20 Minutes with Bronwyn

If we ever needed a session with world class business coach Ben Kiker, it is NOW, my friends. In this episode, Ben and I get very real, very vulnerable, but most importantly, we get very practical about how to survive Covid-19 season. You will learn: Ben's number one tip for building emotional resiliency; his go-to mantra for moments of terror, anxiety and all forms of dis-regulation; and so much more.

Life as we know it has changed in a matter of weeks. And what we need right now is guidance and leadership. My guest today is the amazing Dr. Adam Dorsay. We covered a LOT of ground in this conversation: from how to find purpose when suddenly there is no work to be done and no place to go ... to how to deal with overwhelm and how to support your children through this time of self quarantine, as well as tips for extroverts working in isolation for the first time ever, and also how to keep intimacy alive with a spouse, despite being in the trenches of keeping a household from losing its sh*t. This conversation will lift you up, give you hope, and most of all, give you actions to take in the midst of unprecedented uncertainty.

I live in Silicon Valley where productivity is a RELIGION. We worship our ability to get things done with style and flash, and we can at times have an aggressive kind of optimism that borders on spiritual greed. And by “we” in this context, I mostly mean “me.” But I worry about us. I worry that we are over-farming ourselves, eroding our own soil, so-to-speak and we may be in desperate need of some time to just go dark. Whatever that might mean. In this episode, I explore how I plan on going dark, and how you might explore the concept in your own life, and rest your own proverbial soil.

Ever get the feeling that something isn’t quite right in your life? My guest today is Shelley Paxton, author of Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel's Guide to Finding Your Best Life. Shelley was a rockstar living the corporate America version of the feminist dream: she was Chief Marketing Officer of one of the most macho, badass brands in the world— Harley Davidson— leading a big fancy life. She had *arrived*. And yet Shelley had a nagging suspicion it was all making her soul-sick. Not many of us are brave enough to sit with the question, “is this the life I really want to be living?” and even fewer are brave enough to heed the call of the soul. Shelley has done both, and has emerged from the process with a new concept: the Soulbbatical.

Does your vision for 2020 involve you being absolutely magnificent? You may have plotted out a new eating plan or workout situation, or maybe this is the year you’re gonna get that raise, that promotion. And all of that is good. Do not get me wrong.   But what is the energy underneath it? Is it the energy of bearing down and being a good girl? A good boy? A good them? Doing all the good things you’re supposed to do, and none of the bad things?   Or is it an energy of straight up magnificence?   Because I want it to be the latter. In this episode, I'll show you how to tap that energy to make this decade the best yet.

While we may be smack dab in the middle of the busiest time of year, this episode is all about slowing down and savoring. What are we savoring? The magnificent words of Tina Chang. Tina is Poet Laureate of Brooklyn—the first woman EVER to be given that title—and is the author of a new collection of poems called Hybrida. NPR calls it "one of the most important books of poetry to come along in years." Tina teaches poetry at Sarah Lawrence College, and she’s all ours for the next half hour or so. So pour yourself a cup of tea (or a steaming mug of coffee) and get cozy. This conversation is just what you need.

For some of us, the holidays entail drama of the logistical sort—missed flight connections, suitcases that are just over the weight limit, gifts to be purchased and passed around. But for a lot of us, the holiday drama is entirely relational, playing out in conversations and in unspoken energy transmitted from one human heart to another. For some of us, the Holidays mean someone’s gonna end up in tears or gonna storm off early, or both. All before dessert. But what if this time it’s different? What if THIS holiday season, we try something new? This episode is for anyone who's ever wished for a less drama-fueled experience of the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

If you were in any way surprised by Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 or if you feel even slightly freaked out by the current state of affairs as we live through this next election cycle, you will love meeting my guest Joel Stein.   Joel Stein has written one of the funniest books I’ve ever read— In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You Are Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book.   I was beyond grateful that in between interviews with Vanity Fair, NPR, and Goop, Joel Skyped in to talk about his new book. But don’t let the title fool you. In Defense of Elitism is not parody or satire, it’s a whole-hearted, intellectually curious, clear-eyed exploration of why populism vs. elitism (or gut-instinct vs. expertise) has become the ultimate philosophical cage fight.

I’ve been an active Facebook user for a very long time.I have loved it for the most part. I’ve been lifted up and supported by my Facebook family. They’ve supported me in my grief, in my success, in my curiosity and pursuit of all kinds of different questions—big and small. But it’s time. It’s time to consciously uncouple, as Gwyneth Paltrow once so famously said. This episode is a kind of reckoning. I'm not storming off of Facebook. I'm taking control of my media and information consumption. If Truth in Advertising law doesn't apply to that platform, I can't in good conscience participate. Because there's a lot at stake ... for better or worse, Facebook influences how we vote, which means it impacts the way our democracy functions. This episode is my attempt to explain how I'm grappling with something we should all be thinking about.