This Naked Voice

In the US, we think "freedom" is about choices.  And, it partly is.  But true freedom is about so much more.  It's about being free from our engrained patterns of responses to the external world.  From our sense of identity.  Free to consistently explore, change and evolve who we are, without feeling tied to old thoughts, behaviours and beliefs.  

That can be easier said than done, but the groundwork to help...

"The art of creative living is not the execution of some intentional program for life, but a natural, evolving expression."

It's no secret humans have not been the best stewards of nature in the last 150 years or so.  What are the cultural beliefs that have allowed us to be so callous in our behaviours?  

Spoiler alert: It's not as simple as ignorance and greed.  It's much deeper and more ...

What does it mean to be an "Artist of Life"?  

Not just a painter or musician kind of artist, but someone who shows up with the qualities, mindset and behaviours of an artist in every aspect of your life?  What the hell does that even mean?  

How does our modern world discourage us from stepping into our potential roles as artists? 

This episode dives into how shifting our mindset to approaching...

What do women find attractive, and/or what do they seek when evaluating men as potential partners? 

How might a changing world have shifted this over the last many decades?  If at all?

I put up a poll on my social media account last year on the topic and got a pretty forceful response... so much so that my friend and fellow coach, Casey Sedlack, invited me to have a conversation about it, to take a deeper dive. ...

"There are a thousand right choices, and all of them are wrong."

"Everything is a risk... once you realize that it's all a risk, then you minimize your risk."

I must say, there are some wonderful and memorable moments in this talk I have with Dale Bates - a retired architect and urban designer whose focus for the majority of his career was on healthy design - architecture that supports hum...

How do Masculine & Feminine values shape our culture around work and life in general?  

How do you define Masculine & Feminine?  Do you get down with Carl Jung and his badass self?  

This episode attempts to define leisure in my own words, as well as explain why I believe it's important.  

I do this through exploring  masculine and feminine value structures - Doing vs Being, in a nutshell - and linking them to t...

If you could take a pill to instantly learn anything you wanted, would you take that pill:

A) Every time you had to learn something?
B) Some of the times you had to learn something?
C) Never?

Why or why not?  What things would you take the pill for and what would you not take it for?  

I continue my discussion with Prof. Eugene Matusov of the University of Delaware about the importance of leisure ...

Why is leisure important?  How might we see evidence of the lack of genuine leisure impacting us in our education systems and beyond?  

This is part 1 of 2 of my conversation with Professor Eugene Matusov - he wrote a book called "Envisioning Education in a Post-Work Leisure Based Society".  

Professor Matusov (or, Eugene, as I know him) is one of the most unique and out of the box thinkers I was fortuna...

It's easy to be a critic.  It's easy to tear things down.  It's much harder to be a creator - to have a vision of what can be and build things up.  

What makes the difference between a cultural critic and a cultural creator?  Why is it even important to draw a distinction?  

I speak to the intention and energies behind these two ways of being, how to shift from critic to creator, and why it's n...

This episode was a treat for me, as I got schooled in flurry of fascinating information about the hidden wonders and the power of breathing.  

I speak with Andy Sabatier - Doctor of Physical Therapy and founder of Academy West, which applies a physical therapy approach to changing breathing mechanics to improve people's quality of life - based out of Bend, Oregon.  

https://www.academywestperformance.com/

This first episode back of the year is a solo episode beginning to explore the question of "What does it mean to make a life worth living?" based on the incredible book called Zen and the Art of Making a Living.

This introduction explores the unconscious myth that underlies our culture in the United States, and likely much of the western world - the myth of The Little King.  

How does this myth influence...

Divorce, Eviction, a Father’s Death - sometimes it feel like it’s more than the kitchen sink that life is throwing your way.  

In Part 2 of my conversation with Erikk G., we talk about how these events contributed to him isolating from the very people who cared for him most, right at a time when those relationships were what he most needed.  That includes our relationship.  

We talk about how shame, guilt and feelings of self-doubt h...

These next two episodes feature Erikk G. - Professor of Philosophy, podcast host of "The Relentless Picnic", and my best friend since 7th grade.  

This first part is an introduction to Erikk, and is a small glimpse into the nature of our relationship.  

Erikk is the type of friend who I have always called to explore emerging ideas, thoughts and feelings with, because I knew I would always be met with an ...

I welcome back Zach Herbert of St. Terrible for a deeper dive into conversation of a more personal nature.  

We talk about the death of a friend of his from years ago... how that death has influenced his art, his life, his growth and learning.  We talk about the grieving process and what grief offers us when we engage in it fully.  

We also speak to the nature of vulnerability and the difficult nature of balancing...

Death, Discovery & Magic

Alexandra Becker-Black is a watercolor artist based in Portland, Oregon.  That may sound boring, but this ain't your Grandmother's tea-time kinda watercolor...

Alex has made a name for herself with her incredible large scale realistic portraits and renderings, done in a medium that is notoriously unforgiving of even the slightest mistake. 

We speak a lot in this ep...

Tara Mangini is one half of the supremely talented and sought out home design duo known as Jersey Ice Cream Co.  For years, she and her partner, Percy Bright would move into old homes and hotels for months at a time, remaking and remodeling them in their signature style.  They have been featured in the NY Times, GQ, Architectural Digest, Elle, and countless design blogs such as Remodelista, Apartment Therapy, and Design Sponge.  

There is a poem by Rumi called "The Guest House" that has always touched me deeply.  

It has offered me comfort and perspective throughout my adult life, and I found myself coming back to it recently when I was feeling deep in sorrow, in fear, and feeling extra lonely.  

This episode is a personal look at my most recent unexpected swing down into some tough emotional terrain.  It's also an invitatio...

SORNE is an enigma. A true polymath in the highest sense of the word. A multi-disciplinary, award-winning, prolific visual artist, musician, actor and filmmaker, boasting an unparalleled vocal range with perfect pitch. He brings listeners to tears with his angelic falsetto, and churns crowds into a writhing frenzy with his other-worldly sound.

That doesn't mean getting to where he is has been easy, or he hasn't h...

"That's what made it worth it... and that's why it's one of the most successful projects I've had, because it's continuing on - not about the photography, not about the art, but about creating a space to talk about it." -Amanda Stelling


Amanda Stelling is a photographer and athlete based out of Ketchum, Idaho.  She reached out to me to share about a traumatic experience she went thro...