20th Century America was a golden era for optimistic teaching about how to succeed. While the advice was great from point to point, as a whole it often left people less happy than they were before learning it. But the great spiritual teachers have their own take on how to succeed that takes us to a very different place. With lots of storytelling and the occasional cultural allusion, Dave Schmelzer walks us through both takes, with some concrete suggestions about what might come next for us.

We all hit problems in our lives that don't have easy answers and so, in the absence of obvious ways to solve them, we obsess over them. Many great spiritual teachers talk about what this is like and they have both a surprising way through these problems and a surprising upshot that will lead us to a solution we couldn't have seen coming. Join Dave Schmelzer for a look at this powerful advice with wisdom from theologians and Zen teachers and C.S. Lewis and the Bible and a classic movie or two.Mentioned in this podcast It's a Wonderful LifeIsaiah 30:15-16, Proverbs 3:5-6; 28:26, 23:4, Psalm 125:1, John 12:24The Unity of the Bible, by Daniel P. FullerTill We Have Faces, by C.S. LewisEveryday Zen, by Charlotte Joko Beck A weekly online group. Contact [email protected]. 

Many great spiritual teachers (looking to the Bible) agree that there's one straightforward spiritual thing you can do that is basically a joy guarantee...and yet it's, strangely, rarely done! Dave Schmelzer details the one-stop joy hack while offering inspiration from the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Pentecostals, and his own recent past.Mentioned on this podcast: The Wisdom of the Desert, by Thomas Merton Transformations, by the Sentinel Group Psalm 22:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 2 Chronicles 20, John 10:10 A weekly online group: [email protected]   

Loneliness is hard--and boldly following God into uncharted territory can risk its own kind of loneliness. The good news is that the great spiritual teachers--and even some scholars--have a lot of thoughts on how to find the kind of connection and relationship that our hearts crave.Mentioned on this podcast: Theology of Joy: Lisa Miller and Matt Croasmun from the Yale Center for Faith and Culture James 1:5-8 Desert Fathers and Mothers

Peter Eavis, a New York Times business reporter and popular Blue Ocean World guest, just covered WeWork's rise and (seeming) fall. He talks with Dave Schmelzer and Christina Roberts about how, since the 2008 crash, businesses have positioned themselves as offering meaning and not just a product. We talk about the implications of that consequential shift. 

Francine Kiefer, the West Coast Bureau Chief for the Christian Science Monitor, just wrote a viral story about how a 1994 trigger event for California's Latino population set things in motion that are changing all of America's political future. California's highly publicized (and attacked) challenges--immigration, homelessness, spiraling housing prices, climate change--foreshadow what we'll all be talking about shortly. Join Dave Schmelzer and Christina Roberts for a wide-ranging conversation with Francine about what this means for your political and social future.

We've all heard about or experienced occasional unexplainable stories--was it an angel? a ghost? an alien? a praying friend? Of course they might have rational explanations in the end, but the spiritual masters nonetheless encourage us to lean into how those uncanny stories feel and what they might mean, telling us that those things are important clues to our happiness and fulfillment. Join Dave Schmelzer for thoughts from Mother Teresa, G.K. Chesterton, Stephen Spielberg and more about how the untamed universe is good news for you and those you love. Mentioned on this podcast: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Hamlet Mother Teresa, No Greater Love G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy Daniel 3:17-18, Psalm 27:4

Worrying more than anything else keeps us from living our best life. Of course it feels horrible, but it also keeps us from walking with God into the life we want. Join Dave Schmelzer as he reviews some of the richest lessons ever offered as we stop worrying and start living! Mentioned in this podcast:  How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie 30 Lessons for Living, by Karl Pillemer Real Happiness, by Sharon Salzberg Matthew 6:22-23, Psalm 118:24, Proverbs 23:7, Psalm 90:12

After hearing Gay Hendricks's book The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level celebrated on several podcasts, Christina Roberts picked it up and loved it. Dave Schmelzer joins her for a rollicking conversation about how the book has proven so empowering, how it has parallels with Christian healing practices--and then how we can, in fact, transcend our limiting thoughts in order to, well, take our lives to the next level.