Lucid Commons™

Dr. Kim Garchar, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kent State University and clinical ethicist, is back—and if part I was the practical reality of death and dying in America, part II is the metaphysical milkshake of mortality, as promised.

Before grad school and clinical ethics, Kim was a math major who dropped out of an applied engineering program when she realized what she loved about math was the theory. She takes us back to her twenties, teaching ski lessons, waiting tables, and playing volleyball in a Colorado mountain town. Then she discovered Sartre, Camus, and Beauvoir—the classic French existentialists—and spent years reconciling that resonance with her Catholic upbringing. Their core claim: we are born without consent and with no pre-loaded purpose. We are simply born, and we get to create our own meaning. It's both terrifying and freeing—Kim explains Sartre's nausea, Camus' abyss, and Beauvoir's belief that your freedom only fully exists when everyone else's does too.

From there we journey to the Myth of Sisyphus and the question of hope—why Camus insisted we can't hope, only act—and land on Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, where the prisoners of Auschwitz weren't surviving on hope—they were surviving on their why.

Then we go wide: monotheism and the promise of heaven, Judaism's epistemic humility about not knowing what comes next, and secular Buddhism's answer to the question of self—no core self, only energy, only connection. Kim makes the case that when you actually believe you and the stranger next to you are made of the same stuff, it changes how you treat them. It's also, coincidentally, where she confesses her own moral failing.

We end on the idea that's been under this whole conversation from the start: live your beliefs, not just hold them. Kim tells a story about her grandfather—a man she adored, a man who truly lived his values, but who had a real moral blind spot—and the one sentence she said to him that made him pause for the first time in his life.

If you've ever wondered what happens when you actually take your beliefs seriously—not just on Sunday, but every day—or you've been avoiding the bigger questions because they feel too big to hold, this one's for you. Bring curiosity, not fear.

Jenn Johnson, ER nurse, mom of two, entrepreneur, researcher, and author, takes us into her world—18 years of emergency nursing (with a few detours into peds and PACU), and the moment mid-pandemic when the collective trauma of the life-or-death days broke her open and became the book Nursing Intuition: How to Trust Your Gut, Save Your Sanity, and Survive Your Career.

We talk about what it actually looks like inside a Canadian ER at capacity—boarders, gridlock, hallway nursing, and the chaos. We get into interoception, the "eighth sense," and why nurses who can spot a crashing patient from a mile away somehow forget how to listen to their own bodies. Jenn walks us through the patient who changed everything—the one where her gut said something was wrong five years before any doctor validated her—and what it finally took to trust that voice instead of talking herself out of it. We talk about the word that stops a doctor in their tracks, why "advocating" shows up differently in a chart than a feeling does, and how she's transformed her own face-first entrance into nursing into an international study on new grad nurse retention—because you don't need a master's degree to give back to your profession.

We also go somewhere heavier: nurse bullying and the "nurses eat their young" culture that still gets treated as a rite of passage instead of a crisis, acclimating to the "nuts," why sleep isn't optional recovery but the body's actual repair process, and the grief nurses carry for patients they never got permission to mourn. Jenn teaches a workshop with Nurse Blake at nursing camp (and soon, the cruise) called How to Grieve Your Patient—and she walks us through the same visualization exercise that's left every class she's taught in tears.

If you've ever known something was wrong before you could prove it, been made to feel small by someone who was supposed to have your back, needed permission to grieve, rest, or trust the thing your body already knew, or you're just here for a real conversation with a nurse who says the quiet part out loud—this one's for you.

Find Jenn on:

Instagram: @ernurse.jenn

TikTok: @ernurse.jenn

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-johnson-bscn-rn/

Add Jenn's book to your reading list, Nursing Intuition: How to Trust Your Gut, Save Your Sanity, and Survive Your Career: https://www.amazon.com/Nursing-Intuition-Sanity-Survive-Career-ebook/dp/B0DB5VWFFY

Brian Cunningham's career started in a hospital parking lot. From there: patient transporter, then occupational therapist, then CEO of not one but two health systems, then author of three books—one of which literally maps out how leadership follows the same natural developmental progression we all move through as humans.

That's the throughline of this conversation: leadership isn't a set of tactics you learn; it's an expression of your Awareness Quotient—the same underlying capacity for attention, focus, and intent that shapes every other part of how you move through life. Most of us build it by accident. Brian spent decades building it on purpose, and this episode is the map.

Brian walks us through the first five levels—authoritarian, evidence-based, coaching, transformational, servant—and explains why most people never advance past levels one and two: the need to be in control and the need to be right. We reflect on what lucid reality means, what it looks like to live life on purpose, and pull threads from The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz on the "domestication" most of us are still unwinding. Brian shares a gutting story about standing in a room while a community screamed accusations at him, and what it looked like to not fight it, not perform composure, but actually surrender into it. We close on AI, complexity outpacing our collective development, and a full-circle tribute to the mentor who helped him bring decades of inner work into the mess of the workplace.

If you've ever felt like you're doing everything "right" as a leader and still hitting a wall, or you're curious what it actually takes to move from control to connection, this one's for you.

Stay tuned for Part II!

Find Brian at:

LinkedIn

AwarenessQuotientLeadership.com

Find Brian's books on Amazon:

Leadership: The Universal Principles

Dr. Kim Garchar, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kent State University, clinical ethicist, and pet parent (you'll meet Ozzy), takes us through her world—being raised to be comfortable with conversations about death and her realization as an adult that, oh, this is not normal—most people don't like talking about mortality. We talk about the language we use to describe dying, why "fighting" is the wrong metaphor when there's only ever one victor, and how she reframes death not as an enemy to defeat but as a transition—just another change in an ecosystem of change.

We also get into how the real suffering at end of life often isn't death itself; it's the overmedicalization of dying and the loss of agency that comes with it. We discussed everything from Sartre, Camus, and Beauvoir and the two things that mark the human condition, to Thanksgiving dinner and the awkward genius of asking your grandma if she's an organ donor, to power of attorney versus living wills, to what understanding death can teach us about living a meaningful life. We end with the epitome of a full-circle moment, nearly a decade after I first sat in Dr. Garchar's classroom—a moment that still has my jaw on the floor.

If you're wrestling with your own mortality, are curious about different perspectives on death, or are avoiding a hard conversation because you don't know how to start it, this one's for you.

This conversation was so good, we had to keep it going. Stay tuned for part II, a metaphysical milkshake of existentialism, Buddhism, and the philosophy of mortality.

Check out this video when you get to the "above the line" bit: Locating Yourself: A Key to Conscious Leadership: https://youtu.be/fLqzYDZAqCI?si=o5cS-SVrlKnZCukV

Evie Wick—mother, former IBMer, priestess in training, and new empty nester and self-described "crone"—joins me for a conversation about her "pause and pivot." We talk identity, authenticity, and the messy work of becoming yourself when you've spent a lifetime wearing faces. We talk about the difference between the labels we hold and the values underneath them, and what it takes to live as "I am" instead of what you do. We traveled down a winding road of 23 moves and 11 schools, to a T.S. Eliot poem that cracked her open in high school, to a chaotic first morning studying abroad in Denmark that broke her open like a raw egg. We talk about parenting without making mini-me's, the day her daughter said "don't speak to me that way" (and why that was a victory), the autoimmune cost of being the "good girl," menopause as permission that doesn't need to come so late, neurodivergence as joy and burden, how to practice attention with intention in a noisy world, and the beauty of the human brain. And of course, AI and what it means to be human—not as a tool to do more, but as the great circle-back to an ancient question: what are humans for? If you're mid-pivot, peeling back layers, or learning how to be a human being instead of a human doing, this one's for you.

Find Evie on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eviewick/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/everbecomingwithevie

Julie Rennecker, nurse turned organizational success consultant and "team whisperer," gets real about agency, boundaries, and the courage it takes to choose yourself and your principles. Julie takes us back to the solo bike trip in New Zealand that changed everything, to the day she was fired for telling the truth, to the moment she learned, to her surprise, that she's a person too. We talk about what we can learn from practice versus the hallowed halls, the reality of women's deferred joy, people-pleasing and the cost of always being available, cognitive surrender in the age of AI, and why the best questions assume everything you know could be wrong. In this wide-ranging dialogue, Julie offers hard-earned wisdom, refreshing candor, laughs, and a three-part "gift" for living true to who you are in the modern age. If you've ever subordinated your own needs to keep everyone else comfortable, struggled to set a boundary, had to get yourself over a mountain (physically or metaphorically), or wondered how to stay human in a world moving faster than we can think, this one's for you.

Find Julie on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julierennecker/

Website: https://www.syzygyteams.com/

Richie Muniak, "indescribable lunatic with an MBA," joined me for a wide-ranging conversation about pursuing his curiosity in his quest to be a "Jack of all trades, master of none." We wander back to 1998 and the "do you want fries with that?" generation, then forward to present-day AI slop and talking in headlines—with a witty demonstration of his point (see the trailer). Richie advocates for finding our way back to the lost art of boredom, and we explore the degradation of our education system, managing expectations at work and in life, parenting, and how corporate astrology reshaped how he leads. If you're a curious soul navigating change, or just want a refreshing perspective on life, this one's for you.

Find Richie on:

Richie.today

Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004309671/

Anthony Degli Obizzi Jr., husband, father, and financial planner, shares the leap that changed everything—walking away from a six-figure salary to build his own business—and why he always knew he was an entrepreneur, not an employee. We reflect on partnership and parenthood: how the right spouse is the ultimate "cheat code" and how he and his wife embrace the "iron sharpens iron" mentality without keeping up with the Joneses. Anthony opens up about how parenthood transformed his world: shifting his priorities, living in the present moment, and learning that the future he wants with his kids is something he's building right now, one ordinary moment at a time. If you've ever thought about betting on yourself, wondered how to keep a marriage strong through the chaos, or are finding your footing as a new parent, this one's for you.

Find Anthony on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adegliobizzjr/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/obizzimeansmoney/

Xavier Cano, a leadership development consultant to Fortune 500 companies, spent years building a successful career in industrial engineering and project management. He did all the right things. The MBA. Six Sigma Black Belt. Ranked number one in his business unit. Until he hit a wall he couldn't credential or performance metric his way through. Xavier walks us through his journey from corporate top performer to people transformation strategist and the pivotal mindset shift that got him promoted within six weeks and inspired him to help others grow. We get into the impact of limiting beliefs on professional growth, what it actually means to live authentically, the healing power of forgiveness, and how to manage the most powerful tool you have—your own mind. Xavier also shares the techniques he uses with his clients to help them break free from limiting narratives and move through real, lasting change. If you're feeling capable but capped, like you're doing everything right and still not moving, this one's for you.

Find Xavier on:

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lxaviercano/

Instagram:  @xaviercanocoaching

Website:  www.xaviercanosuccess.com

Joseph "Trey" Meeks, parent, leader, and occasional consultant, brings the four Stoic virtues (courage, wisdom, temperance, justice) to life through stories of parenting, career setbacks, and working with difficult leaders. We journey from Austria back to the States, dig into managing ego and anger, having tough conversations, redefining success, and finding peace amid uncertainty. Trey shares inspiring stories, hard-earned wisdom, and refreshingly practical tips for how to live your values and lead at any stage of your career. If you've ever led a team, navigated a difficult boss, or need an anchor in uncertain times, this one's for you.