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

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Impulse — that sudden urge to do or not do a given thing, and the ways such urges can take hold of us without our conscious permission.

Whether from a hunger for excitement, or the depletion of our available willpower, our impulses can work against our healthy intentions, and against our better interests.

They can also be a powerful indicator of how well we are coping with our current circumstances, and a barometer of our overall resilience.

Here, we talk about the variables that influence our impulses, and our ability to manage them. We explore the differences between response and reactivity, and some useful ways to create more space between our urges and actions.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you better govern your own impulses in ways that work for you.

P.S. We also happily announce our sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/impulse/

On this week's special guest episode of The Living Experiment, we're talking about Decluttering.

This is a follow-up on our "Clutter" episode from earlier in the season, in which Pilar promised to consult her decluttering expert and Feng Shui-certified sister, Andrea, for some of her down-and-dirty practical tips.

Here, Andrea shares essential guidance on how to turbo-charge your decluttering projects, and how to avoid getting bogged down or overwhelmed in the process.

Andrea has been a pro declutterer for decades. She regularly consults and teaches workshops on the topic, and she's the featured expert in an award-winning article and video series called "Order Out of Chaos" that's featured in Experience Life magazine.

Blending Andrea's philosophy, strategy, helpful techniques, and real-life examples, we set out to help you take charge of the clutter in your own world.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/decluttering/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Purpose vs. Pleasure — the apparent tensions that exist between our pursuit of those aims, and the ways they can live in harmony.

We offer philosophical and biological insights on the roles that both purpose and pleasure have in guiding human experience.

We share how we've come to discern the difference between cravings and longings while honoring the real value of both.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you find the proper place for purpose and pleasure in your own life.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/purpose-vs-pleasure/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Conscious Language — the art of refining your words to reflect your higher choices, and the value of becoming more aware of how your verbal expressions both reflect and create your reality.

From the surprising power of key words and declarations, to the value of saying more of what you mean and less of what you don't, we explore the ways language defines our experience, and how it shapes our connections with each other.

We also offer you some experiments to help you become more conscious of the way your current language patterns are playing out in your own life.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/conscious-language/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Eating Meat — the nutritional, ethical, and environmental questions that choice raises, and how we've come to our own answers.

From the vegan-vs.-paleo propaganda to the disconcerting realities of factory farming, we consider both the pros and cons of meat consumption.

We wade into some of the controversies and conundrums that polarize many well-intended eaters, and we shed light on some little-considered factors that we think deserve more attention.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you explore on the question of how meat-eating fits into your own life, or doesn't.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/eating-meat/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Clutter — the oppressive burden all that excess stuff represents, and the some strategies for dealing with it constructively.

We talk about clutter's underlying causes and its real-life impacts.

We explore some of its deeper meanings.

And of course, we offer you some experiments to help you deal more consciously with the clutter that's been collecting in your life.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/clutter/

Unwanted touches. Inappropriate jokes. Mortifying propositions. Depending on when and where they occur, they can all be forms of the abusive dynamic known as sexual harassment..

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about the recent spate of high profile sexual harassment revelations. We're also talking about the much lower profile cases of sexual harassment that many of us have suffered — and witnessed — for as long as we can remember.

We share our personal perspectives and experiences, including my own recent "hey-that's-my-thigh!" incident. We address the increasingly charged topic of physical contact and sexually charged banter among friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. We explore the anxiety and growing sense of outrage that pervade this emerging conversation about power, politics, and our scandal-crazy culture.

Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you tune into your own thoughts and feelings about unwanted sexual attention — and its real-life impacts.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/sexual-harassment/

There's so much merriment, so much anticipation, and yet … the holidays can also feel like a lot of pressure to perform, to conform, to consume.

Here, we share our thoughts on navigating this season with your sanity and sense of inner peace intact.

From challenging the shop-and-spend cycle, to speaking your truth without inciting unnecessary conflict, we advocate for creating a satisfying holiday experience — your way.

And of course, we offer you some experiments to get you started in that direction, even as the holiday madness kicks into full swing.

P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now available to The Living Experiment listeners.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/holidays/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about the health of others — the struggles we face in trying to influence the choices of those we care about, and the opportunities we have to offer appropriate support without creating unhelpful stress and resentment for all involved.

From dealing with the real impact that others' health-depleting habits can have on our lives, to acknowledging the folly of trying to move anyone before they are ready, we explore the sometimes painful space of meeting and loving people where they are — even when we see them going downhill fast.

Sharing insights from well-respected behavior-change models as well as our own real-life experiences, we offer strategies for making peace with what is, while still holding open the door to healthy evolution — if and when our loved ones seem ready to embrace it.

And of course, we offer you some experiments to help you re-frame your own approach to addressing the health challenges of the ones you love.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/the-health-of-others/

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking Conscious Eating — the art of more fully enjoying your eating experiences and relating to your food in healthier ways.

We explore how rushed and unconscious eating tends to stoke body's stress response, and also how it undermines digestion.

We look at how distracted eating robs you of satisfaction and numbs you to your body's natural satiety signals.

We share some practical techniques for bringing more awareness to your pacing, posture, breathing, and sensory experience.

Finally, we offer you some experiments that invite you to begin developing your own approach to conscious eating — starting with your very next meal.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/conscious-eating/