a time. You can also stream this podcast on Apple and Spotify.

This Week’s Show Notes:

* When did you (Dr Devon Price) find out you are Autistic + Trans?

* What was your focus in Undergrad and Grad School?

* How do people go about changing their mind and world views?

* The Autistic urge to study people.

* “Systemic Shame” the current working title of Dr. Price’s next book.

* How Dr. Price became an author.

* How I got into writing journals.

* I still have a hard time believing I am an author, even with 7 published works and 1.2 million sold.

* Where there is still more to be researched in Shame, beyond where Brene Brown has gone thus far?

* My partner’s pursuit of debunking obesity and critiquing the health industry’s fat-phobic rhetoric.

* Being “ministers to our past selves” through our research and writing.

* The core demographics of our books.

* How Dr. Price entered professorship and his critique of academia.

* How has being autistic informed your position as an educator and how you treat and guide your students?

* List #10 from 52 Lists for Bravery: List the Dreams you Have for Others

* The value of contradictions

* Wanting to control others experiences and how to detach from that.

* Distinguishing the difference of need vs want, should vs wish.

* Addiction within the neuro-divergent community.

* What is your relationship with the great indoors?

* Insecurities and how the pandemic helped to challenge them.

* Performative vs. Performance.

* The Importance of trying on new identities.

* Play as an essential challenge against shame.

Thank you for reading Moorea Seal. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Have you heard of Her First 100k? How about the number 1 business podcast: Financial Feminist? Perhaps you’ve seen Tori Dunlap’s debut book Financial Feminist a new New York Times best seller, that just hit shelves in 2023. Well today I have the enormous privilege of hosting the woman behind it all on the 52 Lists podcast! Welcome to the show, the one and only Tori Dunlap!

Tori Dunlap is an internationally-recognized money and career expert, and podcast host. After saving $100,000 at age 25, Tori quit her corporate job in marketing and founded Her First $100K to fight financial inequality by giving women actionable resources to better their money. She has helped over three million women negotiate salary, pay off debt, build savings, and invest. Tori is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “Financial Feminist”; host of the #1 Business Podcast, Financial Feminist; ; and co-creator of Treasury, an investing education platform that has over $30M invested (featured on New York Times Business front page). Tori's work has been featured on Good Morning America, the Today Show, NBC, Fortune, BBC and more.A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Tori now travels the world writing and speaking about personal finance, online businesses, and confidence for women.

If you’re not impressed yet by her bonkers bio, here are some show notes on what we chatted about on this week’s podcast!

In this Episode:

* Tori reads us her List #8 from 52 Lists fro Happiness that she wrote at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

* Rest vs. Time off. What is the difference?

* Should you save while paying off debt? Or focus on one or the other first?

* How much should we have saved in an emergency fund?

* What are the best ways to tackle debt?

* The hilarious way we met in 2018 at a Women in Business conference!

* The difference between financial advice from an intersectional feminist perspective vs not.

* What is Intersectional Feminism?

* Racism, Ableism, Homophobia and how they play into your access to financial growth.

* What if simply Learning IS the purpose of our lives?

* The difference between what are going to do next vs what are you going to do with your life.

* The importance of creative outlets amidst your pursuit of career.

* What is success?

* We want to be known for our truest selves, not just achievement.

* The addiction of “working hard.”

* If you have ambition, you need to use that same ambition for work to be passionate about rest as well.

* Using career as proving.

* Not everyone will like you! But damn, it still sucks.

* Learning takes time, re-learning and un-learning take time. And you’ll absorb more by going slow.

* How is mental health core to the Financial Feminist book?

* “I’m bad with money,” and how to challenge that narrative.

* Shame is the one human emotional that is not productive.

* Tori’s love of Timothee Chalamet and Brene Brown.

Moorea Seal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Moorea Seal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I’ve only heard of one person in the world who doesn’t like music. It’s a 2010’s happiness guru who I can’t relate to one bit. Music moves me. Poetry and music hold so much power in their ability to speak to the soul within each of us, rousing strong emotions, whether it is the feeling of joy and excitement or fear and sorrow. The somatic experience of feeling music and words flowing through our inner worlds is an incredible tool for helping us build bravery and vulnerability. And today, it’s an honor to introduce you to one of my very talented musical and poetic pals, a conjurer of feeling and a soulful story-teller, Kate Van Petten (they/them). Expect to be moved.

Listen to the podcast on Spotify / Apple / Substack

In today’s episode of 52 Lists, Kate and I explore what it means to be brave, how that term is relative to each person’s position in society, our influences, traumas, history and more. What does it mean to be brave for you?

Music and poetry are helpers in our pursuit of not only bravery, but vulnerability, self-soothing, self exploration and personal growth. Listening to uplifting music can motivate us to take risks and push ourselves beyond comfort zones that may be holding back. Mournful music meets us where we are at when in grief. Poetry can be used to express challenging emotions that may be too difficult to speak or explain in traditional sentence structure. Sometimes the abstract, the metaphorical and allegorical has. away of explaining our experiences better than the literal. By expressing ourselves through music and poetry, we gain a greater understanding of our strengths and weaknesses, seeing, hearing and feeling our truths in ways that can’t be explained otherwise.

a poem by Kate Van Petten inspired by List #7 from 52 Lists for Bravery

To receive a free printable download of the poetry art above, sign up for a paid subscription to the newsletter + podcast.

In this episode, take a journey with us in navigating what arises when we ask ourselves the question, “What are the things you once dreamt of having in your life that you do have now?” To explore this prompt, List # 7 from 52 Lists for Bravery, it requires us to look back on the many selves we have been and the highs and lows that shape our existence. On one hand, the blow of being laid off can feel like a dream ending. But on second thought, it can also be the prompting you need to reassess what truly defines your value and direction your life is taking. Even with some of life’s most painful blows, cracks formed can reveal a greater truth. And likewise, what once felt like a dream come true can lose its value over time. We explore these idea within this episode as well, and we have a feeling, you’ll relate.

Get to know Kate Van Petten

Website / Instagram / Listen to their latest music + poetry release “For Someone”

Fill out List #7 from 52 Lists for Bravery with Us

Get your copy of my guided list making journal 52 Lists for Bravery wherever books are sold. Shop on: Penguin Random House / Amazon / Books A Million

This podcast series is a deeply important labor of love for me. Consider sharing this episode with your community, or support with a paid $5 a month membership.

Moorea Seal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I’m so honored to share today’s podcast featuring the incredibly talented and kind Morgan Harper Nichols. You may know her from her huge presence on Instagram with almost 2 million followers! But there is so much more to her than just her follower count. She’s a best selling author with her next art and poetry book “You Are Only Just Beginning” coming out on Feb 14th. She’s the founder and artist behind the Storyteller App. You can find herMindful Digital Art class on Skillshare. And like me, she was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD at the end of 2020. I asked Morgan to fill out list #5 from 52 Lists for Happiness: List the best choices you have made in your life so far. Grab a copy of my best selling guided journal and join in our listing!

Streaming now on Apple Podcasts + Spotify Podcasts + Substack Podcasts.

In this episode we chat about:

* Morgan’s journey to an Autism diagnosis at age 30 as a black woman, navigating racism, sexism and ageism within the health industry.

* The importance of seeking out people in power who are willing to learn from those they are seeking to help.

* The language of “Quirky” “Artsy” “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” are often masks for a girl struggling with the lack of a diagnosis of Autism.

* Growing up as daughters of pastors and the othering, ablism and expectations placed upon us by our father’s congregations.

* Uncovering and celebrating your passions that culture at large tells us to hide because it’s not typical/normal/average.

* Our songwriting as a mode for expressing our feelings and needs as teens, when we couldn’t find words to speak and our parallels in pursuing music in our earlier lives. (Morgan had a record deal!)

* After our own diagnoses, starting to see how Autism flows throughout our families.

* Flavors of Autism: Morgan and I both grew up in likely autistic families who love to analyze narratives, pick apart social structures, biases, and observe humans as subjects to study. Understanding people is a core special interest to us both and to our families.

* Over Thinking: As a society, we are not thinking over things enough! There’s a difference between ruminating and thinking deeply.

* Mind Mapping and storing thoughts for later analyzation. Instead of trying to figure out a new concept in the immediate, put it in your memory bank, allow it to exist and flow with other thoughts and knowledge, and keep coming back to deepen understanding.

* Ablism: not having the privilege of just dismissing something when we don’t understand.

* Permission to say no, to not live up to cultural expectations that do not serve us as individuals.

* Permission to just try, experiment, an allowance to fail and get back up and try again on the journey to finding what is best for us.

* “I’m allowed to be curious,” the right response to anyone calling you “messy.”

* The ability to have empathy for everyone and everything.

* When your ability to feel someone at their core is louder than their words.

* Multidimensional words.

* Seeking Wellness as a daily practice not a quick fix found through one tool.

* Our love of theme parks and roller coasters, the somatic release of flying through the air in a secure space.

Moorea Seal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

THANK YOU’S:

An extra special thank you to audio editor, journalist and producer Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong for editing this audio podcast. We had an adorable interruption from Morgan’s 3 year old kiddo and some technical glitches and I bet you’d never know if I hadn’t told ya. Thank you Adwoa! And thank you to my friend, audio editor, producer and journalist Brandi Fullwood for introducing me to Adwoa, both of whom have done work for companies such as NPR, KUOW, BBC World Service, Audible, Pineapple Street and many more.

Thank you to Shelby Jones, a new friend met through Instagram who helped with editing today’s video podcast available on Youtube. Having Adwoa and Shelby jump in at the last minute to help with editing was such a life saver. This episode is so important to me, and Morgan’s story deserves to be heard. Thank you Shelby and Adwoa for making that happen.

Thank you for reading Moorea Seal. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Ok, this is an episode that you are going to want to WATCH (scroll down.) We don’t just have one guest, but two humans and 3 hilarious live animated cartoons joining us. How cool is that! Meet Jess Phoenix and Tom DesLongchamp, friends of mine here in Seattle, WA who are honestly, two creative heroes of mine and a mega artistic power couple.

Moorea Seal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Let’s get to know these two cool cats a little more…

Jess Phoenix was born in Massachusetts, to creative parents who didn't bat an eye when she decided to attend art school. After earning her B.F.A in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design, she moved to the West Coast to illustrate and design products for the inspirational gift company, Compendium. There she grew in her love of color and pattern design, and was able to design products for companies such as Target, Starbucks, as well as for countless boutiques across the country. 

Her personal floral work is about exploring color. Most of the flowers and leaves are imagined, and act as a vehicle for her to create vibrant color relationships. She is constantly looking for new sources of inspiration and ways to create bold and colorfully rich images. Shop her work and explore here world here.

Tom DesLongchamp is an artist/animator/puppeteer, which sounds absurd but is so very cool. He’s devoted to portraiture, but most of the portraits he makes are on Painting with Borb!—one of his livestream characters who paints live portraits in a style similar to Tom’s. In 2018, after years in the ad agency world and doing freelance illustration, art and animation for huge businesses like the Wall Street Journal, Tom began building an experimental live-stream on twitch.tv/tomthinks called Cartoon Mess LIVE! The gist is that it is live cartoon improv. Tom built and controls digital puppets with his keyboard/mouse which you’ll see in live action if you want the podcast video above. I’m a big fan of both his fine art and his wacky world of Cartoon Mess Live, check it out!

Here’s a very cool video where Tom shows you how he creates his gorgeous one of a kind portraits!

(ps, he made me one of my dog a few years ago for my birthday and it’s still one of the most special gifts I’ve ever received in my life. I cry. Thanks buddy.)

And here’s Duck, who visits us in the podcast, chatting with Jack Black and Tim Heidecker!

A Giveaway!

I really want to start treating y’all to some monthly, maybe bi-monthly, perhaps even weekly, treats. When I ran my very first business, designing and selling jewelry on Etsy many years ago, I did a lot of giveaways. It just fills a soft spot in my heart where I get to give and make someone’s day in a sweet way. Gift giving is absolutely one of my love languages and Tom has decided to join in the gift giving this week! Let’s have a giveaway!

Whats you’ll win (A $250 VALUE!!!!)

* This cute little shrinky-dink art by Tom DesLongchamp from his cat portrait series!

* Two copies of 52 Lists of Togetherness for you and someone you love. Plus 2 rose gold pens with black ink, 2 weekly task management desktop notepads, 2 to do list note pads, 2 planners for wellness and productivity and 2 sets of 52 Lists postcards!

TO ENTER:

* If you’re just reading this in your email, click thru to my Substack page and leave a comment on this post and give it a like <3.

* I’ll announce the winner in the next email/podcast!

Thank you all so much for reading, for listening, for watching and engaging with me and all the lovely people I’m having on to the podcast. I really hope that you find some reasons to laugh alongside us, that you feel the heart I am putting into all this, and that you feel a little lighter and happier as this drops into your world. Biggest hugs.

Thank you for reading Moorea Seal. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Episode 2 is here! And Callie Little, one of my greatest pals and co-author, is sharing a peek into her world through the power of list making. Click above, download the audio podcast, stream it on Apple Podcasts, or watch the unedited video chat below! I’m working away next week to get my podcast on all streaming platforms, exciting exciting!

My podcast + newsletter are reader/listener-supported publications. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Audio Podcast: it’s edited and nice and tidy for your listening pleasure.Youtube video: unedited in all our goofy and sweet, sincere glory.

This week on the 52 Lists podcast, we’re chatting with Callie Little, one of my dearest friends and the co-author of our upcoming mental health workbook and tarot deck: “Every Little Thing You Do is Magic.” We just submitted the first draft of our book to our publishers, Clarkson Potter, last week and I thought it would be fun for you to get to know us a little deeper as Queer, Autistic authors.

TRIGGER WARNING: We talk lightly about Callie's upbringing in a home with hoarding, abuse, neglect and parental drug use. Please be sensitive and respectful to our guest and consider for yourself if this will be triggering or helpful to hear her story of overcoming. This isn’t the main focus of this interview, just a snippet. For the majority of our chat, we talk about:

TOPICS:

* List #2 from The 52 Lists Project: List Your favorite characters from books, movies, etc

* What we discovered about ourselves from seeing ourselves within these characters

* Our new book coming out in 2024!

* How we met at a fundraiser for girl scouts and I confronted a woman who was trash talking Callie in the bathroom

* Our different creative and working styles

* Truths about Autistic people

* Gender Dysphoria and unpacking what being a “girl” is

* Childhood trauma and the development of an insatiable need to be loved

* Great book recommendations

* Our connections to Mathilda, the book and the character

* Performative Womanhood and cultural conditioning

* Ending an engagement + Ending a marriage, the clarity in being alone

* Hot takes on Jenny from the original L Word

* How we view ourselves: The Fool. How we view each other: in beautiful complexity

Get to know Callie!

Website: CallieLittle.comPodcast: The Pocket CovenInstagram: @GoshCallie Tattooing: @GoodHabitsTattoo

Callie Little is a full time artist and writer. She’s written for places like BUST magazine, Vice, Teen Vogue, Autostraddle and more, and has been featured on NPR’s Lifekit. Her visual art has been shown in galleries throughout the Pacific Northwest and these days, you can find her tattooing at the private studio Good Habits in the Ballard neighborhood here in Seattle. Her podcast, The Pocket Coven, which she cohosts with licensed therapist Amber Lenore, has 90,000 downloads and has been ranked as the third most popular mental health podcast… In Iceland. Her forthcoming debut book, co-authored with me, Moorea Seal, Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic, will be on shelves in the spring of 2024 published through Clarkson Potter.

Curious about our lists?

Find List #2: List your favorite characters from books, movies, etc in The 52 Lists Project guided journal, available wherever books are sold! I’d love to see who you list. Share a few characters you connect with in the comments.

Thank you for reading Moorea Seal. This post is public so feel free to share it.

It’s LAUNCH DAY! The first ever episode of my new podcast / video recorded chat seshes with fascinating humans is LIVE! I’m anxious, I’m excited, I’m new to this role as podcast host so ya know, go easy on me as I get my bearings. But most of all, I’m thrilled to get to introduce you to incredible people who will inspire you, give you some solid giggles and help you to feel less alone.

THE TIME HAS COME

Click through and watch, or play it in the background and listen in to my fresh and funny convo with the one and only Alison Faulkner, author of the new book “You’re Already Awesome.” It’s the very first episode of 52 Lists with Moorea Seal, a video series and podcast where I chat with fascinating people and get into all the juicy details of who they are and what makes them their wild and honest selves. Together, we fill out a list from my best selling 52 Lists journal series (this week, its 52 Lists for Happiness) to extract sometimes deep, sometimes ridiculous nuggets of thoughts and feelings to share with you, humans with big thoughts and big feels.

What’s the point of all this?

* To help us all feel less alone.

* To remind us that we are all experts and beginners at something.

* To reminds us to be open to seeing the world from other people’s perspectives.

* To gain wisdom on how to live happier, healthier, more sincere lives.

* To find reason to laugh at ourselves, or to laugh in general. That’s a command. LAUGH.

About Alison Faulkner:

The professional blurb: Alison Faulkner is a branding and events expert, host of the podcast Awesome with Alison a top 100 health and wellness podcast, consultant for Fortune 500 companies, writer, speaker, artist, self-proclaimed nonsense dancer, author, and CEO of Alison’s Brand School, partnering with Microsoft and Alaska Airlines among others. Alison is obsessed with her kids, husband, family, and friends.

How I know Alison: We first met at Alt Summit, a design blogger conference, now a women’s influencer + entrepreneurs conference, based in Salt Lake City back in 2011. This conference was THE place to be as a blogger in the early 2010s and she and I were both in it to win it, baby. We were steeped in Girl Boss culture, over working ourselves to death while finding moments of joy and camaraderie at events like this. We bonded over being bluntly honest wacky women who held big dreams and the DIY determination to make them come true. Over the last almost 10 years, we’ve witnessed each other build Girl Boss “Empires” followed by personal breakdowns and total life re-evaluations. And damn, it feels good to be on the other side.

Video TidBits:

Intro: We have a mini dance party, join in. It’s Alison’s specialty.

Min 2: We are Free Agents of Chaos

Min 3: The height of our “Girl Boss” Empires… before their collapse.

Min 8: The Mania of Girl Boss Culture

Min 14: Reclaiming the Self and New Perspectives with Tarot

Min 20: Embodying all Archetypes

Min 23: 6 Months of Panic Attacks, Hit by a Car and Making a Shift

Min 28: Culture’s Model of Success

Min 33: The Loss of Naivety and What Comes After a Dream

Min 35: Well Enough to Get out of Bed, But Where’s the Thrill?

Min 39: A Value Driven Propulsion System, Not Achievement

Min 41: Self Regulated, Not Sedated

Min 43: Let’s Burn Shit Up

Min 45: Filling Many Small Cups

Min 48: Unconditional Love

Min 50: 52 Lists for Happiness: List What Makes You Happy Right Now

Min 53: Holding Space for Our Many Selves and Many Joys

Min 56: Be Excited About Your Weird Little Things

Min 60: What Even Makes a Great Book?

Min 62: Prioritizing Your “Want” Before Your “Supposed To”

Thank you for reading, listening and watching! If something resonated with you, why not share it with a friend who might dig it too!

Moorea Seal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.