Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

I got to chat with Dr. Jill Biden about: the first draft of her memoir View from the East Wing; her new job and her forever love of teaching; her early family life; grieving, processing anger, and attempting forgiveness; caregiving and aging; and moments of divine intervention. Plus, the books she’s been reading and loving lately, and the one she recommends to people going through it. For the show notes, go to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In October’s solo episode, I’m sharing what I’ve read this month (including the rare novel, which I loved!), and what’s inspiring my latest attempts to resist the compulsion to overwork. I’m also sharing my takes on some things that are happening now in the media landscape: changes that YouTube has made, ways we measure our value, what this means for how we create meaning, the next cycle that’s going to crash, and how to avoid getting totally mucked up by algorithmic forces. To see the show notes and my newsletter, to register for upcoming events with me, and to join our growing community for more—head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Globally, across many cultures, across the lifespan, many people have a deep mistrust of joy and other positive emotions for different reasons,” says psychologist, teacher, and author Kelly McGonigal, PhD. In her new book, Joy Is a Risk Worth Taking, she shares the research that’s shaped her approach to joy as a pessimist. It’s the best case for joy as a moral obligation that I’ve heard. But whether you see joy as frivolous or meaningful—whether you find it easy or challenging to feel, show, or seek joy—I think her way of seeing joy can bring more of it into all of our lives. For the show notes, including a link to that space for sharing joy we talk about toward the end of the conversation, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“ I was raised in a culture that says it’s cooler and it's smarter to say this is just a material, senseless, random world where atoms are bouncing off of each other, and there's no meaning or order or divine wink to any of it,” says psychiatrist Ellen Vora, MD. “I was missing that charm and that joy of, mmm, feels like something's happening here. I don't know what, but it feels like something is—and that gives me an immense amount of meaning and intrigue.” Today I’m talking to Ellen about her new book Season of the Witch, and how she came to think about the rational and intuitive parts of herself, our understanding of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and where our skepticism often comes from. Ellen shares how, now, she’s helping people to reconnect to their own intuition, and to stay intact and open up to what—personally—brings them great joy and meaning.  For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her private therapy practice, renowned psychoanalyst Galit Atlas, PhD, has identified six archetypes that shape our intimate relationships as adults. She says that every adult carries one of these archetypes with them, and that usually we carry more than one. She’s named them: the frightened child, the melancholic child, the ashamed child, the invisible child, the guilty child (I identify big-time with this one), and the chosen child. Today, we talk through these archetypes as Galit brings us into the therapy room and shares some incredibly resonant stories from her work with her patients. After you listen, I also highly recommend reading her new book, Come Closer: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love, and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy. For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The alchemy pathway brings back synchronicity, unity, harmony to all of these different parts of self,” says psychic medium Carissa Schumacher. Her book—The Alchemy Transmissions: A Pathway to Miracles—is out this week, and it’s a series of transmissions she channeled from Yeshua (Jesus)! Today, we’re talking about what else this pathway might offer us, how to navigate the new era that we’re in, how to become more consciously mature, and how to step more deeply into your own unique essence. For the show notes (including a link to Carissa’s 92nd Street Y event on October 3, which you can stream), head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s just me today, sharing an update on my next surgery (I’m still doing well!), and reflecting on something that someone shared with me at a book event a few weeks ago. It got me thinking about how our gifts are emergent; they show up at different times in our lives, and in different ways. And sometimes, we’re being called to simply be present. I’m also starting to reflect back on the last seven-year cycle (more about why in the episode), and hope you’ll join me in thinking about who you were, too, in the fall of 2019. To see the show notes and my newsletter, to register for upcoming events with me, and to join our growing community for more—head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Feeling is really the core of consciousness,” says Antonio Damasio, MD, PhD. “And it's giving you information about what it is like to be alive, and how your life is going, and what you need to do about it.” Damasio is the director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California and the author of several books including, his latest, Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness. Today, he shares his beautiful explanation of this kind of feeling, along with his reflections on spirituality and the sublime.  For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In their brilliant new book—End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World—Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor uncover the varied threads that have given birth to an apocalyptic, survivalist alliance of power that seems intent on…ending us. And they share an arguably more appealing, enjoyable path to breaking the doom loop and—rooted in what they call here-ness—figuring out a new way to live in our profound world, now. It’s such a treat to have them both on the podcast today! For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Christiansen is the founder of Flamingo Estate and a dear pal of mine. Today, we’re talking (in part) about the stories that led to his new book, Flamingo Estate Pleasure Principles. We get into: our love of witches, why Richard thinks we’re experiencing a crisis of beauty (and what he does about it), the concept of a victory garden, the unexpected provenance of things like the California naval orange, and his take on chasing pleasure. For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“ It’s just incredibly hard to really resist these forces that are, you know, probably from evolution, that we adapt to our circumstances,” says psychologist Angela Duckworth, PhD. “But once you have that insight, then you realize that you do have to shape your circumstances before they shape you.” In her new book Situated, Duckworth (who wrote the #1 New York Times bestseller Grit) reveals the often hidden ways that situational elements affect us, and she maps out optimistic strategies for sometimes changing our environment and sometimes improving the situations in our lives. In our conversation, she also shares some funny and enlightening psychology findings that help explain why we can be so different across different settings, and why our expectations of ourselves are socially determined. And toward the end, she offers an alternative approach to effortfully pursuing our goals—which does not involve suffering, and which is actually more effective (go figure!). For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month’s solo episode is mostly about what I think will come of all the AI generation, the fabrication of viral moments, and the latest iteration of marketing that we’re starting to see through. And why I think where we’re headed is mostly good for us. I’m also answering questions about how I personally use AI, as well as why I chose to move from Substack to Beehiv, and some little quirky things I’m hosting that you can join. But first, I’ll share a quick (positive!) health update, and what I’ve learned from Dr. Lucy McBride about how we tend to fall into different patient archetypes. For the show notes and more details about the events and such I mention, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“ I think these resources are good because it gives you the language and the tools to do something that doesn’t necessarily feel right,” says Stephanie Wittels Wachs, author of Last Day. Steph also hosts a podcast by the same name and is the cofounder and CEO of Lemonada Media (the podcast network I’ve been with for the last year or so). I’m so grateful to Steph for sharing a more nuanced and compassionate perspective on addiction, and for creating a vital guide for living with addiction, for connecting with loved ones who have this disease, for saving more lives—and for evolving our culture more broadly, which is so needed. Also for the warmth and humor with which Steph does this all! I’ve covered addiction a lot on Pulling the Thread, so I’m compiling all the resources (including Steph’s book) in the show notes on my site: eliseloehnen.com. Get 50% off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool, at monarch.com with code THREAD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chloe Redmond Warner is a very talented interior designer—and one of my closest childhood friends. To celebrate the launch of her special book This Must Be the Place, which is about how to design a home with personality, I got to interview Chloe at Godmothers bookstore. This episode is adapted from our live conversation, in which Chloe is her usual hilarious and brilliant self. She shares some of the fun house projects she’s done over the years, including one named Little Women on Acid. We talk about the value of aesthetic intelligence; Chloe’s process of making a house feel like a home; why she forced herself to finish her degree in architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design; and her theory regarding the equalness of art, architecture, and decoration. For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Epstein is a journalist and the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Inside the Box (which we’re talking about today), Range, and The Sports Gene. He tells some fascinating stories that he uncovered during his research that challenge or complicate a lot of cultural perceptions about: freedom (often, sadly, the death knell of creativity!), originality and innovation (turns out there is an optimal level of newness), famous moments of insight and breakthrough (these surprised me), and the relationship between constraints and personal satisfaction (might surprise you).  For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claude Steele is a social psychologist, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, and the author of Churn: The Tension That Divides Us and How to Overcome It. Churn refers to the stress we often feel in diverse settings in everyday life; it’s the psychological reaction to being under identity threat—which is something we can all experience based on any myriad number of identity factors. Steele explains how churn can be an insidious and debilitating force in our personal lives, and he explains why the most effective way to approach churn is by building trust in a given situation. (While obviously Steele isn’t in support of prejudices of any kind, he doesn’t think the antidote here is to eliminate prejudice—and I think you’ll find his reasoning interesting.) For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve been tuning into July’s special series of sorts, thank you, and I hope you’ve also been enjoying revisiting these conversations from the archives, or maybe you’re discovering them for the first time. Today, we have a big one with Jungian analyst James Hollis, PhD, who is the author of many, many books that are incredibly meaningful to me. And this conversation still lives up to how much I love his work. I actually cried at one point during our chat, which more or less revolves around how we go about finding our soul’s vocation. For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m thrilled to be back on the podcast mic again—I’ve been healing from a double mastectomy and I’m doing well! Thank you to everyone who has been thinking of me. This update covers: the surgery experience, the energy healers and lymphatic masseuse I’ve been working with, a few essential things I bought for the recovery phase, something my friends did that was a huge help, and the mini revelations that have come to me during this sabbatical of sorts. I’m sharing a bit from the Omega retreat that I hosted with Satya Doyle Byock, a Jung story that set me straight, synchronicities from an oracle deck that I love, and what I’m up to next—now that I’ve realized I cannot out-robot the robots. For the show notes—including the healer guide—head to eliseloehnen.com (my new site is finally live!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This special episode initially ran early in 2025 but I wanted to bump it up for those of you who missed it and also because I honestly think Richard Rohr is worthy of a re-listen. If you’re not already familiar with Richard Rohr, he’s a wonderful Franciscan friar, the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, and one of my most profound teachers. I really loved and highly recommend his book The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage. In this conversation, he helps us to make sense of disorder, evil, anger, and grief—while also helping us to truly grow. For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabor Maté, MD, is renowned for his work on addiction, stress, trauma, and understanding and healing from illness. He has written several books, including The Myth of Normal. As part of a special series of sorts this month, I’m turning back to a conversation I had with him a few years ago about his perspective on the relationship between how we live, the culture we live in, and our health. For the show notes, head to eliseloehnen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I believe this is the most-listened-to episode ever on Pulling the Thread. It’s a conversation that I had with therapist Esther Perel in 2023 that still stands to this day—but that’s Esther for you. I think it also highlights how difficult it remains for many of us to get comfortable with conflict in our relationships, and to disagree and even fight, productively, with someone else. Whether you tend to avoid friction or go up in flames—or have a partner who does one or the other—I think you’ll find Esther’s framing compelling. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, friends. For those who are interested, I’m saying more about this in my solo episodes, but as I was preparing to recover from a non-life-threatening (and yet major) health surgery, I spent some time thinking about what would be meaningful to share with you all for the next few weeks or so. And I landed on a shortlist of conversations that I’ve had on Pulling the Thread over the years that resonated with listeners, that stuck with me, and that feel ever more relevant today, and worthy of a first-time listen now—and even a re-listen. First up is my conversation with everybody’s favorite palliative medicine physician, BJ Miller. BJ has become a dear friend of mine and I find his approach to fear and the unknown to be incredibly helpful in so many aspects of life—from relationships to career to contemplating our larger purpose. This episode originally ran at the very end of 2021, which seems hard to believe for me! I hope you still love it, too. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I spent the past month largely recovering from a (successful) double mastectomy—it was very intense, and I also had amazing care, from my team at UCLA, and from my family and friends. I am healing well and my prognosis couldn’t be better—I’m very lucky that intervention was early and I am not fighting for my life. I recorded this episode before my surgery—I did this for a number of reasons: to record the process of navigating options, to highlight where the big fear pockets were for me, and also to work through a second diagnosis, that’s scary-sounding but also in hand. If you’ve faced something like this—or are fearful of facing something like this—I hope my thought process is helpful. In last month’s episode (“Taking Your Foot Off the Gas”), I talked a bit about needing a sabbatical—and this is why. I appreciate all of you so much—thank you for continuing to listen to Pulling the Thread while I take some time to take care of myself. I'm very grateful for your support. For the show notes and full transcript, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Wolynn is a pioneer in the field of inherited family trauma, the director of the Family Constellation Institute in San Francisco, and author of the recently updated classic It Didn't Start with You (there’s also now a companion workbook). I find his work endlessly fascinating. Here, he helps us see how inherited family trauma, attachment trauma, and unconscious loyalty is often unknowingly affecting our lives—and, importantly, what we can do about it to make positive change in our lives now, and for future generations. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the shocking end of her marriage, Belle Burden chose not to let herself get erased. Today, we talk about what she chose instead and the person she’s evolved into since writing her stunning memoir Strangers. Burden reminds me that while we can’t always understand why people do what they do, we can learn to live tethered to our own truth. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had so much fun reading psychologist Paul Eastwick’s book Bonded by Evolution: The New Science of Love and Connection. A lot of his work reveals the enduring myths that are engrained in our culture and our minds about attraction, compatibility, gender differences, and relationships—and why these myths have been somewhat mistakenly connected to evolutionary psychology. The way he debunks these myths is so helpful, and also very entertaining, I think, whether you are single, dating, or in a relationship. Today, he shares some great hot takes on the apps; the significance (or not!) of first impressions, what’s behind compatibility and lasting attraction, how same-sex friends work, infidelity risk factors—and much more. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“That’s the kind of story, that's the kind of image that I'm talking about—that really just sinks into you and won’t let go,” says psychologist Sharon Blackie. Today, Blackie returns to discuss her new book Ripening: Why Women Need Fairytales Now. Once again, her perspective is helping me make sense of who we are at different stages of our lives. Sharon's first episode on Pulling the Thread: "How to Fully Engage with the Rest of Your Life" For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We’re all addicted to light,” says Andrew Holocek, author of Total Eclipse of the Mind: Unleashing the Power of Darkness for Creativity, Healing, and Transformation. “We’re all light junkies in the deepest possible way. And so because we're so lost in the light, blinded by the light, that I think the pendulum is swinging back. And there's a deep intimation, it may be inarticulate for a number of people—why so many people are simultaneously attracted and repulsed by the darkness, of what it represents.” Today, Holocek (who has been meditating for 50 years and doing dark retreat for 30) shares how to dip your toe into dark practice, a soothing way of framing fear, and a glimpse into what each of us might find in the dark.  For the show notes (including a link to the masks we talk about), head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I’m heading into a series of initiations, I’m sharing a few challenges (opportunities!) that I’m sure many of you are familiar with: our struggle to prioritize ourselves, worrying over what will happen if I slow down, wanting to have faith in myself in the way that I have faith in other people and in the world. In this month’s solo episode, I’m also sharing a bit about my upcoming move from Substack to Beehiv, a sabbatical of sorts that I’m taking, and what’s coming up on the podcast. You can hear my subsequent update here: "A Life Update" For the show notes, you can head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times–bestselling author Bruce Feiler is back after just a few years with another great one, A Time to Gather: How Ritual Created the World—and How It Can Save Us. Today, he reveals what he’s learned about the rise of reinvented rituals. He shares some incredible stories of people around the world who are creating rituals for all kinds of moments—from celebrating professional and personal milestones to honor walks for organ donors, miscarriage rituals, and Taylor Swift divorce parties. He also guides me through a ritual design class in real time, showing how simple—and powerful—it can be to create a ritual of connection in our own lives. Bruce Feiler's first episode on Pulling the Thread: "The Non-Linear Life" For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ibram X. Kendi, is the author of the #1 New York Times–bestseller How to Be an Antiracist. His new book is Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age. It is incredibly insightful and illuminating in terms of mapping out how we got to where we are, around the world. And what Kendi shares in our conversation today is also quite helpful in terms of pointing us in a new direction. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I met Stacey Lindsay about a decade ago and worked with her for a few years—she’s a curious, compassionate journalist and writer—but I didn’t know much of her own incredible personal story until I read her new book Being 40 and had this conversation with her. We talked about the meaning of this decade of our lives, but more broadly, we talked about the scripts and checklists that women are often handed throughout our lives—and how we go about setting these down, centering ourselves, and self-authoring. We talked about being disappointed by the people we love, about forgiveness, about breaking cycles, and about the people we want to become next. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2018, health and science journalist Alexandra Sifferlin began her investigation into the American diagnosis crisis: Why are so many people being misdiagnosed? What is the cost of this error? Who is trying to change the system—and what does a better healthcare system (for all of us) look like? The resulting book—The Elusive Body—is a fascinating read. Today, we cover the major parts of Sifferlin’s investigation and what’s unfolded even since she finished writing. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had some personal highs this April, and also a strange feeling (for me, someone who is constantly in motion, always moving forward) of being a bit unmoored—a reminder of needing to wait, of letting cycles be, of accepting stillness (or trying to, at least). I’ve also been thinking of a (related) Carissa Schumacher metaphor—the idea that each of us prefers a different part of the cycles of life: seeding, growing, or harvesting. I’m reflecting on all of this—and a few other new things that have become very meaningful to me—in this month’s solo episode. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her moving and beautiful book, When We See You Again, Rachel Goldberg-Polin writes about her love for her son, Hersh, who was stolen from a musical festival on October 7, 2023, and executed after 328 days of being held hostage. While I completely understand the instinct to turn away, I also really hope you will stay with us for this conversation, if you can. Rachel is incredible, and there are so many gifts to be found in her words. She told me stories that made me laugh, that stunned me, that were utterly profound, and that will stay with me forever. If you have ever wondered why we’re here—or what your “why” is—I think you will also be changed by Rachel, too. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychiatrist Amir Levine, MD, is the coauthor of the mega-bestseller Attached. In his new book, Secure, he takes another look at the four attachment styles and the myths surrounding them to show how each of us—regardless of our starting point—can flex and become more secure in our relationships. In this (delightful) conversation, he also explains why certain seemingly insignificant minor interactions (which he calls SIMIs) have an outsize effect on our brains and our intimate relationships. He offers some advice for turning down the volume on the insecure attachments in your life. And we talk about more psychological phenomena that I think will resonate with many of you—from attachment gaslighting to the protest-regret cycle. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly Corrigan Wonders recently launched a 6-part series called Super Traits, featuring conversations with people like NBA coach Steve Kerr, writer George Saunders, and do-gooder Father Greg Boyle, all masters of the super traits. These deep dives are one part inspiration and one part How To guide on how to get yourself in the right headspace for a great 2026. Tune in to hear fantastic conversations on wonder, humility, and curiosity.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had a fascinating numerology reading with Janine Slome, and have been wanting to get her on the podcast for some time. Here, she shares a brief background on numerology, and why the practice can serve as both a potent portrayal of life and a map to guide you along your path. We also talk about karma—where it comes from, the different types, what to do about it. And Slome shares several predictions for our future. This episode is one of the wild ones—enjoy!   For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I think we can take the same mindset to any change that we make, which is that getting off track is not something in you, it's part of the process itself,” says Eric Zimmer, host of the podcast The One You Feed. “And so the question just becomes, how do I get back on track with the minimum amount of emotional drama?” In this conversation, and in his new book, How a Little Becomes a Lot, Zimmer shares what he’s learned about how to create meaningful, lasting change. He draws from his personal experience (including a dark night of the soul he experienced with addiction), varied research, philosophies, and teachers, as well as what he’s observed coaching and serving others. His approach is full of nuance and complexity—but also, blessedly, he has very practical and helpful tools that you can put to good use immediately.   For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In my latest episode sans guest: What I learned from a new Yeshua journey with medium Carissa Schumacher. Why it’s difficult for many of us to actually listen. Why I prefer the concept of contribution over purpose. One of my favorite stories recounted by Michael Meade about the old woman at the end of the world. A reflection on what’s your thread to add. A framework for understanding power and different energies. How I’m currently thinking about AI. And a request for your feedback on a new project, and the possibility of gathering together in a few cohorts. Feel free to leave your thoughts as a comment/review right here on the episode.   And for the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meg Josephson is a psychotherapist and the author of the instant New York Times–bestseller, Are You Mad At Me? In her own life and in her work with clients, she’s come to focus on why many of us have an overactive fawn response. (You’re likely familiar with the other classic responses: fight, flight, freeze, and perhaps faint.) The fawn response can look different depending on the person but it is often related to a desire to feel safe, to be liked, to secure approval, and to please others. In this conversation, Josephson shares the five fawn-related archetypes, or behavioral patterns, that she’s identified. (My guess is that at least one will resonate with you.) Josephson explains why these patterns and responses make sense and why they can be protective—and also what to do if their overuse has become a strain on your life and relationships.   For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of my favorite repeat guests is back: I’m talking to psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock about the duality of individuation and community. We get into the difference between individuation and individualism, and why it’s critical for all of us to individuate—to go on our own journeys—so that we can genuinely be a part of the collective, and not just subject to herd mentality. We also chat about our search for meaning, and why Satya encourages people to trust an irrational guide. And we talk about getting in touch with our daemons—which you can think of as your inner genius, a spark that wants to come through you.   You can learn more about the retreat that Satya and I are hosting at Omega in May here: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/tapping-what-wants-come-through-you.    And for all the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“This is, I think, when people need more help remembering how to access their play or kind of letting themselves play—because adults do play,” says Cas Holman, a world-renowned designer and the author of Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity. Today, we talk a bit about Holman’s unique approach to play for kids, but mostly we talk about what she’s doing to help adults shift their mindsets—so that we might find age-appropriate ways to play that we genuinely enjoy and that can serve as a salve for our communities.   For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Glorians are unearned, unbidden, freely given,” says legendary author and mentor Terry Tempest Williams. “And to me that's also what grace is—those moments of grace that we didn't anticipate, we didn't deserve, we couldn't have imagined. And here they are. And I think that's another element that is deeper than hope. And do we recognize grace when it comes in all its different manifestations?” For me, this is one of the most moving conversations I’ve had on Pulling the Thread. I treasure every stunning story Terry told during our time together.    For Terry’s new book The Glorians, and all the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“And that may be its greatest contribution—to insist that God is equally male and female,” says Daniel Matt, PhD, a scholar and teacher of Kabbalah. Matt shares radical revelations, some dangerous reinterpretations, and beautiful lessons from the mystical teachings of Kabbalah and the Zohar (which is the main book, or as Matt calls it, the masterpiece of Kabbalah).    For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m reflecting more deeply on evil in the present moment: What is evil? What’s our relationship to it? How do we increase our tolerance for acknowledging dark energies so that we can moderate and metabolize them—and keep ourselves and others safe? This episode is not meant to scare; my intention is really the opposite, as I don’t find fear to be helpful here. I’ll be sharing a few sources and ways of thinking—about evil and how we might respond to what’s currently playing out in the culture—that I do find incredibly helpful. There’s psychiatrist M. Scott Peck on exorcisms and the lie of evil, a framework of understanding from psychic medium Carissa Schumacher, a beautiful map for us to follow from energy healer Carla Schwiderski, and more.   As always, if you want to explore further, you can find links in the show notes on my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marieta Pehlivanova, PhD, is a research scientist at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), which is a highly unique research group that investigates the mind’s relationship to the body, and the possibility of consciousness surviving physical death. They study children who report past-life memories, people who have near-death experiences, and more. Their work is fascinating, and it has the potential to change and shape our understanding of…well, why we’re here in the first place, and what the meaning of our lives really is.   If you want to go deeper on related topics (consciousness, mediums, other psychic phenomena, etc.)—see the show notes on my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I think that we are most likely to benefit from such an encounter than to suffer from it,” says physicist Avi Loeb, PhD, who describes himself as an optimist in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Today, Loeb shares: What astronomy and dating have in common. His theories on the three interstellar objects that have been observed (including 3I/ATLAS). Why it’s likely that other intelligent civilizations exist. And why he thinks it would be wonderful to meet them—and  imperative for the future of human beings that we do so.   For the show notes, head to my Substack.   Get 50% off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool, at monarch.com/thread. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lucy Kalanithi, MD, continues to instill hope in me. Today, she shares lessons from her life and her work as a primary care physician (she’s also Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University)—along with reflections on the legacy of her husband Paul Kalanithi, MD, who wrote the now canonical memoir When Breath Becomes Air before his death in 2015.    For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and bestselling author Jennifer B. Wallace shares the key ingredients to feeling like you matter, and to making others feel like they matter, too. She covers my favorite stories and stats from her new book Mattering, along with the practical tools, habits, and practices she leans on in her own life. We talk about the importance of putting a bow on things; how we can use the mattering lens to approach life transitions; the benefits of ego extension; and something called “the beautiful mess effect.” Wallace also shares how she’s approached what might be the hardest but most profound part of this, which is figuring out: How do I matter to myself? For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this month’s solo episode, I’m sharing more about the model of developmental psychology that I’m finding incredibly useful right now: Spiral Dynamics. As a framework, I think it can help us understand our world and culture better—and it can guide us in the best, and most effective ways to respond to it.  If you want to go deeper into Spiral Dynamics, there is a ton more for you in the show notes on my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tori Dunlap is the author of Financial Feminist and the host of the podcast of the same name. She has a very compelling way of helping women to effectively approach (and earn) money, while addressing underlying emotions, traumas, triggers, and stories. I think you’ll find her advice helpful if: You’ve ever been told, or thought, that you’re bad with money. You feel like you need to justify any spending or any earning. You feel like you have no control over your money (or your partner handles all the finances). You’d love to switch from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. Or, you can deduce what the ostrich effect is, and you want to know how to combat it.   For the show notes, head to my Substack.   Get 50% off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool, at monarch.com/thread. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Meade is a groundbreaking storyteller, author, and scholar of mythology, anthropology, and psychology. He blew my mind with a historical gem that he shared in this conversation. I was also moved by his perspective on our “crisis of masculinity” and the manosphere, what might be the antidote to monoculture, and why the hero’s journey is a bit of a fallacy. And, even more so, his case and how-to for each of us, individually, to grow our own soul. For the show notes, head to my website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

”That’s what everything comes back to for me—are you feeling the way that you want to feel every single day?” says podcast host and author Liz Moody. “And if you’re not, how can I give you more tools and more resources to do so?” Here, I asked Moody to share her life mottos, philosophies, habits, and ways of thinking that I find particularly compelling. Such as: Your body is for living, not looking. And Liz’s match theory behind how we meet people in life. We talk about the connection between novelty and meaning (and ways to add in micro bits of novelty to our lives). She shares some interesting research about friendship, like how many friends make sense in your inner circle and why friendships are formed through something we tend to overlook. We also cover goals we’ve brought into the New Year with us—and much more. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychological astrologer Jennifer Freed shares a preview of 2026, her tips for each sign, and, of course, many more nuggets of her signature wisdom. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s my take on New Year’s resolutions and what I think many of us are ready to resolve and let go of. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week—for some joy, levity, and laughs—I asked my very funny friend to keep us company. Nora McInerny is an author and the host of the podcast Thanks for Asking. Today, she’s sharing some holiday traditions that would be fun to try out with your family or friends, along with a minimal gift-giving method that truly impressed me. We talk TV show recommendations for the season, personality surveys, and other ways to laugh right now. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Malaika Tubbs is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Three Mothers and Erased. Today, we talk about some of the cultural forces and figures that have certainly shaped us—but that have largely been hidden from us. For the show notes, head to my Substack. Get 50% off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool, at www.monarch.com/thread. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is an unusual episode with one of my favorite psychic mediums, Carissa Schumacher—who is also a channel for Yeshua, or Christ Consciousness. Wild, I know! Here, Carissa is sharing insights pertaining to what is going on in our upside-down world currently, and what is ahead for us in 2026 (and even beyond, going into 2027 and 2028). She covers the major themes of the new era we’re entering, and her recommendations for do’s and don’ts next year. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two of my favorite teachers started collaborating with one another to help us to individually, and collectively, release our burdens, heal, and deepen connection: Internal Family Systems (IFS) founder Richard Schwartz and group facilitator Thomas Hübl. Today, they share their process, helpful exercises and tools, and more from their new book, Releasing Our Burdens. For links to my previous episodes with Dick and Thomas, and all the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“ We know in clinical science, there is nothing that is a quarter as protective against suffering as spirituality,” says psychologist Lisa Miller, PhD, author of The Awakened Brain. Miller shares poignant research and patient experiences that changed the way she thought about mental health, and her life. She outlines three significant windows in our lives—and how we might approach each. And she also shares her three-step synchronicity practice; the red-door, yellow-door practice; and some help for parents that I really appreciated. For the show notes, head to my Substack. Get 50% off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarch.com/thread. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In November’s solo episode: A major reframe I had. What you might learn from the Trickster archetype. Little ways I’m finding meaning in the universe. Other ways of thinking about the process of evolution and change. How we might hold inspiration and discernment at once—and why this is crucial. Thoughts on the guru-ification of our culture and other things happening in our upside-down world. The (perhaps surprising) book I’m obsessed with right now. And more.   For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Kimmel, Jr., PhD, is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and the author of The Science of Revenge. He’s known in part for identifying compulsive revenge seeking as an addiction. He explains how perceived wrongs, grievances, and revenge desires—and how we deal with them, or not—affect us all. Actually trying to get revenge is pretty much always a lost cause—it simply makes us feel worse—but often, blanket forgiveness feels impossible. Which is why Kimmel came up with a simple but brilliant process that you can run through in the courtroom of your mind. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renowned psychic medium Laura Lynne Jackson shares how each of us can use our own intuition and respond to messages from our teams of light, as she calls them, to live a more meaningful, connected, and fun life. She also shares the download she received from the other side that prompted her to write her new book Guided, which follows her New York Times bestsellers Signs and The Light Between Us. For the show notes, head to my Substack.Get 50% off Monarch, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarch.com/thread.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We’re in a time of masking and masks, whether we know it or not,” says psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock. “And my hope is that us talking about it draws that into greater consciousness for people to make decisions about when to put them on and when to take them off.” Today, we’re talking about persona, in the sense of the masks we wear for various reasons (some beneficial, some nefarious). And, how, in becoming attached to the idea of authenticity and being in a rush to identify someone else or ourselves as inauthentic—we can really miss our mark. For the show notes, including sign-up links to the events that Satya and I will be doing together, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I believe basically what I’ve seen in the laboratory,” says scientist Dean Radin, PhD. “I'm driven by experience just like anybody else, except my experience is experiment.” Radin studies things like telepathy, consciousness, quantum physics, and more parapsychology. He shares some of the most fascinating discoveries from his lab, broader research, and new book The Science of Magic. Such as, how the present can be influenced by the future. For the show notes and links (including that Jeffrey Kripal story that I share after today’s conversation), head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In my one episode sans guest this month, I’m reflecting on: how we might enjoy solitude more (and fear loneliness less), the manifestation program I just finished (called the Money Challenge), how I’m feeling about attention and power these days, and a couple of other micro and macro realizations that are surfacing right now. For the show notes, head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There are so many blessings in the in-between,” says Jessica Gill, chief content officer at To Be Magnetic and cohost of the Expanded podcast with Lacy Phillips. “You can manifest amazing mini manifestations or just kismet opportunities or these things that you wouldn't even believe would transpire in the midst of doing this work.” Today, Gill breaks down the deeply intuitive—and simple, but not easy—manifestation process that is the core of To Be Magnetic and the new book How to Manifest. This has changed the way I think about manifestation, the purpose of it, and the potential it has to help us outgrow old dynamics and evolve with new ones. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social psychologist Carol Tavris, PhD, breaks down cognitive dissonance, why it’s so hard for us to see our own blind spots, the power and danger of self-justification, and the pyramid of choice that can lead us to some unexpected places. She also shares some fascinating findings about anger and catharsis that turn a few assumptions on their head. In doing so, she helps us understand our own behaviors and motives better—and she helps us to see others more clearly. For the show notes, head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime sex-advice columnist and author Dan Savage shares how he thinks about monogamy, marriage, infidelity, and repair. We explore how sex and relationships get conflated. We get into identities, orientations, preferences, language, and how we’re raising kids today. Also, Savage’s take on heteropessimism, what makes a man an attractive partner, and a word he introduced me to: tolyamory, meaning tolerating your lover’s BS. There’s so much to unpack in here, and to keep thinking about. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We have to let go of our own patriarchy,” says Elinor Dickson. “And we’re afraid to because it represents control for us.” Dickson spent more than 35 years as a Jungian therapist, and she cowrote the seminal Dancing in the Flames with her good friend Marion Woodman. She’s one of the wise elders of our time. We explore the new universal mythos our culture so badly needs, Dickson’s fascinating historical perspective (including how our modern world is largely shaped by the Great Plague), and why neither a matriarchy or a patriarchy is right for us. Dickson also shares where she sees shoots of hope, and one wild story of synchronicity.  For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this month’s solo episode, I’m exploring the parts of our culture and our collective that we can own—and impact. And I’m sharing more on the power of triangulation, and how you can use certain systems and tools to better understand yourself, your roles, and what you might be trying to do in work and in life. For ALL the show notes, head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hilarious Jen Hatmaker (New York Times–bestselling author and host of the podcast For the Love) joins me to chat, in part, about her new memoir Awake. We talk about the moment in her life when everything seemingly dissolved (including her marriage of 26 years and her relationship to the church) and the much deeper awakening that she entered from there, when she truly started to rely on herself. For the show notes, head to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katie Hendricks, PhD, is known for helping people use their body’s innate intelligence. She shares some of her most powerful tools and teachings, including: Her fear-melters for when we get caught in fight, flee, freeze, or faint mode. How to play with your pace so that you’re able to get present, instead of just feeling at the effect of everything coming at you. The loop of awareness, which is a tool for shifting your attention and getting the nourishment of somebody else’s aliveness. Why she sorts life into two files every day. How to incrementally start spending more time in your zone of genius. And persona work. These are potent (and often fun) ways to, as Hendrick puts it, be filling your reservoir so that you don’t have to feel victim to overwhelm, or sacrifice yourself to the world. I’m including a lot in the show notes, including links to the movements for each fear-melter. You’ll find everything on my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I don't think anybody manages to go through their experience incarnated in human form and not have chapters of your life that are like, what literally just happened?” says Elizabeth Gilbert. “How did I end up here and who am I? And where did the ground go beneath my feet?” Today, Gilbert shares the story behind her new memoir, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation. She rightly describes it as the most excavating and the most searching thing she’s ever written. The book, and this conversation, are full of lessons for all of us about what we might search for, and find, in ourselves, in our relationships, and in love. For the show notes, head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“This waiting for approval from daddy—all of that is so antithetical to actually living your own existence,” says psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock. Today, Byock returns for a conversation about the ego, why it gets a bad rap, and why we need a strong sense of self to be in relationship with anyone. Also: our culture’s ascension myth, and why we have a tendency to misinterpret Jungian psychology and overemphasize the importance of individuation and the drive to transcend. Then, Byock shares something poignant about how life, for her, stays beautiful and bountiful, even in the extreme difficulty of things. For the show notes (including links to my previous conversations with Satya Doyle Byock and our I Ching video workshop), head over to⁠ my Substack⁠. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What does it mean to make change in my life—not from a place that there was something wrong with me?” asks my coauthor Courtney Smith. “But I made choices that have gotten me here. I respect and value those choices. I understand I wouldn’t be here without them. And I'm also choosing to do something a little bit different going forward.” Courtney is a coach, group facilitator, and Enneagram expert. Today, we’re taking you through the seven tools that form the core process of our new workbook Choosing Wholeness Over Goodness: A Process for Reclaiming Your Full Self. If you want to go deeper, I’m including a lot of interconnected material in the show notes (per usual, though)—including links to my past conversations with Courtney. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today it’s just me, sharing a few revelations I’ve had this summer around: The set ages we seemingly get stuck at. Emotions I’m connecting to for the first time in my life (and how certain codes of anger have helped me). How busyness impacts our physical patterns and the way we hold our bodies, or clench our weight. And practicing rejection and building our capacity to hear no, while simultaneously building our capacity to say no. (In this month’s solo episode, I also get into some life-altering experiences I’ve had with different healers, and the new list I compiled of my favorite healers.) For the show notes, links to all the resources I mention in the episode, and my new workbook Choosing Wholeness Over Goodness—head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We’re not empty containers just being filled up with fear and terror and trauma,” says psychotherapist Francis Weller. “We’re also medicine carriers.” Many of you will know Weller from his moving conversations about grief with Anderson Cooper, or his beautiful book The Wild of Edge of Sorrow. Weller’s new book, In the Absence of Ordinary, is exactly what we need now. Today, we talk about the wisdom and vitality that our grief can bring forth if we resist the impulse to go numb. Weller talks about what happens when we keep our grief company, when we allow it to keep moving, when we give ourselves what we’ve so been needing. He invites us, in this time of uncertainty, to move toward imagination, and what he calls the long dark—a space where we can connect with our own immensity, and collectively receive the medicine that is waiting there for all of us. For the show notes (including links to the new edition of The Wild Edge of Sorrow and In the Absence of Ordinary, which was just released), head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If we stop transforming, and we try to hold ourselves back, we’re effectively stagnating and killing the life that’s ahead,” says psychologist and author Sharon Blackie, PhD. Today, we talk about what Blackie has learned from studying myths and fairy tales, and working to reimagine the stories that currently define women’s lives. She shares a much-needed, wise, and beautiful perspective on the rebirth that can happen around menopause—when the layers that once defined us are peeled back, to reveal a deeper core, and a chance to transform once more. For the show notes, head over to ⁠my Substack⁠. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We can’t change what’s happened, but we can change what it looks like inside of our mind-brain-body network,” says neuroscientist Caroline Leaf, PhD. Here, Leaf shares what she’s learned about how our minds work, and how we can change a thought, a habit, a pattern. And we get into the compelling 63-second intervention from her new book, Help in a Hurry: Simple Tips for Finding Peace When You're Overwhelmed, Anxious, or Stressed.      For the show notes, head over to ⁠my Substack⁠. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Hübl (a frequent guest here) is a renowned teacher whose work has focused on resilience and healing trauma. In this conversation, we explore: Some of our biggest fractured interpretations of the world, and how we can gain more clarity and connection. The impulse to become very certain about something very quickly, and our tendency to see other people in 2D—and the consequences of doing so. Using our own energy to temper, or shift, a larger energy that feels overwhelming. Different ways to approach conflict. Letting go of our commitment to having the most extreme reaction. And some of our judgments around wellness and self-care. For the show notes, more on Thomas Hübl, and links to all our previous conversations together, head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this month’s solo episode, I’m sharing some thoughts on why everyone seems to want a book under their belt, why that may or may not be the right move for you, as well as concrete tips and takeaways about what to think through before you begin putting words on paper. Most importantly, I share some tips and frameworks for getting you through the creative process once you begin. For the show notes (and so many links if you want to go deeper), head over to my Substack. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, I’m talking to Meggan Watterson—theologian and author of The Girl Who Baptized Herself—about the importance of being embodied, the search for self, where we derive power, and the way that culture is edited and passed down to us. Watterson tells the incredible stories behind the Gospel of Mary (and what happened to Mary Magdalene), and the Acts of Paul and Thecla (and what happened to Thecla). We also explore where my work meets hers, and the birth of the seven powers, which become the seven cardinal vices, or the seven deadly sins.   For the show notes, head over to my Substack.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rutger Bregman is the New York Times–bestselling author of Moral Ambition. Today, he shares his model for living a more meaningful life. It’s not about being an idealist, or following your “passions.” It is, in many ways, about effectively solving the problems in our lives using the talents we already have. For Rutger Bregman’s work (including that amazing viral Davos clip, in case you missed it), head over to my Substack.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What matters is: Are you free?” asks Elizabeth Ralph. “Do you feel free?” Ralph is a former finance trader, and the founder of the Spiritual Investor, where she now helps people reach financial freedom in less traditional ways. Together, we explore some of my own (self-limiting) stories around money, and how our ego and identity gets wrapped up in our relationship to money. Ralph coaches us through moving toward a place of money neutrality, where it feels like money doesn’t have such a tight grip on us. And she explains why she believes the spiritual world “has to wake up to money.”   For links to Elizabeth Ralph’s programs and the show notes, head over to my Substack.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The midlife crisis is not a dark night of the soul,” says Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy. “It’s a dark night of the ego.” Conley, who is also the author of Learning to Love Midlife, outlines the main myths that we’re led to believe about midlife—and some optimistic data about what actually happens during this chapter of our lives. He shares different frameworks for navigating the transitions that come in midlife. We talk about how in the early parts of our lives, we’re often naturally focused on constantly accumulating knowledge—and how it can be such a relief, and a gift, to be able to shift into distilling it all into wisdom.   For links to Chip Conley’s work and the show notes, head over to my Substack.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this month’s solo episode, I’m sharing: The tools and people helping me to manage my fear right now. Thoughts on growing up versus waking up. The most important things I’ve learned from the Spiral Dynamics theory of human development, and Ken Wilbur’s concept of holarchies. What makes me believe there is a way for many of us to expand our worldviews and push up the spiral now. And more.   For the show notes (and so many links if you want to go deeper), head over to my Substack.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new book, The Genius Myth, journalist Helen Lewis explores how and why we label certain people geniuses; and the impact this has on said geniuses, us, and culture at large. Today, we talk about our perception of the exceptional, and some of our more pernicious and dark misperceptions.   For the show notes, head over to my Substack.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Living on fire is really a metaphor for figuring out two things,” says Shannon Watts. “What is limiting you. And what is calling you.” Watts spent 11 years as the full-time volunteer lead of Moms Demand Action, which she founded. Now, as she puts it, Watts continues to summon the audacity of other women. Today, she shares so many useful life nuggets from her new book, Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark Into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age.   For the show notes, head over to my Substack.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You're going to find a lot of people doing their best, revealing how beautiful and strange we are, and how remarkable we can be,” says Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and founder of On Being Krista Tippett. In this conversation, Tippett shares where we might turn for more hope and pleasure, and how she thinks about what shapes our presence in the world. For the show notes, head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new memoir, The Dry Season, Melissa Febos (award-winning author of Girlhood) examines her (and our culture’s) relationship to love, to falling in love with someone, to being in love with someone. Today, we talk about why she decided to spend a year celibate after a particularly rough breakup, and what more she wanted from a relationship, from herself, and for her life. We talk about being conditioned to be codependent, the lovely things that have happened in our own long-term relationships when we’ve gone off script, what it actually means to be a people pleaser—and more. For links to Melissa Febos’s books and the show notes, head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Okay, this is a wild one. Danielle Gibbons is not a psychic, but she is a channel—she channels messages from Mother Mary. Today, she’s sharing her origin story, and a message from Mother: about how to create something sustainable and meaningful, adapt to these ever-evolving times, and find a little bit of beauty right now.  For the show notes, head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May’s monthly solo episode, I’m reflecting on: motherhood, my mom, the Performance of Parenthood, and what provokes my anger around Mother’s Day. How badly the world needs us all to hold a balance of the masculine and feminine—and how badly we need the feminine to rise in men. What it might look like if we didn’t operate out of fear. Applying my writing process and system to other areas of life. What keeps us from saying no, and what keeps us from saying yes—based on our Enneagram types. And, more. For the show notes, head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I think both of those things are problematic—both that we’ve optimized too many things and that it’s our sole worldview,” says Coco Krumme, applied mathematician and author of Optimal Illusions: The False Promise of Optimization. Today, we talk about what we lose by prioritizing optimization above all else—and what we could gain by choosing something else. We also talk about why Krumme thinks the threat of surveillance capitalism is overblown, and why she’s more optimistic about what humans can do than what AI can do. For the show notes, head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here, I'm sharing another podcast series with you, called Other People’s Problems. In her new season, host and therapist Hillary McBride explores the potential power of psychedelics in a therapeutic setting. She leads clients through drug-assisted therapy—and we'll experience these real, unscripted sessions as they unfold, and get a more honest look at therapy using psychedelics. Which I hope helps to further demystify this often misunderstood practice and tool in trauma recovery. In this episode, we hear from Donovan, who has lived in fear and anger ever since telling the truth about being abused as a child. Now, after several ketamine therapy sessions, Donovan is able to look back at his young self with care. And, for his own children, Donovan works to become the kind of adult he needed then. You can listen to more episodes of Other People’s Problems at: https://link.mgln.ai/yK69mt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psychological astrologer Jennifer Freed, PhD, shares: What’s happening, astrologically speaking, that can inform the choices we make now, in the present. And she gives us a preview of what’s coming, and what opportunities the next astrological shifts will bring us. “Coming this summer, we will have a full transformation of planets and their signs,” says Freed. For the show notes and links to Freed’s latest projects, head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Satya Doyle Byock is a psychotherapist, author of Quarter-Life, and a great teacher of Carl Jung’s work. She uses the I Ching, an ancient Taoist divination system, as a tool to help guide her life. (Not dissimilar to how others might consult tarot, astrology, Human Design, etc.) Today, we talk about the beauty of the I Ching, and much more. Including: How we’re seeking some combination of meaning and stability in our lives, a balance of the inner and outer world, and more harmony between rationalism and irrationalism. I learned some new things about Jung’s theories on the unconscious, archetypes, and synchronicity. We pondered moments of meaning that can’t be fully explained, and where the binary instinct comes from to either dismiss science or the sacred. And, ultimately, what a larger paradigm might look like if we made space for all of it—for expanded science, for synchronicity and meaning, for the masculine, and for the feminine. For the show notes (including links to resources on the I Ching and our video workshop), head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s a shame that we lose so much of that history and we silence so many of those voices when we just try to flatten the whole Bible,” says scholar, TikTok hero, and author Dan McClellan. Today we talk about why McClellan has chosen to attend to questions about the Bible, and challenge people who want to translate it, or negotiate with it, to the benefit of their own dogma. We also talk about how he squares this with his own faith (McClellan became a Mormon at the age of 20). And we explore past and present understandings of God, sex, and the law. McClellan’s perspective is an antidote to so much that is unnecessarily harsh about our current culture—and his work serves as a map for how we can approach many of life’s bigger questions and debates. For the show notes, head over to my Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices