33voices

“If you’re not aware of what’s going on in your mind, you can’t transform it.” Dr.Richard Davidson has believed that strengthening our minds has the power to change the world since he was a teenager. He’s been a pioneer studying emotion, well-being, and our brain for decades. Yet, it was when he met His Holiness the Dalai Lama that the true seed of his life’s work was planted. The Dalai Lama encouraged him to study how practices like meditation impact our brain, and if they made a difference, to spread them as far as he could. Dr.Davidson advances this mission every day as the Founder of the Center for Healthy Minds and Healthy Minds Innovations and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In our conversation, we explore Dr.Davidson’s world-changing work on the advancement of human flourishing, which he describes as “the process by which we can harness the innate capacities that every human being has.” He illuminates that we’re wired for love and offers daily practices to cultivate altruism, appreciation, and compassion. We learn that mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise and how to build habits that develop our awareness, emotional agility, and mind-body coherence. These practices are significant not only in enhancing our life experience. They change our biology and the impact we have on each other, all leading to his profound invitation that: “We have a moral obligation to cultivate love.”

Catherine St-Laurent and Rebecca Rottenberg Goldman believe that courageous choices are rewarded. This ethos has inspired their extraordinary societal contributions. Catherine’s as the Chief of Staff to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Executive Director of Archewell Foundation, and previously at Pivotal Ventures and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Rebecca’s in helping found and lead Endeavor Global, Katie McGrath and JJ Abrams Family Foundation, Good Robot, and Time’s Up. Today, at their social impact firm, Acora Partners, they continue to design lives of impact by pursuing learning over mastery.  Community is a pillar for both Catherine and Rebecca. They illuminate the link between presence and potential in relationships and the transformative power of women coming together, both in impacting change and journeying through life. Intentionality in life and work contributes to a sense of fullness. Still, it leaves many of us striving to be there for everyone at once. Catherine and Rebecca share how aspiring for work-life blend, rather than balance, frees them to embrace their multitudes and show up as their full selves.

Often, what separates the world's elite achievers from the great ones is a level of inner confidence available to each of us, but unlocked by only a few.  After 3+ decades of leading the U.S. Military's enhanced performance programs, Dr Nate Zinsser joins Moe to unpack the mind games that get in the way of increased confidence and elite performance.

“You can’t assume that you’ve got all the time in the world to make the impact you want. You’ve got to make it happen now.” A pioneer of the organic food movement, John Foraker is widely respected for his leadership of Annie’s, where he led their $820 million acquisition. Yet, once you sit down with him, you quickly learn that more than an industry leader, John is a devoted father striving to create a world where all children have the nutrition they need to thrive; A mission he continues to advance as Co-founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm. We explore John’s perspective that purpose is an invitation to do more and that even when our contributions feel small, change happens through sustained action. Our responsibility is to begin and keep trying.John’s goal is to be better every day. He shares his favorite philosophy that the truth will set you free, the epiphany that led him to stop worrying, and how he grows from failure. This equanimity is driven by a desire to be present and live his values. We hear how he follows his heart making decisions, maintains a sense of urgency around his priorities, and the lessons he’s learned from fatherhood.

“Our bodies speak the truth. Our bodies don’t have the capacity to lie to us. But, our minds do.”What is the simplest way to be in the present moment? By being in our bodies, we learn from LCSW, psychotherapist, and Frame Co-founder, Sage Grazer. In the first of a series of mental wellbeing conversations, we explore how listening to our bodies can help us discern how we truly feel and make choices that support our highest wellbeing. We articulate how to discern what our baseline is to understand how our thoughts and circumstances influence us. The stories we tell ourselves shape our experiences. Sage helps us identify which parts may be influenced by our past, including trauma, so we can author a healthy self narrative that moves us forward. Acceptance helps us access our agency. Still, stress is inevitable. As we navigate full, and highly stimulating, lives Sage helps us answer — When should I push myself versus when should I nurture myself? — and employ coping behaviors to return to our baseline, like exhaling to signal to our body that we are safe and grounding in feelings of gratitude.

“The closest thing I can find to a meaning of life is finding a way to love. If we can all find a way to love life, to love reality, I have to believe that catapults our existence into some holy other place.” Decades of walking with patients through serious illness and end of life has shaped a personal goal for Mettle Health Co-founder and hospice and palliative medicine physician Dr.BJ Miller: ‘to love what he has while he has it,’ not to appreciate it when he’s lost it or is about to.A beloved educator and speaker, Dr.Miller illuminates death as an invitation to live. For him, that means opening himself up to feel. In our conversation, he awakens us to the countless ways we can embrace the gift of being alive. We delve into savoring our connection to life, expanding our capacity to feel, and seeking expansive experiences. His sincerity and vitality make an indelible impression on your heart.

“You can never hide the traces of yourself and your way of being: they always show up in your work,” Sarah Stein Greenberg writes in Creative Acts for Curious People. Executive Director of the Stanford d.school, encouraging students to feel is core to Sarah’s mission and her team’s design thinking philosophy. How do they achieve it when creativity is often a rollercoaster of emotions? By expanding our ability to see what is, imagine what can be, and navigate ambiguity as we create it. Sarah shares exercises to thrive in each stage of the creative process, from incorporating more play into our work to “setting the conditions” to do our best thinking. We quickly learn that design thinking doesn’t solely amplify our creativity. It offers a dynamic lens to navigate our lives.

When Norma Kamali visits kids at her high school she encourages them to imagine...How close to your dream can your life be?Renowned designer, Norma’s extraordinary life is an embodiment of not only realizing our dreams, but continuously expanding them. Her philosophy is an invitation to indulge in the adventure of life. We delve into her book I Am Invincible to explore the physical, mental, and emotional foundations that facilitate our becoming and hear pivotal stories that shaped hers. She shares how she followed her intuition to strike out as a solo designer, and save her soul, in her 20s, say ‘Yes!’ to the spontaneous European olive-oil adventure that spurred her wellness endeavors, and commit to the life cleanse that continues to ignite her creativity. Norma is an inspiration to embody the courage to pursue the experiences that enliven us. “I am 76 and I’m still dreaming,” she says. “I don’t have deadlines and I don’t have limits.” *Editor’s note: We experienced sound fluctuations recording this episode remotely. Thank you for listening and understanding!

If Reverend Jen Bailey could share one message with her church it would be that: “They are beloved, no matter what they’ve done or where they’ve been. They are loved because of who they are.” Founder of Faith Matters Network and Co-founder of the People’s Supper, Reverend Jen is a compassionate voice in the new dawn of religion and spirituality. We delve into her book, To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss, and Radical Hope, to explore what it means to live into our faith and experience God in the tiny and the vast because “the sacred exists in all of it.” She believes that “the great question of the twenty-first century is the question of how we “be” together.” We reflect on taking care of each other as an embodiment of love and ideate a new definition for sustainable strength, imbued by the radical hope that “we have the deep ability to transform the world in the here and now.”

How do we navigate life’s highs and lows without feeling like we’re on an emotional rollercoaster? By managing our relationship with dopamine, we learn from Stanford University Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Anna Lembke. In her book, Dopamine Nation, Dr.Lembke reveals how understanding our quest for dopamine empowers us to make choices that enable us to live in a state of equilibrium. The most important decision is the most straightforward: Choose enduring dopamine over cheap dopamine. Still, willpower rarely prevails in the midst of temptation. Dr. Lembke reveals what’s happening inside of our brains when we participate in addictive behaviors and explains how we can regulate our pleasure-pain balance. She shares a range of tools, from dopamine fasts to self-binding techniques, to gain control over any addictions we may have and replace them with healthy behaviors. In a world of constant striving and stimulation, Dr.Lembke’s work is a breath of fresh air. She reminds us that inner peace is possible and offers a roadmap there.