The Courageous Life

Joy gives life meaning, sustains hope, and helps us feel close to others. 

It is the emotion that tells us: life is worth living, good things are possible, and you are not alone.

And yet, many people find it difficult to allow themselves to feel, show, or even seek joy. 

Instead, we often worry: 

Is it selfish to want joy? 

Is joy even possible when life is hard? 

Instead of turning to joy as a resource, we try to protect ourselves from the perceived risks of caring too much. 

What if, instead, you were able to trust the feeling of joy and appreciate the good in your life? 

And what if you were able to help others experience the benefits that joy provides?

In our conversation today, 

and throughout the pages of her paradigm-shifting new book: Joy Is a Risk Worth Taking

Renowned Psychologist, Bestselling Author, and Teacher Dr. Kelly McGonigal 

Weaves together a beautiful blend of storytelling with insights from psychology, neuroscience, and research conducted around the world, 

As she offers us tangible ways to experience this powerful emotion in everyday life. 

Her words are motivating and uplifting, 

But the possibility she invites us to live into is even more so: 

Sharing joy is an act of courage and compassion—

and one we can take even when life is difficult.

For more on Kelly, her books, classes, and other offerings please visit kellymcgonigal.com

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On the Science of Mastering Your Intuition | Laura Huang
• On Unwinding Anxiety and Finding Inner Peace | Dr. Jud Brewer
• On How the Arts Transform Us | Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

Upcoming opportunities to learn with Joshua:

Learn more about Joshua's LIVE 6 month journey: From Fear to Love. 

Limited spots are available. Course begins on February 4, 2027.

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Why do so many conversations leave us feeling unheard and disconnected? 

In her beautiful book Deep Listening, 

acclaimed BBC journalist, accredited executive coach, and mediator Emily Kasriel argues that it’s because we've forgotten how to truly listen.

Distracted by our own agenda, we so often hear without understanding, impatiently waiting for our turn to speak. 

In today’s conversation we’ll explore the life-changing practice of deep listening, 

How it can enrich our relationships as friends, parents, and partners, 

enhance our effectiveness as leaders, 

and strengthen the fabric of our communities. 

At a time when divisions within communities, organizations, and families are often a source of profound pain, 

Emily’s work offers inspiration and practical guidance on how we can better listen to each other, even when we fiercely disagree.

The evidence-based approach Emily developed for Deep Listening was born out of her experiences:

• As a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King's College Policy Institute in London 
• As a past Practitioner in Residence at the London School of Economics. 
• And leading the BBC’s British Council Crossing Divides around the Globe project, where they signed up more than 1000 young people from 119 countries for her training in Deep Listening.

The insights Emily will share throughout our conversation span: 

• scientific studies, 
• experiences with indigenous elders, 
• and powerful personal stories from time spent with legendary listeners in politics, business, and the arts. 

All of which point toward the healing medicine we may be in need of most right now-

The ancient practice of listening in ways that foster:

More profound encounters, deeper connection, 

and the possibility of truly understanding each other.  

For more on Emily, her book, TED talk, resources, and other offerings please visit emilykasriel.com

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On Choosing Love (No Matter What) | Deeyah Khan
• On the Science, and Magic, of Great Conversations | Alison Wood Brooks
• On Imperfectionism and the Art of Living Well | Oliver Burkeman

Upcoming opportunities to learn with Joshua:

Learn more about Joshua's new LIVE 6 week course: Unlocking Creativity. 

Limited spots are available. Course begins on October 11th, 2026.

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

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What would life look like without the constant, crushing weight of guilt?

Today’s guest, psychiatrist and author of: Guilt Free: Reclaiming Your Life From Unreasonable Expectations, 

Dr. Jennifer Reid argues that women today are living with so much guilt. 

Guilt for working too much. 

Guilt for not working enough. 

Guilt for saying no, for saying yes, for taking a break, for asking for help. 

This emotion can infiltrate our lives, our work, and our relationships 

and if we’re not careful, 

can easily rob us of our capacity for joy and self-worth. 

In today’s episode Jennifer and I take a deep dive into the emotion and experience of guilt, 

and the possibility of breaking free from the unreasonable expectations that can shape our daily lives. 

While Jennifer’s work often focuses on women, 

We intentionally expanded our conversation to speak to anyone who may be struggling with: 

• guilt, 
• people pleasing, 
• self-criticism, 
• or self-blame. 

What Jennifer offers instead is a beautiful alternative. 

The pathway to living, working, and building relationships shaped by your own desires, values, and brilliance.

For more on Jennifer, her book Guilt-Free, podcast, substack, and other offerings please visit jenniferreidmd.com

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On the Art of Aliveness | Vivien Tai
• On the Science of Mastering Your Intuition | Laura Huang
• On Inner Healing and Embracing Our True Self | Dick Shwartz

Upcoming opportunities to learn with Joshua:

Learn more about Joshua's new LIVE 6 week course: Unlocking Creativity. 

Limited spots are available. Course begins on October 11th, 2026.

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

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New things are everywhere.

And they keep pulling us away from what matters the most in our lives. 

In his revelatory book: Saying No to New,

New York Times Editor, and celebrated journalist, Eric Athas shows us how to rewire our impulse to consume new things and reclaim control of our time, money and attention.

Eric writes:

“One of the biggest lies of modern times is that new is always better. 

An upgraded phone will always outshine the one from last year. 

A new pair of sunglasses is always better than the one you wore last summer. 

The new fitness app is the only thing that will finally motivate you to reach your goals. 

Influencers constantly promote the latest trends, while retailers make the check out process more seamless than ever.

And for many of us, the next new product, trend, or fad is getting too good to resist. 

But instead of improving our lives, new things often drain our resources and distract us from achieving our goals. 

We're tricked into thinking that the only way for us to feel satisfied is by getting cheap dopamine spikes from the next new thing.”

In today’s conversation we’ll explore some of the powerful insights Eric has gained through his experiences writing the book, doing original research, and conducting interviews with scientists, philosophers, tech insiders, happiness gurus, and decision-making experts. 

What Eric will share sheds light on:

• Why we like newness so much
• How we can get better at discerning when Newness is additive to our lives, 
• When it isn’t,
• And how we can quiet the noise of consumerism and take a more intentional approach to the things we ultimately let into our lives.

For more on Eric, his book, newsletter and other offerings please visit sayingnotonew.com

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On the Science of Mastering Your Intuition | Laura Huang
• On Presence, Community, and Flourishing | Daniel Coyle
• On Flourishing Despite Life's Challenges | Richard Davidson & Cortland Dahl

Upcoming opportunities to learn with Joshua:

Learn more about Joshua's new LIVE 6 week course: Unlocking Creativity. 

Limited spots are available. Course begins on October 11th, 2026.

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Thanks for listening!

Support the show

By age twenty-five, Vijay Gupta had lived several lifetimes: 

he played Carnegie Hall at eight, 

studied at Juilliard and Yale before most had finished high school, 

joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at nineteen, 

gave a celebrated TED Talk seen by millions, and launched a nonprofit. 

But behind the accolades was estrangement, addiction, and a private unraveling. 

In his unflinching memoir: Restrung, 

Vijay describes, with breathtaking and heartfelt clarity, 

his journey of breaking apart and remaking a self. 

Today, we’ll explore some of that journey. 

Together, discussing what he’s learned about the possibility of moving from fear, emptiness, and isolation

To love, meaning, and deep connection. 

These learnings haven’t come easy. 

As a boy, Vijay was raised between the strict devotion of Bengali immigrant parents and the ruthless demands of the conservatory. 

He grew up navigating the world of elite orchestras, 

Found himself in the depths of burnout, 

and ultimately experienced an unexpected reawakening—where he discovered that the music he’d spent his life studying was seen not as a curio of high culture or mere entertainment, 

but a lifeline of connection—

most vividly in Skid Row, where people living through addiction, homelessness, and incarceration heard it as survival itself. 

When these audiences encountered the music Vijay would play, 

They often spoke to how they saw their own lives reflected in the stories of the composers: 

the rage of Beethoven, 

the fragility of Schumann’s mind, 

and the plight of Handel—who wrote Messiah bankrupt, ill, and broken, yet transformed despair into an enduring Hallelujah.

Vijay’s writing, and the work he is doing in the world,

Unsettles assumptions about success, 

And beautifully illuminates how art can restore not just audiences, 

but artists themselves.

For more on Vijay, his music, memoir, non-profit Street Symphony, live events and other offerings please visit vijaygupta.com

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On Love, Storytelling, and Radical Curiosity | Baktash Ahadi
• On Why We Suffer and How We Heal | Dr. Suzan Song
• On How the Arts Transform Us | Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross

Upcoming opportunities to learn with Joshua:

Learn more about Joshua's new LIVE 6 week course: Unlocking Creativity. 

Limited spots are available. Course begins on October 11th, 2026.

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Thanks for listening!

Support the show

When criminal justice expert and Stanford-Trained economist, Jennifer Doleac thinks about reform, 

she’s not just hopeful, 

she’s optimistic that second chances are possible—for the justice-involved population and the system as a whole. 

In her eye opening new book: The Science of Second Chances,

she reveals her powerful approach to reducing crime and incarceration. 

Today, we’ll take a deep dive into some of the cutting-edge economic research and real-world experiments she’s conducted and called upon in her work.

Together exploring the possibility of approaching big, complex problems as scientists in a lab do.

Carefully testing different approaches and following the data to maximize impact. 

Jennifer’s work points to an innovative path forward that harnesses  practical, achievable solutions. 

As she invites us to consider the possibility that we can have both public safety and a smaller, less intrusive justice system—

without waiting for big, structural reforms that might never come. 

And, that creating the society we ultimately want, and need, 

may actually come from shifting focus from the enormity of the problem 

to the power of small, evidence-based changes.

For more on Jennifer, her new book, podcast, and other offerings please visit: https://jenniferdoleac.com/ and for her substack head to https://probablecausation.substack.com/ 

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• The End of Violence | Dr. Gary Slutkin
• On How to Speak Up When it Matters | Dr. Sunita Sah
• On Science, Hope, and Humanity | Matt Kaplan

Upcoming opportunities to learn with Joshua:

Learn more about Joshua's new LIVE 6 week course: Unlocking Creativity. 

Limited spots are available. Course begins on October 11th, 2026.

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Thanks for listening!

Support the show

Emotional pain, of all kinds and magnitudes, is part of life. 

We’ll never be able to find ourselves free of it; 

no meditation or amount of therapy will cure us of the harder parts of being alive. 

Celebrated author and therapist, Lisa Olivera has confronted this reality for years, weaving her exploration of it throughout her popular SubStack, Human Stuff. 

She reminds us that the practice of turning toward the ache with care—reverence, even—might be one of the most meaningful gifts we can give ourselves. 

It might even save us.

Through her work, Lisa offers questions and practices that invite us into this possibility.

Questions such as:

• How do we confront and tend to the painful parts of being human without letting that pain entirely overtake us? 
• How do we find joy even when depression visits, even when we lose someone we love, even when the hurt of the world is ever-present? 
• How do we cultivate aliveness in the midst?

 Today we’ll engage with these questions alongside themes from her gorgeous new book:

When the Ache Remains: Lessons on Tending to the Unfixable and Finding Beauty Anyway, 

All of which point to how what Lisa calls; the ache of being alive, 

shapes our lives, 

how we can alchemize pain into medicine, 

how presence is accessible, 

and how it’s possible to find beauty and joy even in the midst of some of our most harrowing experiences.

For more on Lisa, her books, substack, events and other offerings, please visit lisaolivera.com

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On Curiosity, Presence, and Love | Dr. Jacob Ham
• On Listening and Attending to the Soul | James Hollis
• On Why We Suffer and How We Heal | Dr. Suzan Song

Thanks for listening!

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Beloved Poet, spiritual teacher, and storyteller Mark Nepo,

And 

Writer, speaker, activist, and founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal, Parker J. Palmer, 

Have touched the lives of millions of people around the globe seeking to live more courageously, authentically, and in ways that foster a more compassionate world. 

For some time I’ve dreamt of getting the two of them together for a conversation to explore some of the greatest lessons they’ve learned over the course of their lives and careers.

Lessons about what it means to live well, 

To work well, 

And to relate to each other, and the world, in life-giving ways. 

We finally did.

For more on Parker, his books, podcast and other offerings please visit newcomerpalmer.com. For more about the Center for Courage and Renewal visit couragerenewal.org

And for more about Mark Nepo, his nearly 30 books, poetry, and live events please visit marknepo.com

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Looking for more inspiring conversations with Mark and Parker? We think you'll love these:

• On Wisdom and Love in Troubling Times | Mark Nepo & Elizabeth Lesser
• On Choosing Love | Mark Nepo 
• On Honoring the Soul (Pt. 1) | Parker J. Palmer
• On Work, Friendship, and Embracing Impermanence | Parker J. Palmer & Jerry Colonna

Thanks for listening!

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Author and Leadership Coach, Miroo Kim, spent much of her life 

checking off every seemingly important box. 

From getting into the right schools, 

to a 20 year career in tech that spanned roles within some of the world’s most iconic companies,

Places like Microsoft, Apple, and Meta. 

It was what some might call a dream career.

And yet, instead of the meaning and fulfillment one might expect to find as a result,

In the end, Miroo found herself:

• Burned out, 
• Feeling depressed,  
• And sitting with the experience of emptiness. 

So she started to wonder:

“Is this the only way of working? 

Do I really have to suffer at work until I retire? 

Is there another way?”

Her new book: The Placeholder: The Place to Go to Create Your Noble Work

Explores these questions and traverses the territory of meaning, fulfillment, and vocation.

In today’s conversation we’ll unpack many of the lessons contained within it’s pages. 

Including the hard-earned wisdom Miroo has gained over the years through:

• Research, 
• Experimentation,
• Reflection,
• And the work she does coaching leaders on workplace culture. 

All of which point toward the possibility of a different experience of work. 

One where we don’t suffer. 

One where we get to do what matters deeply to us. 

And one that leaves us feeling fulfilled through the process.

For more on Miroo, please visit peopleculture.co or follow her substack which you can find at placeholder.community

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On the Science of Mastering Your Intuition | Laura Huang
• On Work, Friendship, and Embracing Impermanence | Parker Palmer & Jerry Colonna
• On Curiosity, Presence, and Love | Dr. Jacob Ham

Thanks for listening!

Support the show

Violence is often regarded as an unavoidable fact of life. 

The truth however is far more hopeful: violence is a disease that can be cured.

 Using a bold new approach, 

Epidemiologist and violence prevention specialist Dr. Gary Slutkin is reclassifying violence as a a disease: 

One that enters the brain and infects people, communities, and countries via the same process as other epidemics. 

Gary makes a compelling research-backed case that when: 

• Shootings occur in a school or community, 
• A political figure is assassinated, 
• Or an authoritarian leader directs violence in his nation’s own cities, 

These are not just tragedies, 

but disease outbreaks that can (and must) be interrupted and contained.

 As a leading epidemiologist, Dr. Slutkin led teams to end epidemics of cholera and tuberculosis, then HIV/ AIDS in Africa and Asia with the World Health Organization. 

Upon returning to the US, he began to discover the invisible science of violence—and how to contain it using the very same epidemic control methods.

 Today, we will dive deep into the insights he’s gained over the years, 

a time-tested roadmap for recovery, 

And the playbook that has been used to dramatically reduce or eliminate violence in many of the most dangerous neighborhoods throughout the US and Latin America. 

It’s a playbook that has also been successfully adapted to curtail political violence, election violence, and gender-based violence in countries around the world.

 Whether it’s domestic violence, mass shootings, state tyranny, or war 

Gary argues that these are all syndromes of the exact same disease, 

And that they all require the same interventions. 

More importantly, he reminds us that we already have the tools to protect ourselves, 

heal our communities, 

and end violence in our lifetime.

 It is now up to us to use them.

For more on Dr. Slutkin, his powerful new book: The End of Violence: Eliminating the World’s Most Dangerous Epidemic, as well as other resources and offerings. Please visit: garyslutkin.com

Enjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:

• On Choosing Love (No Matter What) | Deeyah Khan
• On Science, Hope, and Humanity | Matt Kaplan
• On How to Speak Up When It Matters | Dr. Sunita Sah

Thanks for listening!

Support the show