Neil is the the author of nine books and journals including: The Book of Awesome, a spinning rolodex of simple pleasures based on his 100-million-hit, award-winning blog 1000 Awesome Things, The Happiness Equation, originally written as a 300-page love letter to his unborn son on how to live a happy life, He also hosts an Apple “Best of” award-winning podcast called 3 Books where he is on an ‘epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. and he also shares his current writing on this blog and in a series of newsletters. In this episode, Eric and Neil discuss his latest book,   Our Book of Awesome:  A Celebration of the Small Joys That Bring Us Together   In This Interview, Neil and I Discuss.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nickolas Butler is the author of many novels, including the internationally best-selling and prize-winning Shotgun Lovesongs, which has been optioned for film development and has been translated into ten languages. Nickolas is the recipient of many literary prizes and commendations and has published articles, reviews, short stories, and poetry in publications such as: Ploughshares, Narrative, and The New York Times Book Review, to name a few.  Eric and Nickolas discuss a few of his novels as well as how we can learn to embrace the important elements of life. But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Nickolas Butler and I Discuss How to Embrace the Important Elements of Life and… His novels, Godspeed and Shotgun Lovesongs The fear and doubt he faces in his creative life Comparing our lives to others How we take for granted the basic things that previous generations worked hard for His relationship with his father and grandfather The differences in generations and what he hopes to teach his kids Trying to find empathy and understanding with those you don’t agree with The complexities of parent-child relationships  Why he writes essays for his local newspaper His idea of choosing a tree and practicing gratitude for that tree How friendships are special and unique human relationships Links: Nick’s Website Instagram Facebook By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed this conversation with Nickolas Butler, please check out these other episodes: What We Can Learn from our Bad Wolf with Matthew Quick How to Find Meaning and Live a Good Life with Jonathan FieldsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Father Gregory Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House named Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame’s 2017 Laetare Medal, the oldest honor given to American Catholics. He is the acclaimed author of Tattoos on the Heart, Barking to the Choir, and his latest book,  Forgive Everyone Everything. Fabian Debora is the artist and illustrator of the book, Forgive Everyone Everything. His work has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions throughout the US and abroad.  Fabian served previously served as a counselor and the Director of Substance Abuse Services & Programming and a mentor at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles and is now the Executive Director of Homebody Art Academy. But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Father Greg Boyle & Fabian Debora and I Discuss How to Find Hope and Kinship His book, Forgive Everyone Everything The organization he founded, Homeboy Industries, to rehabilitate gang members Hope and how our focus must not be on outcomes How life is about removing the blindfold to see the goodness within us Joy is the love of being loving Equanimity and learning to not grasp at our pain Defining kinship as deep connection with others How we need to acknowledge privelege Fabian’s journey of recovery and his work with Homeboy Industries How his art represents his journey and lived experiences How he tells a story through his art His responsibility of an artist to combat stereotypes How he maintains hope amidst tragedy The legacy that he hopes to create for his family and community How kinship is a circle where everyone belongs Links: Father Greg’s Website Instagram Twitter Fabian's Website Fabian's Instagram By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed this conversation with Father Greg Boyle and Fabian Debora, please check out these other episodes: Human Nature and Hope with Rutger Bregman Donna Hylton on Healing and HopeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Eric Maisel, PhD, is the author of more than 40 books, including Why Smart People Hurt, Making Your Creating Mark, The Future of Mental Health, The VanGogh Blues, Mastering Creative Anxiety, and Creativity for Life. Dr. Maisel is at the forefront of the movement to rethink mental health. He writes the Rethinking Psychology blog for Psychology Today. Eric and Dr. Maisel discuss his books Overcoming Your Difficult Family:  8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation and The Future of Mental Health But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Eric Maisel and I Discuss Why We Need to Rethink Mental Health and … His books, Overcoming Your Difficult Family:  8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation and The Future of Mental Health Defining the skills needed to understand and deal with family dynamics Learning the best anxiety management tool for you, such as deep breathing or visualization The powerful device of visualizing the “calmness switch” within you Understanding that there is one of many possibilities to deal with challenges His book, Mastering Creative Anxiety Depression The importance of identifying what’s important to us and living our life purposefully  Stigmatization of mental health and how it promotes pharmaceutical  Understanding there is more help to treat depression than just medication and psychiatry His models of personality: Original Personality, Formed Personality, Available Personality Links: Eric’s website Twitter Instagram By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed this conversation with Eric Maisel, please check out these other episodes: Challenges of Mental Health Diagnoses with Sarah Fay Gabe Howard on Mental HealthSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Nicole LePera, A.J. Jacobs, Martha Beck, Susan Cain and Cory Allen as our guests on this special “Thanksgiving” episode all about gratitude! Research from Harvard Medical School shows that “gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness.  Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships."  We know that it’s good to give thanks but so many of us struggle to make it a regular practice and this episode will teach you how to do so and why it is worth prioritizing! But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Our Special Guests and I Discuss How to Practice Gratitude and … Dr. Nicole LePera – how she defines gratitude and why it’s important How verbally stating or writing can activate feelings of appreciation Our tendency to pay attention to what we lack rather than what we have Shifting from “I have to” to “I am grateful for the opportunity” A.J. Jacobs – how practicing gratitude is a way to not take things for granted The hedonic treadmill and the “I’ll be happy” when trap His active practice of texting his mom every day what he’s grateful for How the more specific the better when it comes to expressing gratitude Martha Beck – how she was impacted when she first read about the benefits of gratitude How engaging in your senses is a good way to practice gratitude Her 3:1 gratitude practice – for every negative experience, think of 3 positive ones Reveling in what the soul yearns for sharpens a gratitude practice Susan Cain – how she notices and savors beautiful things How we need to both accept the beauty and the difficult realities of our existence The best gateway to gratitude is discovering what elevates us How she teaches her kids gratitude Cory Allen – how what we associate with gratitude is what makes us feel grounded and safe How he goes deeper into gratitude How gratitude comes from being present and getting curious The benefits of practice gratitude for its own sake Links: Dr. Nicole Lepera A.J. Jacobs Martha Beck Susan Cain Cory Allen By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed these conversations about  Gratitude, please check out these other episodes: How to Make Life Easier with Greg McKeown How to Explore Our Awareness with Jonathan RobinsonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julie Simon is a licensed psychotherapist, life coach and certified personal trainer with over 30 years of experience in helping overeaters and imbalanced eaters mend their relationship with their feelings and ultimately themselves. She’s also the founder of the popular Los Angels based 12-week emotional eating recovery program. Eric and Julie discuss her book, When Food is Comfort: Nurture Yourself Mindfully, Rewire Your Brain and End Emotional Eating. But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Julie Simon and I Discuss How to Manage Emotional Eating … Her book, When Food is Comfort: Nurture Yourself Mindfully, Rewire Your Brain and End Emotional Eating. The most common cause of emotional overeating is difficulty regulating our emotions, moods, thoughts, and behaviors When we disconnect from our emotions, we don’t learn necessary skills to regulate Attunement and attachment in early childhood that create neural pathways When we’re under the influence of emotional part of the brain, we’re not capable of reasoning The 7 skills involved in inner nurturing The importance of exploring our emotions and bodily sensations Our tendency to move away from unpleasant emotions by focusing on our thoughts How emotions present in the body first (before we have words for them) Real recovery is experiencing and moving through emotions Learning to practice soothing behaviors to restore ourselves to calm The goal is not to distract ourselves, but to calm ourselves enough to work on regulation skills How self validation is not condoning the behavior, but acceptance and self compassion Julie Simon Links Julie’s Website Facebook Twitter By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed this conversation with Julie Simon check out these other episodes: Emotional Agility with Susan David Mindful Eating with Andrea LiebersteinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jonathan Fields is a father, husband, award-winning author, executive producer, and host of one of the top-ranked podcasts in the world, The Good Life Project. He also speaks globally to groups and organizations and his work has been featured widely in the media including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Oprah Magazine, and many others.  Eric and Jonathan chat about a few different topics relating to how we can bring more meaning and fulfillment into our daily activities that lead to living a good life. But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Jonathan Fields and I Discuss How to Find Meaning and Live a Good Life … How people can bring more meaning and enjoyment to their day job The challenges and importance of setting boundaries for work time Learning to shift focus on how to be more effective rather than putting in more time The idea of investing in yourself when considering career or other life changes Jonathan’s “sparketype” framework Asking the question “How can I be a light in other people’s lives” in both professional and personal lives The process of change and how we can equip ourselves to handle forced change Finding the sweet spot of what motivates us and our approach to behavior change based on our personality How identifying our values can make behavior change more effective and sustainable Building flexibility and creating tolerance in your goals knowing perfection isn’t possible Knowing why we want to change is a critical component to making change and understanding Dealing with low moodspath to personal change Learning to be happy love yourself in your current state while you can also look to change Jonathan Fields Links Jonathan’s Website Instagram Twitter By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed this conversation with Jonathan Fields check out these other episodes: Discover Your Sparketype with Jonathan Fields How to Lead a Happier Life with Dr. Laurie SantosSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gillian Tietz is the host of Sober Powered, a top 50 mental health podcast, and the founder of Sober Powered Media, a podcast network of top mental health shows. She has a master’s in biology and worked in research labs in the Boston area. Getting sober in 2019 inspired her to start her podcast to help others understand why addiction happens and how to develop the coping skills they need to stay sober. After 2 years of consistent, hard work she left her career in biochemistry to start her network.  Eric and Gillian discuss her journey to sobriety and how she shares what she has learned with others on her podcast, Sober Powered. But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Gillian Tietz and I Discuss How to Embrace Sobriety and … Her podcast, Sober Powered How she learned that watching TV did not support the life she wanted The start of her journey to sobriety Struggling with emotions that lead her to destructive habits Her struggles with body image Realizing how drinking caused her mental health to deteriorate How alcohol enhanced the problems she was trying to hide from Learning to accept that moderating drinking wasn’t possible The idea of harm reduction and the controversial opinions Finally seeking professional help when at the start of the quarantine How she wanted to start the podcast to share what she had learned to help others The value of finding support from sober communities on social media How we often don’t see the cause and effect of drinking when you’re in it The effects that alcohol has on the brain and mental health Post acute withdrawal and how the brain needs to learn to re-regulate without alcohol Gillian Tietz Links Gillian’s Website Instagram Facebook By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed this conversation with Gillian Tietz check out these other episodes: The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober with Catherine Gray The Magic of Being Sober with Laura McKowenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scott Hershovitz is the Thomas G. and Mabel Long Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan. He directs the University’s Law and Ethics Program and he co-edits Legal Theory.  Scott writes about law and philosophy. His academic work has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, The Yale Law Journal, and Ethics, among other places. In addition, he writes occasional essays about philosophy for the New York Times.  Before joining the Michigan faculty, he  served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the United States Supreme Court and an attorney-advisor on the appellate staff of the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice. Eric and Scott discuss his new book, Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy withMy Kids But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Scott Hershovitz and I Discuss What We Can Learn By Thinking Like a Kid and … His book, Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids Defining philosophy as the art of thinking How kids are natural philosophers and ask interesting questions Learning to think critically about our own ideas Distinguishing between what we think we should do and what we want to do The story of the Ship of Theseus and how we can compare it to our own identity How identity can be used as a tool in how we see ourselves in the world in both a negative and positive way Relativism and how we each get our own truth Epistemic bubbles and echo chambers  What we can learn when we talk to people who think differently than us  How we can look at other people with both objective or participant attitudes, depending on the circumstances Tempering our perspectives when we learn about others’ circumstances Scott Hershovitz Links Scott’s Website Twitter By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! If you enjoyed this conversation with Scott Hershovitz check out these other episodes: What We Know But Don’t Believe with Steve Hagen Everyday Courage with Ryan HolidaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.