The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about "Perfect" — the pressure we feel to achieve that impossible standard, and the strategies we can use to escape perfectionism's often-agonizing grip.

From the tendency we have to compare ourselves to unattainable ideals, to the shame-based frustration that can result when we find ourselves lacking, we share insights from our own perfection-seeking experiences, as well as counsel from recognized experts in the field.

Finally, we offer experiments to help you explore and evolve your own relationship with whatever "perfect" means for you.

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/perfect/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Sleep — why it's so hugely important, and how you can get more of the healthy sleep your body deserves.

After touching briefly on some science-y fundamentals, we delve into how you can get the kind of high-quality rest your body needs to repair damage, rebalance itself, and thrive.

We share insights about how to overcome important but little-known barriers to a decent night's rest.

And of course, we offer you experiments to help you start sleeping better — tonight, and for the rest of your life.

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/sleep/

This week on The Living Experiment, we bring you the second in a series of four special guest episodes featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse. For more background on this series, check out the introduction to the first Lafayette Morehouse episode, "Resistance to Pleasure".

In this episode, Pilar talks to Morehouse teachers Sugar Goens-Baranco and Boris Sheckeloff about the concept of Win-Win Relating.

The now popular term "win-win," as Sugar explains, was actually coined by her father — Morehouse founder Victor Baranco — back in the 1960s. And as you'll learn, he used it to describe a dynamic rather different from the one most of us now associate with the term.

Within the Morehouse philosophy, win-win relating is a foundational concept — one that provides the basis for more successful relationships, and a happier, more rewarding life experience. And as Sugar and Boris describe it, this more nuanced definition of win-win might challenge some of your assumptions about what true winning entails.

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/winwin/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Energy Drinks — the surge of popularity they're currently enjoying, and the widespread energy-deficit that appears to be driving their consumption.

We explore where real energy comes from, the mechanisms by which energy drinks may give us a real or perceived boost, and why that boost may come with some serious strings attached.

Whether you're a fan of energy drinks, or concerned about the effect they might be having on you or someone you love, we offer you insights into their potential pros and cons, and we suggest some experiments to help you generate more sustainable energy in ways that work for you.

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/energydrinks/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Generosity — the instinct we have to share with others, and the mutual benefits that giving can confer, not just mentally and emotionally but also at the physiological level.

From the surge of feel-good compounds our bodies release in response to generous acts, to the value of giving others the benefit of the doubt, we explore the ways that generosity serves both giver and recipient.

We also consider the ways that giving more than you can share joyfully tends backfire, creating anger, resentment and regret.

Finally, we offer some experiments to help you explore your own generous impulses and refine them in ways that work for you.

Get full show notes at ‎ ‎http://livingexperiment.com/generosity/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Spring — the essential nature of the season, and the shifts your body wants to make in keeping with it.

In a continuation of Dallas's Seasonal Model of Health, and the season-by-season series we started this winter, we talk about the value of adjusting your eating, activity, sleep and social activities in ways befitting spring.

We also explore the energetic and psycho-emotional dynamics you might be noticing this time of year, plus some insights from Chinese Five-Element theory, and the value of integrating rather than fighting your body's natural rhythms and desires.

Finally, we offer up some experiments that can help you get your own body and mind in sync with the gifts of this spring season.

Get full show notes, experiments and resource links at http://livingexperiment.com/spring/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Sensuality — what that word really means, and the important, underappreciated role that sensual experience plays in our health and happiness.

We live in a culture that often distorts sensuality — glorifying sex and promoting certain forms of consumer-oriented decadence , but limiting our appreciation of our own inherently sensual natures.

So here, from the biological benefits of sensual of pleasure to the difficulties we have in talking about in polite company, we take a look at what's known about sensuality and where it fits into our lives.

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/sensuality/

It's high time we had a serious talk about pleasure. Because it can have a huge impact on your health. And well, it's fun!

So this week on the podcast, we're bringing you the first in a series of special guest episodes featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse, an intentional community founded in 1968 with the goal of maximizing the potential of its members, and on having life be, in their words, "as much fun as possible."

One fundamental principle of Morehouse teachings is that they don't prescribe solutions or try to fix anybody (they think you're perfect the way you are). Rather, they simply describe what they've seen work (and not work) in closely observing their own lives and the lives of others. And their #1 rule is this: Don't do anything you don't want to do.

In this first of four Lafayette Morehouse episodes that we'll share over the course of the next two seasons of the The Living Experiment, Pilar talks to teachers Judy St. John, Colin Selig and Janet Raibaldi about a dynamic they call "Resistance to Pleasure."

Here, they describe their approach to "responsible hedonism," and offer some useful strategies and perspective shifts that might just help you enjoy more pleasure and fun in your own life.

(These episodes were recorded live on the Lafayette Morehouse campus, so expect a little sound variation in sound.)

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/resistance/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Saying No, that magical word that can set you free – or feel like a one-way ticket to a guilt trip that will never end. Whether it's declining a request or rejecting an offer, the discomfort we feel in saying no — or feeling that we can't — is an immense source of stress for a great many of us. It's also a necessity that none of us can avoid.

So how can we get better at managing our authentic "nos" more consciously, and saying them with more clarity and conviction? How can we manage our desire to say "yes!" to life with our responsibility to set healthy boundaries that help us create a life we enjoy?

We get into all of that, and we offer you some experiments to help you say "no" with confidence, so you can say "yes!" when it matters most.

• The anxiety inherent in many "yes" and "no" situations in a culture where the onslaught of offers and opportunities can be overwhelming
• The difference between the saying an enthusiastic "yes" to life (embracing the exciting things that might scare us or pull us out of our comfort zone) vs. saying yes because we feel obligated or afraid of the outcome of declining
• The value of authenticity and the betrayal of self that comes from projecting a "yes" you're not feeling
• "No, thank you." How to turn down a request graciously (without undermining your answer by over-apologizing, lying, or qualifying the response)
• The vulnerability inherent in asking, and the possibility that a "no" might not be taken well by the recipient
• The costs of saying "yes" when we really want or need to say "no"
• The particularly challenging implications that "no" can have for women (who are socially trained to be "nice" and accommodating)
• How codependence shows up in our resistance to clearly stating what we want/mean/need
• Differing social expectations for how men and women communicate, and why women may be socially punished for being straightforward
• Pilar's biofeedback tip: Your body will tell you whether something is a "yes" or a "no." Listen to your body's response to a request or invitation and feel for the lifting lightness of "yes!" or the sinking heaviness of "no"
• Consider the decision formula: If it's not a yes (or "heck yes!"), it's a no
• The value of practicing direct, succinct "no, thank yous" — and when it's worthwhile to soften the blow by articulating the reasons (and/or just being kind about it)
• A Lafayette Morehouse tip: Look behind a "no" (your own and others) to discern the "fears of loss" that are precipitating it
• This week's experiments ...

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/saying-no/

This week we're talking about News – the kind that comes at you 24 hours a day via all sorts of media. The kind that can make you feel a little crazy and hopeless if you let it. Particularly in times like these, when competing headlines come fast and furious, and when so much of the news seems disturbing or difficult to interpret, it can be tough to moderate your intake – and your response.

So here, we share our counsel on how to balance your desire to know what's going on in the world with your need to maintain some sense of sanity and resilience. We also offer some experiments to help you manage your news consumption in ways that work for you.

• Why habitual (or excessive) intake of news can distort rather than inform our view of the world, with anxiety-inducing effects
• "If it bleeds, it leads" – the predominant media bias toward fear-producing, violent, and disturbing topics
• The increasingly blurred lines between marketing, propaganda, and actual news
• The importance of understanding where your news is coming from, and discerning the slant or agenda behind a story
• The value of being informed via a wide variety of sources (including some that don't necessarily confirm your biases and beliefs)
• Counsel of moderating your news intake — balancing the responsibility of informed citizenry with the physical- and mental-health risks of news overload

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/news/