Becoming Human

We are drugs. Every activity and interaction elicits a chemical response triggering reward and suffering. Many things in moderation won’t kill you and those things will trigger different chemical signals in your body. People, to a varying degree, act out routines and ambitions to achieve a chemically driver goal. Sometimes we go awry and pursue chemical contentment despite the consequences - we become alcoholics, caffeine fiends, binge eaters, tweakers, etc. What’s even more common is the mild addiction that doesn’t ruin your life, but is burdensome like the overeating, over drinking, athletic training despite injury.

In this episode, I sit down with Will Strom. He’s an avid outdoorsman who wrestled with substance abuse. Will has climbed the mountains throughout the Cascades, including Mt Adams and St. Helens. We talk on his transition from substance abuse to pursuing the rugged peaks and valleys of the Northern Cascades. The archytypical relationship between purpose, suffering and bliss is fascinating.

This week, I'm guest posting Allone's show, Spontaneous Sundays. It's an improv hip-hop show staring AllOne, DJ's and other MCs.

Spontaneous Sundays is a weekly series I created in an attempt to continue creating with people and communicating through improvisational art. It is a no-ego, no-frills, no bells, no whistles, "warts-and-all" exploration and celebration of freestyle rapping and the incredible experience of spontaneous creation. The series is going to be a presentation of some cyphers I will be having weekly with friends both new and old of various artistic disciplines from all walks of life.

Bruce "AllOne" Pandolfo www.allonevoice.bandcamp.com www.reverbnation.com/allonevoice www.soundcloud.com/allonevoice www.facebook.com/allonevoice www.allonenetwork.blogspot.com

In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with Bruce Pandolfo, he’s a writer, poet and upcoming hip-hop artist. He runs a weekly freestyle hip-hop video series on youtube, spontaneous sundays. Watching someone riff - coming up with material on the spot is wild. When it’s done well, the energy is electric and you get to see someone as they are. Every AllOneVoice album I hear from Bruce is exponentially surprising with his growing talent, emergent writing style and word play. You can find him on Bandcamp, Youtube and social media as allonevoice.

http://bit.ly/allonevoiceyoutube

http://bit.ly/allonevoicefacebook

http://bit.ly/bandcampallone

Some people spend their whole lives pursuing mastery of a craft, doing whatever it takes to play, perform and evolve.

Austin Daffron is a fascinating Jiu-Jitsu athlete, in his early twenties, he positioned himself to spend most of his time doing the things he loves rather than being caught up in a conventional career. From the outside, you’d think Austin was lucky, however, he is tenacious and very analytical which lends itself to unique opportunities within any endeavor.

Alfred Murillo has committed a great deal of himself to Jiu-Jitsu, in the name of pursuing what excites him. He is voraciously integrating technique and is an assistant professor for kids Jiu-Jitsu at Livewire MMA.

Alfred and I speak with Austin about his approach to Jiu-Jitsu, Learning new technique, competing, strategy, and being effective.

Find Austin Daffron on social media: @duck_jitsu

Find Alfred Bobojinski on social media: @bobobajinski

In this wide ranging conversation, Andrew and I discuss the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, being effective, managing your relationships and more! Checkout Andrew @heavyweightslightfeels

Zach Bitter is an endurance athlete, coach and nutrition specialist. Zach has broken the World record for running the furthest distance in 12 hours ( 101.66 miles) and he set a new American record for fastest 100 mile time of 11:47:21.

With a curiosity for his own limitations, Zach has dedicated his life to endurance running and nutrition. He started off as a High School teacher running races and training in his free-time. Through the pursuit of excitement, he left his job as a teacher to pursue running and peripheral disciplines full-time. Zach is a reminder of building your life around what excites you and over time, most people on that path will encounter new and unexpected opportunities.

We often hold people who've achieved great accomplishments at arms length, however, all of our ambitions are within arms reach with clever thinking, diligence, and effective learning.

Subjects discussed; Nutrition, what drove Zach to break records, Zach's motivations to compete, how to transition to a career athlete, pursuing excitement, and more.

For more on Zach, https://zachbitter.com/

Abram Dickerson loves wild places, he's spent over 20 years hosting adventures into and around the mountains. Abram manages Aspire Adventure Running, a running event organizer - www.aspireadventurerunning.com 

As an outsider, I thought backpackers, hunters and outdoorsmen in general to be hardy and tough people born with the desire for adventure. I believed that people with these interests experienced discomfort in a different way than I did. After talking with Emory Ronald, I believe that outdoorsmen are simply shaped by these experiences and solicited by their wonderment.

Emory writes a blog that gives practical advice for backpacking and gear reviews. He hosts an outdoors podcast, By Land. You can check him out at byland.co

Subjects discussed: motivations for Backpacking, Getting into backpacking, Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, hunting, pursuing an identity, sorting yourself out, and more!

What makes somebody commit atrocities and how do we handle that as a species? This question, at once, fascinates me and causes me to shutter. My pal Andrew Dodge, interviews criminals of all backgrounds and auctions there artwork/artifacts. Andrew has a genuine curiosity to observe the macabre and is often misunderstood. Looking past any assumptions and you’ll see a curious and thought provoking fella. You can check him out at www.truecrimauctionhouse.com

During our podcast, we had a knock at the door - missionaries from the Church of Latter Day Saints. I invited them on the podcast. I was curious if they could see beyond their presumptions and maintain an open mind.

You can check them out at: https://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

In this episode I sit down with Daniel Shimwoo Kim. Daniel is an ecologist and outdoorsman. You can check out his outdoor video series ecoesque here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUrTPjWNPNi6yXvdWAweXaA

Subjects discussed: Video Games, the wilderness, traveling, figuring out what you enjoy, building character, and more.