Bob was a mob lawyer until he discovered the I Ching. He is now is a professor at Elon University, teaching Business Law and Meditation (two separate courses). 

We talk about growing up selling hot dogs and cotton candy, becoming a lawyer in Miami in working for Janet Reno as a prosecutor; hitting the mob for $72 million; being recruited by the mafia; discovering the I Ching and Taoism; cultivating wisdon compassion, kindness, and generosity; creating happiness in our lives; the importance of cultivating sympathetic joy; meditation; freeing up your intuitive mind to work on the problems in your life in a non-verbal way; Bob reads Desiderata; Jesus and Budhism; and more.

Shownotes are here https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support the show through Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics

Daniel Brown, aka @mullet_lord, is a former hard partier who nearly died from drug and alcohol abuse. He now lives and surfs in Australia, owns a coffee shop, and leads a healthy life, however, at 24 years old, he needed a drink to avoid seizure, and was also into marijuana and extasy. During a short coma, he had a near-death experience in which he spent, as he describes it, a lifetime in Heaven, where he formed deep relationships with spirits in a dimension outside of time. This was followed by a lifetime in Hell, walking through a firey desert for an eternity, at the end of which he purged himself of his old self. He chose to come back to his body, and now has a new sober life. We also talk about surfing and staying physically fit, yoga, meditation, and much more!

Shownotes can be found here https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support through Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics

In this episode, I read aloud a short story I wrote about one of my favorite places, Isla Escudo de Veraguas. If you like short stories, sign un for me free newsletter at paultrammell.substack.com, and get a story in your email at the begining of each month, as well as occasional poems, essays, and book reviews.

Sung J. Woo is the author of "Lines," a novel I recently read and loved.

His short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, PEN/Guernica, Financial Times, and Vox. He has written five novels, Lines (2024), Deep Roots (2023), Skin Deep (2020), Love Love (2015), and Everything Asian (2009), which won the 2010 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award. In 2022, his Modern Love essay from The New York Times was adapted by Amazon Studios for episodic television. A graduate of Cornell University with an MFA from New York University, he lives in Washington, New Jersey.

We talk about New York City (where Lines takes place), how he got started writing, Stephen King's books, other books we love, his inspiration for the novel, developing characters, creativity, writing technique, his muse, the novel, the ending, his MFA, and more.

Podcast shownotes can be found here https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support the show here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics

Erden is one of two people to have circumnavigated under human power, and Erden is the only to have done it solo, and he did it by rowing, cycling, kayaking, and hiking. He holds an amazing 18 Guiness World Records. 

We talk about rowing across oceans, bicycling across continenets, hiking across Papua New Guinea, his route around the world, training, dealing with difficult situations, eating coffe grounds, sharks, whales, tuna, sea turtles, birds, recording whale sounds along the way, the benefits of unplugging from society and spending time at sea, entering the 2026 Golden Globe Race, and more.

We talk about the Golden Globe Race on my other podcast Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell

Podcast shownotes are here https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support through Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics

Enzo Dal Verme is an Italian portrait photographer drawing on over three decades of experience in meditation. He approaches photography as a path of self-discovery and personal growth. His portraits have been published in Vanity Fair, l'Uomo Vogue, The Times, GQ, Madame Figarò, Elle, Glamour, Vogue Sport, Marie Claire and many other magazines. Enzo has been leading his acclaimed photography retreats in Tuscany since 2011.

We talk about developing creativity, becoming a photographer, getting out of your comfort zone, exposing yourself to inspiration, meditation, creating a fantasy in photography, publishing inspiring stories in stupid magazines, making the world a better place through photography, marketing for artists, teaching photography, dealing with fear, beautiful places, finding friendly people, and more.

Shownotes are here https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support the show here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics

Elijah Nisenboim is founder of Effiji Breathwork and has been helping people with suffering and trauma for 33 years. He is the author of 3 books including “The Trauma Code: Unlocking the Hidden Map to Your Life's True Purpose.”  He has traveled to China more than 20 times, learning Sacred Taoist energy practice and Internal Martial Arts which he incorporates in his healing methods for trauma release. Elijah helps people release trauma and understand and use trauma as a valuable tool for fulfilling one’s life purpose.

Shownotes are here

Support through Patreon here

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is an author, creative-writing teacher, and host of my favorite podcast, "Writers on Writing." She is also a lecturer at Chapman University’s Dodge Film School, an adjunct professor of Advanced Creative Writing at Saddleback College Emeritus Institute, and instructor at  Gotham Writers Workshop (online). She also holds two private workshops. 

Barbara was recognized with a Distinguished Instructor Award at UC-Irvine and awarded Literary Magnet #1 in Orange Coast Magazine’s Best of Orange County. She is founder of the Pen on Fire Speakers Writers Salon in Corona del Mar, California and in the summer of 2013, began holding writers retreats in Palm Springs. She’s the former president of Sisters in Crime, Orange County chapter, and was the editor of The ASJA Monthly, (the official publication of the American Society of Journalists and Authors), from 2002 to 2014. ASJA awarded her with the Extraordinary Service Award in 2015.

We talk about how she became a writer (instead of going to clown school or starting a beauty salon), writing short stories, her writing habits and techniques, writing in longhand, stationary sickness, her book "Palm Springs Noir," lessons and insights gleaned from the hundreds of authors she has interviewed on her podcast, the importance of improvisation, cultivating creativity, self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, book covers, artificial intelligence, favorite books and authors, and more.

Shownotes are here https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support the show through Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics

Brad Chandler is a successful entrepreneur who built a thriving real estate investment company, but is now dedicating his life to his true passion: helping others break free from their past, overcome limiting beliefs, and create the life and relationships they desire and deserve. Through mastering self-love and reprogramming the mind, Brad has transformed his own life, and he's here to share his powerful insights with you. If you're ready to unlock your potential and live a life of true fulfillment, this episode is for you!

We talk about the connection between happiness and success, how unhappiness is detrimental to our health, avoiding mental pollution, television and movies we avoid, marijuana and alcohol, why we do drugs, how childhood trauma leads to negative behavior, rewriting neural pathways to overcome negative emotions and behaviors, why perscriptions for depression and anxiety don't work, the self-love quiz, finding true happiness, responding in love to yourself and to others, limitlessyou, meditation, and more.

Links and show notes are here https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support through Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics

Jeff Patterson, from Portland, OR, USA, has over 36 years of experience, practicing and teaching the meditative and martial arts. As the founder of Northwest Fighting Arts/Portland Tai Chi Academy and The Yielding Warrior, he emphasizes the transformative power of meditative and martial arts practices, particularly the yielding concept. He has published two books and hundreds of instructional videos, is the founder of The Yielding Warrior online program and has worked with thousands of students from around the world.

We talk about various martial arts, meditation, the relationship of meditation and martial arts, yeilding, his books, using the meditative arts, specific benefits of meditation, core foundations of a meditative practice, yin and yang breathing, creativity, quigong, fighting, the benefits of combat sports, facing fear, diet, intuition, getting started in meditation - first steps, and more.

Show notes are at https://www.paultrammell.com/dream-chasers-and-eccentrics

Support through Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/DreamChasersandEccentrics