I have been recently pondering the "secret sauce" of Circling: the practice that I have been so deeply involved with the past several months. As the practices have been diffusing into my life, I have noticed my ability to explore someone else's world while staying connected to myself has increased and become almost like a harmonious process. I wanted to explain how that process works and hypothesize that this process is the core project and our ultimate mode of being as a relational being.

Podcast YouTube Homepage: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondourselvespod

Instagram Podcast Page: https://www.instagram.com/beyondourselvespod/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldeklerk/

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Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Beyond Ourselves! I was fortunate enough to connect with Jake Favor, someone I've gotten to know quite well over the past several weeks through my participation in Circling, an authentic relational modality that fosters genuine conversation. Jake has also started a group that meets weekly to embody various Socratic dialogical practices promoted by the work of Cognitive Science professor John Vervaeke. Circling has allowed me to integrate an entirely new vocabulary and orientation toward how we have conversations, and diligently practicing the methods with Jake has been profoundly transformative. We delve into what Circling is, how it has influenced us, and in a proper deep conversational fashion, it takes a life of its own. I am proud of this conversation and hope it is something you all take some value in as well. For anyone that might be interested in further exploring what Circling is and potentially getting involved with the practice, I have included a link to a demonstration video that explains the practice as well as a link to sign up for weekly drop-in Circling nights. I will also link to the YouTube channel for John Vervaeke, an extremely influential figure in my understanding of how to live a wise, integrated life. 

My Socials:

Podcast YouTube Homepage: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondourselvespod

Instagram Podcast Page: https://www.instagram.com/beyondourselvespod/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldeklerk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaeldeklerk11/

Seven Stages of Circling Webinar: https://circlinginstitute.com/thanks-webinar-7stages-recording/

Drop in Circling Sign Up: https://circlinginstitute.com/drop-in-circling-night/

John Vervaeke's YouTube Homepage: https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke

Hello and welcome to another episode of Beyond Ourselves! I was fortunate enough to connect with Dr. Farah Al-Nakib, a Professor of History at Cal Poly. Her research specializes in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, most specifically Kuwait, where she was born. Our conversation concerns her book, Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life, which she published in 2016. We delve deeply into how Western urban planning, while raising the standard of living significantly for Kuwaitis, ultimately did more harm than good, what insights her book offers Kuwaiti citizens on their history and possible steps forward, how thinking critically about how we interact with our communal spaces can foster creativity and build social bonds, and much more. To whet your appetite about what is to come in the interview and to offer a meditation on the topics discussed, I included a quote from renowned psychologist Carl Rogers below.

"We in the West seem to have made a fetish out of complete individual self-sufficiency, of not needing help, of being completely private except in a very few selected relationships. This way of living would have been completely impossible during most of history, but modern technology makes this goal achievable. With my private room, private car, private office, private phone, I can be practically immune from intimate contact with any other person. Both the young and the old are almost completely useless in our modern society and are made keenly aware of that uselessness. They have no place. They are private, isolated, and hopeless. (Carl Rogers, A Way of Being)

My Socials:

Podcast YouTube Homepage: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondourselvespod

Instagram Podcast Page: https://www.instagram.com/beyondourselvespod/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldeklerk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaeldeklerk11/

Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Beyond Ourselves! If you are curious why there has been such a hiatus between the last episode and this one, I have been spending the last month slaving away on graduate school applications and spending the holiday season with my family. That said, this was an episode that I knew I wanted to make since the last one was released. I hope you enjoy it!

Exciting announcement! My episodes now have a home on YouTube! If you think I have a face for radio but still enjoy listening to me, feel free to return to your favorite podcast platforms. If the video component enhances the quality for you, feel free to enjoy them over there!

YouTube episode link: https://youtu.be/xpyicjBa-bU

My Socials:

Podcast YouTube Homepage: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondourselvespod

Instagram Podcast Page: https://www.instagram.com/beyondourselvespod/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldeklerk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaeldeklerk11/

Hello and welcome to another episode of Beyond Ourselves! Today I had the privilege of talking to a mentor and hero of mine, Dr. Ryan Alaniz. Dr. Alaniz is a Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly as well as the author of From Strangers to Neighbors: Post-Disaster Resettlement and Community Building in Honduras, which is the subject of our conversation. The book compares two resettlement communities a mere three miles apart created after a devastating hurricane; one in which residents were civically engaged and cohesive, and the other that suffered from rampant crime and corruption. Our conversation explores the different philosophical approaches to development taken by each community, how orienting communities towards ideals of trust and collectivism is essential to healthy development, and how to apply the tenets of his book to other social issues. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and I hope all of you can take something from it and apply it in your lives. 

My Socials:

Instagram Podcast Page: https://www.instagram.com/beyondourselvespod/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldeklerk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaeldeklerk11/

We have all encountered periods of despair so dire it feels like we'd prefer to be anyplace but the current moment. The costs of emotional avoidance might seem non-existent in the short term, but its consequences are profound. What are the reasons we flee pain and suffering? More importantly, what is the proper course of action in times of turbulence?

My therapist, Ben Rea, is here to try and provide some illumination to this question. Ben is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who practices in San Luis Obispo. While he incorporates myriad modalities in his work, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is the framework that guides many of his sessions. This theory is predicated on the idea that when we accept ourselves for who we are in the here and now, we begin to have a better relationship with our current situation, however painful it might be. Radical, huh? 

Ben and I discuss how societal narratives surrounding achievement leave us feeling perpetually inadequate, how a therapist modeling vulnerability is the only way to achieve success with a client, and the transformational power self-acceptance can have on our ability to navigate life. This was an incredibly moving conversation for me that I hope you all find value in as well. Please turn on notifications for my podcast releases, feel free to leave feedback and connect with me on social media!

My Socials:

Instagram Podcast Page: https://www.instagram.com/beyondourselvespod/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldeklerk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaeldeklerk11/

The maiden episode of my podcast has finally arrived! First of all, thank you so much to all of you who have followed my Instagram page and voiced your support, it really does mean a great deal to me. With that being said, for this episode I had the privilege of interviewing author Mukul Sheopory, the author of the  book, Bucephalus' Shadow: Ten Business Lessons from Alexander the Great. Mukul was a former neighbor of mine and gifted me a copy of his book before his family moved about 2 years ago. It was a joy to read the first time and an even greater treat to re-read it in preparation for this interview. 

As the story goes, Mukul was working as a management consultant when he stumbled upon a biography of Alexander the Great. As he was digesting the book, he realized how improbable his militaristic feats were. He overcame seemingly insurmountable odds in every battle he won and approached each encounter with a completely novel strategy allowing him to outsmart his opponents. Sheopory started to notice similarities between the creative problem solving strategies and virtues Alexander exhibited and events in the business world, catapulting him to write a book analyzing just that. Rather than distill a mundane historical recounting of events, Sheopory details each chapter in a captivating story arc that brings the struggles and triumphs of each character to life. His book and our conversation try to explore what qualities make an effective leader and problem solver and how we can apply core lessons and principles to enhance our own lives. 

We talk about the singular event that made the rest of Macedonia realize the uniqueness of Alexander's mind when he was just a boy, how patience and faith can help us persevere through adversity, how humility can ground us in the present and compel us to become more selfless, and dovetail into an interesting conversation about how to avoid making writing that is preachy or dogmatic and how to make readers empathize and connect with our writing. This was a fascinating conversation with someone who has a keen eye and  genuine devotion to the truth. 

If you want to buy his book, you can order it through his website at www.mukulsheopory.com. 

The introduction to the podcast!