The Mark Groves Podcast

In this episode, I share the story of quitting Instagram and what that period of separation taught me about endings, growth, and what it actually means to return to something. What started as a personal reckoning became a much bigger conversation about what these platforms are actually doing to us - how they're designed to hijack your nervous system through shock, rage, and dopamine hits, and why the anxiety so many of us feel might just be a normal response to a very abnormal relationship with technology. And at the root of all of it is one simple question: if you can't put your phone down, is your yes actually a choice?

00:00 - The Power of Choosing to End Something

01:10 - Learning from Mistakes and Moving Forward

02:50 - The Toxic Psychology of Social Media Platforms

04:11 - How Algorithms Exploit Human Attention

08:02 - Your Phone's Impact on the Nervous System

09:44 - Anxiety as a Response to Extractive Technology

Resources:

Need a digital detox? We've put together a free, science-backed protocol with everything you need to reclaim your focus, sleep, and attention — download it here. 

Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast 

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Cozy Earth: Use code CHANGE for 20% off sitewide at http://www.cozyearth.com

Organifi - High Quality Superfood Supplements To Keep Working Toward Your Goals - Use code CREATETHELOVE for 20% off  www.organifi.com/createthelove 

Instagram, Endings, Breakups, Boundaries, Anxiety, Dopamine, Algorithm, Healing, Growth, Mindfulness, Depression, Detox, Relationships, Consciousness, Nervous system, Discernment, Technology

In this episode, I want to encourage you to think about one thing - are you actually living your life, or are you living next to it? We explore what it means to stop being adjacent to yourself, why the things we use to numb the gap like alcohol, screens, and other people's opinions are actually keeping us from the most important relationship we will ever have, and why the journey to find yourself and the journey to find God are the same road.

00:00 - Introduction to Divine Purpose

01:00 - Numbing and Distraction in Culture

02:25 - The Journey to Self and God

04:27 - Integrity and Attention

05:30 - Evolution of Teaching and Authentic Voice

Resources:

—Need a digital detox? We've put together a free, science-backed protocol with everything you need to reclaim your focus, sleep, and attention — download it here. 

—Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast 

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Cozy Earth: Use code CHANGE for 20% off sitewide at http://www.cozyearth.com

In this episode, I explore inner authority and why so many of us have been conditioned to fawn, shrink, and give our power away in the face of authority, whether that's a parent, a boss, a partner, or a system. True devotion to yourself means having your own back, and that requires accessing the part of you that can say no, draw a boundary, and meet injustice with the full force of who you are. We dig into the neuroscience of why niceness can actually be manipulation, why a harmless man is not a good man, and how reclaiming your relationship to anger and power is not about destruction but about protection of everything you hold sacred. Because the world will never stop trying to pull you out of alignment, and the only thing that keeps you anchored is knowing that when push comes to shove, you have yourself.

00:01 - Meeting Authority with Authority

01:30 - Why We Fawn to Authority Figures

02:45 - The Masculine Energy Paradox: Destruction vs Protection

04:20 - Standing Up Without Shrinking Yourself

05:15 - Strategic Power vs Fawning Energy

06:30 - When Saying Yes Means Betraying Yourself

07:45 - The Dangerous Good Person: Voluntary Control

08:30 - Accessing Your Rage to Find Your Boundaries

09:15 - Why "Nice" People Are Actually Manipulative

10:00 - Your Power Practice: Boxing, Boundaries & Devotion

Resources:

—Need a digital detox? We've put together a free, science-backed protocol with everything you need to reclaim your focus, sleep, and attention — download it here. 

—Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast 

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Organifi - High Quality Superfood Supplements To Keep Working Toward Your Goals - Use code CREATETHELOVE for 20% off  www.organifi.com/createthelove 

In this episode, I explore how our relationship with technology, and specifically our smartphones, has quietly become one of the greatest threats to our most sacred relationship: the one we have with ourselves. Devotion isn't just a spiritual concept, it's a choice we make every single day, and every time we reach for our phone we are either honoring or abandoning that relationship. We dig into the neuroscience of why social media is designed to hijack your attention, why even having your phone in the room is costing you more than you think, and the simple but powerful practices that can help you reclaim your focus, hear your own inner voice, and stop outsourcing your peace to a screen. Because focus is the competitive advantage of the future, and the life you want is waiting on the other side of your attention.

Resources:

Need a digital detox? We've put together a free, science-backed protocol with everything you need to reclaim your focus, sleep, and attention — download it here. 

Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast 

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Cozy Earth: Use code CHANGE for 20% off sitewide at http://www.cozyearth.com

In this episode, I explore the profound difference between commitment and devotion and why that distinction might be the thing standing between you and the life you're actually meant to live. Commitment lives in the mind; it's strategic, rigid, and safe, but devotion is sacred. It's the full surrender to your mission, your dharma, the great work of your life. We dive into why so many of us stay stuck in tolerable disappointment, how rock bottom can actually be the portal to alignment, and the four keys from the Bhagavad Gita that will challenge you to stop chasing someone else's version of success and start showing up fully, authentically, and reverently for your own.

00:00 Devotion vs. Commitment:

04:04 Defining Dharma

05:36 Power of Surrender

09:21 Internalizing Worth

11:00 Path of Action:

14:49 Iterations of Self

Resources:

Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Organifi - High Quality Superfood Supplements To Keep Working Toward Your Goals - get 20% off with code CREATETHELOVE www.organifi.com/createthelove 

Here's what nobody wants to hear: the relationship you keep ending up in isn't bad luck - it's a pattern, and patterns have origins. In this episode, I'm unpacking the "problem and fixer" dynamic, how your childhood attachment wounds quietly write the script for who you're attracted to, and why being needed can feel so much like being loved when really, it's a wound in disguise. We get into how deception and narcissistic patterns hook the part of you that learned to earn love through overgiving and why real healing doesn't start with fixing yourself, it starts with stopping the story that you're broken. This is a call to take radical responsibility for the places you've abandoned yourself, grieve the original pain that keeps you chasing what you never received, and finally build the discernment and boundaries that don't just change your relationships, they change you.

Resources:

Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast

If you want to dive deeper into Mark’s content, search through every episode, find specific topics we’ve covered, and ask him questions, go to his Dexa page: https://ask.markgroves.com

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Cozy Earth: Use code CHANGE for 20% off sitewide at http://www.cozyearth.com

In this episode I drop the structure and speak directly to the part of you that knows you’ve forgotten who you are. I reflect on the grief that comes with waking up to the ways you’ve abandoned yourself, shaped your life around survival patterns, and lost touch with your truth just to belong. I talk about why suffering isn’t something to escape but something that’s asking you to pay attention, and how the very pain you’re feeling is the doorway back to meaning, to possibility, to you. This is a reminder that even if you feel lost, you’re not off path, you’re in the process of remembering.

Resources:

Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Organifi - High Quality Superfood Supplements To Keep Working Toward Your Goals get 20% off with code CREATETHELOVE www.organifi.com/createthelove 

In this episode I challenge you to take radical responsibility for what you consume and recognize how it’s shaping your thoughts, your emotions, and ultimately your entire life. I unpack how constant exposure to fear, division, and negativity is dysregulating your nervous system and pulling you further away from truth, connection, and hope, and why protecting your peace is no longer optional, it’s essential. This is a call to stop numbing, stop outsourcing your mindset, and start becoming fiercely intentional about what you let into your mind, your body, and your relationships. Because if you don’t choose what you consume, it will choose who you become.

Resources:

Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

—Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Cozy Earth: Use code CHANGE for 20% off sitewide at http://www.cozyearth.com

In this episode I break down why you keep going back to the same person, pattern, or behavior and why it’s not failure, it’s unfinished healing. I unpack how shame keeps you stuck, how unresolved grief is driving your choices, and why you’re not going backwards, you’re being shown what still needs to be healed. This is a call to stop avoiding the deeper work, start choosing yourself, and finally build the self-trust that changes everything.

Resources:

Get My Book! Liberated Love - Release Codependent Patterns and Create the Love You Desire: https://markgroves.com/book

Explore My Courses: https://markgroves.com/courses

Follow me and my work here:

—Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/markgrovestv 

—Subscribe to my Substack: https://markgroves.substack.com

—Instagram - @createthelove: https://www.instagram.com/createthelove

—Facebook - @createthelove: https://www.facebook.com/createthelove

Have A Question?—Have a Question For Mark That You’d Like To Hear Answered on the Podcast? Leave us a Voice Note Here: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheMarkGrovesPodcast

If you want to dive deeper into Mark’s content, search through every episode, find specific topics we’ve covered, and ask him questions, go to his Dexa page: https://ask.markgroves.com

Drop us a note at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, guest suggestions, or just to say hello!

This episode is sponsored by:

Organifi - High Quality Superfood Supplements To Keep Working Toward Your Goals http://www.organifi.com/createthelove

In this episode I sit down with Arthur Brooks to unpack why so many people feel lost, disconnected, and unsure of their purpose despite living in an age of endless opportunity. We explore what meaning actually is, how love, purpose, and belonging are built in real life not on screens, and why the path forward requires getting honest, getting off the dopamine treadmill, embracing boredom, and reconnecting to something greater than yourself. This conversation is an invitation to step out of autopilot, take your attention back, and start creating a life rooted in meaning instead of distraction.

Arthur Brooks is a professor at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, where he teaches leadership and happiness, as well as a CBS News Contributor, columnist for The Free Press, and host of the podcast Office Hours with Arthur Brooks. He is the author of 15 books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Build the Life You Want (co-authored with Oprah Winfrey) and From Strength to Strength, with his upcoming book The Meaning of Your Life set for release on March 31. Widely regarded as a leading expert on the science of happiness, Brooks regularly speaks and teaches around the world, helping individuals and organizations cultivate greater well-being.

—Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arthurcbrooks/  

—Website: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/

—Pre order the book: https://hub.arthurbrooks.com/meaning-of-your-life-event-registration 

- Subscribe to Mark’s Substack to receive his weekly reflections and insights straight from his heart to your inbox. ⁠https://markgroves.substack.com/⁠ 

—Contact us at [email protected] for sponsor product support, questions, comments, or just to say hello!
—This episode is sponsored by:

Cozy Earth: Use code CHANGE for 20% off sitewide at http://www.cozyearth.com