The Kevin Miller Podcast

Most people I think have had the experience of no electricity for a while. I remember it back before cell phones, so when the electricity was out, everything was literally out. You were all of the sudden transported back to 1900 before most homes had electricity. Everything was just…quiet. Quiet. Like everything just slowed down to a…stop. I hope you had that experience so you can relate. Think about your daily life today and how long it may have been since that feeling. But what if you could have it? Every day? This is the opportunity I feel we have with meditation. Or if that word doesn’t thrill you, just a full-stop from everything. Just you and you alone with no input. No sound. No stimulation or input. Just you. Even if just for a minute. My guest to talk about this is renowned consciousness teacher Peter Russell. He has 11 books, but his recent, short book is called, How to Meditate Without Even Trying. Peter has been  teacher of meditation for more than fifty years and believes the critical challenge of today is freeing human thinking from the limited beliefs and attitudes that lie behind many of our problems — personal, social, and global. He has inspired thousands through his talks, teachings, retreats, and popular online courses. I took the opportunity to talk about more than even meditation, but our cultural distance from just being able to be with ourselves. With no input. Just sitting and being. What are we missing? What could we benefit from? That’s our talk. Find Peter at www.peterrussell.com.

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In our culture today I feel the pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of…more. The pursuit of something we don’t have that we must need. It’s become an external pursuit. And it doesn’t seem to ever end. I’ve not met anyone who finally, one day, got a big win and then said, “Boom. There it is. I’ve finally been chasing it all my life, I finally got it, and now, I’m happy. Done.” My guest has become possibly the most well known purveyor of happiness. Arthur Brooks. Arthur has been a professor at Harvard and now teaches at Vanderbilt University. His How To Build A Life column at the Atlantic was wildly followed and he now writes for the Free Press with a new column, The Pursuit of Happiness with Arthur Brooks. He has many bestselling books, such as Strength to Strength which is a book I’ve recommended to scores of people. Following is my second time having Arthur on my podcast, and this time it’s in regard to a book he wrote with Oprah Winfrey, Build The Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier. In it, he and Oprah guide us in finding happiness, where we are now. They discuss the tools of emotional self-management and how they can change your life―immediately. It’s not about being in a state of “happy” at all times, and how we don’t really even value that. It’s about a foundational set point of happiness that supersedes our circumstances. You can connect with Arthur at arthurbrooks.com

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Research increasingly shows how much of our daily, lived experience is shaped by our nervous system. As a society, we seem to be living with dysregulated nervous systems, and it is taking a heavy toll on our overall well-being. We hear a lot about meditation, breathwork, exercise, cold plunges, time in nature, and much more, but we hear little to nothing about what we put into our mouths to help de-stress our systems. My guests, Jared Angaza and Ty Clark, call themselves vitalists. Their focus is on how we can become more vital and expand our capacity for a full and fulfilling life. They are pioneering wellness providers and entrepreneurs who have created an innovative nutritional supplement designed to nourish the nervous system. While they do have a product, our conversation centers on what actually goes into expanding our capacity. They maintain that being healthy is far more than simply not being physically or psychologically sick at the moment. I feel we got into some aspects of well-being that are sorely missing from the public conversation right now. We didn't go very deep into their product, a mushroom- and adaptogen-infused raw honey with 24 synergistic ingredients, but you can check it out at alvara.life.

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Continuing with my series on what drives people from when my book, What Drives You came out, I bring you cognitive neuroscientist, Maya Shankar. She is also the host of a hugely popular podcast, A Slight Change of Plans, named Apple Podcast of the year in 2021. Maya actually founded the Behavioral Science Team at the White House, called “the Nudge Unit, which used insights from behavioral economics to write better public policy. Maya’s focus is around what happens to and in us, when change happens. Change we’ve pursued, and change that has fallen upon us. She shares about a girl who lost 100 lbs and realized she was no longer who she was, and who she liked, and she was disappointed at people’s new behavior to her just because she lost weight. And the health nut who got cancer and from it realized if he’d understood what dealing with cancer did for his mindset, he wouldn’t have feared it so much. This is a very candid discussion with Maya on the ins and outs of her own experiences with change and what happens to us when change happens.

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Some people have lived through events that are almost impossible to reconcile, because they never should have happened to anyone. I think everyone has painful events in their life, and I don't mean to minimize anyone's experience. But some reach a higher level of tragedy than others, and I've always felt that the most extreme circumstances can offer the most meaningful lessons from those who have overcome them. In this episode, I talk with someone whose list of tragedies is hard for me to fathom. As you'll hear, she did come through them and built a good measure of success in life. But as you'll also hear, she eventually recognized that she was still living under the power of her past traumas, and in that sense was still traumatizing herself. So beyond surviving, getting out, and overcoming, there was a next level: real healing. From that healing, her success has gone beyond the material and into true internal peace, love, and understanding. Today she works to help others not just overcome, but heal and then thrive, and even use their trauma to provide value to the world in incredible and unique ways. Christy Marvel is a Ziglar Success Coach, speaker, trainer, and serial entrepreneur on a mission to help others "Be Their Own Superhero." Christy holds degrees in architecture and business. She has lived abroad, traveled the world, lived in more than half of the U.S. states, and served on mission fields across Central and South America. She owns multiple businesses and makes time for her personal joys of singing, recreational scuba diving, and motorcycling. She has a big heart for empowering others to rise above their past and run toward purpose. Her book, Be Your Own Superhero: Heal Your "Little Me" and Unlock the Power Within, tells much of her own story. More than that, it's an invitation to unlock your strength, break cycles, and

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This is another story in my series on what drives people. Matthew Del Negro is a Hollywood actor who has appeared in many movies and held prominent roles in recent TV series like Showtime's City on a Hill, Paramount's Mayor of Kingstown, and, right now, Amazon Prime's Neagley. Matthew describes being a professional actor as a career of being told no for a living. A few years ago, he decided to take some of what he had learned and use it to help others. He started a podcast called 10,000 Nos and then published a book by the same title. That's what caught my eye. I appreciate people who use their platforms and the hard lessons they've learned to help others. I really connected with Matthew and enjoyed getting to know him. He's a family guy with kids and a down-to-earth lifestyle. In this discussion, he talks about his personal story: being the peacekeeper in his family, having his life shattered by the breakup of a relationship, and taking up acting later in life. I wanted to know what has motivated him throughout his life, leading up to now. You can find him on his podcast, 10,000 Nos, get his book by the same name, or connect with Matthew on Instagram @mattydel.

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I appreciate finding missing pieces within efforts we normally make, that show us why we may not be getting the results we desire, and give us tangible ways to hopefully get new and better results. So in regard to calming ourselves. Regulating our nervous system, I have always been impressed with the concept of HeartMath. The plain definition of HeartMath is, “coherence as a synchronized, harmonious state where your heart, brain, breathing, and nervous system work together.” When I first experienced engaging with a heart math program, it had me go through some seemingly relaxation exercises. Mentally. And what I found out was that while I thought I was calming myself, it wasn't showing up within my body. My simple paraphrasing is that often when I think of letting my shoulders down and breathing deeply and trying to clear my mind, my heart can still be racing and my brain is still really going, and I'm not helping myself. But there are ways to. So following is my discussion recently with Deborah Rohman, one of the cofounders of HeartMath. Deborah speaks on emotional self-regulation, heart-brain coherence, resilience in uncertain times, and the cultural shift from stress reactivity to measurable calm. Now, heart math is a business, and you can go pay for the apps and the programs to participate at HeartMath.com. But if you type in your search engine, “heart math for free”, you can find ways to participate on your own.

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When my book, What Drives You, came out, I brought a number of my past guests on to the podcast to hear their personal stories of what drove them. We habitually hear what people have done and achieved, but don’t often hear why they did it. I think the stories help us better understand not only what drives, but what we want to be driving us. In this episode I talked with Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a silicon valley legend, being a primary figure in the early days of Apple with Steve Jobs. Today he’s the evangelist for Canva and has helped put a lot of companies on the map. I’ve spent time face to face with Guy and one time he butt dialed me and we ended up talking about ideas for a podcast that he ended up doing, which is now the very popular Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People. Here though we talk about his beginnings and he shares that he never had any big visions. His initial drive for success in business was motivating by wanting a cool car. And he goes on to share this, that while he didn’t have big visions for his future, he was pretty clear on what was driving him, and those drives put him on a path to greater successes than he ever imagined. I think you will enjoy hearing his story and through it you will likely get some clarity on what is driving you.

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I put much focus on being aware of what I’m thinking. Then carefully considering what I say and paying close attention to how I say it. But my guest has shown me how much I’m communicating before I say anything at all. Linda Clemons is one of the world’s foremost body language experts. She travels around the world training top CEOs, sales teams, celebrities, media luminaries, and the rest of us on how we can harness the enormous power of nonverbal communication. And I was very interested in how we might be sabotaging our intent to connect with others, with poor nonverbal habits. She has a big following on social media where she gives guidance on how to effectively walk into a room, cues to look for when someone is lying or unsure, how to read a room, and what nonverbal cues give you away. My interest is in connecting with people and helping them feel safe and at ease, and this is really Linda’s deeper work. She has a new book, HUSH: How to Radiate Power and Confidence Without Saying a Word. And you can find her most everywhere @lindaclemons  

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One of our primary cultural badges is being “busy”. We adopted the idea that busyness equals importance and status. I feel in the same way we’ve adopted a badge of perfectionism. This is now a wildly common label we give ourselves, as we all struggle with our “perfectionism” as we strive for excellence, as if not being a perfectionist means we have succumbed to mediocrity. But what my guest reveals to us is how we are often hiding, protecting, and limiting ourselves with our so called concepts on perfectionism. Thomas Curran has a PhD in psychology and is a professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioral Science at the London School of Economics. Thomas studies the personality characteristic of perfectionism, how it develops, and how it impacts our mental health. His TED talk on our dangerous obsession with perfectionism has millions of views and his research has been featured in media ranging from the Harvard Business Review to New Scientist to CNN. Thomas has a book titled, The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough. Since talking with Thomas I completely changed my perception of perfectionism and don’t want my name associated with it. See if you feel the same after listening.

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