Richard is a licensed psychologist, author (The Zero Method), and podcast host (Richard Listens), who spent time working with community leaders and the Los Angeles Police Department on Skid Row to save hundreds of lives on the brink of suicide. He now works with men, women, athletes, teens, and trauma victims in his private practice. Through all of these experiences, Richard has identified connectivity with other people as the most important value in his life. He believes that human connection allows us to experience life in a much deeper, fuller way. There is a trust and emotional alignment that comes with true connection that allows you to be more free and open.

As often happens on this show, I spent a good bit of the episode playing the cynic. I actually do believe (although it took me a while to get there in my own life) that human connection does significantly improve our lives, but it then begs the question why don't we do more of it? We know all the surface level reasons, technology, busy lives, pressure to achieve; but if human connection really is as valuable as we say it is, why is it so hard for us to do it? Are we too self involved, too lazy, or too jaded on life? We worked through all these ideas and Richard had some intriguing insights for each of them.

Towards the end of the conversation, we landed on this concept of acceptance. We talked about how important it is to accept the, at times inconvenient, reality of life which is that we have to be somewhat selfish. We may aspire to connect more and help others more, but the truth is there is a limit. It takes a lot of energy, vulnerability, and humility to truly connect with people. As much as we'd all love to be amazing people who find the time to do it as much as possible, we can't. We have to accept the fact that our own selfish needs require us to stop worrying about other people and just focus on ourselves sometimes. Big thanks to Richard for being on and sharing his experience and insight.