In this week's episode, we're back to talking about the tenets and principles of Clean Thinking and we're doing so via our fourth discussion of a specific influence: our friends & family. This is our first discussion of an external influence and if you're planning on listening along with a friend or family member, you might want to wait until you're alone! Host Mike Marcella opens with another verbal thrashing of the bland and uninspiring genre of adult contemporary music and goes on to detail all of the ways that our friends and family can act as subjective influences in our lives, both for better or worse, and purposely or accidentally. He then goes on to describe how we might go about managing the potential detriments of those influences, while focusing on and nurturing those relationships that are valuable to us.

Welcome to our third edition of Dirty Talk, where we're going to stick with last week's topic of past experiences, sort of. We're going to be talking about COVID again, but from the context of how things were handled, how we the citizenry then responded, and most importantly, what we can take away from this experience to help improve our thinking and decision-making in the future. We’re then going to talk about the struggles many businesses are having in finding workers after COVID and use that topic to discuss two concepts we’ll cover in detail later in the program: blaming and perspective. Specifically, we're going to talk about how it's important to consider other perspectives, along with the pitfalls of blaming and directing our attention outwards.

In this week's episode, we're back to talking about the tenets and principles of Clean Thinking and we're doing so via our third discussion of a specific influence: our past experiences. The episode begins in a familiar fashion, with some lighthearted humor with the intent to illustrate the pervasiveness of yet another past experience. Host Mike Marcella then goes on to detail the many different ways that past experience can influence our thinking, and beyond that, how it can influence who we are. From there, Mike walks us through a hypothetical example where one's education could actually lead to the incorrect conclusion, and further explains how that process can become a bad habit if not kept in check.

Welcome to our second edition of Dirty Talk, where we're going to be recounting a tale of juvenile grand theft auto in great detail, and will maybe learn a thing or two about the basics of automobiles, junkyard practices, and the potential pitfalls of bad parenting. The tale itself is extremely entertaining, but more importantly than that, it is relevant to Clean Thinking in many ways, since numerous influences contributed to host Mike Marcella's choice to steal a car in the first place. The episode finishes with some reflection on the value of updating one's viewpoints when presented with new and better information, said reflection accomplished through Mike's evolving viewpoints on automobiles from Tesla, and electric vehicles in general.

In this week's episode, we're back to talking about the tenets and principles of Clean Thinking and we're doing so via our second discussion of a specific influence: our feelings. Nothing more than feelings The episode begins with an overview of the influence and the conflict it can present in our thinking. Host Mike Marcella then talks about the three main ways that subjective feelings can affect our objective decision-making capabilities, utilizing a cheap rip-off of shitty holiday film, some real-life accounts of car thievery, and a hypothetical situation in which we imagine we're afraid of dogs. He then goes on to describe the evolutionary why and how our feelings affect our rational minds in the first place. This one is definitely not to be missed if you're interested in the journey to Clean Thinking!

Welcome to our second edition of The Clean Thinkers monthly theme-based podcasts, and this one is all about June's theme: career & business! This episode revolves around one of the most important concepts in all of Clean Thinking, which is the ability to recognize the differences between subjective information and objective information. It also focuses on another critical concept, which is understanding the effect motivated reasoning can have on our interpretation of objective information and how easy it is for us to skew a given collection of information so it fits a predefined narrative. Host Mike Marcella shares a tale from his professional life, where he allowed this to happen in his former career. Although the detriments may not have been that substantial in this instance, normalizing the practice of treating the subjective as objective has the potential to become a major issue in our lives. Have a listen to see just how easily we can allow our professional and personal lives to influence one another in potentially harmful ways.

In this week's episode, we're back to talking about the tenets and principles of Clean Thinking and we're doing so via our first discussion of a specific influence: our self-interest, the King of the Lizard Brain. The episode begins with an overview of the influence, its evolutionary roots, and the many ways it can influence our thinking, from fight-or-flight survival responses, to defense of our beliefs. Oh yes, it's involved in everything. Host Mike Marcella then walks through some ways we might go about managing specific examples of self-interest-driven thinking through Clean Thinkers' methodologies. Some of these examples of (maybe not such great choices) are sure to leave you shaking your head, enraged, or a touch of both. Either way, this episode is not to be missed if you're interested in the journey to Clean Thinking!

Welcome to our very first edition of Dirty Talk, where we're going to be talking about a range of topics, all of which kind of relate back to last week's theme-based episode about health & wellness! The episode begins with a dissertation on the basic vileness and unpleasantness of rodents, and not the politician kind, but real, live rodents like rats and mice. Through this tale, host Mike Marcella then discusses the general shittiness of the US healthcare and insurance industries, and then goes on to talk about COVID, masks, and vaccines. If nothing else, this episode will certainly make you cringe, probably make you laugh, and possibly make you cry. It earned a 5 of 5 on Mike's "laugh like an idiot while editing" scale, so it's one you don't want to miss!

Welcome to our very first foray into The Clean Thinkers monthly theme-based podcasts, and this one is all about May's theme: health & wellness! The episode opens with a description of each theme offered throughout the year by the program and before jumping into the theme discussion, host Mike Marcella takes a quick detour to help explain the difference between a theory and a hypothesis, a concept that is important to the rest of the episode. The heart of the discussion talks about many misconceptions we hold about what is "healthy," the value of "natural," and goes on to detail ways that we can make better decisions about our health and wellness by recognizing the place of influences and subjectivity in the choices we make for ourselves and those to whom we're responsible.

Are you ready to continue the journey to Clean Thinking and to the best version of yourself? Corresponding to Chapter 2 from the book Dirty Thoughts? Let's Talk Volume 1: Introduction & The Influences On Our Thinking, this second episode further explores what The Clean Thinkers program is all about and details the types of content offered by program. Before delving into the program's content, however, host Mike Marcella takes you down a rabbit hole into the nature of reality itself, questioning all the things we "know" and are "certain" of. The perfect existential dread pick-me-up to accompany one's commute to work!