In this episode, I have the great pleasure of talking to Letao Wang who specializes in Chinese and Western astrology, mythology, Tarot Cards and who is also the founder of The Healing Kingdom where he provides a wide range of counselling services. He also created two oracles with beautiful decks and guidebooks: The Oracle of the Mythic Heroes and The Oracle of the Celestial Deities.

With the Chinese New Year of the Wood Snake approaching, I took the opportunity to ask him about his projections and predictions regarding opportunities and potential challenges in the coming year. As he explains, there will be a significant shift from Dragon yang energy associated with authority and power to a more receptive period with the wise and intuitive Snake representing yin energy. Moreover, it will be a time for shedding the old skin but also finding and connecting with one’s roots and foundations.

We also discuss the similarities and differences between Eastern and Western approaches and Letao explains how they are complementary and can be combined to present a fuller picture. In fact, the mental health field would greatly benefit from incorporating and integrating spirituality to make its paradigm more holistic.

Finally, we talk about synchronicity and serendipity as well as how we can have a sense of destiny and fate by also allowing room for free will and personal agency. We cannot merely blame the stars for our conditions and situations but need to take personal responsibility and not be driven by a false sense of justice where we feel we have been wronged or that the world is unfair or biased against us.

As Letao explains we are seeds that contain many possibilities and potentialities within and although we do not choose the seed, we can take care of it, cultivate it, and make it bloom and flourish.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking to Poet and Biographer Molly Peacock on the different states of widowhood, alongside themes of sickness and disease, nursing and caregiving, and loss expressed honestly, candidly, playfully, and colorfully in her poetry book The Widow’s Crayon Box.

We discuss thinking outside of the (crayon) box and looking beyond traditional forms of grief and grieving by adding a celebration of life with an enhanced and enriched experience of life after loss and how it is possible to hold and experience two different emotions like joy and grief at the same time. But Molly also explains openly and candidly the various states and mixed emotions and ups and downs of providing care to a loved one requiring a wide array of colors from the crayon box.

Moreover, Molly reads three of her poems from The Widow’s Crayon Box - “Touched”, “Sex after Seventy”, and “Honey Crisp” - followed by a brief discussion on them including that it is never too late to have and enjoy sex alongside the many pleasures of life. We also discuss some of her other work and projects, which include biographies, a memoir, a one-woman-show as well as her inspiring “Secret Poetry Room” Project.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with film industry data researcher and movie producer Stephen Follows about “The Horror Movie Report,” which covers and uncovers cultural fears, how anxieties have shifted over time, and how all of this is portrayed and reflected in the horror movie genre.

As these films tend to operate on a much lower budget with less oversight and restrictions, they end up not only increasing artistic freedom of speech and expression, but they can also dive in more freely into topics, subjects, and themes that are often off-limits and taboo in mainstream cinema.

At the same time, these movies also give us insight into and feedback upon the make-up and psychology of the audience and what that can tell us about the interests and anxieties of any given period. For instance, this is also reflected in changing victim demographics as well as how and why serial killer movies peaked in a particular decade.

Culturally, there is also a shift from fear of communism and nuclear war as evidenced in Godzilla and zombie movies and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers to slasher and found footage films and horror films on epidemics and pandemics. In many ways, this data and the correlations give us important and relevant glimpses and insights into the psyche, the mindset, and the culture of any given time period.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Social Scientist and Sustainability Practitioner Thomas Legrand, author of “Politics of Being: Wisdom and Science for a New Development Paradigm” who is also involved with the UN initiative of Conscious Food Systems Alliance.

We discuss the importance and necessity of biodiversity both in our natural and social world and how each person ought to be provided with the opportunities, resources, tools, education, and support to reach their full potential. By changing our definition and understanding of economic growth and switching the bottom line from a “having” to a “being” mode, everyone could benefit in the process.

Moreover, it is also vital to change our view and outlook on mental health in general. Currently, there is too much focus on issues and problems but a more positive approach in the lines of positive psychology and positive psychiatry could aim at boosting each and everyone’s wellbeing level.

That said, it is still important to consider and look at the influence of individual and collective trauma and how healing could not only help us connect with ourselves and others on an authentic and much deeper level but also motivate us to take positive action and increase pro-social and pro-environmental values and behaviours.

We are on the cusp of a vital transformational wave and by emphasizing being and spirituality and our connection with other human beings and our natural habitat, we can not only face and overcome the upcoming challenges and crises but use them as an opportunity to build a better, more hopeful and joyful world for ourselves, our children, and al the subsequent generations to come.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Ramaa Krishnan, founder of “Full Bloomed Lotus Center for Self-Awareness” and author of “The Yoga of Self-Love: The Sacred Path to Wholeness and Healing through Inner-Child Work” on the different phases and aspects of healing and of loving ourselves in healthy ways and manners.

First off, we need to discover ourselves and truly see and connect with our essence and only then can we practice self-love, which is much more and much deeper than appreciating our strengths but rather accepting, embracing, and loving the entire package that is who we really are.

This is a life-long practice and both mindfulness and self-awareness are essential and vital for this. In that sense, love is not so much feeling but rather seeing ourselves and fostering and developing qualities that we have ignored or neglected in our lives. For this to occur, it is important to engage in inner child work.

This also entails facing difficult moments and addressing traumas of the past so that we can come out feeling better about ourselves and liberating ourselves from accumulated shame, blame, and guilt. As such, we can live a much happier life with stronger will, more intention, more trust, and one that opens up and is filled with self-love and love for all beings around us.

In this fascinating and enlightening episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking to Dr. Viktória Duda, Consciousness Researcher, Writer, Hypnotherapist, and Author of the book “Twenty-Five Centuries Without You” on consciousness and past lives.

As she explains, consciousness is the fundamental creative principle of life that is within and working through each individual sentient being. By studying and better understanding consciousness, we would not only overcome our fear of death but could also improve our own lives.

Each life can be perceived as a story with elements and themes often connected through what Stan Grof calls condensed experiences, which can help us resolve issues and problems in a given life, and in that process, we would elevate our own consciousness and the world around us.

Once we elevate our vibrations and frequencies and move away from the narrow and limited paradigm of materialism, we will find ourselves more in alignment with our true self and surroundings imbued with an overall sense of joy and happiness. In this higher state of consciousness, challenges are not seen as stumbling blocks but as temporary hurdles that can lead us to personal growth, resilience, and better outcomes for everyone involved.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of talking to Conflict and Boundary Strategists and Authors of “Boundary Badass: A Powerful Method for Elevating Your Value and Relationships” Jan and Jillian Yuhas about the importance of having your voice heard and feeling valued both in your personal as well as professional relationships. Both at the workplace and home, it is important to not only set boundaries and communicate clearly and effectively but also deal with conflicts as soon as possible and in a way that does not lead to negative outcomes such as lingering feelings of resentment or alienation.

Often our lack of comfort with speaking up or setting boundaries has its root in our childhood stemming from experiences we had in the past where we may have felt that our opinions did not matter or were not valued or respected. But through self-awareness and self-regulation we have the opportunity to not only address these wounds and issues but to come out stronger and be able to attain better outcomes and results in our relationships.

As Jan and Jillian explain, their ASAP method is applicable to all types of relationships, and they can help us find common ground, build bridges, and lead to win-win situations for everyone involved. Such a shift from a "me mindset" to a "we mentality" with teamwork will pay dividends not only for employees, upper management, and CEOs but also for the company and corporation as it will boost motivation and satisfaction and increase productivity across the board.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Entrepreneur and CEO of Rewiring the Mind and Mind Model Coach Blair Dunkley and author of Ultimate Mind Hacking: 16 Highly Effective Ways to Smash Unhealthy Mindsets. Blair talks about his successful and popular podcast and show The Blair Dunkley Experience and how his longstanding evidence-based research can not only help and effectively deal with different types of phobias, fears and anxieties but it can also lead to a more successful and happier life.

As he explains, mind models are much more than mindsets, beliefs or a state of mind; they are behavior-based and produce real-world results that are visible and observable by yourself and others and they put the power and control in your hands. This can be achieved with the three Es model, which show you whether your approach is effective or not by using a process of evaluation as opposed to judgment that are externally verifiable.

We also talk about the practice and effects of mindfulness and intuition and while we generally agree on both, there are slight variations in our understanding and practice of each of them. Yet Blair fully appreciates the potential power and positive effects of faith and prayer and how they can be externally verifiable by consistently and repeatedly producing states of calm and peace. Furthermore, Blair explains how we can choose our reactions and emotions to life events and that we can rewire our brain to experience less anxiety and more joy, happiness and success in our daily lives.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with neurologist and headache specialist Dr. Mark Burish at the Will Erwin Headache Research Center. We talk about the rare but painful case of cluster headaches, which have certain commonalities with migraines but also demonstrate some vital differences.

For instance, cluster headaches go through cycles but unlike migraines, we are not aware of specific triggers except that smokers tend to be more likely to suffer from it whereas alcohol can be a potential factor. There are preventive measures and a range of treatments but there are still many unknown aspects to cluster headaches.

Although wellness initiatives, such as mindfulness or lifestyle changes reducing stress and anxiety tend to provide aid and relief for migraine sufferers, it is not as closely associated with improvement when it comes to cluster headaches. However, more research is needed and initiatives like Intermittent Fasting may potentially work as it can affect and change the circadian rhythm.

Finally, Dr. Burish talks about his background in neuroscience, how the brain does not have pain receptors as well as his decision to engage in this type of research, which includes helping and providing relief to patients suffering from chronic conditions like this one.

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with writer and journalist Wendy Lyons Sunshine about her book “Tender Paws: How Science-based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs” and how this can enrich our overall understanding of parenting.

Whether you are taking care of a child or a dog, there are different parenting styles that are applicable and certain methods that are preferred and recommended. Wendy explains the links and parallels while proposing and advocating the broad and holistic HEARTS approach, principles and goals that are helpful for and beneficial to the raising of both children and dogs.

At the same time, it reinforces that these sentient beings are unique in their personality traits as well as their needs, desires, and wishes. It is important to be responsive to them and yet to leave some space for them to figure things out on their own and have time to be themselves while playing, learning, and exploring freely.

As we are guiding and leading them, it is a great chance not only to break old harmful patterns, upgrade our skills and heal ourselves from negative experiences rooted in our own respective childhood but also to be able to pause and start anew as we try our best and keep learning with and growing from each new challenge and opportunity in the parental realm, be it human or canine.