Free & Open Mind

The Free and Open Mind with Hardy Brooklyn & Stan Nelson

On paper, she had it all: a finance career, good benefits, and a clear path up the ladder. Inside, she wore an invisible mask. When coworkers asked if she loved her job, she said yes, "even though inside, I wanted to scream no."

DaNajah O'Neal quit accounting, packed two suitcases, and moved to Costa Rica, a country she'd never visited. Then she wrote The Surrender Way whil...

In 1950, a mill-town girl from Maine stood on the Senate floor and said what every man in the room was too afraid to say. Senate custom wouldn't let her name Joseph McCarthy. So she described him instead — until nobody needed the name.

It took fifteen minutes. It cost her everything Washington could take. Back home in Maine, the mail ran eight to one in her favor (the reckoning).

This week, Hardy Brooklyn and Stan tell the stor...

Most of us build an identity out of a job title. Alexi Bracey spent 30 years building hers over a stove — chef, feeder of people, the one who walked out of the kitchen at a remote fishing lodge to make the guests laugh because she had nothing to say about fishing.

Then a car hit her head-on. She walked away from it. Two weeks later her balance failed, she fell, and she broke her femur — and with it, the career. No more h...

From Blueprints to Sourdough: Are You Feeding Your Body… or Your B.S.?

What makes someone walk away from a successful engineering career to spend three days on a single loaf of bread? In this episode, Hardy Brooklyn sits down with Sven “the Baker” Mostegl, an engineer-turned-master-baker who rebuilt his entire life—country, career, and identity—one honest choice at a time.

This isn’t a foodie chat...

Meet John R. Spender — landscaper-turned-life coach, bestselling author, and director of the award-winning documentary The Gift in Adversity. In this episode of The Free and Open Mind, John reveals how childhood illiteracy, the collapse of a thriving business, and battles with addiction became the very tools that rebuilt his life. Hear the unfiltered stories behind jaw-dropping moments of serendipity — from an unexpecte...

Wired for Connection isn’t a networking hack—it’s a reality check on the circuits that actually power your life. In this solo episode, Hardy Brooklyn pulls back the curtain on his Toastmasters speech and goes deeper into the truth underneath the metaphors: why tech, coaching, art, and friendship all live or die on the same three pieces—source, load, return path.

You’ll hear how he went from drawers ful...

This Friday on Free & Open Mind, Hardy and Stan sit down with Mike Pierce, creator of The Four Energy Fields — a framework born from over a decade of watching people heal through hypnosis, Reiki, breathwork, meditation, and everything in between. Mike kept noticing the same thing no matter the method: every real breakthrough touched the same four parts of us — Body. Emotion. Mind. Spirit.For years, Mike tried to con...

What do you do when the people who taught you hard work, hustle, and DIY grit… also become the biggest drain on your mental health?

In this raw, honest conversation, financial advisor Andrew Quebbemann sits down with Hardy Brooklyn to trace his journey from a Wisconsin family candy store to San Diego skies — and the day he chose to become estranged from his own parents to protect his authen...

She overcame societal expectations by becoming pregnant before marriage, challenged a surgeon who claimed women could not be both doctors and mothers, and established the first inclusive program for deaf students in a New York public school—all before publishing her first book. This week, hosts Hardy Brooklyn and Stan Nelson interview educator and author Rosemary Olender, whose new book, Coffee and Wisdom, distills five decad...

In this episode of Free & Open Mind, Hardy Brooklyn and Stan Nelson sit down with C.J. Scarlett – “The Badass Grandma”: survivor, advocate, Marine Corps vet, and creator of the Heroic Kids Safety Game.

She shares how she:

• Turned childhood sexual abuse, PTSD, and autoimmune illness into a mission to protect kids
• Built a statewide victim notification system that became a national model
• Uses acts of kindness, bo...

Ever taught everyone else to be “free and open” while secretly running your own life like a locked-down server room?
In this solo(ish) origin episode, Hardy Brooklyn (aka Leonard Shostak) and co-host Stan Nelson pull back the curtain on how a geeky love of free and open-source software evolved into a life philosophy — and ultimately, the Free & Open Mind podcast.

Hardy shares how he once lived as two separa...

What would you actually risk to be true to yourself?

Drop out of school to be a rapper?

Walk away from a comfy corporate job?

Tell a TV director, “Dude, I don’t even know how to light this cigarette”?

In this episode of Free & Open Mind, Hardy and Stan sit down with Yaron (Ron) Urbas —rapper, finance guy, software engineer, actor, and founder of Yummy Media Agency—aka a one-man witness protection progr...

What if the “safe” life you were told to want is exactly what’s draining your soul?

In this episode of Free & Open Mind, Hardy Brooklyn sits down with Alexis Crisp—personal trainer, life coach, and self-described “helper to mankind”—who walked out of a traditional law firm job as a single mom and rebuilt her world around radical authenticity, mental health, and movement.

Alexis shares how...

Are you actually calm… or just numb?

In this episode of The Free & Open Mind, Hardy Brooklyn and co-host Stan Nelson sit down with psychologist and stress expert Gudrun to unpack “borrowed calm” — those moments when you feel okay only because you’ve leaned on alcohol, cannabis, caffeine, sugar, or routine to get you through.

We explore how these everyday habits subtly train your nervous system to de...

What if your “quiet” isn’t a mask at all—but a survival tool your brain built on purpose?

In this follow‑up to our episode on masks and masking, Hardy and Stan revisit the three-mask framework (performer, peacekeeper, minimizer) after a powerful message from an autistic/ADHD listener who didn’t see themselves in any of those boxes. Their feedback flips the script: quiet can be a strategic way to regula...

When was the last time you walked into a room — a meeting, a family dinner, a tough conversation — and were completely, unapologetically yourself?

In this episode of The Free & Open Mind, Hardy Brooklyn breaks down why so many smart, capable people stay silent even when they see exactly what’s going wrong… and what it’s costing them in their bodies, minds, and relationships.

You’ll hear a...

What does a hot air balloon in 1783 France have to do with your life and business today?

In this episode of The Free & Open Mind, Leonard (Hardy Brooklyn) and Stan revisit the story of the Montgolfier brothers and the first hot air balloon flight to explore what it really means to live authentically, take real risks, and follow your curiosity even when people are watching.

You’ll hear us dive into:

• Authenticity vs. perfo...

**What if the only thing standing between you and your true potential is the fear of being your true self?**In this episode of **Free & Open Mind**, we sit down with **Michael S.**, who grew up with a learning disability, speech challenges, and constant bullying — and still chose to build a life based on **authenticity, courage, and compassion**.Michael spent his early years in special ed classes, working with speech ther...

**What happens when your body forces you to stop pretending?**In this episode of the Free & Open Mind Podcast, Hardy and co-host Stan sit down with marketing strategist and proudly queer business owner Tom Basgil for a raw, practical conversation about authenticity when life hits hard.After being diagnosed with Addison’s disease, Tom went from barely making it to the subway — stopping at every bench — to betti...