What happens when effort and ease are no longer opposites—but partners?In this episode of Authbition, I’m joined by Emily Collie, Mental Health Therapist and Yoga Teacher, for a conversation about holding effort and ease at the same time. We explore this tension through yoga, aging, ego, and long-term practice—using the body as a teacher and lived experience as the guide.I read a personal essay about an ego-shattering beginner yoga class that unexpectedly relieved chronic pain and opened a decade-long journey—one that reshaped not just my body, but how I relate to struggle, patience, and progress.Together, Emily and I reflect on what it means to show up with discipline while staying curious, to work with intention without forcing outcomes, and to allow ease to coexist with effort. From impossible poses to quiet breakthroughs, this conversation looks at how real change unfolds—not through hustle or avoidance, but through steady presence and trust in the process.This episode is about more than flexibility or fitness. It’s about integration—learning to stay with tension long enough for the best of both to emerge, and discovering that what once felt impossible may simply be not yet.Authbition is a podcast about authenticity and ambition—finding the best of both, and learning to live them together.🔗 Learn more about Emily Collie:https://linktr.ee/EmilyCollie

In this episode of Authbition, I’m joined by writer Stefanie Morejon for an honest conversation about grief, avoidance, and what it means to hold joy and loss at the same time—especially during the holidays.Stefanie reads her essay “Not All Fun and Games,” a tender, darkly funny story about cooking Thanksgiving far from home, family memories that surface through food, and the moment a seemingly lighthearted holiday movie cracks something wide open. From there, we explore the Whole Mind tension between being “fine” and actually feeling, between compartmentalizing pain and letting it coexist with joy.This episode is about grief that doesn’t announce itself loudly, about traditions that comfort and hurt at once, and about learning—slowly—to let both joy and sorrow sit at the same table.📖 Read Stefanie’s essay (friend link):https://medium.com/age-of-empathy/not-all-fun-and-games-b42ed09f9a37?sk=v2%2Fd7674f28-2116-4e0a-9f10-49b9b05fcc30🌐 Learn more about Stefanie’s work:https://www.smorejon.com/Health, happiness, kindness, respect for every being and all things.

In this episode of Authbition, I sit down with writer Elle Fredine for one of the most spontaneous sessions I’ve ever recorded. I had no idea what she planned to read—and she didn’t know I’d ask her to read at all. What unfolded was pure, joyful chaos in the best way: a dark, sharply drawn story called “The Little Patisserie on the Corner.”

Elle’s process is a masterclass in yes-and writing—following sparks instead of shutting them down, letting ADHD and imagination become collaborators rather than constraints, and allowing a simple prompt like bread to unravel into a full cinematic world.

We talk fiction vs authenticity, childhood movie nights above the Arctic Circle, improv training, divergent thinking, the genius of and, and how writers sometimes discover their own deepest truths through the mouths of invented characters.

Read the story she performed (friend link):
👉 https://medium.com/entropies/the-little-patisserie-on-the-corner-2fb7c10b4913?sk=v2%2F38915fa5-e316-4d93-b264-69a896d2c47f

BONUS HOLIDAY EPISODE

All right. This episode is called “Turkey.” It’s an adaptation—honestly, almost a recital—of an email my sister sent me a little over a decade ago. We had just moved into the house I’m recording in right now, and we were hosting our first-ever Thanksgiving. The fridge had died a few days before the holiday. Total chaos. My sister, being the hero she is, sent me a full-length Italian-American masterclass on how to make Thanksgiving happen anyway.My sister's email really did save our first Thanksgiving in this house—ten years ago this week. And that turkey was the best turkey I’ve ever had in my life. So we’re doing it all again this year.Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.Thanks for listening.Thanks for being part of this strange, wonderful project with me.

As a twelve-year-old working at a cantina and blowing every spare quarter at Electric Kingdom, I thought Galaga was just a game. Decades later, I realized it was a teacher. In this week’s Authbition episode, I read an autofiction story about BMX parts, basement turntables, a ragtag childhood crew, and the strange little cheat code that revealed how success really works.

Some cheat codes remove all challenge—and ruin the game. No cheat code makes life impossible. But the right glitch? It shows the sweet balance between struggle and ease, ambition and enjoyment, effort and flow.

This is the lesson hidden in the fluorescent hum of an arcade at the bottom of the hill: success isn’t about hacking the system. It’s about finding the path that’s hard enough to matter and easy enough to love.

Health, happiness, kindness, respect
for every being and all things.

In this episode of Authbition, I sit by the fire with my wife, Abby Kent of Abby Kent Coaching, and we play The Whole Mind Game with a tension that’s been living right in my own work: non-attachment and extreme ownership.

On one side, I coach entrepreneurs to practice non-attachment so they’re not paralyzed by the illusion of permanence or control. On the other side, I preach extreme ownership: if I’m going to build something—whether it’s a company, a house, or a story—I want to build it as if I’d live in it forever, even if I know I’ll have to let it go.

Abby and I walk through the best and worst of both traits across entrepreneurship, parenting, and relationships. We talk about responsibility that empowers instead of crushes, non-attachment that invites growth instead of “whatever, man” apathy, and how easily both sides can slide into shadow—blame, possessiveness, and the classic “I don’t care” cop-out.

By the end, we land on a synergy phrase for the best of both worlds—Creative Growth—and a pretty unforgettable shadow phrase: Possessive Sleazebag. If you’ve ever wondered how to care deeply without clinging, or how to own something fully without suffocating it, this conversation is for you.

In this episode of Authbition, I read my short essay “Please Don’t Take Science So Literally” — a reflection on how education, society, and even well-meaning signs have turned science into dogma.Science isn’t an answer. It’s a method of discovery — a practice of guessing, testing, and refining. When we believe too strongly in guesses, we trade curiosity for certainty and opinion for fact.This episode explores why the phrase “Science is real” misses the deeper truth: science is a method, not a belief system. I share how a right-versus-wrong education model can imprison our thinking — and how reclaiming opinion can set the mind free.

Keywords: science education, philosophy, free mind, discovery, curiosity

I read my new essay, “You Don’t Have to Carry the Torch Forever,” to my friend John (off camera), then we dive into a lively conversation about starters vs. finishers, nonattachment, and the illusion of permanence. We talk torches and airplanes, foundation crews and finish carpenters, and why entrepreneurship is a team sport where leadership should change hands. I share why I’m dropping one of my torches—and why that’s not failure, it’s wisdom. If lighting the torch matters, someone will grab it. If they don’t, it’s okay to bail early and light the next one. This episode is a nudge to start, to let go, and to trust that momentum—and the right next torchbearer—will reveal themselves.

My parents were terrified I’d fall into a cult.
It was the 1970s — Jonestown, Manson, and the Moonies filled the news.

In trying to protect me, they created their own small one at home.

In this episode of Authbition, I read a deeply personal essay about growing up in a Catholic family ruled by fear of outside influence — and how that fear quietly mirrored the very control it tried to prevent.

I explore Steven Hassan’s BITE model of cult influence — Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control — and how even loving families can pull the same levers without realizing it.

This isn’t a story of blame. It’s one of awareness — about learning to lead with presence instead of fear, and to guide with love, not levers.

If you’ve ever questioned where structure ends and control begins, this one’s for you.

Read the essay on Medium:

https://medium.com/the-narrative-arc/my-parents-fear-of-cults-made-them-act-like-one-96afaba4a2f6?sk=eeb5ad0b8786a842138ac3a97724d2b3

For all the ways to listen, watch, read, and connect:

https://www.authbition.com/

A millionaire’s worn blazer and my coffee-stained hoodie both tell the same story: real wealth isn’t money—it’s using what we love fully.Join me for this episode of Authbition—where Authenticity meets Ambition, without compromise.Read the story on Medium:https://medium.com/namaste-now/ned-kaplans-jacket-9e96e0c6a5f9?sk=0862d0db314df3595ac05079c39e0a6fFor all the ways to watch, listen, and connect:https://www.authbition.com/#Authbition #authbitionweekly #AndrewDiMeo #Storytelling #LifeLessons #Authenticity #Mindfulness #Wealth #Simplicity #Minimalism #PersonalGrowth #TrueWealth #Philosophy #Podcast #Essays #HumanExperience #ModernLife #BlueHoodie #TatteredBlazer