Good Life Project

I first heard about my guest today, Michele Harper, when stumbled upon an essay she published earlier this year, entitled When This War is Over, May of Us Will Leave Medicine. It was about the reality of her day-to-day life as an ER doc during the early days of the pandemic. It was a devastating, powerful, deeply human read. That led me to her beautiful and, at times, heartbreaking, yet hopeful New York Times bestselling memoir, The Beauty in Breaking. (https://bookshop.org/books/the-beauty-in-breaking-a-memoir/9780525537380)Graduating from Harvard and the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, for her entire career, Michele has sought emergency medicine positions in hospitals that serve under-resourced communities, often communities of color. She is not just a devout physician and healer, but also an advocate for dignity, equality and change. The seeds for this path were planted very early in life, though a blend of family trauma and deep personal conviction that has compelled her to not just take care of those in need, but also champion their humanity along the way. You can find Michele Harper at:Website : https://micheleharper.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/micheleharpermd/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five days into filming his first movie - Dazed & Confused - some 28 years ago, Matthew McConaughey’s dad, a towering force in his life, suddenly died. Matthew had to figure out a way to keep showing up, to keep going. His mantra became “just keep livin,” which has become a guiding ethos, a sort of lens through which he lives his life.Now, nearly three decades later, an Academy Award-winning actor, icon in the industry, married father of three, a master raconteur, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and endless creator of moments and adventures, Matthew lives life as an eternal amateur. Fiercely himself in all parts of life, ever-curious and open, he seeks experiences, wisdom, and insights, always learning, always asking, always seeking, that give him some semblance of understanding what makes life worth living. Much of his journey, his take on life, fatherhood, acting, love, family and contribution is offered up in his beautiful and moving new memoir, Greenlights (https://greenlights.com/). It’s a philosophical and poetic window into the experiences and moments that shaped him and continue to awaken him to what matters most, drawn from 50 years of living, and some 36 years of diaries.That quest - to figure what a life well-lived looks like - is one we both have in common, and it’s probably why in today’s conversation we jump into the deep end of the pool fast, exploring everything from nature and solitude to family, love, struggle, character, uncertainty, creation, the sacred nature of being in the spaces in between devastation and wild success, how the moment we’re all in has shifted his thinking and what the future we all being called to co-create might look like, and so much more.That’s what you’ll hear. But here’s what was happening that you couldn’t see. As we spoke, Matthew sat at his desk, reading glasses on, and pen and paper in hand. Minutes into the conversation, he began writing, taking notes, regularly jotting down ideas, phrases, and insights, piecing together puzzles in real-time. Ever the seeker, a perpetual student of life, present in the moment, and open to whatever it might bring.You can find Matthew McConaughey at: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/officiallymcconaughey/)-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/sparketypes/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned award-winning professor and bestselling author.A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Ozan Varol grew up in a family of no English speakers. He learned English as a second language and moved to the United States by himself at 17 to attend Cornell University and major in astrophysics. While there, he served on the operations team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers project that sent two rovers–Spirit and Opportunity–to Mars. He built stuff that went to the red planet and wrote code that snaps photos of the Martian surface. He was on track to built a powerhouse career as a literal rocket scientist.Leaving Cornell, though, Ozan pivoted and went to law school, graduating first in his class, earning the highest grade point average in his law school’s history, then became a law professor, teaching at Lewis & Clark Law School in his twenties, becoming the youngest tenured professor. While teaching law, there was always a deeper driver, the rocket scientist in him was on a mission to share the scientific process and mindset to influence others to make giant leaps on Earth. He shares philosophy in the wonderful book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life (https://tinyurl.com/yyr3g6kf)You can find Ozan Varol at: Website (http://weeklycontrarian.com/)-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sara Hendren was drawn to painting as a kid, studied it in college, then began to build her body of work and career as a fine artist, focusing on painting. Then, a series of experiences sent her in what, from the outside looking in, may have seemed like a very different direction, but from the inside looking out, what a completely organic and aligned expression of her blended passion to see, to create, to design and to be of service.Now an artist, design researcher, writer, and professor at Olin College of Engineering, Sara describes herself as a humanist in tech, focusing on the intersection between disability - or the perception of it - and what she calls the built world, or how the world is designed to either support or dismantle freedom and autonomy based on our bodies and their capabilities. And if you’re thinking “well, this isn’t about me,” you’ll quickly discover how well-intended, yet misguided that assumption is likely to be. It’s about all of us.Sara’s work over the last decade includes collaborative public art and social design that engages the human body, technology, and the politics of disability: things like a lectern for short stature or a ramp for wheelchair dancing. She also co-founded the Accessible Icon Project, co-created a digital archive of low-tech prosthetics, and her work has been exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, The Vitra Design Museum, the Seoul Museum of Art and other venues and is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt Museum. Her new book is What Can A Body Do? How We Meet the Built World. (https://tinyurl.com/yy8r8wwc)You can find Sara Hendren at: Website (http://sarahendren.com/)-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing up in Israel, Tal Ben-Shahar wanted to be the best squash player in the world. He turned pro at a young age and quickly rose up the ranks. Then a strange thing happened, he achieved his dream, but crashed hard, realizing it didn’t make him feel how he thought it would. That experience set in motion a lifelong journey into the science of happiness that led him to study at Harvard, then eventually teach what became the most popular course at Harvard on happiness. Tal is now a bestselling author and lecturer, working with executives in multinational corporations, everyday humans, and at-risk populations exploring leadership, happiness, education, innovation, ethics, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, and mindfulness. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and have appeared on best-sellers lists around the world. Tal is a serial entrepreneur and is most recently the co-founder and chief learning officer of Happiness Studies Academy, bringing together the thinking of the world's leading scholars and the latest scientific research on happiness, then educating leaders who are themselves dedicated to personal, interpersonal, and communal flourishing.You can find Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar at:Website: https://www.happinessstudies.academy/cihs/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happiness.studies.academy/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing up in Nashville, Top Chef star, Carla Hall, was surrounded by soul food, especially dishes cooked by her beloved grandma. She loved eating it, but she had no interest in cooking it. In fact, she headed into the world of business, building a career in accounting when, in a moment of awakening, she took a hard left turn that took her through runway modeling in Europe, cooking and catering, and eventually onto Bravo’s Top Chef where he amazing, joyful energy and sense of possibility captures the hearts of viewers. That launched her into the world of not just food and restaurants, but media, books, with her latest cookbook, Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, and TV, with many appearances all over and a run co-hosting The Chew, and now podcasting with her hit show, Say Yes! with Carla Hall : https://pod.link/1530065734Carla is also very active with a number of foundations that reflect her passion for causes close to her heart, Like Helen Keller International, and she’s the Culinary Ambassador for Sweet Home Cafe at the Smithsonian National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. where she brings attention to the history of the food that has inspired the café.You can find Carla Hall at:Website : https://www.carlahall.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/carlaphall/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we’re sharing part 2 of our special series, The Hug. Last week, we aired part 1 of the Hug, with six beautiful stories. Today is part 2 next, think of it as the other arm in our audio hug, wrapping us all in the arms of stories that remind us of our shared humanity at a time we need it most. So, sit back and enjoy these stories in part 2 of The Hug. If you haven’t yet listened to Part 1 of The Hug (https://tinyurl.com/y2f5y2eh), be sure to download it and listen now. And if these stories have warmed you up, or reconnected you with a sense of shared humanity and possibility, even just a bit, maybe you know someone else who might need to hear them, too. Right now. Especially now. If there were ever episodes we’d love you to share with friends and family, it’s these Hug episodes. We all need stories that remind us of the good side of human beings, more than ever. And, if the stories have moved you and you’d love us to do more episodes like this, let us know on instagram, email or in a review on your fave listening app. Thanks for listening.You can find our storytellers at:Marsha Shandur: https://www.instagram.com/yesyesmarsha/Megan Devine: https://www.instagram.com/refugeingrief/Yvonne Ator: yvonneator.comIN-Q: https://www.instagram.com/inqlife/Jennifer Pastiloff: https://www.instagram.com/jenpastiloff/Dan Stones: https://twitter.com/monobisco/status/1320530648977866755Erin Moon: https://www.instagram.com/mooneybooks-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earning his living in a past life as a fashion model, Light Watkins, began yoga and meditation in-between casting calls in New York City during the late nineties. Something he never saw coming happened. It opened him to a different worldview and set of practices that would change not only the trajectory of his career, but also his path in life. Deepening his practice, traveling and spending time in India and then apprenticing with his Vedic Meditation teacher, Light became, well, Light. He actually changed his name to better reflect his emerging identity. He then became a full-time Vedic Meditation teacher in 2007. Light now travels the world, albeit virtually these days, speaking on happiness, mindfulness, inspiration, and meditation. His most recent book, Bliss More: How to Succeed in Meditation Without Really Trying (https://amzn.to/2qvpXvj) invites people into meditation in a very accessible way. In Before Times, he also produced a global pop-up inspirational variety show called The Shine, with a mission to inspire that actually started as a local dinner gathering. We figured, right about now, we all need a little Light, so I’m excited to share this moving Best Of conversation with you this week.And, be sure you’re subscribed because part 2 of our special guest-storytelling series, The Hug, about moments that remind you of the goodness in people will be dropping next week. I’ve heard the stories and trust me, you do NOT want to miss this. You can find Light Watkins at:Website : https://www.lightwatkins.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/lightwatkins/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elizabeth Gilbert is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love, City of Girls and other awesome books. She’s also just a straight-up genuine, wise, deeply-feeling human with a lens on life that is incredibly kind and real. Since her last appearance on the podcast, Liz’s life has been turned upside-down and back again. She has navigated profound awakening, unbelievable love, loss, transition, reclamation and, along the way, continues the practice of finding her way back into the light. That’s a skillset and a lens we could all use right now. We explore all of this, in detail, in today’s deeply honest and powerful conversation. So excited to share this Best Of conversation.You can find Elizabeth Gilbert at:Website : https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/elizabeth_gilbert_writer/Check out our offerings & partners: My New Book SparkedMy New Podcast SPARKEDVisit Our Sponsor Page For a Complete List of Vanity URLs & Discount Codes.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we’re doing something we’ve never done before. We’re about to head into a week like never before in the US and, well, around the world. And we kinda wanted to wrap it, and you, with one big, beautiful, audio hug that reminds us all, people are good, they can be kind, even to total strangers, in ways we never imagined.So, we’ve created a two-part series for you we’re calling The Hug, where we’re sharing a bunch of heartwarming stories, told by friends of the pod and some past guests who, now that I think about it, are friends now, too. Each story shares a moment or experience where a little bit of kindness, a little bit of sweetness and, just maybe, a little bit of lightness and laughter, touched their lives, and reminded them how good people can be. I feel like we all need a little of that right now. So, today is part one of The Hug, the first 6 stories for you. We’ll air part 2 next week, right after the election with the intention of wrapping us all in the arms of stories that remind us of our shared humanity at a time we need it most. So, sit back and enjoy these stories in part one of The Hug. You can find our storytellers at:Gabra Zackman: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/audiobookgoddess/)Rick Charlie: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/rick.charlie)Rebekah Taussig: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sitting_pretty/)Neil Pasricha: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/neilpasricha/)Jeff Harry: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jeffharryplays/)Susan Piver: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/susan.piver/)-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://www.goodlifeproject.com/sparketypes/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible.Check out our offerings & partners: Beam Dream Powder: Visit https://shopbeam.com/GOODLIFE and use code GOODLIFE to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.