OPTIMIST In Progress

Cameron Hughes is a professional cheer guy. He whips crowds of all sizes into a frenzy of excitement, abandoning self-consciousness to create a shared high - moments of pure elation and connection. In conversation with Drea and Tom, he explains how loss in his childhood led to this unlikely calling, describes the 'cheer sense' that allows him to read a crowd of thousands in an instant, and how, through the pandemic period even the 'King of Cheer' sometimes needs a cheer.

For more on Cameron Hughes

David Coggins

Iron Cowboy

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For most of us living with partners or lovers, the past year of lockdown has been testing from a relationship perspective. The intensity of existing in the same space, in such close proximity, has led to a spike in divorce rates, and at the very least, stifled the romance and made our relationships somewhat functional. This week Drea and Tom get personal to discuss how important it is to remember to actively like our partners, and how intimate whistles and acoustic hacks might help keep things on track as we emerge back into the world.

More about John Gottman's theories on love and marriage

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For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

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Some people are born with a proclivity for optimism. Actor and performer Karen David is one of those fortunate individuals, but as she acknowledges, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have to work constantly at honing her skill.  As the daughter of immigrants, she was often treated like an interloper, but her eight year old self found solace in singing Whitney Houston loud, dancing around in her basement and creating vision boards that inspire her still today. She talks to Dr Drea and Tom about the importance of tapping therapy and meditation in her optimism practice, as well as some more lighthearted tricks to survive lockdown tensions with loved ones.

For anything on Karen David: 

Twitter: @KarenDavid

Instagram: @karendavidofficial

Facebook: @KarenDavidMusic

More about tapping or Brad Yates

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For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

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Wondering why so many of us were nurturing sourdough starter, planting seeds and signing up for an online language course this past year? Dr Drea mines the field of positive psychology and introduces the theory of 'broaden-and-build', something as humans we are hardwired for. Regardless of our circumstances, we can all access positive benefits simply by ensuring we embrace novel experiences. Just walking a new route home can significantly improve our physical state, our creativity and mental functioning, as well as improving social harmony and connectedness.  Embrace it and dive in!

Read more: The Atlantic: What the pandemic is doing to our brains

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For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

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Travel & food writer, and Los Angeles native, Krista Simmons spent her pre-COVID career exploring food cultures around the world. She talks candidly to Tom and Dr Drea about the impact of lockdown on her mental health, her work, and the food & hospitality industries across the globe. Despite the destruction wrought by the virus, she identifies seeds of hope, and an opportunity to rebuild the food industry in a way that could create a more equitable society, heal cultural wounds and reverse the environmental destruction, with a little help from 'the G.O.A.T', David Attenborough.

To find out more about Krista Simmons visit: 

@kristasimmons 

Twitter https://twitter.com/kristasimmons

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itskristasimmons

Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/fork-in-the-road/id1509620739

Additional references discussed in the podcast: 

 1. David Attenborough - A Life on Our Planet

2. The Truffle Hunters directed by Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw

3. Minari, directed by Lee Isaac Chung

4. Krista's Fork in the Road episode on Belcampo's organic carbon-positive farm -   Can Raising Cattle Be Good For the Climate? with Belcampo's Anya Fernald

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

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We have just passed the year mark, things are beginning to open up after an extraordinary, challenging and for some, tragic twelve months.  Dr Drea Letamendi talks to Tom about ways to process the past year in order to move forwards and thrive.

More information on the Kubler-Ross model (5 stages of grief) 

This podcast was recorded at the Britely, a new private social club opening this spring on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.  

or follow  @thebritely

Director of Programming and Partnerships is Annalise Ghiz (also featured on the podcast). 

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Dr Drea  Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

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Play seems like the last thing any of us are prioritizing right now, but a conversation between Dr Drea and Tom highlights the importance of play for all of us - as a way of coping, connecting, surviving and even thriving through these late pandemic days. What actually constitutes play though is a fascinating thing to consider...

Alan Watts Quotes: 

“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ8so-ld-l0  (3:23- 4:00)

“Existence, in the physical universe, is basically playful.”

https://www.openculture.com/2018/11/alan-watts-dispenses-wit-wisdom-meaning-life-three-animated-videos.html

Follow Todd Stashwick @tstashwick

Todd Stashwick's Nerd Circus 

To get in touch email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

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Actor and improv artist Todd Stashwick, self confessed purveyor of all things geeky, and Tiki aficionado, firmly believes that practical optimism, or as he refers to it, intentional positivity, can solve most of the problems we face in our lives. In this episode Todd discusses his 'optimism operating system' with co-hosts Dr Drea and Tom, a system rooted in a very practical Mid-Western Lutheran upbringing, shaped by a life of repeated rejections in the acting world, and illuminated by the insights of Alan Watts, the importance of play and getting right back up after being 'kicked in the optimism balls'.

To get in touch email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Todd Stashwick @tstashwick

Todd Stashwick's Nerd Circus can be found at thenerdcircus.com

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

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It can be hard to recognise when you need to stop what you're doing and take rest, especially when people are relying on you; and particularly during these times. Ours is a society which celebrates overt displays of productivity;  'doing nothing' is seen as being lazy, work-shy or anti-social. Dr Drea and Tom explore the notion of active rest, and rest as resistance.

Follow Christine Adams @officialchristineadams 

Her non-profit is @weareweseeyou

Her School is morganoliverschool.org

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone

Christine Adams is an actor, currently playing a lead role in CW's television series 'Black Lightning'. It's clear that working as an actor takes resilience, but it's her other life, that of a political activist and founder of a non-profit, set up to get the vote out in Georgia, that best demonstrates the depths of her gritty optimism. Her belief that if we take action, we can make meaningful change happen. A beautiful take on seizing small moments of joy amidst all the madness, and not turning away from the inequities we see around us every day, no matter where we are.

Follow Christine Adams @officialchristineadams 

Her non-profit is @weareweseeyou

Her School is  morganoliverschool.org

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone