Basecamp for Men

E70: Evolving Ourselves with Special Guest Dulce Ruby   E70 Introduction- Hello listeners! I would like to start off by thanking you all and wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. As we...

E69: The Great Awakening with Special Guest Champ Parinya   E69 Introduction- “A mind that is stretched by new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes “Some kind of dialog...

E68: Firestarters for Men-Our Hero’s Journey   E68 Introduction- We are moving towards the end of 2020 and what a year it has been! The Hero’s Journey that we collectively share has entered a new...

E67: The Intelligence of the Heart with Special Guest Howard Martin   E67 Introduction- Since it inception, Basecamp for Men has zeroed in on a number of themes. Men’s work and myth to keep us...

E66: The Truth is also Seeking the Seeker with Special Guest Marie Jones   E66 Introduction- “The Truth is also seeking the Seeker.” Here we are, in our collective Hero’s Journey. Each contributing what he...

E65: The Conspiracy To Awaken Us with Special Guest Ole Dammegard   “The Truth is also seeking the Seeker.” -Sufi Saying- E65...

E64: Va¢¢ine Q & A with Special Guest Dr. Jennifer Margulis   E64 Dedication- Today’s episode is dedicated to all the parents of young children out there. As well as soon-to-be parents. May your family...

E63: The Power of Slow with Special Guest Carl Honore   E63 Introduction- How many people out there have felt their inner power grow as they age? I know I have. I feel like a...

E62: Marriage as a Hero’s Journey with Special Guest Lisa Rezac   E62 Introduction- As part of our Hero’s Journey, men will often struggle with our interractions with the Feminine. Both the women in our...

E61 Firestarters for Men: The Male Archetypes   I have talked about and teach within a framework of a collective masculinity expressed through five primary archetypes. These are Lover, Warrior, Magician, and King. The four...

E60: Living a Mythic Life with Special Guest Jon Wilson   E60 Introduction As a collective, I see much in the male tribe to be optimistic about. Men from all walks of life seem to...

E59: Mental Health for Men with Special Guest Frank King   E59 Introduction- The topic of mental health and better self-care for men is one that is near and dear to me. For 7 out...

E58: “Why Do Men Do This?” Part 2 of the Jeff Perera interview   E58 Introduction Well we are cooking along with season two here. Some of our upcoming episodes will have us talking with...

E57: Do We Need the State? with Special Guest Gregory Sams   E57 Introduction Today’s guest reminds me of a Paul Arden quote. Paul said, “Making the safe decision is dull, predictable and leads nowhere new....

E56: Radio Q & A with author Tony Rezac   E56 Introduction Welcome to Basecamp for Men and episode 56. I can’t believe my excellent sound editor Chris Rodd and I have already done 56...

E55: The Measure of Men with Jeff Perera   E55 Introduction What is the current measure of a man? We have all grown up with all sorts of cultural imprints around this. The macho tough...

E54: Educating Our Boys with Special Guest Jennifer Fink   E54 Introduction Currently there is a sea change happening in how we educate our boys. Brought on by this pandemic, parents are looking at alternatives...

E53: Envisioning Our Future with Special Guest Ian Mackenzie   E53 Introduction In the coming episodes, I hope to speak with more futurists and visionaries. I like to have conversations about what is possible as...

E52: Psychedelics and the New Vision   E52: Introduction Growing up on the west coast, the lore of the 1960’s free-thinking hippie/peace movement was something that was part of our heritage. Within this culture, psychedelics...

E51: The Happiness Index with Special Guest Nic Marks   E51 Introduction Happiness is something that I have had a keen interest in for a long time. I have enjoyed looking at this topic and...

E50: Navigating Change with Special Guest Sharon Weil   E50 Introduction We are in the midst of great change. It would be hard to argue against this observation. There are enormous changes afoot in society....

E49: Men’s Health and Virility with Special Guest Dr. Myles Spar   E49 Introduction With a pandemic afoot and all the stress generated by the media, it seems a good time to look at some...

E48: The One You Feed with Special Guest Eric Zimmer   E48 Introduction I love speaking with people who have risen out of personal challenges. We all do this at different chapters in our Hero’s...

E47 Firestarters for Men: The Five-Minute Mystic   E47 Introduction Collectively, we are at the point in the Hero’s Journey where the audience is on the edge of their seats and going “Oh shit, this...

E46: Wisdom for Uncertain Times with Special Guest Paul Dunion   E46 Introduction Whenever we find ourselves in uncertain times, it’s important to listen for voices of wisdom. This has always been true. Hearing truths...

E45: Free Yourself from Suffering with Special Guest Sophie McLean   E45 Introduction There seems to be spiritual truths that are trying to find us, you and I. One prominent one is that the ego,...

E44: Change Your Life by Changing Your Story featuring Lori Gottlieb   E44 Introduction “The nature of life is change and the nature of people is to resist change.” There is so much wisdom in this...

E43: Creating Your Future Self with Special Guest Dr. Benjamin Hardy   E43 Introduction The topic of how we actualize our potential has long been a fascinating one to me. What habits do we need...

E42: Honoring the Divine Feminine w Sally Kempton   E42: Introduction In season one, I did a bunch of episodes on the sacred masculine. I like to use masculine archetypes to help orient the listener...

E41: Conversations with Men featuring Chris Beatie   E41 Introduction One of the many things that we talk about in men’s circles is to how to have a more open mind. Being curious about things...

E40: Optimizing Your Health with Mary Purdy   E40 Introduction One of our sub-topics here on Basecamp is health and wellness for men. Many men I know are rethinking health, self-care, and diet. It used...

E39: The Law of One with Ziad Masri   E39 Introduction Some of the episodes I do will feel like I’m taking you out of your philosophical comfort zone and I‘m ok with that. It...

E38: Mentoring Our Boys with author Earl Hipp   E38 Introduction The topic of guiding adolescent boys into manhood seems to me an extremely relevant one right now. As a society, we have not created...

E37: Season One Finale-Best of 2019   E37 Introduction Well my dear listeners, we’ve come to the end of season one. I hope you enjoyed the show and picked up some new resources and perspectives...

One of the sub-topics on Basecamp is the raising of boys, who will one day be our men. Our public school system is problematic in the development of our boys. This is not a knock on all the good people who teach and administer in the public schools. It’s just that having boys sit at a desk and do assigned, menial work without much collaboration or creative problem solving is essentially preparing them to sit and obey an authority figure. It’s social engineering. It‘s good preparation for the military or a life of following orders but is it maximizing their potential?

We all want to feel good and sometimes just a little more awareness of a situation goes a long way. Has it started to dawn on you that our system is not made for optimal health? If it was, we would have radically different outcomes than the ones we have now. It seems the chemical industry has partnered with the food industry and the municipal water companies to give us chemical compounds that may be making us sick. There’s plenty of science to back this up if you care to look. Here is my Interview with Michael Anderson!

Hello listeners, I hope you are all having a great festive Holiday season. Before we get to our interview, I wanted to give you some updates on Basecamp. We are finishing up Season 1 in the coming weeks. I anticipate doing the final season One episode in January. After that, we will take a short hiatus (likely two months) to recharge and re-set things before season two.

In Menswork, there is always talk about working with the shadow. The shadow is defined as everything that we hide, repress, and deny about OURSELVES. It can be a tricky business, becoming aware of your shadowy tendencies. It takes patience, and perseverance, and compassion. However, the upside is…..it humanizes everyone. You stop putting all the things you find unsavory OUT THERE and then demonizing the other person.

Addiction is a life experience that touches us all. More than 21 million Americans have at least one addiction. Of those 21 million, only 10% receive any sort of treatment. Addiction is something that nearly every family knows. In a typical family, you don’t have to look very far to find someone who has an addiction or an addictive/compulsive personality. Enjoy the episode with my very special guest Dr. Bob Beare as we "look under the hood" of addiction.

My guest today is author Hylke Faber and he is an expert on mindset. There has been a surge of interest in recent years on mindset and psychology, and with good reason. Understanding the software that our brain is running and being able to upgrade it to something more powerful and uplifting, makes good sense for us human beings.

I remember reading Stephen Nachmanovitch‘s book 'Free Play' when I was a young man. I was getting curious about new ideas and new ways of approaching my life. The idea that improvisation could be an important life skill seemed both radical and relevant to me. I love writers that take a road-less traveled and then share the fruits of their path with the rest of the tribe. I am excited to introduce you to my guest today, author Stephen Nachmanovitch. I hope you enjoy this episode on improvisation and expression.

I have long been attracted to teachers who aren’t afraid to explore psychological truths. Whether the teacher is considered a spiritual master, a mystic, a therapist, or someone who can speak from the Soul, my heart has gravitated towards learning that feels deep and timeless. My guest today is a gifted writer and teacher and someone I am excited to introduce to you. Paul Dunion is the co-founder of Connecticut's Men's' Gathering, a biannual Retreat for men that began in 1992. He is the founder of Boys To Men, a mentoring community for teenage boys. He's been in private practice as a Psychotherapist for 37 years and is presently a faculty member for Mobius Executive Training.

Spiritual wisdom is something that I have been fascinated with since I was a young man. Tales of spiritual enlightenment and the quest for deeper truths have long held my heartstrings. My guest today is a mystically inclined, wonderful woman named Janell Hartman.

Today‘s episode is on healing trauma. As humans working on ourselves and the world, healing and learning go hand-in-hand. There is a strong tendency to think that we have not been traumatized. My guest today is an expert at working with trauma. Sam Ibarguen is an energy healer certified in Brennan Healing Science. Since 2009, she has been working with men and women globally, helping them heal the deep and often invisible trauma that holds them back from living the life they really want.

My guest today is Jason Maniccia an actor and artist that I have known for almost 30 years. And we sat down to talk about creativity, baseball, and the road less traveled. Any artist will tell you that one of the things you develop over time is an ability to listen to and express the Muse. This elusive collective creative force that beckons artists across time and space to express the power and beauty of the creatively-led life.

How do we help our youth thrive in today’s world? I won’t pretend that I know or have the answers. But I‘m more than willing to sit with the question. And I love to get the perspectives of others as we seek resources and new approaches to growing our young people up. It does truly take a village and, thankfully, our village has collective wisdom.

Lately, I have been sitting with the question: what can MEN do to help the world today? What do we need to do to insure that future generations thrive? How do we leave the world better than we found it? As a teacher who works with male archetypes, I have been dimly aware that there is one of the archetypes that today seems strangely dormant in the collective male psyche.......THE KING.

The Big D. Men and depression. I spent my early years as a man with an assumption that any man who had depression was too weak to handle life‘s natural ups and downs. After all, I was an athlete and athletes are taught to keep their energy up and throw any obstacles (emotional or otherwise) to the side so that you can “be all you can be”.

I remember the first time I read The Yugas, the book written by my guest today. It had the impact of giving me a much different perspective, a long vision of history and our place in it that filled me with wonder and hope. Even though I am an American and live far from India, I have marveled at the quality of teachers and wisdom that have poured forth from this amazing country. So with that being said, here is my interview with The Yugas author Joseph Selbie.

Join us for Episode #21 as Debby and I talk about the Heroine’s Journey, the creative process of writing, and how to get unstuck if you are working on a book. Debby is an exceptional coach and always provides interesting insights into life and the creative process.