Good Life Project

Born in Ghana, West Africa,Kute Blackson was the child of a Japanese mother and a Ghanaian father who was a legendary faith leader with some 300 churches across Ghana and a massive following in the U.K.By his early teens, Kute was being groomed to rise up in his father’s church, but that would all change when Blackson rejected the path his father laid out for him and chose his own instead.Estranged from both his father and his community, and feeling called to blaze his own path, Kute headed to the United States where he’d struggle on nearly every level and finally come to a place where his true hero’s journey would begin.That process of stripping away, hitting rock-bottom and eventually mounting his own search led Kute to rediscover his path to freedom, and rebuild his life and living, becoming a respected voice in spirituality and consciousness on his own terms, in his own way. His story and philosophy are detailed in his recent book, You. Are. The. One.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are taught, from a young age, to exist in the middle. Everything in moderation. Don’t be a tall poppy, nor a shrinking violet. Good enough is good enough. The middle way, middle-class, mid-tier. That’s where we want to be. Not so big that we get cut down, and not so small that we can’t […]The post The Unfortunate Middle appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You know that little button on Facebook you click to "like" something? Well, as one of the early employees at Facebook, today's guest, Leah Pearlman, came up with that idea.Actually, its original incarnation was the "awesome button," but what's more interesting is why she created it. And, what was going on in her life that led her to want it, both for herself and the millions of others flooding the platform.Turns out, Leah was leading a double life. Publicly, she was a fiercely smart, driven technologist as the hottest startup in Silicon Valley. But, privately, she battled near-debilitating perfectionism that led to a decade of bulimia. On any given day, she'd move between helping to build a revolutionary company, and purging in the women's room.Until, one day, tragic news about her father, and the way she caught herself dealing with it, led everything to fall apart. She was forced to bring her dark side into the light and find a way through. And, from that emerged something she never saw coming.Having been a devout "art-atheist" her whole life, drawing became her salvation. She began to share her simple illustrations and they touched a nerve. Thousands of people began to share them. That led her down an entirely different path in her career and life. Many of her Dharma Comics have now been published in a book entitled Drawn Together, as an offering to help others find wisdom, hope and transformation in simple moments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s this odd thing that happens the moment after we ask for help. While we’re asking, we stand in a place of surrender. We hit a point, often deeply uncomfortable, where we’re riddled with uncertainty and we step into a place of vulnerability and say, “please, I don’t know where to go from here. Can […]The post Naked and Silent: Asking Is Not Receiving [encore] appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A pioneer in functional and integrative medicine, Dr. Frank Lipman is the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City and the author of many New York Times-bestselling books, including 10 Reasons You Feel Old and Get Fat, The New Health Rules. and Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again.Born into an activist family in then apartheid South Africa, he was taught to always question norms and authority. This ethos followed him into his initial training as a doctor in South Africa. In his early work in a Soweto hospital, he was exposed to non-traditional healers who were able to accomplish what a more traditional approach to medicine struggled with.He then emigrated to the United States in 1984, where he worked in the South Bronx, becoming Chief Medical Resident at Lincoln Hospital at the height of the crack epidemic. There, again, Lipman, began to see the limitations of traditional medicine in treating addiction, and embraced complimentary modalities. He deepened his study of nutrition, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, functional medicine, biofeedback, meditation, and yoga and began to form a more integrated approach to the practice of medicine and wellbeing.Frank eventually founded the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in 1992, combining cutting-edge nutritional science with age-old healing techniques from the East. In a quest to bring this unique approach to the masses, he then founded BE WELL, based on the belief that everyone should have a fundamental right to be healthy.Frank lives according to the philosophy of Ubuntu, a Xhosa word that serves as the spiritual foundation of African societies and articulates a basic understanding, caring, respect, and compassion for others. In his words, “what makes us human is the humanity we show each other.”Be sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode!+++THIS WEEK’S PODCAST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY+++Today’s episode is sponsored by Camp GLP, the ultimate summer-camp for entrepreneurs, makers and world-shakers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when you take a social risk? Simple truth, we’re all wired for a certain level of human interaction. Some of us cannot get enough of other people. We’ll walk up to anyone, introduce ourselves, enter conversations and engage with just about anyone, even total strangers. It’s a bit like each new human is […]The post Social Risks: When is it Worth It to Say Hello? appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Tiffany Dufu left for summer camp as a teen, both parents dropped her off. Only one picked her up.She’d soon discover her parents had split while she’d been gone. Not long after, her mom’s boyfriend moved in and began to behave in ways Dufu, a self-described preacher’s daughter, had never been exposed to. When this stranger in her home became violent she left to live with her father and began to rebuild her life.But it wasn’t until years later, when returning from maternity leave to assume her role as Chief Leadership Officer of Levo, that she found herself in crisis-mode, and began to ask deeper questions.While Dufu had spent years as a strong advocate for women in leadership positions at the highest levels of industry and government, she’d never examined the far more personal roles she and her husband had “defaulted” to in everyday life. She’d never realized how it was stifling her life and stopping her from truly stepping into her potential.Things had to change. How she navigated this challenging moment, recreated her relationship with her husband and opened space to thrive in life is a major focus of today’s conversation, along with the moments and stories that led to the wisdom in her new book, drop the ball.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s this beautiful verse in Khalil Gibran’s book, The Prophet that speaks to the interplay between reason and passion. It reminds us that these two qualities, so often treated as opposing forces and even warring world-views, are actually essential and hopelessly co-mingled elements of a live well-lived. They each make the other possible. Gibran writes: For […]The post Reason and Passion appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest, Dr. Aviva Romm, has been referred to as “the face of natural medicine in the 21st century by Prevention Magazine.”She’s a Yale-trained, board-certified physician with a specialty in women’s health and obstetrics; a midwife and herbalist, and a founding member of the Yale Integrative Medicine Program’s Advisory Board.Dr. Romm practices medicine in New York City and is a nationally sought speaker, author, and consultant. She is also one of the nation’s leaders in botanical medicine and is the author of 7 books on natural medicine.In this week’s episode, we begin with her service-mission to Haiti after the earthquake, then find our way back to explore the key ideas from her groundbreaking new book, The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution. Aviva describes a pervasive yet often undiagnosed condition—Survival Overdrive Syndrome (SOS)—which leads to the feeling of being in perpetual survival mode, overcome by everything from fatigue, overwhelm and brain-fog to pain, disease and even death, when left unaddressed.We also explore how so many of us push beyond what our physiological and psychological systems are adapted to be able to handle healthfully, all in the name of a success that ends up leaving us gutted and exhausted. Critically, she offers ways to identify the symptoms of SOS that can so quickly drain our Vitality Buckets and make our good life feel perpetually beyond reach.And, we talk about the key steps to take to advocate for ourselves, find the right answers and people to help us, and also begin to walk the road back to health ourselves through a series of simple, yet proven lifestyle interventions. Her full recovery protocol is offered in an immensely “doable,” practical and powerful 4-week program in her book.Mentioned in This Episode:Dr. Aviva’s 2014 Good Life Project video episode: Medicine 3.0: What Got Us Here Ain’t Gonna Get Us ThereBe sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode!+++THIS WEEK’S PODCAST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY+++Today’s episode is sponsored by Camp GLP, the ultimate summer-camp for entrepreneurs, makers and world-shakers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ve heard the phrase, “don’t throw good money after bad?” It basically means, once you realize the thing you’ve invested in is not what you though it would be AND likely never will be, don’t keep putting new money into it just because of what you’ve already invested. Take your losses or your “sunk costs” (the […]The post Don’t Throw Good Money (or Love) After Bad. appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Ferriss is a man on a mission, driven to deconstruct mastery and excellence, then share what he’s learned.It began with his own relentless experimentation and documentation, which yielded #1 New York Times bestsellers The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef.In more recent years, though, this yearning has led him to sit down with hundreds of elite-performers, from a vast array of domains, on a quest to reveal what made them them. What were the experiences, moments, stories, awakenings and methods that shaped them? What are the replicable elements, the unique traits and the ideas that are transferable to others.These conversations are shared weekly on Tim’s award-winning podcast, The Tim Ferris Show. And, the essential ideas have now been “condensed” into a remarkable 700+ page tome entitled Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. All of this made us curious about a particular question…what made Tim Tim? Where does his lens on the world, on expertise, and on life come from? When did focus on process arise? And, what’s been shaping his own evolution and seeming shift toward more existential question of late? That’s where we go in this week’s deep dive episode.Subscribe to email updates and listen on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I’m good.” It’s a lie we often tell ourselves. Why? To avoid the fear and uncertainty that comes from owning the fact that things aren’t quite what we’d hoped. That we’re terrified of of leaving the comfort of a “passable,” yet mediocre existence in the name of embracing the pursuit of our own personal legend. […]The post Are You Happy, Or Afraid? appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest, Dave Evans, is a lecturer at the famed Stanford d.School a theological scholar and management consultant. He is also a man on a mission to explore what it means to spend time designing your life.As an early team-member at Apple, he led product marketing for the mouse and introduced laser printing to the masses.He then joined gaming behemoth, Electronic Arts, as employee #2, before leaving to help start-up teams, corporate executives, non-profit leaders, and countless young adults build amazing ventures.Along the way, he realized they were all asking the same question. “What should I do with my life?” Helping people get traction on that question finally took develop a groundbreaking course that applies design thinking to life, where he introduced the concept designing your life to students at Berkeley and then Stanford.His latest book, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-lived, Joyful Life, walks you through the entire, step-by-step process.Subscribe to email updates and listen on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s GLP Riff, we’re sharing two powerful questions from one of our super-awesome podcast listeners. Turns out, we’ve received similar questions many times over the years, so we figured this’d be a great time to share a bit of a longer answer, along with a few stories and ideas. It’s all around the realization […]The post I’m Aware, and it’s Bumming Me Out. Now What? appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher, activist and multi-time New York Times Best Selling author.She's been teaching about A Course in Miracles for three decades, founded LA meals-on-wheels program for homebound people with AIDS, Project Angel Food in 1989, and serves on the Board of Directors of RESULTS, an organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty.Marianne Williamson also speaks every Tuesday evening in New York City, at the Marble Collegiate Church live and via live-stream. Her upcoming event, SISTER GIANT, held in Washington DC on Feb. 2-4, 2017, will bring together a diverse gathering of thinkers, from politics to faith to philosophy and activism, in a quest to incubate ideas and build a conversation around a more enlightened path for society.In today's episode, we dive into Marianne's personal journey, exploring everything from growing up in Houston to the relationship between fear and love, compassion, activism, politics and spirituality and her current quest to inspire people to rise up, participate and be intentional about the societal and political path we are all on.In her words..."We are not here to ignore the illusion, we are here to transform the illusion." [Click to tweet]Be sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love. It’s one of the most important fillers of our Connection Buckets. But, then there’s this special “type,” some people call it “real love.” We got to wondering what that even means, and why so many people seem unable to “find and keep it.” So, we asked GLP friend, Terri Cole, licensed psychotherapist, meditation expert and founder […]The post Terri Cole: Real Love, Where It’s Hiding appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abandoned by her alcoholic dad when she was five, out of cash and evicted from their NYC apartment, Claire Hoffman, her mom and seven-year-old brother found themselves dropped into a small town in Iowa.But, not just any old town, this was a sacred enclave, Heaven on Earth, established by Transcendental Meditation founder, Maharishi Mahesh. For Claire’s mother, Transcendental Meditation and the cloistered culture around it became a source of salvation and calm. But, over time, Claire began questioning the teachings and traditions. She eventually fled the town, the practice and community and moved back in with her father.Decades later, a now established journalist and teacher and parent, and looking for answers, Claire found herself drawn back to Iowa, to reexamine her spiritual upbringing in an attempt to resolve unanswered questions rediscover a bit of lost magic.In today’s episode, we sit down with Claire and dive into this powerful, raw and revelatory journey, detailed in her memoir, Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood. photo credit: Timothy Greenfield-SandersBe sure to subscribe to our weekly Good Life Updates and listen on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luck. It’s a source of envy, denial, opportunity, anger, frustration, creation and astonishing success. When it happens to us, we revel in it. When it happens to everyone but us, we lament it. It’s become vogue in the world of performance and popular psychology to say it does not exist. Luck, we are told, is […]The post The Truth About Luck [a 4-part formula] appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Success is not just about knowing what to do. It is about doing it.All the information in the world, the best laid plans, the clearest, most-defined, measurable and attainable goals will not deliver the outcomes, results or resolutions you want.There is something missing. In order to succeed at anything worth the effort, you also need to put in place critical changes in environment, culture, mindset and community that enable the consistent action that, over time, delivers astonishing results.I call this "Success Scaffolding." And, I've been diving into, experimenting with and refining the key elements for years, across a wide array of domains, from health and fitness to art, innovation, careers and entrepreneurship.In today's episode, instead of our usual long-form conversation with a special guest, I am doing something different. I'll be sharing what I call the 7P Success Scaffolding™ framework.Every element, every step, nothing held back. Why? Because it is that time of year when millions commit to big, new, deeply-meaningful goals, only to walk away or fail by the time we hit February. Not because we don't want it badly enough. Not because we're not smart enough. But, because we do not have our Success Scaffolding in place.This is my New Year's offering. It is about helping you make 2017 different, bridging the gap between hope and reality.You may want to grab a pen. Or, if you'd like a PDF mind-map of the entire 7P Success Scaffolding framework, just be sure to sign up for our Weekly Insider Updates. I'll include a link to a free downloadable PDF in our next dispatch.Mentioned in this Episode:Gretchen Rubin's Quiz: The Four TendenciesMy Good Life Project JournalSnapshot360™ Online QuizJoin our Good Life Project CommunityJonathan's new book, How to Live a Good LifeSign up for our Weekly Insider Updates to get Jonathan's mind map of The Seven P's. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever try to help someone who had absolutely no interest in being helped? It’s one of the most frustrating experiences we can have. Maybe it’s a family member or partner. Maybe it’s a close friend or colleague. Or even a customer or client. So many times, we end up banging our heads against a wall […]The post Motivation: Why You Can’t Change the One You Love [Best of] appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On September 17, 2009, Simon Sinek stepped onto a small stage for a local gathering...and proceeded to blow away the world.The event was TEDx Puget Sound. He had no slides, no fancy presentation. Just an idea and an easel. For 18 minutes, he spoke about an awakening. Something he called "the golden circle," and the need to know your "why." The audience was captivated.But that's just the beginning...The event was filmed and posted to Youtube 11 days later. So powerful was Simon's presentation and idea that it was quickly pulled onto the main TED site. There it exploded into the world's consciousness, becoming one of the most-watched TED talks of all-time with nearly 30 million views. A book called Start With Why soon followed, becoming an instant hit.Funny thing is, Simon doesn't really care about all of that. What he does care about is the Idea. The opportunity to inspire people to wake up to the possibility in their own lives. The ability to serve from a deeper, more humble yet powerful place. And to act.Simon's transformative ideas continued to evolve with his book, Leaders Eat Last. This week's episode features a "Best Of" conversation with Simon, where we explore his remarkable journey, his extraordinary lens on the world (though he'll likely tell you it's anything but) and his deep desire both inspire and to serve those who serve others.Simon is also a master storyteller. As our conversation unfolds, he shares a stunningly powerful story about a trip to Afghanistan with the military that went bad, and how it became a flight he'll remember for the rest of his life. By the time he was done, I was near tears and had trouble speaking, let alone continuing the conversation. Listen all the way through, it will be so worth the investment of time and energy.Some quick quotes from the conversation:"Great leaders see money as fuel, not a destination.""Serve those who serve others.""Never sacrifice the people to save the numbers, sacrifice the numbers to save the people.""The responsibility of the leader is to look after the sons and the daughters of the parents who have given us their children to help us build our companies with the same love and tenderness and care that their parents gave to them."We first aired this conversation in October 2013. I'm so excited to share this "Best Of" episode with you now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the “perceived imperfections, quirks or annoyances” that triggered you in other people were the very same things that, viewed differently, reminded you how blessed you were (and how great they were)? Today’s GLP Riff about a simple idea, a realization that so much of what bothers us in life is actually the very […]The post Annoyed or Blessed? It’s a Matter of Choice appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Debbie Millman is a creative, design and storytelling force of nature.Millman was drawn into the world of news and print in her early twenties, cultivating an appetite for artful communication, storytelling and news. By her early thirties, though, life had dealt a series of challenges.In quick succession, she found herself without a job or a sense of purpose, bound by her own self-loathing. Unlocking and even mining that negative cycle, though, was the key to her turnaround.She started down a path of discovery that would lead to a series of serendipitous adventures, eventually becoming a leading voice in the world of design, branding and media, and co-founding and chairing the Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She's also hosted the acclaimed Design Matters podcast for 11 years, which was a major inspiration for our show.As Debbie shares in this conversation, you "have to create your own happiness."On this "Best Of" episode of Good Life Project, Debbie Millman gets real about living with uncertainty, creativity and freedom, diving into the world of design, art and media.And, as we reflect on the year behind us, and think about the year to come, she reminds us to imagine immensities, then make them happen.We first aired this conversation in April 2014. I'm so excited to share this "Best Of" episode with you now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s something about working with your hands that changes you. Over the last generation, we’ve shifted largely to a “knowledge economy.” We value and compensate cognitive intelligence on a much higher scale than artistic, mechanical and physical intelligence. We elevate the importance of thoughts and ideas and diminish the role of hands and body and […]The post Finding God in the Grain appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did a kid who grew up on a farm in Alberta, Canada end up an elite performance coach to Olympic athletes and CEOs?This is the story of today's guest, performance savant and founder The 90 Day Year, Todd Herman.Did Todd get an advanced degree? Nope. Did he write a bestselling book? Again, no. Was he hyper-connected to high-level gatekeepers and influencers? Not unless you consider horses and other farm animals to be conduits to greatness.Then how did he end up the go-to person at the highest levels of sport and business? The answer lies in the same relentless drive that let him launch a packed consulting practice from a cold start by talking his way into speaking 68 times in 90 days.Todd is one of the most focused and productive people we've ever met. He honed his skills over nearly two decades working with many of the top performing athletes in the world, before making a pretty radical shift to online education with the creation of his accelerated productivity training, The 90 Day Year.In this week's conversation, we dive into his upbringing on a ranch in the middle of Canada, with thousands of acres to roam. We explore his jones to leave the ranch at a very early age and his more recent awakening to an unshakeable connection with the land. We talk about his lens on performance and deconstruct that whole 68 talks in 90 days strategy. We also talk about the interplay between elite performance, happiness, preparation and fulfillment.For anyone who has wondered about closing the gap between reality and potential, this is a don't miss an episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Calling all rule-breakers, rebels and deviants from the norm… Before you run screaming from convention, consider why the rules, the norms, the cultural guides exist in the first place. Then, ask yourself, before choosing to abandon them, if they still matter, and whether the better path to creativity, innovation and expression might be to master […]The post Attention Rule-breakers: Not So Fast. appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest, Mark Nepo, is a renowned poet, philosopher, author, master storyteller and spiritual teacher.He has appeared numerous times on Oprah, his Book of Awakening was a #1 New York Times bestseller.Mark originally appeared on the show about a year ago, where we explored his bigger life story, how cancer forever changed him, physically, psychologically and spiritually and his relationship with faith and spirituality.In this episode, we invite Mark Nepo back to explore a different topic; living in a rapidly changing world, poetry as truth and life, not just words and how we're called to live and lead. This year is also a special year as Mark has released two books, The One Life We're Given: Finding the Wisdom That Waits in Your Heart and the three-part collection of 20 years of his original poems and essays, The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can you start and build a business if you’re an introvert? This was a question from our someone in our listening community. Truth told, it’s a question we get on a pretty regular basis. There is a lot of mythology about how social, forward-facing and mass-scale public you need to be in order to be […]The post Introvert Entrepreneurs: A Quieter Approach to Building Business appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily McDowell is a writer, illustrator, and entrepreneur who specializes in chronicling the human condition.In 2012, she left a successful career in advertising to launch her greeting card line, making cards for the relationships we actually have. Now a multimillion-dollar stationery and gift company, Emily McDowell Studio products are sold online and in nearly 2,000 stores worldwide.In 2015, Emily’s Empathy Cards, designed to help people connect around serious illness and loss, struck a nerve around the world and gave people a way into conversations that seemed brutally hard to begin and deepen into.Her first book, There Is No Good Card For This: What To Say and Do When Life Gets Scary, Awful, and Unfair To People You Love, will be released in January 2017.In today's conversation, we take a step back in time, explore the experiences in her younger life that were defining moments, revealing who she really was and how Emily began to connect with an irreverent blend of art and humor that touches so many.We explore what happened when she was diagnosed with cancer at a very young age and watched friends struggle to figure out how to be there for her. We dive into how she compartmentalized this experience, seeking to not let it define her, both as a person and, soon enough in art and business. We also track the launch and growth of her company and her recent move to rework the business in order to not just serve a "customer" need, but also give her what she needs, the ability to do the work that most lights her up.Mentioned in this Episode:Dance Neurosis Resume by EmilyEmily's famous quilt-making mom, Ruth McDowellEmily's talk at World Domination Summit 2016Emily's Awkward Dating CardHand Letterer Mary Kate McDevittStupid Cancer :: The Voice of Young Adult CancerBrené Brown - Researcher + Storyteller+++The 108: Conscious Business Collective - Entrepreneurship is lonely. To build what you're here to build, not just in business but in life, you need people. Nobody does it alone. The 108 is a conscious business collective of entrepreneurs helping each other rise. Move into 2017 with a powerful new family of allies, mentors, champions and collaborators as you work to build a living and a life on a profoundly different level. Learn more now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the quest to be perpetually happy was actually making us miserable? Who doesn’t want to be happy? Who doesn’t want to laugh all day? It’s a wonderful state, deserving of a powerful seat at the good life table. Happiness has become a hot subject of study over the last two decades, along with […]The post Happiness. It’s Complicated. appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabrielle Bernstein is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Universe Has Your Back and numerous other books.She's been featured on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday as "next-generation thought leader" and leads talks, retreats and meditations for sold-out audiences around the world, embracing her role one of the voices of an emerging generation of spiritual teachers.Gabby is a also certified Kundalini yoga and meditation teacher. GShe is trained in the Emotional Freedom Technique, is a student of the metaphysical text A Course in Miracles, and practices Transcendental Meditation as taught by the David Lynch Foundation.In today's conversation, we take a step back into Gabby's personal story, exploring her relationship to faith and how feelings of isolation as a kid led to her become an organizer and leader at a young age. We dive into her year's long struggle with addiction and then work, and her more recent awakening to the role of childhood sexual trauma in her life's journey and the choices she's made.We dive into her approach to transparency as a spiritual teacher, how she dances between public and private, how opening to the fear in others can serve as a bridge to understanding and so much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a line in the Good Life Project Living Creed: “Life is a story, if you wouldn’t read the one you’re telling, write a different ending.” That’s what today’s short and sweet GLP Riff is all about; the role of stories in our lives. What is the story you’re telling with the way you’re living […]The post What Story Is Your Life Telling? appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is Radhanath Swami, a Vaishnava sanyassin (a monk in a Krishna-bhakti lineage) and teacher of the devotional path of Bhakti-yoga.He is author of The Journey Home, a memoir of his search for spiritual truth. His latest book is The Journey Within: Exploring the Path of Bhakti. His teachings draw from the sacred texts of India such as The Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ramayana, and aim to reveal the practical application of the sacred traditions, while focusing on the shared essence which unites apparently disparate religious or spiritual paths.Born Richard Slavin, on December 7, 1950, in his teens he came to confront a deep sense of alienation from suburban Chicago life and the civil injustices of mid-century America. At the age of nineteen, while on a summer trip to Europe, his internal struggles culminated in a commitment to search for God wherever it might lead him. Meditating on the Isle of Crete, he felt a supernatural calling and the next morning set off alone to find spiritual India.The Journey Home documents his odyssey as a penniless hitch-hiker though Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India. There he lived as a wandering ascetic, first amongst the forest dwelling Himalayan yogis and later amongst a wide variety of gurus and spiritual practitioners throughout India and Nepal. Ultimately, he was led to the holy town of Vrindavan, where he found his path amongst the Bhakti-yogis.In Vrindavan he found the teacher he was searching for in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and representative of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, (the Krishna-bhakti tradition stemming from the 16th century mystic avatar Sri Chaitanya). In choosing Bhaktivedanta Swami, as his guru, Radhanath Swami felt compelled to shear his matted locks and reenter Western society with a mission to share the sacred wisdom he had received.This return exemplifies the form of devotional yoga which is at the heart of Radhanath Swami’s teachings, a spiritual practice expressed as tangible action meant to bring about personal fulfillment and benefit the world. At the the age of 31 he took the monastic vows of a Vaishnava sanyassin and became known as Radhanath Swami.Today Radhanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, Europe and North America, sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga. He resides much of the year at the Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. For the past twenty-five years he has guided the community’s development and has directed a number of acclaimed social action projects including Midday Meals, which daily serves more than 260,000 plates of sanctified vegetarian food to the children of the slums of Mumbai. He has also worked to establish missionary hospitals and eye camps, eco-friendly farms, schools and ashrams, an orphanage, and a number of emergency relief programs throughout India. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So often, we look at life as a game to win, or a journey to get from where we are now to that magical, far-off destination where, finally, we get to live a good life. Except, it doesn’t work that way. There is no there there, there is only here now. When we look at […]The post A Good Life is a Practice, Not a Place. appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Orly Wahba is a teacher, entrepreneur, and community activist passionate about inspiring and motivating people to make the world a kinder place.Orly began her career as a middle school teacher, empowering children to embrace unity, build self-value, and use their power to influence the world for good. Trying to reckon with the death of two kids in her school, and guide her students through it in 2011, Orly founded Life Vest Inside (LVI), a non-profit organization with a mission to empower and unite the world with kindness.Through LVI, Wahba encourages people to embrace the incredible power of giving and recognize that in times of hardship, kindness, like a life vest, keeps the world afloat. LVI gained international acclaim when Orly’s award-winning film, Kindness Boomerang, went viral, receiving over 100 million views and eventually landing her a spot to speak at TED2013 on the magic of kindness.OWe got curious about where Wahba's unrelenting devotion to kindness and respect came from. What were the foundational experiences and stories, the moments of both struggle and revelation? How to did she write, film and produce her Kindness Boomerang video on her own, and why does she believe it resonated so widely?Turns out, Orly's earlier life was filled with polar opposites, deep familial love, and also profound social isolation and loss. This led to a years-long spiral after a fire in her childhood home splintered the family into different locations. Emerging from this dark window, she felt compelled to help others, especially kids, experience the world from a place of acceptance and generosity. We go deep into this journey in today's episode.Orly's forthcoming book, Kindness Boomerang, is available for pre-order now. As Orly's global community grows by the thousands, more people are experiencing the grace and connection of kindness with activities, events and more. Their 5th annual Dance for Kindness Worldwide Flashmob is happening November 13, so you still have time to get involved!+++++++++Order your copy of Jonathan Fields’ new book, How to Live a Good Life: Soulful Stories, Surprising Science and Practical Wisdom, today! It’s available at booksellers everywhere. And, you can download the first chapter and invest in your copy now.Also, big news - the book is now available as an audiobook! Get it here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you measuring your success by the wrong metric? It’s so easy to get caught up in vanity metrics. To measure how full your Good Life Buckets are with the wrong metrics. Funny enough, I got caught in this trap. And, the irony is, it was all in the process of measuring my success with […]The post Are You Measuring Your Success With the Wrong Metric? appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest, Panache Desai, is a contemporary spiritual teacher, author of Discovering Your Soul Signature, and recent guest of Oprah Winfrey on Super Soul Sunday.Desai's connection to spirit, to something bigger than him or any one being, arrived as a child. Embracing it and allowing it to move through him came easily. But, because it also came so early in life, he'd not yet developed the seasoning to be able to understand and apply this wisdom in the most constructive way.It would take years of grappling, growing and even stumbling, often in the public's eye, to begin to forge a deeper wisdom and a more capable channel that would allow him to fully step into, understand and share his gift.TThe catalyst for this rapid evolution, though, would be something Panache Desai never saw coming, his daughter's devastating diagnosis of heart failure. Hours after we spoke with Panache, he would be on a plane to the hospital to join his wife and daughter, who had just been placed on a list for a heart-transplant.He was in a process of reckoning. This is where our conversation began. We dropped into the deep end of the pool very quickly and never really came out. The conversation was powerful, emotional and it will challenge your idea of meaning and connection and remind you of the importance of staying open, leading with love, being forever a student and owning our impact on those around us. We wish Panache and his family love and healing, grace and ease.Get your free guided meditation from Panache to change the energy that surrounds you and access the greatness that has always lived inside you.+++++++++Order your copy of Jonathan Fields’ new book, How to Live a Good Life: Soulful Stories, Surprising Science and Practical Wisdom, today! It's available at booksellers everywhere. And, you can download the first chapter and invest in your copy now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Order your copy of Jonathan Fields’ new book, How to Live a Good Life: Soulful Stories, Surprising Science and Practical Wisdom, today! It’s available at booksellers everywhere. And, you can download the first chapter and invest in your copy now. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ What is our podcasting setup? That’s one the most popular questions we get. So, we figured we’d […]The post Our Podcast Setup: In the Studio and On the Road appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Glennon Doyle Melton is an author, activist, and founder of Momastery.com and Together Rising, a non-profit that has raised close to five million dollars for women and children in crisis.Her brand new book, LOVE WARRIOR is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and the most recent Oprah's Book Club selection.Today, I sit down with Glennon the morning after she's wrapped one of her gathering at the legendary BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in New York City, where she was joined by a multi-denominational collective on-stage, including Alicia Keys who was so moved she couldn't help but belt out an impromptu song before leaving.In this conversation, we dip into her new memoir. But that's more of a jumping off point that leads us into some very different waters, from leading as an introvert, her feelings about faith and how it informs what she's creating to how she's moving into a season of her life where the line between public and private, art and service, love and leading is shifting in profound and intentional ways.We go deep into some provocative territory here, and there are more than a few invitations to reconsider how you move into the world and what you choose to focus on. Agree or not, this is a conversation that'll leave you lifted, challenge your assumptions and also make you think and feel.++++++++++++++++++++++++++Order your copy of Jonathan Fields’ new book, How to Live a Good Life: Soulful Stories, Surprising Science and Practical Wisdom, today! Download the first chapter and invest in your copy now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever know someone who just radiates light? Someone who is unapologetically joyful? Even under the most challenging circumstances, there’s this heartbeat that celebrates what is good? What is it about those people? What makes them that way? Probably a million different things. But, there’s one fairly universal choice that I’ve come to believe serves as […]The post Before You Can Choose Joy, You Have to Choose You. appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if today was the day that changed everything? What if you didn’t have to wait to step into your good life and, instead, you could just start living it? This moment. This day. What if a good life was a simple, daily practice, not some faraway place that someday, off in the distance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a fearful kid from the midwest with severe social anxiety and a struggling self-image end up on the cover of magazines and teaching women how to love themselves?That's the story in today's episode of Good Life Project, featuring Lori Harder. Growing up in Michigan, Lori found herself increasingly anxious about more and more things, from the size of her body to her ability to fit in. Not surprising for a young teen. But, add to that being born into a faith with an ethos of separation from outsiders, and you've got a perfect recipe for amplified struggle.In her early teens, though, something changed that began to bring Harder out of her shell. And, that was just the beginning. She eventually transformed herself into not just a fit and confident woman, but a cover model and an advocate not just for fitness, but for a more complete approach to wellbeing. She now teaches and speaks on this in her workshops and keynotes and retreats.As she writes in her manifesto, "Beauty is a way of being. Strength means showing up. Fierce self-love is our only choice."In today's episode, we dive into this journey, especially the early years and explore how family, faith and culture mixed together to create an experience that, looking back, she's grateful for as she emerges into her own path. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Busyness. It’s a problem. But, what if there was something deeper happening? An epic battle between intention and surrender that is both a source of profound pain, and an unlock key for life unbounded? And, along with that, an undiagnosed condition—Reactive Life Syndrome—that so many of us are living with, without even knowing it, or […]The post Unbusy: A Manifesto appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest, Rhodes Scholar, Box of Crayons Senior Partner and bestselling author, Michael Bungay Stanier, has a bone to pick.It's about coaching.But, he's not just talking about coaches, he's talking about every person who finds themselves in regularly helping others move forward, from parents to friends to colleagues and, yes, actual coaches.In his latest book, The Coaching Habit, he makes a bold proclamation, maybe it's time to spend less time talking and more time listening and asking the 7 simple questions that'll unlock a stunning amount of connection, revelation and elevation.But, here's the thing, Michael and Jonathan are old friends, so it takes them a while to get to these ideas. Along the way, they dive deep into Michael's personal journey, the wacky world of self-help/personal-development, and Michael shares a "technology" that incites accelerated growth and change that's remarkably powerful and has used and validated in giant organizations. In This Episode, You'll Learn:5 unspeakable truths about coaching.The 7 questions that change everything.How we live a good life, show up and do meaningful work, and transcend the self-help yadda yadda.Two types of envy and how to use the good type as motivation.How to get clear on the question – 'What do you want?'When to fire cannon balls and when to fire bullets.What the boldest coaching question is that a coach can ever ask.Mentioned in This Episode:Connect with Michael: Box of Crayons | LinkedIn | TwitterThe Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay StanierGood to Great by Jim CollinsEight Irresistible Principles of FunChip and Dan HeathUnmarketing.comPeter Block Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jocelyn Glei knows how to get the right stuff done. The founding editor and a key member of the team that built the massive 99u community, website and conference and the Behance platform for creative professionals, she’s a brilliant thinker in the realm of focused creation, with a track record to back up her ideas. […]The post Jocelyn Glei: Unsubscribing as an Act of Creation. appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The day Megan Devine's partner died started like any other.The sun was shining as they walked to a favorite spot by the river. Matt waded in, as he'd done countless times before. Minutes later, he was gone. No warning, no time to prepare, no chance to say goodbye.Megan is a psychotherapist. She trained for years to help people through moments like this. Now, being on the other side of the experience, she was faced with a daunting reality. None of it worked. And, heaped upon this realization was a mountain of judgment about "how" she grieved and what that must have said about who she "really" was.Megan realized, she'd have to find a new way to not only move through that window, but also through a life that was almost unrecognizable from the one she'd been forced to leave behind.What emerged was not only a profoundly different approach to loss, but also to life. How could it be any other way? Megan is no longer the person she used to be. Her journey and the set of tools she built are detailed in Everything is Not Okay: Practical Tools to Help You Stay in Your Heart & Not Lose Your Mind.In our conversation, Megan pulls no punches when questioning our culture's approach to grief: Why do we offer platitudes to those grieving, rather than nonjudgmental companionship? How can we better support each other when experiencing tragedy? How do these lessons apply to everyone? We dive into this deeply moving journey in this week's conversation, and come full circle to explore how she's found a new place of grace in the world. In This Episode, You'll Learn:How people use blame in an attempt to distance themselves from death.How Megan got through the days when she felt angry to wake up.Why a solid spiritual practice won't make you safer from death or grief, and why that's okay.Why it’s more important to be a companion to a grieving person than to try fixing their pain.How Megan appreciates the beauty and awe of life differently now than she did seven years ago.Mentioned in This Episode:Connect with Megan: Refuge In Grief | TwitterAudiobook: Everything is Not Okay: Practical Tools to Help You Stay in Your Heart & Not Lose Your Mind by Megan DevineThe Dalai LamaModern LossErin Moon: Walking the Path Back to Life on Good Life Project+++Have you heard? My new book - How to Live a Good Life: Soulful Stories, Surprising Science and Practical Wisdom - is available for pre-order now! It's a joyful, story-driven, engaging and eye-opening deep dive into what really makes a difference in your pursuit of a meaningful, alive and connected life. Click here now to download and read the first chapter for free. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s this idea out in the world that if you want to make a real difference, to make meaning, you have to go big. Be massively public. Take the giant risk. Build something vast and complex. You’ve got to be the wave that crashes on the shore. That is, indeed, one approach to leaving your […]The post You Don’t Have to Go Big to Make a Big Difference. appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A child of the 80s, Lisa Sugar grew up obsessed with pop-culture. Little did she know, her childhood fascination would become her career.Graduating college, Sugar headed into the world of media, and then advertising. She was working her way up the ranks on the media planning side. But a little voice kept calling her to write. So, she started a little website, POPSUGAR, on the side.At first, she was writing in the evening and weekends, then pretty much any break she could get. What happened next took her breath away. Turns out, her obsession wasn't just her own. And, her voice was landing in a way that had people reading, sharing and coming back for more.Within a year, more than a million readers were coming to her website, so she quit her job and made POPSUGAR her full-time pursuit. Six months later, with the company now exploding, her husband left his tech-job and joined her. POPSUGAR is now the leading lifestyle brand in the world, with more than 85-million visitors a month and 1.5 billion media impressions/month.Lisa's journey is detailed in her book, Power Your Happy: Work Hard, Play Nice, & Build Your Dream Life. In today's episode of Good Life Project, we dive into her story, how she made the shifts in career, when she knew it was time to ditch the full-time gig and go all-in on POPSUGAR, why she believes in work-life blend, not balance, and so much more.Mentioned in This Episode:Connect with Lisa: Power Your Happy | POPSUGAR | InstagramDarren StarShopStyle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if we could tap into the hidden superhero, savant or performer that lays buried deep inside us to do things we could normally never do? Not as a way to hide or put on a mask, but as a way to mine a secret wellspring of latent boldness and often creativity and energy that […]The post The Power of Personas: Unlock Your Inner Boldness appeared first on Good LifeProject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quick note - be sure to listen to the end, we've got a live, acoustic performance by this week's guest that will rock your world!Ali Handal grew up loving music but packed up her guitar and dreams of becoming a professional musician in order to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology. Eventually, though, music called her home.She spent years mastering her craft, becoming a lead-guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, and entrepreneur, eventually co-founding Triple Scoop Music which helps artists license their projects. Ali has also released three albums, toured across four continents, and worked with artists such Neil Young, Janet Jackson, and Paul Williams. Her training book, Guitar for Girls, was written to help students at all levels gain the self-confidence needed to master new challenges so they don't settle for less.And, a little more than three years ago, she was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer.In this episode, we dive deep into her remarkable journey from student of human behavior to student and eventually teacher of music, performer extraordinaire, successful entrepreneur, author, then patient and wholehearted embracer of live as it comes.In This Episode, You'll Learn:The multiple streams of income Ali can leverage which allow her to pursue an authentic career as an artist.Why performing for free can be a valuable experience and expose opportunities.Alternatives for starving artists to earn a living while developing their craft.How intentional practice can improve weak areas.Why her diagnosis of a rare form of incurable Lymphoma has not stopped her thriving career and pursuit of goals in life.Tips to stick with your passion while you suck.Mentioned in This Episode:Connect with Ali: AliHandal.com | YouTubeGuitar for Girls by Ali HandalGutsy Girl by Caroline Paul"Not a Pretty Girl" by Ani Difranco Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.