A Millennial's Guide to Saving the World

Very excited to bring this conversation with my brother to the podcast. Micah is currently working at The Happiness Research Institute developing an alternative to GDP that focuses on happiness, well-being and quality of life instead of profit. We discuss what happiness means, how it's measured and how it might be implemented. We also discuss the current state of the world and how our upbringing has informed our worldview. From living in different countries for most of our adult lives, to what it was like to be siblings, to being raised in an unconventional household, we both share our insights on how we're each trying to live authentic, individuated lives in a culture and a world that pressures us to conform. 

Find out more about Micah's work at The Happiness Research Institute here and find his music on Spotify under Meeka Kates.

Micah's Book Recommendations: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Songs featured: "I Saved The World Today" by Eurythmics and "Closure" by Meeka Kates

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to perks like an exclusive WhatsApp group chat just for patrons!

Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram

Mark Epstein, M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy. Mark discusses the ways in which trauma weaves its way through the story and life of the Buddha, the difference between discipline and control and how narratives and feelings intersect and why both are useful. We also chat about the importance of integrating pain and grief into our lives and the fallacy of thinking that things ever "return to normal". 

Find out more about Mark at markepsteinmd.com and on Facebook.

Mark's Book Recommendations: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala and the 6 volumes of My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard.

Songs featured: "Eyes Closed and Traveling" by Peter Broderick and "Tiny Apocalypse" by David Byrne

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to perks like an exclusive WhatsApp group chat just for patrons!

Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram

Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker and author of several books including Climate: A New Story, Sacred Economics and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible. Charles and I set out to have a discussion embracing as many paradoxes, taboos and uncertainties as possible, and I think we did just that. We discuss the addictive nature of control, the similarities between skeptics and believers, the role we play in writing personal and collective narratives, the inevitable crisis that precedes any lasting change and the importance of seeing our lives within the context of much greater and more meaningful cycles.

Find out more about Charles at charleseisenstein.org and on Instagram and Twitter.

Charles' Book Recommendations: Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chögyam Trungpa and Sakyong Mipham Rinpocheand and The Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Firstenberg

Songs featured: "The Times They Are A Changing'" by Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood and "The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs" by Wye Oak.

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to perks like an exclusive WhatsApp group chat just for patrons!

Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram

Chris Ryan is the bestselling author of Sex at Dawn & Civilized to Death. He also hosts a podcast called Tangentially Speaking. We talk about everything from President Clinton's infamous blowjob to male vulnerability to the importance of embracing uncertainty and heartbreak in one's life to the myth of "progress" and the (eventual? hopeful? inevitable?) downfall of civilization as we know it. 

Find out more about Chris at ThatChrisRyan.com and on Instagram and Twitter. 

Chris' Book Recommendations: A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright, Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse and The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera

Songs featured: "Talyat" by Tinariwen and "Pacing the Cage" by Bruce Cockburn

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to perks like an exclusive WhatsApp group chat just for patrons!

Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram

Mackensey is a trauma-informed tantra & intimacy coach, an ACS certified sexologist and an embodiment portrait photographer who offers energy and somatic healing to those looking to cultivate a deeper sense of intimacy, sexual and emotional intelligence, connection and pleasure. Our conversation explores the nature of sexual embodiment and feminine power, the intersection of sexuality with religion/spirituality and "fawning" as a trauma response. We also discuss the Lilith myth, psychological projection and what it means to be "a teacher". 

Find out more about Mackensey at lilithandlavender.com and on Instagram at @lilithandlavender. 

Mackensey's Book Recommendations: Becoming Animal by David Abram and Belonging by Toka-Pa Turner

Songs featured: "Changes" by Langhorne Slim/The Law and "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to perks like an exclusive WhatsApp group chat just for patrons!

Visit my website - AnyaKaats.com & Find me on Instagram

Kaj Larsen is a journalist, US Navy Seal and Harvard graduate. He's worked for Vice News, CNN, NowThis News and Current TV. He's also one of the kindest, smartest and most curious people I know. Kaj and I discuss the fallacy of identity politics, his experience of being accused during the #metoo movement, the way culture forces us to compartmentalize our identity, the dangers of irresponsible journalism + the importance of being an informed consumer of media & embracing our collective, human experience as opposed to falling into the spoon-fed traps of fear, demonization and cancel-culture. 

Find out more about Kaj on Instagram @kajlarsen and at kajlarsen.com.

Kaj's Book Recommendation: Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas

Songs featured: "American Kid" by Carsie Blanton and "All Kinds of Time" by Fountains of Wayne

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to perks like an exclusive WhatsApp group chat just for patrons!

Find me on Instagram

Eli and his friend Jesse run Back to Earth, taking groups of boys and young men on journeys into the wilderness. Eli is also a poet, dancer, songwriter and spoken-word performer. We speak about the divinity of the outdoors, the importance of physical space in defining community & identity, how each of us defines and identifies with spirituality, what it means to be "initiated," and how to locate and follow our intuition. 

(There was a glitch in the audio of the original file I uploaded - be sure to delete and hit re-download for the clean copy!)

Find out more about Eli and Back To Earth at www.backtoearth.org.

Eli's Book Recommendation: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

Songs featured: "All At Once" by Jack Johnson and "Mangüeiro (feat. Aliboria) by Baiuca

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to perks like an exclusive WhatsApp group chat just for patrons!

Find me on Instagram

Kestrel is a psychotherapist, astrologer, and one of my closest friends. Our conversation builds on last week's episode as we discuss her life-long involvement in the climbing community and the parallels and intersections with her work as a therapist. Our conversation is far-reaching, covering everything from the therapeutic relationship and process, the complexities of grief, the contagious nature of vulnerability and the state of our personal & collective evolution. 

Find out more about Kestrel at kestrelneathawk.com.

Kestrel's Book Recommendation: Buddha's Warriors by Mikel Dunham and the Dalai Lama

Songs featured: "Border Country" The Paper Stars and "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to bonus episodes & more!

Find me on Instagram

Henna and Madaleine are the founders of The Climbing Grief Fund, created to evolve the conversation around grief and trauma in the climbing, alpinism and ski mountaineering community and connect individuals to effective mental health professionals and resources. Our conversation touches on the nuanced and complex nature of this project in particular and broadens the discussion to include our thoughts on the duality of life/death, grief/love and loss/gratitude. 

Find out more about The Climbing Grief Fund.

Henna and Madaleine's Book Recommendations: The Overstory by Richard Powers and The Trauma of Everyday Life by Mark Epstein

Poem featured: "Everything is Waiting for You" by David Whyte

Songs featured: "Friends are Lost" by Mike Howe and "Orson Welles" by Joe Henry

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to bonus episodes & more!

Find me on Instagram

Zofia is one of the most badass women I've ever met. She set out from Poland on a bicycle, eventually graduating to a motorcycle (riding one for the first time) across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, mostly alone. We met in Thailand and chatted about all of my favorite topics - what it means to embrace fear and be brave, how to give up and admit you were wrong about a thing + the importance of expanding your horizons in order to figure out who you really are and what you want in life.

Find Zofia on Facebook and Instagram

Zofia's Book Recommendations: Sex at Dawn by Chris Ryan & Cacilda Jetha and Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

Song featured: "Agnes" by Glass Animals

How to support the show:

Rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes!

Support my work on Patreon and get access to bonus episodes & more!

Find me on Instagram