Good Life Project

Courtney Carver believes simplicity is the way back to love. But, her wake-up call was a diagnosis of MS.A mom, wife, and creative pro, Courtney Carver was building a living in the advertising industry, and a beautiful family. Then, in 2006, everything changed. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Carver went on a journey to figure out how to reclaim as much of life as she could and identify what made things better or worse.Stress, she discovered, made everything worse. So, she was determined to eliminate as much stress as possible for a happier, healthier life. Along the way, she made another discovery, the common thread in every "de-stressing" change she made from diet to debt was simplicity.So, she began to simplify every aspect of her life, and the change not just emotionally, but physically was remarkable. Simplicity was literally changing her body, her symptoms, her relationships and life. She began sharing her experiments on a blog, bemorewithless.com, that eventually took off, launched minimalist fashion challenge called Project 333 and the Tiny Wardrobe Tour to share her stories of living with less and connect with like-hearted people.Her new book, Soulful Simplicity Carver shares this moving journey.In today's conversation, we explore Courtney's early interests, including a love or art and photography, how she made her way into the "business" side of advertising and built a career. We dive into the changes in her body and the moment that led her to the doctor where she'd learn she had MS. We talk about how she "broke the news" to her husband and daughter, stumbled upon the connection between stuff and stress, then rebuilt her life and living around the idea of simplicity as a path to ease, love and soul.+--------------------+We're grateful for the kind support of: ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE.Tunein: Catch all-new episodes of some of your favorite podcasts early with TuneIn First Play? Download the free TuneIn app now.Videoblocks:  Go to videoblocks.com/goodlife to get all the stock video, audio, and images you can imagine for just $149. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good Life Riff: One of the most critical keys to success, in any endeavor, is knowing what to say yes or no to.The faster you can choose, the more time you can spend actually doing the things that matter, and walking away from the things that don't. In today's GLP Riff, we share a simple question that serves as a powerful decision-making tool designed to simplify your decisions, reduce "decision fatigue" and lead you more quickly to the things that matter most.Good Life Science: In our Good Life Science segment, we're diving into some fascinating new research on mindfulness.Yes, mindfulness. We know, there's been a lotta research on this topic. But this is different. The big challenge with mindfulness, when it comes to science, is that people are lumping a bunch of different practices under the umbrella of mindfulness, then making claims about what it can do. But, a new study finally dismantled the core elements of the practice (focused awareness and open monitoring) and showed how each does something very different, and has it's own special-sauce benefit. And, as always, for those who want to go to the source, here's a link to the full study.+--------------------------+Our Podcast Partners: ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE.MVMT Watches: Get 15% off today, go to MVMT.com/goodTunein: Catch all-new episodes of some of your favorite podcasts early with TuneIn First Play? Download the free TuneIn app now.Videoblocks:  Go to videoblocks.com/goodlife to get all the stock video, audio, and images you can imagine for just $149.Thrive Market: Get $60 of FREE organic groceries + free shipping and a 30-day trial atthrivemarket.com/goodlife. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Known widely as The Iceman, Wim Hof, is a Dutch-born world record holder, adventurer, daredevil and researcher.While best known for his seemingly freakish ability to withstand extreme cold, and the many world records that've come along with that, even more significant is the work he has done blending extreme cold with breathing and mindset exercises to alter physiology and short-circuit responses thought impossible to control.Through his Wim Hof Method, Wim asserts that he can “turn his own thermostat up” and consciously activate his sympathetic nervous system. What makes his work even more unusual is that he's partnered with academic researchers in a quest to scientifically validate, measure and teach his techniques.In this week's episode, we dive into the early life experiences that turned Wim on to the transformational power of extreme cold and water. We explore his obsession with existential questions and Eastern philosophy at an early age, how that led to him being viewed as a bit of an outcast and how he kept to his studies despite this. We also explore how the death of his wife and his experience raising his kids pushed him to explore extreme cold, breathing and mindset training as interventions for not just disease and inflammation, but also anxiety and depression.It also bears mentioning, Wim's ideas are very progressive, as with any health/lifestyle advice that pushes paradigms, be sure to check in with a qualified healthcare provider before exploring these ideas and, if you choose to try them, be sure to do so under the guidance of a trained professional and never alone.Check out our offerings & partners: Join My New Writing Project: Awake at the WheelVisit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good Life Riff: What if you could do a single activity that had the effect of optimizing your mind and body, deepening beautiful relationships with people you can't get enough of and allowing you to do work that filled you with a sense of purpose? That'd be pretty cool, right?We call this the Good Life Bucket "Trifecta," because, in one fell swoop, you fill all three Good Life Buckets: Vitality, Connection and Contribution (for more on the buckets, just download the intro to How to Live a Good Life. It's free here).The more you can seek out or create these opportunities, the better your life becomes. In today's riff, we're sharing a great example of a Good Life Bucket Trifecta (hint: it involves a whole lotta snow) and how you might explore integrating this concept into your quest to live a good life.Good Life Science: In our Good Life Science segment, we're diving into some fascinating new research on anti-aging, mushrooms, how they affect your health, fight aging and potentially even protect against dementia. Oh, and by the way, we're not talking about "those" mushrooms (ya know, "magic" ones). We're talking about good old-fashioned, easy to find, yummy to cook white-cap, porcini and other delicious edibles. And, as always, for those who want to go to the source, here's a link to the full study.+--------------------------+Our Podcast Partners: ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE.MVMT Watches: Get 15% off today, go to MVMT.com/goodTunein: Catch all-new episodes of some of your favorite podcasts early with TuneIn First Play? Download the free TuneIn app now.Videoblocks:  Go to videoblocks.com/goodlife to get all the stock video, audio, and images you can imagine for just $149.Thrive Market: Get $60 of FREE organic groceries + free shipping and a 30-day trial at thrivemarket.com/goodlife.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Traci Ruble is a San Francisco based psychotherapist, clinic director and the founder of Sidewalk Talk, a community listening initiative that is exploding into a global movement.Starting out in the fast-paced San Francisco technology world, Ruble was rising up the ranks quickly, making a fantastic living and also pushing herself to a breaking point. Then, a death in her family sent Traci on a quest that led her out of tech, immersed her in travel, surfing and eventually therapy. These experiences unlocked an entirely new, deeply open and aware part of her, and also led her into therapy as a new career path.After years of education and building a flourishing practice and clinic, yet another profound moment of awakening led her to want to "take her chair out onto the street" and create a listening movement for so many people in pain who needed to be seen and heard, but didn't have the ability to be clients in a practice.What began as a makeshift band of therapists hitting the street to listen to anyone (for free, this is a non-profit) has turned into a global movement with city leaders in major cities around the world.In this week's conversation, we dive into this powerful journey of transformation. Ruble shares the early childhood experiences, living in a fundamentalist community to be pulled out and dropped back into mainstream culture without a rudder. We explore her lifelong fascination with exploring the dark caverns of her own and other's minds. Along the way, Traci offers wisdom about the power of listening and being fully present, the importance of being with, rather dissociating from pain, and reveals how spending time talking with strangers revealed her own implicit bias and changed her perspective in so many ways.And be sure to listen to the end, because we do something we've never done before. With Traci's permission, we've added in a special "addendum" to the original conversation that was not a part of our in-studio conversation. This brings you into a deeper "back story" that was offered in a later email exchange, and invites you to reconnect with, and share a truer, more vulnerable part of yourself.And, if you're inspired by Traci's Sidewalk Talk movement, you can join her on a new Community Listening tour from April 29 to May 5 down the East Coast of the United States. You can show up to share, or you can be a listener, too. You don't need to be a therapist to be a Sidewalk Talk listener. They will be offering listening training for anyone who wants to participate. Find the details here.+--------------------+We're grateful for the kind support of: ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE.MVMT Watches: Get 15% off today, go to MVMT.com/goodTunein: Catch all-new episodes of some of your favorite podcasts early with TuneIn First Play? Download the free TuneIn app now.Videoblocks:  Go to videoblocks.com/goodlife to get all the stock video, audio, and images you can imagine for just $149.Thrive Market: Get $60 of FREE organic groceries + free shipping and a 30-day trial atthrivemarket.com/goodlife. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good Life Riff: We've all heard a lot about gratitude, how it's a powerful reset for the mind. Especially at a time of year when many of us find ourselves swept into a whirlwind of stress and social strife.So, today, we're talking about a bit of a different gratitude intervention called the "gratitude visit," which has been researched and proven of have an astonishingly powerful and lasting impact on your state of mind and wellbeing.This moving gratitude experience has the added benefit of filling both your Vitality Bucket (by enhancing your state of mind) and also your Connection Bucket (by deepening your relationship with another person).Good Life Science: And, in our Good Life Science segment, we're diving into some fascinating new research on, well, nuts and your brain. We've all heard that nuts have lots of health benefits, from disease prevention to inflammation reduction and more.But, some cool new research show that eating certain nuts actually generates different brainwaves, which raises the possibility of dialing in your "nut-prescription" as a way to help drop into anything from a hyper-focused to Zenned-out state of mind. Full disclosure, the study also includes many people's favorite "non-nut" nut, that'd be the peanut, which is actually a legume. And, as always, for those want to go to the source, here's a link to the full study.+--------------------------+Our Podcast Partners: ZipRecruiter: Post jobs for FREE, go to ZipRecruiter.com/good.Thrive Market: $60 of FREE organic groceries, free shipping and 30-day trial at thrivemarket.com/goodlife.Freshbooks: Cloud accounting, 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife.ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE.Casper: Get $50 toward any mattress purchase at casper.com/GOODLIFE and enter GOODLIFE at checkout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're bringing you Tim Ferriss like you've never heard him. Ferris has been a man on a mission, driven to deconstruct mastery and excellence, then share what he's learned. It began with his own relentless experimentation and documentation, which yielded #1 New York Times bestsellers The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef.In more recent years, though, this yearning has led him to sit down with hundreds of elite-performers, from a vast array of domains, on a quest to reveal what made them them. These conversations are shared weekly on Tim's award-winning podcast, The Tim Ferris Show. We recorded a Good Life Project conversation with Tim earlier this year, which you can listen to here.In today's conversation, we go in a very different direction. Tim actually lost a number of people this year, turned 40 and found himself in a deeply contemplative and emotional space, thinking about who he is, how he wants to create the next 40 years of his life and what matters. This all led him to seek out wisdom from many of the world's greatest thinkers and achievers, which he's condensed and edited into his latest book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the WorldIn this week's conversation, we drop into the deep end of the pool quickly. When we sat down with Tim, he'd recently returned from an intensive 10-day silent meditation retreat. While gone, he lost yet another close friend. He was, in his own words, in an incredibly "porous" place, leading more from the heart than the head, which is a bit of a major turnaround for him.We spent time deconstructing Tim's 10-day silent meditation experience, his struggles and awakenings, how it compared to psychedelic experiences and how, barring one major saving grace, his retreat may have sent him spiraling into a very bad place. We also talked about his experience with death, his decision to append audio of his most recently departed friend, Terry Laughlin, which was recorded by Terry's daughters in the hospital during his final days of life to the end of Tim's recent podcast interview with Terry. Tim also shared his decision to take the TED stage, switching last minute to talk about something deeply painful and personal, and what that meant to him, his lens on legacy work (and how it landed with his family, who didn't know what he'd be talking about). And, we explored Tim's awakening to a "softer" set of metrics to measure a life well-lived and his evolving definition of what it truly means to live a good life.Check out our offerings & partners: My New Book SparkedMy New Podcast SPARKED: We’re looking for special guest “wisdom-seekers” to share the moment you’re in, then pose questions to Jonathan and the Sparked Braintrust to be answered, “on air.” To submit your “moment & question” for consideration to be on the show go to sparketype.com/submit. Visit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good Life Riff: Ahhhhh, family! With many people heading into that time of year when gathering with family becomes a "thing," we figured it was a great time to invite our old friend, everyone's cousin and New York Times bestselling author, A.J. Jacobs, to share a very special guest riff about what family really is...and isn't. He's spent the last few years deep-diving into the topic and has come up with some fascinating and fun discoveries, which he shares in his new book, It's All Relative.Good Life Science: Ever notice that the older we get, the more we tend to forget stuff? Turns out, the hippocampus - a part of our brain heavily involved in memory - starts to shrink in our middle years, taking memories with it. In our Good Life Science segment today, we're diving into some fascinating new research on how one very specific type of exercise affects can not only stop the shrinkage, but even reverse this process. And, as always, for those want to go to the source, here's a link to the full study.+--------------------------+Our Podcast Partners: ZipRecruiter: Post jobs for FREE, go to ZipRecruiter.com/good.Thrive Market: $60 of FREE organic groceries, free shipping and 30-day trial at thrivemarket.com/goodlife.Freshbooks: Cloud accounting, 1-month free trial, no credit card required, at FreshBooks.com/goodlife.ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE.Casper: Get $50 toward any mattress purchase at casper.com/GOODLIFE and enter GOODLIFE at checkout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On one level, Mari Andrew never meant to have the life she's now living. On another, it was her destiny.Mari is a writer, illustrator and solo travel enthusiast currently living in New York. She began posting an illustration a day on Instagram in 2015 as a way to share her lens on life and connect with people. In a few short years, her following exploded to more 600,000 people.What's so fascinating is why. These daily posts aren't created by the stroke of a fine artist's brush or trained letterer's steady hand. Instead, she offers simple stick figures and line-drawings. The power in her daily dispatches lies not in the technique, but in the simplicity of expression, the emotion, the honesty and relatability her work conveys.Andrew doesn't share her "shiny, happy, made-for-social-media life," but rather invites you into her meandering and beautifully real mind, flush with everything from grief, heartbreak and career confusion to spiritual journeying, illness, love, friendship, and the pursuit of the perfect lipstick to create comics that speak to a wide audience.Simply put, Mari's art lets you know you're not alone.We sat down with Andrew to explore her early years as a kid in Seattle, and how her relationship with her parents shaped her and her work. We talked about her journey to becoming an "artist" (a word she still struggles with), developing her voice, point of view and surviving a rare condition that left her paralyzed in a Portuguese hospital (a terrifying experience she's still recovering from).Mari has a book of essays and illustrations, Am I There Yet?: The Loop-de-loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood coming out in March 2018. But, you don't have to wait until then to experience her work. Go find her on Instagram now.We're grateful for the kind support of:  ZipRecruiter: Post jobs for FREE, go to ZipRecruiter.com/good.ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE.Bombas: Shop today at Bombas.com/goodlife, and get 20% off your ENTIRE purchase. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's GLP Update, we're talking about a cool new bit of science about how blue light can help when you're stressed out, and we've got a fun second segment where we jam with fellow podcaster, Tsh Oxenreider of The Simple Show.Good Life Science: Ever wonder if the color of light might have an effect on you, your mood and your brain? You've may have heard the recent research about blue light and how it can disrupt melatonin and mess with your sleep. But, it turns out, new research shows that blue light may have a very particular beneficial effect, especially when you're stressed out. It can drop you into the Zen zone up to three-times faster than white light. That's what we're diving into in today's Good Life Science Update. And, as always, for those want to go to the source, here's a link to the full study.Good Life Podcast Friends: Instead of our usual Good Life Riff, we've got a special jam today with our friend and fellow podcaster, Tsh Oxenreider of The Simple Show. We're actually sharing our favorite recent episodes of each other's shows and why we found them so compelling. You'll definitely want to check out episode 100 of The Simple Show if you've been thinking at all about where you want to live. Oh, and you can find a bunch more recommendations for great podcasts from both of us at Wondery.com/thanksgiving.+--------------------------+Our Podcast Partners: ZipRecruiter: Post jobs for FREE, go to ZipRecruiter.com/good.ShipStation: Manage and ship your orders. FREE for 30 days, plus a bonus. Visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in GOODLIFE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.