Good Life Project

What if you could work, play, and live in a state of wonder? Even now! That’s the question I explore with today’s guest, Jeffrey Davis. A poet, writer, deep-thinker, founder and CEO of the Tracking Wonder Consultancy, Jeffrey’s got an invitation for all of us. To get off the toxic productivity treadmill, which so many have been hammered by in recent times, and reclaim a sense of possibility, meaning, and wonder. To step back into a place of curiosity and lightness. 

And, when Jeffrey offers that invitation, it’s not just a naive suggestion to rediscover your inner child, but rather a quest to bring wonder back into your life, based on more than 15 years of research, experimentation, and application. Along the way, Jeffrey has developed a powerful, proven, step-by-step methodology to begin bringing wonder back into your work, relationships, devotions, and life. He shares this in his gorgeous new book, Tracking Wonder, and we dive into key ideas and explorations in today’s conversation.

You can find Jeffrey at: Website | Instagram

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with iconic author, Anne Lamott, about opening to all life brings your way.

My new book Sparked.

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Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Kamal Ravikant about reimagining life and learning to love himself.

You can find Tim Ferriss at: Website | Instagram | The Tim Ferris Show podcast

Tim Ferriss has been a man on a mission, driven to deconstruct mastery and excellence, then share what he's learned. It began with his own relentless experimentation and documentation, which yielded #1 New York Times bestsellers The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef along with a series of other books. In more recent years, this yearning has led him to sit down with hundreds of elite performers, from a vast array of domains, on a quest to reveal what made them them. These conversations are shared weekly on Tim's award-winning podcast, The Tim Ferris Show. 

In today's Best Of conversation, we cover very different ground, and get very personal. Tim actually lost a number of people in the year before we sat down in the studio, turned 40 and found himself in a deeply contemplative and emotional space, thinking about who he is, how he wants to create the next 40 years of his life and what matters. When I sat down with Tim, he'd recently returned from an intensive 10-day silent meditation retreat. While gone, he lost yet another close friend. He was, in his own words, in an incredibly "porous" place, leading more from the heart than the head, which was a bit of a major turnaround for him.

We spent time deconstructing Tim's 10-day silent meditation experience, his struggles and awakenings, how it compared to psychedelic experiences and how, barring one major saving grace, his retreat may have sent him spiraling into a very bad place. We also talked about his experience with death, his decision to append audio of his departed friend, Terry Laughlin, which was recorded by Terry's daughters in the hospital during his final days of life to the end of Tim's recent podcast interview with Terry. Tim also shared his decision to take the TED stage, switching last minute to talk about something deeply painful and personal, and what that meant to him, his lens on legacy work (and how it landed with his family, who didn't know what he'd be talking about). And, we explored Tim's awakening to a "softer" set of metrics to measure a life well-lived and his evolving definition of what it truly means to live a good life.

My new book Sparked.

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Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is an author, Activist, and Public Theologian, the first woman and first Black Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church, which is a multiracial, incredibly welcoming, and inclusive congregation in the Lower East Side of New York City, which dates to 1628. Growing up in church in the South Side of Chicago, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when she was nine incited what would become a lifelong devotion to activism and social justice. Graduating school, then spending a decade working in the corporate world, she felt called to redefine how she would step into her own exploration of faith, attending Princeton Theological Seminary, then devoting herself to urban ministry, with the intention of reimagining what faith, church, and community could be. 

Eventually becoming a leader in Middle Church, Rev. Lewis has been instrumental in bringing together what she calls a “multiethnic rainbow coalition of love, justice, and worship that rocks her soul,” and has remained a leading voice in activism, with her work have featured by the TODAY Show, MSNBC, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, among many others. She is the creator of the MSNBC online show, Just Faith and the PBS show, Faith and Justice, in which she led important conversations about culture and current events. Her podcast, Love.Period., is produced by the Center for Action and Contemplation. And her new book, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World, is a deep exploration of faith, race, justice and transformation, bundled with exercises that invite you in a path of personal growth, activism and collective elevation.

You can find Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis at: Website | Instagram | Love.Period. podcast

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Bishop Michael Curry about love as a path to reconciliation and healing.

My new book Sparked.

-------------

Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine going through life with the name, Andy J. Pizza. That’s what my guest today goes by, but it wasn’t his given name, but rather his claimed name. More on that when we talk. Andy was the kid who perpetually zagged when everyone else zigged. And, at a young age, he saw this same pattern in his mother, he was so much like her. Which, in part, lit him up, but also terrified him. In his mom, these same impulses were married to mental illness that led to a life of struggle. He feared that’s where he was headed, too, until a realization dropped that would not only lead him down his own path, but also empower him to embrace life differently and trust he could make it work. And, indeed, he has. 

Andy has built a stunning career as an illustrator, author of kid’s books, animator, and contributor to The New York Times, Apple, Nickelodeon and countless other mega-brands. Driven to share and inspire others in the creative community, he heads up the fantastic Creative Pep Talk podcast, where, by the way, I was his guest recently. And, Andy is a master of the stage, with a style of public speaking that’s one part TED Talk, one part one-man show — with a sprinkle of stand-up comedy. His friends call his approach Laydown Tragedy ( 😆) - because it’s the opposite of stand-up comedy, in that instead of shooting for laughs, he aim for tears, but in the best of ways!

You can find Andy at: Website | Instagram | Creative Pep Talk Podcast

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Morgan Harper Nichols about leaning into creativity and language as a form of both creative expression and emotional processing.

My new book Sparked!

-------------

Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor about how we can understand and tap our whole brains to live fuller lives.

Anthony Trucks entered the foster system, along with his two siblings, when he was three years old, then spent years enduring a series of brutal experiences. Until he found a home where, after 8 years of legal battles, he became emancipated from his mom and was adopted by his then longtime foster parents. Still, a young Black man, now part of a White family who also struggled with poverty, he struggled to belong. Not so much to his family, but to the broader culture around him. He turned to football, working to rise up in the sport and, years down the road, accomplished his dream of being drafted and playing for the NFL. 

But, not long into his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, a career-ending injury would bring it all tumbling down, and leave him stripped not only of his career but his very identity. And, that led to deep struggle, the demise of his family, and a season where Anthony found himself having to rediscover and redefine his sense of identity, who he was as a human being, a partner, a father, a friend, and someone driven to inspire agency and change in others. That journey led him back into the world of wellness, personal growth, speaking, training, and even competing in American Ninja Warrior. As a speaker and identity shift coach, Anthony teaches people how to design and build better lives and businesses by learning how to access the power of their identity to tap into their full potential, a methodology shared in his book, Identity Shift: Upgrade How You Operate to Elevate Your Life.

You can find Anthony at: Website | Instagram

My new book Sparked!

-------------

Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born in Guayaquil Ecuador, Deigo Perez - who is known by the pseudonym Yung Pueblo - moved with his family to Boston, where he saw his parents work relentless hours and struggle with poverty. He turned to activism and advocacy at a young age, then attended Wesleyan where his life devolved into partying and drugs that threatened to become his way of being as he moved into adulthood. But a moment of reckoning would awaken him both to his need to refocus on mental and physical wellbeing, as well as recenter meaning in his work and life.

A quest was set in motion, one that would eventually lead Diego into a 10-day vipassana meditation experience that had a profound impact and would set him on a path of self-discovery, and an ever-deepening devotion to a now years-long, 2-hour-a-day meditation practice, regular extended retreats, and the pursuit of truth and wisdom. A part of that exploration also involved writing, and what began as a tool to process his own experiences eventually became a public writing practice. His words landed in a powerful way, amassing a global audience of millions of people, writing under the pseudonym, Yung Pueblo, which is both a reminder to him to stay grounded in a younger, growth mindset, and also a contained to frame this current season of work as a project that doesn’t constrain his own personal and professional growth. Diego’s new book, Clarity & Connection, shares many of his recent insights about life, meaning, love, work, self-awareness, and of course, clarity and connection.

You can find Yung Pueblo at: Website | Instagram

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Tara Brach about wisdom and compassion.

My new book Sparked!

-------------

Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brought up in a deeply observant Jewish Orthodox household with a reverence for her family’s history, Shelly Tygielski embraced the traditions, teachings, and practices of her faith, even spending summers in Jerusalem with family. Heading to college, then grad school, she pursued her masters in international affairs, then began building a powerhouse career in business, along with a family. But, along the way, she found herself questioning the rules and assumptions by which she lived, and the more she did, the more the walls began to come tumbling down. 

At 27, diagnosed with a chronic disease that left her temporarily blind, she knew a different narrative needed to be set in motion. She began to embrace her then years-long exploration of Eastern traditions and practices, growing largely out of Tibetan Buddhism, and started the process of reclaiming and reimagining her life. A process that would eventually lead her away from a 20-year career at the highest levels of business and into the world of advocacy and self-care. Though, as you’ll learn, advocacy and a deep exploration of the heart and mind, have always been a part of her DNA. 

Shelly began teaching meditation to a few friends on the beach, and each time, more people started showing up, until her Sunday meditation on the beach grew into a community of more than 15,000 people that call themselves The Sand Tribe. Her promise - no barrier to entry, all are welcome. Her fierce devotion to elevating others led her to post a simple form online during March of 2020, connecting those in need with those who wanted to help. It went viral, becoming a global mutual aid movement called the Pandemic of Love that has now generated more than $60-million in mutual aid, matched over 2-million people, and served as a bridge to see the humanity in others at a time it’s needed more than ever. She shared much of this journey in her powerful new book, Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World.

You can find Shelly at: Website | Instagram

If you LOVED this episode you’ll also love the conversations we had with Jennifer Pastiloff about leading with love and compassion.

Check out our offerings & partners: 

• My New Book Sparked | My New Podcast SPARKED
• Visit Our Sponsor Page For a Complete List of Vanity URLs & Discount Codes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Surviving what he describes as a tormented childhood riddled with abuse, Alan Cumming turned to acting, before he knew it was acting, as a way to step out of the world he inhabited and into one of his own creation. One that was safe, where he made the rules. That impulse eventually led him to leave home, study drama in Glasgow, and, in his words” tumble” into a career that, from the outside-in, has appeared as an endless stream of successes. He’s performed with everyone from Jay Z to Liza Minelli; won countless theatrical awards, made back-to-back films with Stanley Kubrick and the Spice Girls; played God, the Devil, Hitler, the Pope, a teleporting superhero, Hamlet, all the parts in Macbeth, General Batista of Cuba, a goat opposite Sean Connery, and political spinmeister Eli Gold on seven seasons of The Good Wife. 

He’s also owned the stage and invited people to re-examine their beliefs, identity, sexuality and sense of power, propriety and openness in the role of the EmCee in Cabaret, which he took on three times over 22 years in London and on Broadway. He’s the author of five books including a #1 New York Times best-selling memoir; and played the first-ever gay leading role on a US network drama, CBS’s Instinct. And, Alan was made an Officer of the British Empire for his contributions to the arts and LBGT equality by the Queen, and has had a love affair with New York City for nearly three decades, where he lives with his husband, and just for fun, also owns a bar.

What sounds like a near-magical life on stages, television and the big screen, though, has also seen its share of profound pain, loss, grief, existential struggle, and eventually a series of reckonings, and awakenings to who and what matters, and a certain reclamation of joy and life. Now in his 50s, he reflects on these moments along this journey in his new book, Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, and we dive into all of it, along with his take on current culture, in today’s conversation. 

You can find Alan at: Website | Instagram

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Matthew McConaughey about what really matters in life.

My new book Sparked!

-------------

Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Najwa Zebian is a Lebanese-Canadian activist, author, speaker, and educator who developed a passion for language at a young age, immersing herself in Arabic poetry and novels. As someone who found herself repeated displaced, leaving Lebanon for Canada when she was 16, not realizing it wasn’t just a trip, but rather a permanent change, would she’d find herself searching for a home—what Najwa describes as a place where the soul and heart feel at peace, a quest that continues into her adult life.

Her passion for language, quest to understand her place in the world and compassion for those who’ve been displaced and disenfranchised led her to pursue a Ph.D. in education. But it was an experience teaching young refugees that rekindled her love of writing, after having left it behind because of an association with pain. She began to heal her sixteen-year-old self by writing to heal her students. Since self-publishing her first collection of poetry and prose in 2016, Najwa has become an inspiration to millions of people worldwide, and a trailblazing voice for women everywhere.

Drawing on her own experiences of displacement, discrimination, and abuse, Najwa uses her words to encourage others to build a home within themselves; to live, love, and create fearlessly. Her new book, Welcome Home, invites us to explore how to create that feeling we so yearn for within ourselves first, before looking outside.

You can find Najwa at: Website | Instagram

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Humble the Poet about defining your own identity in a world where you don’t seem to fit the mold.

My new book Sparked.

-------------

Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam J. Kurtz (whose artist’s identity is Adam JK, is a designer, artist, and speaker whose work is rooted in emotional honesty, humor and even a little bit of darkness, but always with the intention of connection, honoring the reality of any given moment, and being honest. He’s been making and sharing on the internet since age creating his first fan website at twelve years old, eventually went to school for graphic design and learned to express, in his words “slightly too much." Adam’s work embraces the world with a certain "backhanded optimism" and a dark sense of humor or what he describes as "positivity adjacent." And he speaks frankly about channeling human emotion into art, and generally just trying to be more okay with whatever we've got and wherever we are in life. 

This comes out, often, in the form of hand-lettered aphorisms and illustrations that you’ll find all over the internet and social platforms, as well as in books, merch, prints, stationary and brand-focused gifts under his ADAMJK® brand. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages and his offbeat, fun and irreverent creative work has been featured everywhere from NYLON and Adweek to Vice, The New Yorker, and more. In his newest book, You Are Here (For Now): A Guide to Finding Your Way, Adam steps more fully into his writer side, sharing longer-form stories, insights, and ideas. We dive into all of this, how his lens and work have been shaped by an othrodox religious upbringing, what led him down the path of zagging when everyone else was zigging, how his move from New York to Hawaii has changed him and so much more.

You can find Adam at: Website | Instagram

If you LOVED this episode:

You’ll also love the conversations we had with Morgan Harper Nichols about art and life.

My new book Sparked

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Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.