After Season 1's finale, Episode 11's Recipe for Wisdom, Matt is turning the page to a new chapter for the Podcast. Today's teaser sets the stage.

Of all the episodes so far, this is the one to listen to, re-listen to, and share with others. On the Wise Elders podcast series, Matt seeks the secret sauce of wisdom so he can know it and share it with the world. He is already discovering he may not need one recipe, but a whole cookbook. Here’s the first recipe/ how-to-guide for wisdom, and it’s based on the six Mindfulness Skills of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Matt teaches all six skills to his two dogs, Stevie and Billie, using clips from the first ten episodes of Wise Elders. The skills are so simple even a puppy can do them. The more we practice these simple skills over time, the more we can all become wise elders.

Alex McLean is an esteemed psychiatrist, mentor, and friend, and the first repeat guest on the Wise Elders Podcast. First, Matt updates her on his quest to discover the secret sauce of wisdom (3:54). Then they discuss how to wisely respond to unwise behavior in the world, particularly human cruelty (15:55).

We are all exhausted by the pandemic, including unproductive conversations about COVID. Yet wise dialogue about effectiveness has been hard to find. Using the concepts of wisdom and effectiveness as his frame, Matt talks with Neil and Mike, two professors of epidemiology. What insights about wisdom has the pandemic given us? And how can we use those insights to remain effective as society reopens and beyond? I’ll let you, the listener decide how well we pulled off the mission. Feel free to give your feedback and join the discussion!

Dorian Hunter joins forces with Matt to discuss experience as a vehicle for wisdom. As two DBT therapists, trainers, and consultants, they use their own skills to discuss wisdom, dialectics (6:48), and the DBT skill of Participate (27:50).

Today’s episode features two incredible musicians, Brett Kull (Rise Twain, Echolyn, Grey Eye Glances) and Katie Barbato. After gushing about one another in our introductions, Matt, Brett, and Katie explore the definition of wisdom, honing in on the importance of ethics as one of its ingredients (starting at 14:57). Then, they discuss the Describe skill in DBT, focusing on the words we use and the musical tone in which we use them as vehicles for comprehending wisdom (45:41). Matt chose Brett and Katie for this topic because of their love of words as cohosts of the Read It Twice Podcast, as well as their expertise in communication through music, an artform that so often expresses what words fail to capture.