Conversations That Don't Suck

Jason Digges is on the podcast today!

Jason is the co-founder of ART International, which offers life-changing courses that empower you to be more alive, awake and aware in all your relationships – with self, other, and the world. Jason leads ART’s sales, marketing, and business development efforts, manages enrollment, and is a senior course leader. He also makes major contributions to the curriculum based on his unique background and expertise. Jason is a modern renaissance man: Equal parts artist, philosopher, teacher, and video producer. From 2003-2012 he worked for Ken Wilber and other clients to create thousands of hours of educational media on the topics of transpersonal psychology, spirituality, productivity, and personal growth. For the past 4 years he has been a trainer and facilitator for groups within the authentic relating and circling realm and is obsessed with how humans can live and relate optimally.

In this episode, we discuss: burnout from living your dreams, rugged individualism and identity, creating non-exclusive communities that provide connection without dogma, the difference between rules and practices, how I’ve created exclusion through connection practices, removing competition from vulnerability, and why the practice of Authentic Relating has grown so dramatically in recent years in response to technological growths.

authenticrelating.co

Veronica Kaulinis is on the pod this week, and we're getting vulnerable ... I mean... maybe not any more than usual ;)

In this episode, we discuss: How Veronica’s relationship patterns led her to wanting to have more vulnerable conversations, her past fears around being seen as ‘too nice’, how vulnerable shares permission others to be themselves, the yearning of vulnerability, how she creates safe spaces for vulnerability, the importance of grounding after a vulnerable experience, and our different levels of comfort with confrontation.

Veronica Kaulinis is a professional Community Builder and International Facilitator who's passionate about creating experiences and trainings that encourage, depth, authentic conversations, courageous vulnerability and leadership. Veronica is the Founder & Creator of Vulnerable AF, which is community event series that encourages vulnerability and deep and thought-provoking conversations in a safe space.

Website: www.veronicakaulinis.com

Facebook: Veronica Kaulinis

IG: @vulnerableafnyc

Adar Weinreb is on the podcast today! Adar Weinreb is a social activist currently residing in Tel Aviv, Israel. He dedicates his free time to building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians and has a podcast of his own called Standing Up where he interviews activists from around the world.

In this episode, we discuss: How Adar learned to see himself in Hamas terrorists as an Israeli soldier, how lifetimes of fear-based teachings become hate, my own shameful experiences of “othering” people in Israel, how connection is the solution for bridging fear-based divides, what’s really a “safe space”, why we tend to not normalize our enemies, the demoralization of Israeli and Palestinian communities and why most people don’t become activists even when they really believe in the cause, Viktor Frankel, existentialism, and suffering, how privilege affects morality, and the challenges of altruism.

Yuko Kudo is on the pod today! Yuko Kudo is native Japanese and immigrated to the United States in June 2003, landing in Los Angles, California, and settling there for 10 years until moving to New York City in 2013. Yuko is a multi-dimensional artist and creator. She uses art and storytelling to create community, while reminding people they are not alone. Yuko is the Founder and Artistic Director of the "I AM" Series Global, which showcases artists' talent within themes focusing on claiming one's various, complex identities and belonging. Through her work as a photographer, she has appeared in Forbes and TIME magazines, among other media outlets. Yuko Kudo was a finalist for the Roger Sturtevant Musical Theatre Award for the Actor's Equity Association. Her latest work includes a self produced musical SOLO show entitled, "Good Bye... Love", focusing on diversity, mental wellness and women's empowerment. Upcoming off-Broadway musical "Poupelle of Chimney Town" based on Japanese Picture book. She has been facilitating the creation of collaborative educational spaces focuses on the intersection of art and activism.

In this episode, we discuss: Yuko’s work as an artist and community builder and how those things intersect, how art makes difficult conversations more approachable, why Yuko was discouraged from talking about religion, politics, and race as an immigrant, why embracing discomfort is the only way to enter hard conversations, underlying motivations in conversation, HUMILITY, and why community requires action and giving.

www.yukoislovelivelife.com

IG: @yukoislovelivelife

Linkedin @yukokudo

Chelsea Simpson is on the podcast today! Chelsea is an educator, facilitator, and coach with more than 10 years experience at the intersection of transformational leadership, innovation, somatics, and diversity and inclusion. Chelsea has worked internationally, in English and Spanish, with a wide range of organizations, including Microsoft, the Smithsonian Institute, the NYC Mayor’s Office, the Centre for Social Innovation, Bloomberg Industries, Make the Road NY, and various organizations in El Salvador & Central America. Her TEDx talk, America Emerges, covers inside-out modern leadership. She is a certified Emotional Intelligence coach, mediator, teaching artist, and doula She is based in NYC, and is also adjunct faculty in the Strategic Design & Management program at the New School. 

In this episode, we discuss: Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity as it relates to Coronavirus, why we need community to create change, why young adults tend to not prioritize community, what vulnerability actually is, humility as an entrepreneur, how I struggle with vulnerability in facilitation settings, and how collaboration is required for system-level change.

http://emergingleaders.us/

Kat Vellos is on the podcast today, and we're talking about creating and maintaining thriving adult friendships. I'm so grateful that I met Kat through a mutual friend - I actually fangirled prettyyyy hard when I met her because I had heard about her work and book and knew who she was.

Kat Vellos is a user experience designer, speaker, and facilitator with a passion for helping people connect authentically. She’s researched, designed, and advised on the user experience of countless flows in digital products serving millions of people at companies like Slack and Pandora, and created community for hundreds more as a facilitator. With her debut book, We Should Get Together, she’s turned her expertise in user research and experience design towards helping people live healthier lives through the cultivation of deeper, more fulfilling friendships.

In this episode, we cover: Our current overwhelm of Zoom meetings, how introverts are expected to adapt in an extroverted world, the challenges of friendship as an adult, how flakiness and other social characteristics can be analyzed through our geographical location, why having friends is not the same as feeling connected and why social connections will not always prevent loneliness, what is still possible through virtual connection, and how businesses can and must adapt to creating spaces of connection for their work teams.

www.weshouldgettogether.com

THE HEARTBREAK EPISODE IS HERE! (and I'm sharing some poetry!)

Alright y'all, this one's been in the making for a while. Today I'm doing a solocast - no guest, just yours truly - and I'm talking about one of my favorite topics: heartbreak. Heartbreak is one of the most all-encompassing forms of grief. It's painful, inconvenient, and universal. It's something that has brought me profound insights and changes in my life and has truly deepened my relationship to myself.

In this episode, I'm sharing some thoughts about heartbreak and ALSOOO (drumroll pleazzze) sharing a piece of writing that I've been working on for a few months around this topic. Sharing my writing is the most intimate, vulnerable thing I can do... so I figured why not broadcast it out into the ether. Buckle your seatbelt. Enjoy.

Libby Crow is in today. Libby is a former coach of mine, fellow lover of personal development, and all around glorious woman. It was so lovely to catch up with her and get some of her sparkle and wisdom in this conversation. In this episode, we chat about: burnout and flow, the difference between emotional and physical shut-down, how social media makes us project our ideas onto other people, Libby’s relationship with her husband Scott, dating/love/heartbreak, and what people get wrong about us.

Libby Crow is a global mentor for entrepreneurs helping them practice deep self-care while also growing their businesses and their minds. She is the founder of LC International, a marketing strategy company, blog & self-care resource for digital consultants, and Co-Founder of The Daily Shift, a personal development company for aspiring and accomplished entrepreneurs alike. She’s dedicated to helping entrepreneurs see the journey as a bridge to raising the vibration of the planet and then later as a portal for giving back philanthropically.

https://www.instagram.com/libbycrow/

https://www.facebook.com/libby.crow

http://libbycrow.com/

Today we have Yochai Maital on the podcast! Yochai Maital is the Co-creator Editor and Senior producer of Israel Story - a Hebrew and English storytelling podcast that is sometimes dubbed 'the Israeli This American Life'.

Born in Haifa, he served eight years as an officer in the Israeli army before embarking on a new trajectory, studying creative writing at Tel Aviv’s Minshar College for Arts. Yochai has built multiple eco-houses, co-founded Tel Aviv’s first organic food co-op, worked at a hostel for youth offenders and was involved with the African refugee community. He currently lives in New-York with his wife and three kids. Beside producing Israel Story Yochai writes, creates audio and sound installations and produces documentary audio guides.

We discuss: How Israel Story got started by 4 childhood friends and a lot of chutzpah, how working on this project has allowed its producers to step outside of their bubble, seeing the world through the lens of stories, how this work has been influential on Yochai’s identity, the future of Israel Story, why they shied away at first of being considered a “Jewish podcast” and who they have influenced through bringing human stories about Israel to the world, why storytelling is the most powerful medium to bridge divides, and what most people don’t understand about Israel.

https://linktr.ee/israelstory

https://www.facebook.com/sipurisraeli/

https://www.instagram.com/israel.story/

In this episode, Brad Wolfe is joining me to talk about our most feared topic: Death. This was a super special conversation that came at an extremely timely moment in my life as death was consuming my life. This is a good one, folks. Listen up.

In this episode, we discuss: Brad’s work with Reimagine End of Life, how Brad’s experiences with death have influenced his work and the way he relates to the world, how to remember our mortality and also seize the day, why breakups are their own form of death, how to create more beauty and creativity in life by confronting death, how our medical system is unprepared to handle death, how to have conversations about the end of life before it’s too late, and my own wishes for my death.

Brad Wolfe is the founder and executive director of Reimagine, a new nonprofit that brings diverse communities together to explore death and celebrate life through creativity and conversation. With over 30,000 attendees to date--and with a belief that by facing death we begin to live more fully--Reimagine End of LIfe citywide festivals have quickly become the largest end-of-life events in the United States. Reimagine was recently named a "World Changing Idea" by Fast Company Magazine.

Before becoming a nonprofit, Reimagine was initially inspired by OpenIDEO’s End of Life Challenge, and was led by Brad as part of an OpenIDEO project exploring art and end of life. Brad's personal interest in end-of-life began as he performed bedside concerts for his friend Sara L., who died of a rare pediatric cancer. In Sara's honor, Brad co-founded the Sunbeam Foundation for pediatric cancer research and formed Brad Wolfe & the Moon, a band which has performed concerts for other young people facing terminal cancer and been featured on MTV.

Brad has an MA in Sociology from Stanford and an MBA from UC Berkeley, where he has served as a lecturer on the topics of innovation and design.

www.letsreimagine.org

www.bradwolfe.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleywolfe/

Mentions:

You’re Going To Die - open mic in San Francisco

Beginner’s Guide To The End by Shoshana Berger and AJ Miller

The Conversation Project

The 5 Wishes

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Brad Wolfe and The Moon on Spotify