Learning From Humanity with Simon Funk

How can we set ourselves up to perform at our best? Listening to this conversation would be a good start. In it, Kristina, who is presently training in preparation for the Olympics, shared many of the tools, techniques, and mindsets that she uses to work toward success. Thankfully, they are versatile, enabling practically anyone to put them to good use, just as I am striving to do at this very moment.

If you’re looking for more on high performance, Kristina also makes a podcast herself (Difference Makers on Spotify) where she interviews people who have made considerable contributions to their field or sport. A few last things about Kristina that may pique your interest are that she highly values relationships, grew up on a farm, and believes in the power of good old-fashioned hard work.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did!

Have a great day!

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learningfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

"We are always freer than we think we are." During our conversation, Ruthi proved this to be the case many times over, before she got around to actually saying it.  Born two days before D-Day she went on to become an avid scuba diver, explore much of Europe, including many archeological sites and natural wonders, return to traditional school during her mid-twenties and ultimately become a successful lawyer, and sail across the Atlantic ocean.  As if she were not already interesting enough, Ruthi then became Jewish.  This episode is an overdose of fantastic stories paired with some time-tested wisdom drawn from both Ruthi's life and Judaism itself.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Have a great day!

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learningfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

Trudy describes herself as an incredibly happy and adventurous person. Those are attributes that I, like many of you, want to cultivate within myself. Fortunately, Trudy shares some of the practices, value structures, and elements of life that enable her to maintain this positive state in this episode. Key among those are healthy relationships with friends and family.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did,

Have a great day!

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learningfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

Speaking with David left me with a whole lot to think about.  How can I bring "warm curious attention" to every interaction?  How can I be present while thinking about and planning for the future?  How can I challenge a society that encourages us to think about everything as a transaction in order to form heart connections?  How can I get the best out of myself without resorting to judgment or criticism?  How can I help create a world where all people can thrive?  As you can see I have a lot of questions.  If you're interested in taking a first step towards some of the answers, I suggest you listen to my conversation with David, a dedicated Baha'i who generously gave me more than I bargained for.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Have a great day!

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learningfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

Emma started this conversation by defining living well as setting yourself up for success and then moved on to describe how she does that in her everyday life as an internationally competitive athlete.  What does she compete in?  She is a guide for para-triathlon who races at the world level and has had to change her approach to sport to compete successfully while staying healthy. This conversation was incredibly wide-ranging, touching on topics from the value of burnout to the power of gratitude, from creating your own luck to building a solid foundation for performance in all areas of life.  Interested in useful frameworks to get the most out of your life paired with a healthy dose of good humour?  Give this episode a listen.

This conversation was one of the most informative and fun that I've ever had and this description doesn't come close to doing it justice; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Have a great day!

Simon

Here is a link to the Huberman Lab Podcast which we mentioned on the episode: https://open.spotify.com/show/79CkJF3UJTHFV8Dse3Oy0P

For all information related to the podcast go to learningfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

When Imad was three and a half years old his parents emigrated from Saudi Arabia to Quebec Canada. That was the first international journey of many for Imad who went on to travel Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America extensively. While on those travels he and a friend founded Globe Jumpers (@theglobejumpers on Instagram and at The Globe Jumpers on Facebook), a nonprofit organization with the aim of doing good with their travels. Through that organization he helped run a summer camp in Burundi for the mentally challenged, fundraised for refugees, and spoke in schools, encouraging students to go out, explore the world, and do good. Another thing he did while on his travels was train in India to become a yogi. If Imad sounds interesting to you, listen to this episode where we discussed travel, yoga, and how he thinks about life. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and I believe that you will too.

Have a great day,

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learningfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

There is so much to say about this conversation and I don't know where to start.  Should I begin by mentioning that Hoyu is a Zen Buddhist reverend who was once a hippie?  Or should I start with the main topic of the conversation, that life is transitory and "everything comes and everything goes"?  What about the fact that Hoyu walked me through a meditation on the air?  Or that we talked about the difference between mindfulness and meditation?  And that once again the power of being present was discussed on this podcast and new insights were shared.  Or that we talked about how the rigid structure of Zen practice is what sets you free to be completely present in the moment, feeling all that comes your way?  In our conversation, when I was at a loss regarding what to ask next, Hoyu told me to "follow my heart." That's what I'm doing now.  And, this is what you get out of it, an introduction that rambles and only gives you a taste of the wonderful person I interviewed.  So, here's the short version.  Hoyu shared wisdom with me that rattled my world and may very well rattle yours.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

For all information related to the podcast go to learingfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

You know those people who light up a room when they walk in? The people who leave you with a little extra bounce in your step? Ryan is one of those people.  And no, he is not too good to be true, he’s just practiced being positive for quite a while.  He is also a devoted Bahá’i and derives a lot of hope from that. Throughout our conversation, Ryan shared insights regarding how to live well and gave me a brief introduction to the Bahá’i faith.  The first included discussion regarding nurturing one's self, moderation, and the value of diverse experiences.  The second left me enlightened and encouraged by the faith that is described like this:

“To be a Bahá’i simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (A central figure of the Bahá’i faith)

If you’re interested in listening in on my conversation with one of the most radiant and caring people I have ever met, check out this episode.

Have a great day!

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learingfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

The definition of addiction I gave in this episode came from a quote from Dr. Andrew Huberman wonderfully illustrated by @afterskool.  It can be found here.

When I initially reached out to Roc to record an interview it didn't work out.  During the first half of the week where I had hoped to speak to him, he was riding his motorcycle, and during the second half, he was planning to climb a mountain.  As you can probably tell by now, Roc likes his adventures.  He has also learned a thing or two about how to live well.  Throughout our conversation some of the key ideas that came up were the necessity of self-training, "never say can't", the power of spending fifteen minutes a day on developing yourself, the value of freedom, and the importance of giving everything in your life a tune-up from time to time.   If you're feeling like a serving of life lessons with some stories sprinkled in for extra flavour, I would recommend giving our conversation a listen.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did,

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learingfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.

Lena is a firecracker.  She is also the kind of person who sings about spaghetti sauce when she’s shopping, describes herself as a dork, and struggled with suicide for a large portion of her life.  Curious about how all that can come together in a single person?  Listen to our conversation to find out.  It was heavy at times, but was also the funniest episode to date so that balances it out.  A couple themes we touched on are the importance of learning to make mistakes and ask for help and how powerful and fun it is to exist as your full self.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Have a Great Day,

Simon

For all information related to the podcast go to learingfromhumanity.com or follow me on Instagram @learningfromhumanity.